Start the New Year with a jazz starter kit
December 31st, 2008 by Eric Snider in ReviewsA couple of weeks ago, my brother in Seattle called and asked if I could recommend a few jazz CDs for his 20-year-old son who had expressed an interest. A starter kit, if you will.
I’ve had like requests many, many times over the years, and so it dawned on me: Why not publish one?
Here’s a 10-CD jazz primer designed to lure those curious about the genre into being, if not hooked, at least satisfied enough to continue a jazz quest. Being a jazzbo like me can be lonely these days, so the more folks I can recruit the better.
Before we get started, a few words about criteria. I didn’t attempt to cover all the bases in jazz history. The idea here is seduction through listenability, while offering a solid overview. I may love 1930s Duke Ellington, but to the uninitiated it tends to sound like music from old cartoons. Likewise, I dig Albert Ayler, but most people would hear it as squawky noise and want to plug their ears.
That said, this is no dumbed-down list. Most of the titles are recognized classics, and a few will pose a challenge, especially for those who like their music sensible and orderly.
There are many overlapping players on these discs, but I purposely limited artists to one title.
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (Columbia/Sony, 1959)
This is always the first album I recommend to the jazz curious. The ultimate gateway drug — gorgeous, intimate and expansive at the same time. Kind of Blue is probably the most widely revered jazz record of all time, and for good reason. Simple, grabby melodic sketches give way to extended solos by one of the greatest lineups ever assembled, including Miles on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Cannonball Adderley on alto sax and Bill Evans on piano. The music is dark and moody yet somehow comforting.
Oliver Nelson: The Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse!, 1961)
Nelson was a saxophonist, composer and arranger who balanced a restless artistry with commercial instincts. This is his classic, a set of smoothly swinging, terrifically melodic tunes played by a six-piece band. The horn arrangements are imaginative and delightful, and Nelson’s profoundly bluesy tenor sax solos complement alto saxophonist/bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy’s darting dissonance. If you don’t fall in love with the lead track, “Stolen Moments,” then feel free to quit the jazz quest posthaste.
Charlie Parker: Best of The Complete Savoy & Dial Studio Recordings (Savoy, 1944-1948)
Bird, as the alto saxophonist was known, goes down as perhaps the most important figure in modern jazz. He, along with a few fellow travelers, developed the styled called bebop, a harmonically and rhythmically complex sound that changed the focus of jazz from big bands to small groups. Although Bird has had scores of imitators over the years, hearing his fleet, commanding sax work is still a marvel. This single disc culls the best material from a particularly fruitful period of his too-short career.
Bill Frisell: Blues Dream (Nonesuch, 2001)
The most recent title on our list, Blues Dream is a fine example of how jazz morphed and blended with other genres through the years. This is lush midnight music, mostly down-tempo, pitting an ethereal horn section with the exotic web of Greg Liesz’s lap steel and Frisell’s warbling, impressionistic guitar paintings. Although a serious blues thread runs through the music, Frisell also blends in country and other elements of Americana.
Ornette Coleman: The Shape of Jazz To Come (Atlantic, 1959)
Risky though it may be, I’m going to have you stick a toe in the avant-garde end of the pool. When Shape of Jazz came out in ’59, it was shocking (and to many, repugnant). A half-century later, not so much. The music is frenetic and at times harsh, but it hangs together with swing-based grooves. The melodies ain’t pretty in the conventional sense, but they are gripping. Alto saxophonist Coleman and trumpeter Don Cherry don’t hew to the chord-based improvisational orthodoxy of jazz at the time (hence the term “free jazz”), but the sublime cry of Ornette’s tone still stirs the soul.
Weather Report: Black Market (Columbia/Sony, 1976)
For the most part, jazz’s fusion movement of the ’70s seems quaint and dated these days, but a handful of acts have stood the test of time. None more so than Weather Report, headed by two refugees of Miles Davis’ bands: keyboardist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Zawinul’s tasteful and innovative use of electronic keyboards adds a fresh textural dimension. Bassist Jaco Pastorius, who appears on about half the album, was reinventing the electric bass. The compositions are brilliant, the arrangements remarkable. The music swings, rocks and funks.
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965)
Revered as one of the most intense, personal and spiritual albums in jazz annals, A Love Supreme is at turns aggressive, meditative and hypnotic. Coltrane’s playing is so exploratory that it seems as if he wanted to crawl inside his tenor sax and live there. While the disc clearly falls into the challenging category, it retains a mesmerizing accessibility.
Bill Evans: Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Fantasy, 1961)
The piano trio (piano/bass/drums) is a venerable jazz format, and Sunday at the Village Vanguard is an ideal example. This live recording was not a case of a pianist being backed up by rhythm players; rather Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian are on pretty much equal footing, probing, interacting, exploring. As a pianist, Evans was more introspective than flashy, so he leans toward ballads and midtempo swing. The overall effect is gorgeous, music you can get lost in.
Cannonball Adderley: Somethin’ Else (Blue Note, 1958)
With Miles Davis on trumpet, Somethin’ Else can be viewed as a precursor to Kind of Blue — not as inventive or historic, certainly, but similar in feel: relaxed, open, inviting, with freewheeling but controlled improvisational forays. Cannonball, a Floridian, doused his post-Bird alto work with the blues.
Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil (Blue Note, 1964) While a member of Miles Davis’ lauded 1960s quintet, Shorter released his own quintet effort, similar in flavor: elastic, inquisitive and thoroughly mesmerizing. The saxophonist’s elliptical and complex compositions make absolute sense; the marvelous solos integrate into an exquisite whole.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
what, Coltrane’s “Interstellar Space” isn’t in the starter kit? it’s only challenging if your head explodes.
January 1st, 2009 at 1:45 am
You don’t like Metheny, do you.
January 1st, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I used to really like Metheny, but to me the music hasn’t aged well. I listened to a tune from “Pat Metheny Group” not long ago, and it sounded dull. I’d love to ask Pat — I’ve interviewed him numerous times but not lately — what he thinks of his older material.
January 1st, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Eric, great list. I would add the Ellington/Roach/Mingus 1962 collaboration, Money Jungle – one of my favorite jazz discs of all time.
January 1st, 2009 at 7:52 pm
That’s certainly a good one, Joran. I could come up with at least 50 more. Maybe I’ll issue a second ten in a little bit. There’s no Monk or Mingus on the list. Bud Powell, Art Blakey, shit I could go on and on, not to mention more obscure names like Sonny Clark and Andrew Hill.
January 1st, 2009 at 7:52 pm
oh, and no Sonny Rollins either.
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Great list! Covers a great span of what jazz has to offer and straddles the line between approachable and challenging in a way that I think makes it a good starter kit. It is also manageable enough in size to actually be effective. Way to go! Really interesting to see how someone else would start some off in jazz listening. It also made me want to listen to Sunday at the Village Vanguard right away.
Bob from My Dear Disco
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
thanks, Bob. I’m hoping some folks will at least sample a few of these things, maybe on Amazon or some such. You have a favorite on the list, or perhaps a couple of titles to add?
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:47 pm
I understand about not recommending 78 RPM-era recordings by Ellington, but don’t forget that Ellington recorded lots of stereo, hi-fi gems (for example, the Far East Suite).
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:29 pm
No Stan Getz – and my point is, there never is on any of these type of lists. I can not figure that out! (I mean, what would be more seductive a sound – rehtorical question, no question mark – and for your purposes described here, really really should be number one).
And, if I may say so, seeing Kind of Blue is just evidence of lack of imagination (I don’t mean disrespect to the writer, but I just sigh).
I’ve often thought that albums like (and this is off the top of my head) “Return of the Griffin”, “Sophisicated Giant” (Dexter), “Here’s Lee Morgan” (VeeJay), “Whistle Stop” (Kenny Dorham), “Overseas” (Tommy Flanagan), “Jazz Concert” (George Shearing Quintet), “Eastern Rebellion” (Cedar Walton) “Pure Desmond”, and other perennial favourites of jazz fans (you know – jazz music!) should routinely be discussed as, indeed, “the greatest albums there are”. But they’re never on these lists – just these “cannonical” type of items trotted out repeatedly – and, frankly, that’s NOT what I would put in front of “newbies”: you definitley wont get a result (don’t think so, anyway). A love Supreme, after all, is rigorous, austere (to a degree) and very particular
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Some interesting choices but this list is better suited to more advanced listeners. Newcomers will find “A Love Supreme” and Ornette very hard to digest. Instead check out my Jazz for Newcomers list of the first 20 CD’s newcomers should buy. Not the 20 greatest–the FIRST 20: http://www.squidoo.com/jazzfornewcomers
January 5th, 2009 at 12:45 am
All essential recordings to a complete jazz collection – no doubt about it – but a “starter kit”?? Ridiculous. The way to lure a newbie into jazz is with swing – not bop, not hard bop, not post-bop, not free jazz (Ornette Coleman? Oh for heaven’s sake!) – just small ensembles and maybe a touch of big-band swinging recognizable standards. Count Basie, Lester Young, Benny Carter, Oscar Peterson – you get the idea. I love Coltrane as much as anybody – but start a newbie off with him and you can forget about recruiting a new jazz fan.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Eric: your response/reaction/thoughts to the chorus of comments here that your list, while quality jazz, is actually not suitable for newcomers as a “starter kit.” What do you say?
January 7th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Sorry for the delayed response, guys. While your arguments are certainly valid, I firmly believe that Oliver Nelson, Kind of Blue, Evans et al, would resonate better for an uninitiated listener than, say, big band music. I think big band would sound anachronistic to most ears. Now if you’re jazz newbie were 79 years old, then Count Basie would be perfect. My ten could certainly be replaced by a dozen other tens, and Getz definitely deserves to be on one (or more) of them. And I will admit that Ornette Coleman is a bit of a stretch in a starter kit, but in my mind it was “let the newcomer explore and hear some of the more challenging offerings.” In summation, I’ve weighed your arguments and still believe my list would make a good starter kit, as well as an overview. But then, you didn’t expect anything else, did you :) Jim, thanks for offering up your list.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
An intelligent list for sure — but is it tailored to this one 20-year old listener? Perhaps even a brief list might acknowledge that there was jazz before 1955 and that people sang jazz as well. Or is the list tacitly stating that only the aging jazz types can hear Billie Holiday and Lester Young? I wonder.