Mehldau is always cool but not always mellow. If you bought one album of Mehldau's you won't necessarily like his other ones. If anything Mehldau stuff tends to be way out there and not always something you can relax to.
Jazz CD suggestions for evening ambience
I'm wondering what Audiogoners might suggest in terms of (fairly) widely available Jazz CDs for a tasteful restaurant (asian fusion cuisine, large metropolitan setting). I'm helping with the aural planning so to speak. At the moment we find Bill Evans well-suited to ideal; Thelonious Monk provides great ambience but is at times a bit too pensive and slow for this particular environment; Marvin Gaye supplies ample classic retro from time to time, but is a tad too recognizable. All comments/suggestions &/or pointers are greatly appreciated.
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Jazz is such a wide genre now that one really shouldn't classify as one thing and not the other and restrict it. Kind of Blue is such a frequently played album that it is good for all kind of moods. It doesn't stop being a reference for students, good music for the casual listener, and an album worth listening to for professional musicians. |
No. I think they intended it to be music. Coltrane for one didn't care where he played. He was known to spend hours playing after the concert had long been finished. Jazz isn't background music. It's music, whether you're criticaly listening to it or just having it in the background. There are places where you go to listen to music and there are places where you go to have live jazz in the background. That's the listener's choice. Of course most musicians would prefer a crowd that really wants to listen. But you think many of these jazz greats cared whether they played in a prestigious club or out in the streets? At least in the beginning, most of these guys just love to play. And that's what it's all about. It's about expressing yourself through the instrument or music whether you're happy or sad. And if you can communicate your feelings to someone else, then that's even better. |
Last year I assisted my brother in a similar task for his retail business. He has received very positive feedback from his patrons: Below are some of what he has in his collection: CBS Sampler no boundaries Chesky Records collection series 1 Columbia Records on the jazz tip volumes 1, 2, & 4; audio file 96 Concord Jazz stretch records sampler 97 CTI windows collection 1 & 2 DMP Sampler carved in stone; cat tracks, at taste of DMP; 20-Bit Digital Jazz Fahrenheit Sampler the first four seasons; 96 taste test; jazz sampler 98 GRP all star big band; all star big band live; live in session; super live; 10th anniversary collection Heads Up Records collections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; africa straight ahead Higher Octave Music collections 1 & 2; evolution; world fusion Instinct Records new voices 4; love boss a style; this is smooth jazz 5, africa JVC Sampler world class music MCA Sampler fall 97; spring into summer 88 and 89 Slimstyle Records swing this baby Swingtime big band artist Verve Sampler cool city sounds; pure jazz; Warner Bros. best of smooth jazz 1, 2, 3, & 4 Most of the above can be found at used stores or online at places like www.half.com as we did. Also, go to www.jazziz.com and review their monthly samplers. We ended up with quite a few of those too. Go luck with the restaurant, L |
May I recommend "Wining,Dining,Dancing,and Romancing" this value oriented 4 cd collection has 65 fine selections to clean the palate and dial up the appetite.Seasoned with classic love hand selected from Verves fine reserves each a timeless masterpiece.Special of the day at $27.Sample cuts provided below..... verve sampler on Yahoo |
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