Jazz and Blues Music suggestions

[kinggimp82]

Hello,

Im trying to broaden my music collection and have never listened to jazz or blues. I heard a few songs recently from both genres (no idea who they were) and liked them.

If anyone could suggest a few artists for me to explore in these genres id appreciate it.

Everything sounds great on ascends:)

[BradJudy]

Jazz in particular is a very large genre, so it's hard to make a recommendation. Can you give an idea on something you might like to work from? Instrumental (piano, sax, etc), female vocal, upbeat, relaxing, etc?

[Mr.Lawrence]

I'm partial to live music DVD performances. The combination of great DTS or 5.1 sound and "live" performances can make any type of music enjoyable.

Consider Eric Clapton's "Crossroads Guitar Festival" DVD. It has some blues, fusion, folk-rock-country and lots of guitar. It's very well recorded, has great sound, and can introduce you to a lot of non-mainstream artist.

There's a 2007 and a 2006 version.

For "Jazz", I highly recommend Bele Fleck & the Flecktones "Live at the Quick" DVD. This is another excellent performance. Bele integrated the Oboe, english horn, and a bassoon for this performance and the results are wonderful.


My Sierras just love these discs.

[moehop]

You Must Believe In Spring by Bill Evans. Listen and feel the goosebumbs stand up on the back your neck.




Hello,

Im trying to broaden my music collection and have never listened to jazz or blues. I heard a few songs recently from both genres (no idea who they were) and liked them.

If anyone could suggest a few artists for me to explore in these genres id appreciate it.

Everything sounds great on ascends:)

[ebh]

I really like the live recording of the Thelonius Monk Quartet and John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. You can explore Monk, Coltrane and Miles Davis as a place to start. For blues, I need to get some more discs too. I like Robert Johnson but that's not really stuff that sounds super "good" in terms of audio quality. You can also do some BB King as a starter.

Both of these are huge genres with a ton of history. Check out the Wikipedia entries if you want to learn a bit more. They can also point the way to bands/people that might be worth checking out.

Blues: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues

Jazz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz

Thanks for this post--reminds me of a lot of music I want to check into. Blues and then jazz are quintessential American music.

[mziegler]

After listening to jazz for 30 years, I would say that most people start with Miles Davis, especially Kind of Blue. I love Monk and Coltrane, but in the beginning some find them challenging.

Where else? It depends on the kind of music you like. Duke Ellington is a necessary starting point, as is Louis Armstrong, Count Basie.

Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday are the classic female vocalists. There are many interesting singers today: Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Patricia Barber, etc.

Some classics: Stan Getz, Charlie Parker (who basically invented modern jazz) Sonny Rollins, Modern Jazz Quartet, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, Bill Evans. I'm listing my favorites off the top of my head.

The world of jazz is so huge that I recommend that you use pandora.com, a local jazz station on the radio, or a jazz station on the web. With pandora you can type in an artist, and it will play music that fits in the same category. You mark what you like and do not like. Great way to find new music.

[get_zwole]

I'm partial to live music DVD performances. The combination of great DTS or 5.1 sound and "live" performances can make any type of music enjoyable.

Consider Eric Clapton's "Crossroads Guitar Festival" DVD. It has some blues, fusion, folk-rock-country and lots of guitar. It's very well recorded, has great sound, and can introduce you to a lot of non-mainstream artist.

There's a 2007 and a 2006 version.

For "Jazz", I highly recommend Bele Fleck & the Flecktones "Live at the Quick" DVD. This is another excellent performance. Bele integrated the Oboe, english horn, and a bassoon for this performance and the results are wonderful.


My Sierras just love these discs.
i took your advice and grabbed the flecktones live dvd and it is fantastic. Its not my fav. genre but i watched the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Mr.Lawrence]

i took your advice and grabbed the flecktones live dvd and it is fantastic. Its not my fav. genre but i watched the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cool! I'm glad you liked it.

[Mr.Lawrence]

The world of jazz is so huge that I recommend that you use pandora.com, a local jazz station on the radio, or a jazz station on the web. With pandora you can type in an artist, and it will play music that fits in the same category. You mark what you like and do not like. Great way to find new music.


Thanks for the recommendation to use pandora.com. I have never seen anything like this site before. It's great!

[rogerm]

Hello,

Im trying to broaden my music collection and have never listened to jazz or blues. I heard a few songs recently from both genres (no idea who they were) and liked them.

If anyone could suggest a few artists for me to explore in these genres id appreciate it.

Everything sounds great on ascends:)

You might enjoy this site http://www.archive.org/details/etree The artists are trade friendly and there is a ton of free recordings in every genre to explore. You may also download in lossless format if you wish. I have found many gems in this library.

[GirgleMirt]

Jazz, Dave Brubeck is a really nice place to start. I'm really not a big jazz fan, most of it leaves me cold, but I like Brubeck. Time Out, Blue rondo a la turk, classics. Wish there was more jazz like that. (anyone has any recommendation with something similar?)

Blues: B.B. King. Buddy Guy, SRV, Albert King.

[edtandy]

Grateful Dead -- you get jazz and blues all in one.

Head over to bt.etree.org, pick up some free lossless recordings from, say, late 1973 and just get lost in it... If you want to buy something the Winterland 73 box set is the ultimate.