Essential Blues/ jazz

Hmmm, 40s through 70s. That'd be late swing through fusion. Good you've narrowed that down! :-)

Seriously, enjoy the ride.

I have found that a lot of the labels sell "sampler" volumes very inexpensively.

The (blues) one that immediately comes to mind is Alligator Records "Genuine House Rocking" series.

Happy listening,

Hmmm, that list could be long and distinguished. Resources I've used include Amazon's essentials by artist and AMG (All Music Guide). The AMG site in particular has reviews and ratings which should guide you to the 'best' by a particular artist. Amazon also provides sound clips to get a sense of the song. Use both to narrow things down.

Miles Davis: Kind Of Blue*, Relaxin', Round About Midnight, Sketches Of Spain, Miles Smiles, In A Quiet Way

John Coltrane: Soul Trane, Blue Train*, My Favorite Things*, Giant Steps, Ballads, ..and Johnny Hartman, A Love Supreme*

Thelonious Monk: Genius Of Modern Music, Straight No Chaser, ..and John Coltrane

Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil*, JuJu, Night Dreamer

Lee Morgan: The Sidewinder*, Search For The New LAnd

Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage, Empyrean Isles**

Hank Mobley: Soul Station*, Roll Call

Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds*, Live At Peps*

Art Blakey: Moanin'*, Like Someone In Love*, At The Jazz Corner Of The World

Sonny Clark: Cool Struttin'*, Dial S For Sonny

Kenny Dorham: Quiet Kenny*, Whistle Stop*

Kenny Burrell: Midnight Blue*

Jim Hall: Concierto*

Cannonball Adderley: In New York*, In San Francisco, Quintet Plus, Know What I Mean

Wes Montgomery: Full House*

Modern Jazz Quartet: Concorde, Django

Freddie Hubbard: Hub-Tones*, Blue Spirits

Charles Mingus: AhUm*, East Coasting, Picanthropus Erectus

Eric Dolphy: Outward Bound, Out To Lunch

Andrew Hill: Judgement*, Point Of Departure, Dance With Death

Sam Rivers: A New Conception*

Booker Little: Victory And Sorrow*

Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges: Back To Back*

Duke Ellington/Ray Brown: This One's For Blanton

Jackie McLean: Capuchin Swing*, A Fickle Sonance, Bluesnik, Jackies Bag, One Step Beyond, Right Now

Booker Ervin: The Freedom Book*, The Book Cooks, The Trance

Don Wilkerson: Elder Don

Jimmy Smith: House Party, Midnight Special, Back To The Chicken Shack

Larry Young: Unity

Grant Green: Idle Moments*, Matador*

Keith Jarrett: The Koln Concert, Tokyo '96

Art Pepper: ..Meets The Rhthym Section*, +11, Thursday Night At The Village Vanguard, Smack Up

Chet Baker: Chet

Donald Byrd: Byrd In Flight, Byrd In Hand*

Lou Donaldson: Quartet/Quintet/Sextet*, LD+3, Swing And Soul

Bill Evans: Waltz For Debby*, Sunday At The VV*, Interplay

Tina Brooks, True Blue*

Clifford Brown And Max Roach*

Oscar Peterson: Night Train, Sound Of The Trio

Chick Corea: Tones For Joans Bones, Now He Sings Now He Sobs

Tommy Flanagan, The Cats

Curtis Fuller, The Opener

Dexter Gordon: Go!, A Swingin' Affair*

Joe Henderson: Page One*, Mode For Joe

Elmo Hope: Trio/Quintet*

Gil Melle: Quintet/Sextet*

Thad Jones: The Magnificent..*

Oliver Nelson: The Blues And The Abstract Truth*

Herbie Nichols: The Prophetic

Horace Parlan: On The Spur Of The Moment*, Up And Down

Bud Powell: The Amazing V1&2

Ike Quebec: Blue & Sentimental

Archie Shepp: Goin' Home

Sonny rollins: Sax. Colossus*, Way Out West, The Bridge, Plus 4

Horace Silver: Song For My Father*, Six Pieces Of Silver, Cape Verdean Blues*, Tokyo Blues, Blowin The Blues Away, Silvers Serenade

Stanley Turrentine: Look Out, Never Let Me Go, Blue Hour

McCoy Tyner: The Real McCoy*, Today And Tomorrow

Mal Waldron: Mal/2, Mal/4

Randy Weston: Little Niles

Phil Woods: Phil Talks With Quill, Bop Stew, Rights Of Swing*

Ben Webster: At The Renaissance

Art Taylot: AT's Delight

Dizzy Reece: Blues In Trinity

Pete LaRoca: Turkish Women At The Bath*

Bobby Hutcherson: Happenings

Paul Chambers: Bass On Top

That might be a good start. ;-))

thank you all for taking the time to put your list to paper, so to speak. cj

House of Blues Essential (Box Set) would be a decent start for a broad intro to the Blues. Throw in some Stevie Ray Vaughan (eg Real Deal Vol 2), the Willie Dixon Chess Box (Dixon songs covered by a bunch of other artists - all classic blues songs), and maybe some Allman Bros, Susan Tedeschi, and you're covering a lot of ground. There's also a great acoustic blues CD called Hellhound on my Trail - the Songs of Robert Johnson (covered by others) that I really enjoy.

Hey, and don't forget - Cream, the Yardbirds, and Zep I of course. Being a rock fan you've probably already listened to a lot of blues covers with a heavier drumbeat.