Go out digging a lot and score anything jazz-related and cheap. There's so much jazz and taste is a very personal thing, so go out exploring and see what kind of jazz makes you tick!
Off the top of my head, here are some favorites that are also accessible. They pretty much lean towards hard bop or post bop:
Lee Morgan - Search For The New Land Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Moanin' Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Big Beat Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Free For All Horace Silver - Serenade To A Soul Sister Thelonius Monk - Brilliant Corners Gerry Mulligan - Mulligan Meets Monk Pharoah Sanders - Karma Pharoah Sanders - Thembi Grachan Moncur III - Evolution Eric Dolphy - Out To Lunch Ron Carter - Where Johnny Griffin - Blowin' Session
And, if you find that you like free/spiritual jazz, I can't recommend Mtume & the Umoja Ensemble's "Alkebu Lan" enough. If you find yourself heading in this direction, start the search early because it may take a while to find.
Go out digging a lot and score anything jazz-related and cheap. There's so much jazz and taste is a very personal thing, so go out exploring and see what kind of jazz makes you tick!
my $0.02
f'real. when i first got interested in jazz i just got a few classics, then czeched out anything i could find that had the same musicians, and it snowballed from there.
And, of course, don't neglect the tepid terd subgenre:
Tom Scott John Klemmer Alphonse Mouzon...
sure Klemmer put out a ton of pure garbage, but he had his moments on those early tripped out Cadet recordings like Eruptions and All the Children Cried. Dude must have flamed out.
And, of course, don't neglect the tepid terd subgenre:
Tom Scott John Klemmer Alphonse Mouzon...
to called these players tepid although they all ended up putting a glut of crappy material out starting in the mid to late 70's. there is no way i would consider an album like rural still life by tom scott tepid or the aformentioned early cadet recordings of john klemmer, or mouzon's essence of mystery. also those guys played on a considerable amount of wicked sessions by other artist as well from eugene mcdaniels,joni mitchell, mccoy tyner, wayne shorter, steely dan etc, etc..
the point is, if you want to build a decent jazz collection you need to find out for yourself which players, labels, and periods interest you the most. its kind of like connecting dots.
And, of course, don't neglect the tepid terd subgenre:
Tom Scott John Klemmer Alphonse Mouzon...
to called these players tepid although they all ended up putting a glut of crappy material out starting in the mid to late 70's. there is no way i would consider an album like rural still life by tom scott tepid or the aformentioned early cadet recordings of john klemmer
C'mon, dude--that's kind of the crap I had in mind. I wouldn't even lower myself to referring to their later efforts.
Comments
Jazz has many sub-genres so what may interest one man may not interest another.
theres a whole lotta difference between modal and free jazz
heres some shit I got into waaay back when
Mingus broke my cherry
Gene Harris is incredibly under rated
Duke Ellington's "Money Jungle" is a classic that should be owned by all
ditto for Roland Kirk's "We Free Kings"
be sure to grab any and all albums by Lee Morgan as well
my $0.02
Lee Morgan - Search For The New Land
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Big Beat
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Free For All
Horace Silver - Serenade To A Soul Sister
Thelonius Monk - Brilliant Corners
Gerry Mulligan - Mulligan Meets Monk
Pharoah Sanders - Karma
Pharoah Sanders - Thembi
Grachan Moncur III - Evolution
Eric Dolphy - Out To Lunch
Ron Carter - Where
Johnny Griffin - Blowin' Session
And, if you find that you like free/spiritual jazz, I can't recommend Mtume & the Umoja Ensemble's "Alkebu Lan" enough. If you find yourself heading in this direction, start the search early because it may take a while to find.
ahmad jamal
f'real. when i first got interested in jazz i just got a few classics, then czeched out anything i could find that had the same musicians, and it snowballed from there.
ok I feel dirty now, but not muddy dirty more like starbucks mocha latte with soy dirty
Tom Scott
John Klemmer
Alphonse Mouzon...
you forgot the great Chuck Mangione
DON'T TET
Do even "samples, yo" dudes sweat that guy? I think maybe you mean Gap Mangione...
Brainfreeze Shadow raer
Prestige/New Jazz/Moodsville
Impulse
Flying Dutchman
ESP
CTI/Kudu got some beats, yo.
Seriously, though, I'd explore the Prestige and Impulse catalogs before getting too heavy with peripheral stuff like Strata East.
My recommendations:
Milt Jackson
Mingus
A Jamal
Yusef Lateef
Mingus was the first one who really blew my head off, though.
don't front on "Land of Make Believe".
sure Klemmer put out a ton of pure garbage, but he had his moments on those early tripped out Cadet recordings like Eruptions and All the Children Cried. Dude must have flamed out.
that's sneaky of you
C'mon, dude--that's kind of the crap I had in mind. I wouldn't even lower myself to referring to their later efforts.
e.g.
"sarah vaughan - swingin easy"
"marlena shaw - live at montreux"
and check out some weird stuff
sun ra (e.g. cosmic tones for mental therapy)
moondog
and mingus and monk are definitely