Sort of ludicrous to try and whittle it down to a top five -- but here's five that I can easily say I can't really live without: Thelonious Monk: Monk's Music Bill Evans: Everybody Digs Bill Evans Duke Ellington: Latin American Suite Miles Davis: Steamin' John Coltrane: Blue Train
I'm coming into this conversation way late, but I guess that's okay. I didn't have any jazz in my music library until about six years ago. I started with some basics, and now I have about 75 jazz CDs. I love Miles, Coltrane, Dizzy, Art Blakey, Monk, most of the greats. But I have to say that no one quite does it for me like Count Basie.
I'm just trying to put off my homework so I guess I can chime in here. I don't really listen to a lot of jazz except for whatever my dad plays in the car but I play flute and up until late last year you couldn't pay me to play jazz, I was strictly classical and would laugh in your face if you even mentioned playing jazz. But after a lot of coaxing from my teacher, parents, and some of the graduating seniors in jazz I decided to give it a try. Now i like going to jazz better than orchestra, even though I still get more into the music we play in orchestra than I do in jazz. Jazz is more of a challenge but I like how we rely on a cunductor a lot less, and it's a great ear training thing, it really helps to be able to hear the difference between major and minor stuff and know when the key change is and be able to hear it and when you get lost it's not that hard to get back in and find your place. We're playing scrapple from the apple right now and it sounds good up until the bridge which doesn't sound so good, I actually need to look at it before class tomorrow because I'm holding one of the notes a little longer than I should and it's messing me up. So if anyone has anything to say about that piece that'd be great.
If you ever get a chance, either listen to the CD or watch the DVD of "One Night With Blue Note", a concert from 1985 in New York to celebrate the rebirth of Blue Note Recirds. James Newton's song "Little B's Poem" is absolutely fantastic! Listening to that song makes me wonder why there isn't more flute in a lot of jazz. As far as a Top Five list goes, there's really no way to go about it unless you break it down into catgories like "Top 5 Piano Trio Albums", "Top 5 Alto Quintets", etc., etc. Since we're just going for a general "Top 5", I'd have to go with these, in no particular order: Bud Powell: The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 John Coltrane: Blue Train Art Blakey: A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1 & 2 Horace Silver: The Stylings of Silver and you can't have a list without: Miles Davis: Kind of Blue Now I feel bad, because I left out so many good albums. Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus and Newk's Time, Hank Mobley: Soul Station, Horace Silver: Song for my Father & Horace Silver Trio, Miles Davis: The Birth of the Cool, "Big" John Patton: Let 'Em Roll, Jimmy Smith: Cool Blues & Back at the Chicken Shack, several Lee Morgan albums, Herbie Hancock, Monk, the list goes on and on. Actually, I should have just listed the contents of my collection and let it stand at that.
Since I'm up WAY late and burning up a few MiniDiscs, it just occured to me that if anyone else has an MD player and wants some of my jazz collection, I'll be happy to put one or two together for you. I'm using Sonic Stage 2.2 which has ATRAC 3 and 3 Plus (I don't have a Hi-MD recorder, but after the holidays one is on my wish list). Just PM me what you're interested in and I'll let you know what I have along those lines. I'm mostly into stuff on the Blue Note label, for the most part, and I've got quite a few of the RvG remastered discs.
I am starting to get into ornette coleman, the free jazz cd. i also really like some of meldau (can't remember his first name) but miles never gets old. his range of styles of his career was so great at times its like listening to different musians altogether.
--- Point well taken! I'm a fan of Nina Simone, too, and I had heard about her threats to play classical music if people didn't zip it and listen. Being as monstrously talented as she is/was, being black, and (let's face it) not all that attractive, compared to some, I think Ms. Simone was a take-no-prisoners, highly politicized woman. She was determined to be taken seriously, and the "I'll play classical music unless you siddown and shuddup" is also about the fact that she had the chops to play classical piano, thank you very much. So just as it was her issue whether peeps called what she played 'jazz', it's my issue that she would make a bigger deal about it that I see as necessary.
Grant Green-The latin bit John Coltrane-Olé Bill Evans-Live at Shelley Mann's hole Chet Baker-Everything happens to me Charlie Parker-An evening with the bird
Kind of Blue Giant Steps Steamin' (tie)The Big Beat ( Blakey + Jazz Messengers ) and Moanin' ( for Along Came Betty ) Coleman Hawkins All-Stars
Eric Dolphy - The Illinois Concert John Coltrane - Coltrane (on Impulse, not Prestige) Lee Morgan - The Gigolo Miles Davis - ESP not very original list, I know...
Hmm-I'll mix this up picking 5 live albums. Bill Evans: Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival John Coltrane: Live At Birdland Pat Metheny: Travels Keith Jarrett: Still Live Duke Ellington: Live At Newport 1956
--- Moanin', The Big Beat ( both with Morgan ) and the first Impulse album ( Impulse 7 ), the sextet with Morgan, Shorter and Curtis Fuller.
When I was learning sax from my great-uncle, he told me to listen to the Hawk. My uncle insisted that he was the greatest tenor player of all time. I don't think he was too far off the mark in that assertion.
--- I have an LP from Jazztone that chronicles the development of the big band, and there is a cut with Coleman Hawkins dating to 1927, as a sideman in Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra. I gotta tell ya, that man could cook!!! His 32 bar solo is a rollicking, swinging, foot-stomping joy. The album shown is about 25 years later, and Hawkins still swings, but the progression of his playing is pretty amazing. Tasty is all I can say.
I'm heavily into Mingus right now and I'm listening to this currently: The piece "Self Portrait In Three Colors" from this album is one of the most beautiful jazz compositions I've ever heard.
--- if you are into Mingus, that's heavy in itself. Monk and Mingus. Profoundly heavy. Maybe even gargantuan.
Mingus vs Ellington...to me this is the great deabte re: composers. Monk lovers might not like this, but at the end of the day, I think Monk comes up short vs these two.
My favorite composer is Wayne Shorter: Footprints, Night Dreamer, Witch Hunt, Pinocchio, Infant Eyes, Speak No Evil, ESP and many, many more.
I think the big debate as far as composers is concerned is whether we are going to consider the Tin Pan Alley group: Gershwin/Cole Porter/etc, or stick to Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Monk, etc. It's a pretty clear dichotomy, but I'm not sure it's a necessary one. Can you imagine jazz without Lady, Be Good and How High The Moon? Any more than Take the A Train... No one mentioned Hank Mobley. I think he would be in the top 5 musician-composers.
I disagree-strongly, I might add. No one would disagree about the importance of pop standards/Tin Pan Alley and the role they played in jazz. But IMO the two great jazz composers are Ellington and Mingus. They sit at the top of the heap. Arlen, Gerswhin, etc. I don't consider them jazz composers. With Ellington and Mingus you have a span of work/styles that I think is a cut above the rest. There are many other great composers as well. Monk for sure; Shorter-who we debated in this or another thread. Oliver Nelson is another, who is favorite of mine.