Jazz for aficionados

stuartk, BTW I don't think Patricia Barber and Diana Krall are equivalent, although I like them both. Diana Krall has some of the best recorded CDs I've ever heard. It doesn't sound as though you care that much about reproduction, but it makes a difference when it sounds like the music is live. If you listen to Clique (you need to stream it on something better than youtube) and you wait until Barber is done singing, you'll hear some damn good piano work. 

I turn on my turntable more and more because it sounds so much better than anything else. I am listening, however, to Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer on Qobuz and it sounds very good. Better than a CD. Having a decent streamer is amazing. 

@audio-b-dog 

I only mentioned D. Krall because there seem to be many audiophiles whose "collection" of/familiarity with, Jazz singers is limited to these two artists. Please don’t interpret this as anything directed at you, personally.

I’m familiar with "live music" being the preferred baseline for building systems but I haven’t heard such a system. What I’ve heard are systems that present recordings differently. The music has always sounded like recorded music, not live music. And that’s not an issue for me. This doesn’t mean that I don’t care about sonics. Sloppy bass, dry mids, fatiguing highs are examples of issues that distract me from focusing upon the music. If I’m emotionally and physically engaged, then I’m OK with "good enough". I don’t have a dedicated room, anyway, so from a practical  point of view, it wouldn’t make much sense to strive for "you are at the venue" sonics.

Fair enough about "live" music. I listened to music on a $100 Sears Silvertone stereo in college and enjoyed it well enough. I am sure there are faults I overlook in my system, although it sounds close to live to me and my friends, who aren't really audiophiles. It's taken me many years to cobble together a good system. A recent inheritance put me at a different level, but it was at best mid-fi most of my life.

I enjoy both Krall and Barber, but I listen to many more female jazz vocalists than that. Cassandra Wilson is one of my favorites. Her album Traveling Miles is exceptional. I also like Morgana King from way back when. I have an album of Teresa Brewer singing with Stephan Grapelli. And then there are the Brazilian singers of which I have more than I can now name.

I'm quite ecletic as you have probably figured out. I've liked the Wayne Shorter I've been playing for the last couple of days, but I broke it up with an interlude of Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints. 

I'm curious. What else do you listen to but jazz? Classical? Rock? I find elements of jazz in both.

@audio-b-dog 

To clarify, if I had a dedicated room and the financial resources, I suspect my curiosity would most likely tempt me to explore the possibility of building a system whose presentation mimicked live music. I’m not fundamentally opposed to this but neither do I require such a presentation to be fully engrossed in music. 

Some Jazz vocalists I enjoy: Tina May, Betty Carter, Jackie Ryan, Anita O’ Day, Sarah Vaughan, Helen Merrill, Sheila Jordan. 

My listening tastes...

Besides Jazz from 50’s to present day, I listen to a Classic Rock, Country, Blues, Old School Americana (The Band, G. Dead, etc. Classical solo piano (a new avenue of exploration for me) and a range of acoustic music from past and present that includes Newgrass, Celtic, singer-songwriter, Bluegrass, Folk (American and UK), and various blends of these genres. 

I tend to be album-focused rather than artist-focused and it’s not at all uncommon for me to own only one recording by a particular artist. An example is Aifoe O’ Donovan. I adore her "in the Magic Hour" but to me, everything else I’ve heard by her pales by comparison. 

In regards to your audio setup, I suggest your next purchase be a streamer that will both play through your stereo and offer a headphone jack. Then you can listen through a decent set of headphones. There are a number of reasonably priced streamers. My method of buying audio equipment has mostly been to read reviews and look for something used. 

Why the streamer? When I, or anyone else, suggests an album, it will 99% likely be on Qobuz or Tidal. You can also load Qobuz, which is now $10 a month, on a computer as an interface. People used to tell me about albums and I didn't want to lay out the cash to experiment. You suggested Wayne Shorter and I have probably found every album of consequence he's ever done on Qobuz. Too many for me to listen to.

On to music. I went to see The Dead a number of times in the sixties when I was going to Berkeley. I have one of their albums which I don't play often. I do, however, really like David Grisman. I have a album with him and Stephan Grapelli, who I saw live many, many years ago. Stephan Grapelli died in 1997. He was a member of the famous Django Rheinhardt Hot Club, an early French jazz band. Rheinhardt had three finger of his left hand (on the fret board) blown off in WWI, yet he was still considered one of the greatest jazz guitarists. Hot Dawg is another of David Grisman's albums I really like. He played "Dawg music."

There is a world of great young jazz singers. When somebody tells me about one, I jot down their name and head for Qobuz. That way I can listen to everything suggested to me. I absolutely do not want to get stuck in the past!

Regarding classical piano, I love Debussy. At times, he is very close to the best jazz. Another piece that I think is wonderful is Schubert's Impomptus. They are absolutely beautiful. If you poke around for it on youtube, I think you can find Mitsuko Uchida. She has the most wonderful touch. I have heard the Impomptus by many pianists, but she is my absolute favorite.