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I really like what I've heard of Jazz, but the genre seems a bit generic from afar. Does anyone know any good Jazz artists/songs? I'm looking for laid back, relaxing, and instrumental pieces. Any help would be hella-great.

Tons and tons of Miles Davis.

It is sort of weird seeing =w= as the only reply to a thread started by I, SlappyMcGee.

Regarding topic: Dave Brubeck and Eric Dolphy. Time Out and Out To Lunch! are the albums to get if you're only getting one each. Should you decide to venture beyond outwardly pleasant waters in the Jazz Sea, by the way, I can be a much more useful guide.

Interested, gloomp. Very.

Ornette Coleman! John Coltrane! Masada!

=w= wrote:Interested, gloomp. Very.

Great! Here are some names to be familiar with: Peter Brötzmann, Masayuki Takayanagi, Evan Parker, Han Bennink, Kaoru Abe, Alexander von Schlippenbach.

and here are some albums by those names to be familiar with: Machine Gun, Complete "La Grima", Monoceros, Solo, Mokuyôbi no Yoru, Pakistani Pomade.

I love jazz, though I'm not much of a connoisseur since I tend to like everything I listen to (though I've never really gotten into Out To Lunch). To throw out the names of some other artists (noting that the guy who's name is first on the album doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot, since most of the other players are likely to be notable figures and often bandleaders in their own rights) and albums of the more conventional variety, mostly hard bop:

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
Oliver Nelson - The Blues And The Abstract Truth
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser

of this genre, i am a big fan of bill evans and his fantastic trio

xVxCrushloaderusSupremusxVx wrote:

=w= wrote:Interested, gloomp. Very.

Great! Here are some names to be familiar with: Peter Brötzmann, Masayuki Takayanagi, Evan Parker, Han Bennink, Kaoru Abe, Alexander von Schlippenbach.

and here are some albums by those names to be familiar with: Machine Gun, Complete "La Grima", Monoceros, Solo, Mokuyôbi no Yoru, Pakistani Pomade.

How didn't I know you were into jazz? Also I second the Mingus, Coltrane.

Also also, I can't think of Miles Davis without hearing in my head: "I've been swayed by the Coooooooooooooool"

Coltrane is immensely skilled. It's brainfrightening.

The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus is probably in my top 5 albums ever. I also really like A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, and In A Silent Way by Miles Davis. There are a lot of dead famous jazz albums that I find super boring, though.

From the Dave Brubeck entourage, comes a fantastic drum solo in 5/4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tTyTc6FjjU

Joe Morello is one of my favourite drummers.

SlappyMcGee wrote:Tons and tons of Miles Davis.

I was going to say the same thing. I was with a friend a few days ago, and we lounged around listening to lots of Davis. If you can get your hands on some, and are looking for background (almost "lounge") jazz, look no further.

Lenny wrote:

SlappyMcGee wrote:Tons and tons of Miles Davis.

I was going to say the same thing. I was with a friend a few days ago, and we lounged around listening to lots of Davis. If you can get your hands on some, and are looking for background (almost "lounge") jazz, look no further.

Well, up until about 1960, at which point he starts getting a fair bit more experimental. Kind of Blue eschews conventional chord structures but still sounds pretty chill, Sketches of Spain explores Spanish folk music, then things got really shaken up by about 1969, when he released In A Silent Way, which I think of as a precursor to ambient electronica, then in 1970 Bitches Brew, a freeform experimental jazz fusion double LP, then 1971 on A Tribute to Jack Johnson where his arrangements start sounding more like rock/funk music than jazz.

I've not heard that many of his records but I'm lead to believe there's more variation than people think! To quote Davis himself: "I've changed music four or five times. What have you done of any importance other than be white?"

Stephen wrote:

Lenny wrote:

SlappyMcGee wrote:Tons and tons of Miles Davis.

I was going to say the same thing. I was with a friend a few days ago, and we lounged around listening to lots of Davis. If you can get your hands on some, and are looking for background (almost "lounge") jazz, look no further.

Well, up until about 1960, at which point he starts getting a fair bit more experimental. Kind of Blue eschews conventional chord structures but still sounds pretty chill, Sketches of Spain explores Spanish folk music, then things got really shaken up by about 1969, when he released In A Silent Way, which I think of as a precursor to ambient electronica, then in 1970 Bitches Brew, a freeform experimental jazz fusion double LP, then 1971 on A Tribute to Jack Johnson where his arrangements start sounding more like rock/funk music than jazz.

