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Disappearing Jazz?

After years of collecting all types of music except jazz and big band I'm now playing catchup.  Looking at the recordings of Ruby Braff (trumpet), Dick Hyman (piano) Roland Hanna (piano). Art Tatum (piano), Claude Bolling even the great vocalist Sarah Vaughan I find the majority of their catalog is only available used on vinyl.  There are many other names I could have included in this list - I'm gradually getting to them (Thelonious Sphere Monk, etc ).

Beyond the lack of availability what alarms me as a new collector of this genre is that there doesn't appear to be musicians to take the place of these giants.  Not to say there are no more Big Bands or jazz pianists BUT how many new artists have the hundreds of recordings these musicians created?

Is jazz disappearing?  Will streaming services eventually include recordings only available on LP? 

Feel free to offer any suggestions for other artists to collect in the traditional jazz / big band category.  I also have collected Miles, Coltrane and Bill Evans though just starting to dive into Ellington.

Hoping to find this music soon.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

bigquery

Showing 1 response by sameyers1

sameyers1
140 posts
 

Another good jazz radio station, with programs that include a lot of classic jazz artists pre-1960 is WBGO from Newark, NJ. They also play music by contemporary artists.There are two separate streams and it’s a great place to listen to artists to decide who else you might like to collect. 
 

I would recommend adding Ahmad Jamal to your list of pianists as well as the Modern Jazz Quartet, which included John Lewis on piano, Milt Jackson vibes, perhaps the best to ever play that instrument, Percy Heath on bass and Connie Kay on drums. The MJQ was one of the tightest groups in jazz, with players who did a phenomenal job of supporting each other and who traveled the world to sold out performances and much acclaim. 
 

i too suggest a service like Qobuz and using Roon, which with its radio function adds tracks to your queue based on your past tracks and allows you to vote up or down on tracks you like. 
 

Happy listening. 

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