Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPod Jazz Recommendations

N

neoelectronaut

Cancelled
Original poster
A coworker is listening to some Jazz on his iPod in the room I'm in right now. Sounds really good. Anyone have some reccomendations for Jazz tracks on iTunes? I'm gonna pick up a $15 card or two to grab a few tracks. It's a shame, really. Most of my music is electronica/rock. I'm not sure what is good to branch out into other genres.
 
neoelectronaut said:
A coworker is listening to some Jazz on his iPod in the room I'm in right now. Sounds really good. Anyone have some reccomendations for Jazz tracks on iTunes? I'm gonna pick up a $15 card or two to grab a few tracks. It's a shame, really. Most of my music is electronica/rock. I'm not sure what is good to branch out into other genres.
Click to expand...

Not trying to be rude here, but you're honestly goin' to get a billion different responses to this question. It's like asking everyone what rock/rap/electronica/etc. tracks to get.

In any case (yeah, I'm a hypocrite), here's some names I'd look up:

Charlie Parker
Miles Davis (Birth of Cool, Kind of Blue)
Ella Fitzgerald
Nina Simone
Duke Ellington

Those are just some.

A great sampler (imho) of jazz is "Ken Burns Jazz" boxset. Yeah, Jazz aficionados look down on that set, but for jazz "newbies," I personally think it's a wonderful introduction. I'm not sure though if you can get it through iTunes, but it doesn't hurt to look! 🙂

w00master
 
Yeah, I guess it depends if you are interested in mainstream jazz or modern jazz. The one the above poster mentioned are essentials.
 
patseguin said:
Yeah, I guess it depends if you are interested in mainstream jazz or modern jazz. The one the above poster mentioned are essentials.
Click to expand...
Oscar Peterson, best jazz pianist ever.
 
I'm not sure what iTunes has available, but these are the albums which get played most often in my iTunes:

Dave Brubeck: Time Out
Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um
John Coltrane: Blue Train
John Coltrane: Giant Steps
Thelonius Monk: Misterioso
Smokin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
 
what kinda jazz you like?

I'm more into guys like:

Christian McBride - Sci Fi
AllanHoldsworth - Anything by him
Al DiMeola - Anything by him
Chad Wackerman - older stuff
Kevin Eubanks - Spirits...


man so many artists...
 
Dizzy Gilespie

My favorite album on the itunes store is the "Ultimate Dizzy Gilespie" album espically tracks:

ool - ya - koo (skat track)
Con Alma
Birk's Works
Feista Mojo


--I have a couple of other favorites, but not on the iTunes site.
 
some good modern jazz

david benoit ---> right here, right now album
the rippingtons ---> life in the tropics lp
spyro gyra ---> the deep end lp
boney james ---> backbone lp
rick braun----> shake it up lp
bob james ---> morning, noon and night lp
dave koz ----> saxophonic lp
3rd force ----> driving force
brian culbertson ---> come on up lp
dan siegal ----> inside out lp
gerald albright ----> kickin' it up lp
jeff lorber ----> kickin' it lp
steve cole ---> ny la lp
yellowjackets ---> samurai samba lp
richard elliot ---> chill factor lp
michael lington---> show me lp

and all availabe on itunes! good modern stuff here...
 
Hmm... too many good ones to choose, but here goes:
Stan Getz - great baritone sax
Miles - Trumpet master
Coltrane - nuff said
Bela Fleck - acoustic and electric banjo jazz
Oscar Peterson as mentioned
Mose Allison
McCoy Tyner
Bill Evans
Dave Brubek
Monk
Clifford Brown
Ella Fitz and Billy Holiday for vocals
and many others

Depends if you like straightahead jazz, smooth jazz, bebop, modern, acid..

I've also got some good jazzy Grisman/Garcia stuff, some Grisman/Stefan Grapelli and if you want to hear some of the craziest picking ever get your hands on Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco De Lucia's fantastic recording "Friday Night in San Francisco". It will blow your mind.
 
w00master said:
Not trying to be rude here, but you're honestly goin' to get a billion different responses to this question. It's like asking everyone what rock/rap/electronica/etc. tracks to get.

In any case (yeah, I'm a hypocrite), here's some names I'd look up:

Charlie Parker
Miles Davis (Birth of Cool, Kind of Blue)
Ella Fitzgerald
Nina Simone
Duke Ellington

Those are just some.

A great sampler (imho) of jazz is "Ken Burns Jazz" boxset. Yeah, Jazz aficionados look down on that set, but for jazz "newbies," I personally think it's a wonderful introduction. I'm not sure though if you can get it through iTunes, but it doesn't hurt to look! 🙂

w00master
Click to expand...

If I can get 50 reccomendations out of this thread, that's 50 to start from rather than picking out of thousands.

Regardless, I don't know one type of Jazz from the other, so I'll just listen around.
 