I've not heard that many of his records but I'm lead to believe there's more variation than people think! To quote Davis himself: "I've changed music four or five times. What have you done of any importance other than be white?"

Precisely. Miles Davis is a lot of things but he's certainly not primarily lounge jazz. If you're looking for easy listening jazz, I would start with Frank Sinatra or Harry Connick Jr. rather than Miles Davis.

Recommending Sinatra in a Jazz thread completely misinterprets the context of what we in retrospect view as Jazz, which is something closer to the Bebop movement, in part pushed forward by Davis et crew. All Lenny could have meant by lounge Jazz is it's easy listening nature, or even the possibility that it is they style of music most commonly found in lounges, reception desks etc.

Naturally, jazz has roots that sound very different from what I would say could be reasonably called lounge jazz today; you just have to look at one of the first films with synchronized sound, The Jazz Singer, and see that what we interpret as jazz is definitely not what they did. I find the idea of you ignoring the context here, re: the 21st century akin to recommending Little Richard to somebody looking for some rock music. It's just not the same thing.

I imagine a rebuttal will go something like this; "He said lounge jazz! It would be like asking for rock and roll!" but if you merely look at the context of Lenny's sentence, he was implying relaxed, background-y music. (And to be clear, you don't know shit about relaxed music, Beach House h8r)

I have no idea what you're trying to say. Sinatra isn't Jazz? Or, he was Jazz but isn't anymore? You said he's Bebop but that's a sub-genre of Jazz. You've totally lost me here.

hairscapades wrote:I have no idea what you're trying to say. Sinatra isn't Jazz? Or, he was Jazz but isn't anymore? You said he's Bebop but that's a sub-genre of Jazz. You've totally lost me here.

The first sentence suggests that your recommendation of Sinatra as Jazz is expired because Sinatra does not belong to the genre of Jazz as Jazz is currently viewed. I will try and break this down further for you, since you found the other sentence similarly difficult to comprehend:

1) When Sinatra played music, he was considered a Jazz musician. (Much like Little Richard was considered Rock. Please read the previous post.)
2) Jazz as is being referred to in this thread and as Lenny was referring to it is far removed from this definition.

Genres for Frank Sinatra on RYM: Standards, Vocal Jazz, Traditional Pop, Pop, Christmas Music, Swing, Jazz, Easy Listening
Genres for Frank Sinatra on Wikipedia: Traditional pop, jazz, swing, big band, vocal
Genres for Frank Sinatra on AllMusic: Vocal, Jazz, Pop/Rock

Genres for Miles Davis on RYM: Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Modal Jazz, Cool Jazz, Hard Bop, Jazz-Funk, Avant-Garde Jazz, Jazz-Rock, Post-Bop, Big Band, Bebop, Film Soundtrack, Film Score, Smooth Jazz
Genres for Miles Davis on Wikipedia: Jazz, hard bop, bebop, cool jazz, modal, fusion, third stream, jazz-funk jazz rap
Genres for Miles Davis on AllMusic: Jazz, Pop/Rock, Classical

Jazz has evolved, not unlike Rock, to be a sort of super-genre. I don't see how Frank Sinatra doesn't fit within this rubric but maybe you can explain which characteristics of his music exclude him from the music being talked about in this thread?

Tanner, I find it incredibly ignorant of you if you do not understand that the modern context of popular jazz is almost entirely rooted in the bebop movement and so, when Lenny said that it was almost lounge-y, he was not specifically referring to the Jazz that existed in lounge bars a la Frank Sinatra, but was rather referring to the general air of the music he was listening to.

I also think it was pretentious to even suggest that he was wrong in his interpretation. Who the fuck are you?

I did not say Miles Davis wasn't loungy. I would never exclude a particular characteristic from an artist with such a large discography. I said that he wasn't "primarily lounge jazz" and I was speaking in the modern context.

I said that because it is my opinion that Frank Sinatra is more of an "easy listening" experience than Miles Davis. Davis pushed boundaries and expanded horizons in his time. Frank Sinatra was, quite literally, a lounge singer. There are subtleties at play in Miles Davis' work that simply don't exist in Frank Sinatra's which is why, if you're just going to have it on in the background, I think Frank Sinatra is a better choice, generally speaking.

Also, Harry Connick Jr. is really pretty good. In case you'd like to check him out, I recommend We Are In Love.

I'm annoyed that you think I don't know who Harry Connick Jr. is, so I'm backing out before I ban something I'd regret.

I recommend Grant Green. Sunday Mornin' is really good.