It seems to me that people usually only dig one of the two sub-genres of jazz (smooth jazz and cool jazz) but never both. Personally, I'm more attracted to cool jazz, but I know that both are hits with the ladies. Just look at the names - smoooooth and coooool.
 
You will get so many responses to this question it will just become overwhelming. When I asked my friends this same question (all music majors and most sax) the one name that kept coming up was Miles Davis. He is probably the only one artists that (almost) everyone will agree on. Most people will gravitate towards a particular genre or instrument, but Miles Davis' Kind of Blue seems to be a staple in collections. I would suggest to start there.

Apmonia
 
I'll throw these out; most have already been said: miles & coltrane (of course), monk, john mclaughlin, wes montgomery, the flecktones, medeski martin & wood, charlie hunter
 
Right on!

Apmonia said:
You will get so many responses to this question it will just become overwhelming. When I asked my friends this same question (all music majors and most sax) the one name that kept coming up was Miles Davis. He is probably the only one artists that (almost) everyone will agree on. Most people will gravitate towards a particular genre or instrument, but Miles Davis' Kind of Blue seems to be a staple in collections. I would suggest to start there.

Apmonia
Click to expand...

I can't stress enough how much of an understatement that is. Back in the days of compact discs, I bought Kind of Blue used at the local Hastings, and couldn't keep the tunes out of my head for months.Within a year I had a full 64-disc cd wallet dedicated to jazz cd's. Buy Kind of Blue, and branch out from there.

Personally, I can't stand cool/smooth jazz...but that's another story.

My all-time favorites:

Sonny Rollins-Saxophone Colossus (very powerful sax-easy to get into)
Charles Mingus-Mingus Ah Um (energetic songs with some gospel influence)
Thelonious Monk-Great Hits (normally I don't like greatest hits, but this is one is an exception, quirky and melodic songs that happen to be genius work)
John Coltrane-Giant Steps (very tuneful and accessible)
Jimmy Smith-Back at the Chicken Shack (extremely soulful jazz organ)
Lee Morgan-Cornbread
Charlie Parker-Anything, basically just listen to the guy! (one of the key figures-some say THE key figure-in jazz history, basically invented jazz as you know it today while swing became r and b which became rock 'n roll)
Duke Ellington-Sophisticated Lady (fantastic swing music made by jazz's most prolific genius)

Anyway, that should suffice (those albums comprised about two years worth of listening for me). I very sincerely hope you enjoy them half as much as I do. To recap, start with Kind of Blue and find your way from there.

Happy listening!
 
Jazz Stuff

If you are into mindbogging vocalists, check out Kurt Elling, an incredible Chicagoan.

Also, Larry Carlton's Fourplay are really incredible smooth jazz musicians.

Get some Wayne Shorter, and Weather Report. Fullstop. Amazing stuff.
 
I second those who have suggested Charles Mingus and Miles Davis. Yeah get Take five by Dave Brubeck - great song brilliant drum solo.
 
Jedda said:
If you are into mindbogging vocalists, check out Kurt Elling, an incredible Chicagoan.
Click to expand...

Bobby McFerrin has also done some great jazzy stuff. I recommend his albums with Chick Corea. Also "the Voice" - great version of "A-Train" on there, performed live, one man, one microphone.

Speaking of Chick.. If you want to learn about seventies funk / fusion, you could do worse than to check out Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. Three great keyboard players and pretty much at the forefront of the synth revolution.

Places to start:

Chick Corea: "Light as a Feather", "My Spanish Heart"
Herbie Hancock: "Head Hunters", "Sunlight"
Weather Report (Zawinul's group): "Heavy Weather", "Black Market"

Weather Report was pretty much an all star group, with Wayne Shorter on sax and Jaco Pastorius on bass (he joined after Vitous left). For some instrument-redefining bassplaying, try Pastorius' "Invitation" and "Word of Mouth".

Whew, that was a lot. Just remember to have fun with it and most of all to give it time. Some jazz is "difficult" to listen to, and an acquired taste.
 
Two suggestions

One -- use iTunes to sample some jazz tracks -- the first 30 seconds will give you some idea of what to expect.

Two -- Try the Jazz section under the Radio button in iTunes. You'll soon be able to find some artists to investigate further. (I'd avoid anything with 'smooth' in the title -- jazz was never intended to be smooth.)
 
Can anyone list some songs that have really good trombone solos and a good funk jam type of feel? I don't want any lyrical songs, just straight up jams. I can't find anything.
 
JzzTrump22 said:
Can anyone list some songs that have really good trombone solos and a good funk jam type of feel? I don't want any lyrical songs, just straight up jams. I can't find anything.
Click to expand...

you my friend want to do some serious jamming to Marcus Miller... excellent bass player that incorporates those instruments in his songs as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back