Jazz friends; I'd like to expand my knowledge of albums geared toward relaxing in the evening with perhaps my favorite brandy or a cup of hot OJ. My taste is varied and I'll post specifics but I feel Paul Desmond and some of Chet Bakers stuff work very well to put me into pure contentment. Thanks for your thoughts. Pete
John Coltrane "Ballads" Shirley Horne "Here's To Life" Bill Evans "Sunday At The Village Vanguard" Paul Desmond "Desmond Blue" Clifford Brown "CB With Strings" Stan Getz "Sweet Rain" Toots Thielemans "The Brazil Project" Billy Holiday "Songs For Distingue Lovers" Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album Zoot Sims/Joe Pass "Blues For Two"
Frogman; I think you've served up a feast! Merci. Thanks also to Needfreestuff. I will get onto my nearby library systems tomorrow and get back on these..
Carmen McRae, "Bittersweet" John Coltrane, "Plays for Lovers" Jimmy Cobb, "In The Key Of Blue" Bobby Hutcherson, "Manhattan Moods" Dmitri Matheny, "Starlight Café" Dexter Gordon, "Ballads" Kenny Burrell, "Listen To The Dawn" Roy Hargrove, "Approaching Standards" Dominick Farinacci, "Dawn Of Goodbye"
Shirley Horn's music on Verve Andre Previn's on Telarc Tommy Flannigan Houston Person
And, especially for late night jazz, Charlie Haden's music including Night and the City, Land of the Sun, beyond the Missouri Sky, and Steal Away. You might also like The Art of the Song and Nocturn. For earlier in the evening I enjoy Haden and the Quartet West's Haunted Heart, Now is the Hour, and In Angel City.
Bill Evans "Moon Beams" and "The Solo Sessions, Vol. 1" Miles Davis "Someday My Prince Will Come" Kenny Burrell "Round Midnight" Oscar Peterson "Jazz Round Midnight"
Wow and Thanks guys. I really appreciate your inputs; as the Brits say "Gobsmacked". I am so looking forward to disc-overing these,will start today and provide feedback soon. Cheers! Pete
2nd vote for any Venus Jazz 24/192 mastered RBCD or SACD out of Japan (seller 'internationalrecords' on eBay out of Hong Kong is a great and reliable source)....particularly any of the Eddie Higgins or Eric Alexander Ballads/Standards releases. Not only is the music great and fitting to the OP's question, the sonics on all Venus discs is off the charts good (at least to my ears....).
For something different and "Jazz" in a broader sense, try the recordings of the group "Oregon". Fascinating compositions, virtuosic playing and improvisation and just a tasteful hint (and no more) of the dreaded "New Age" sensibility. Don't let the New Age thing scare you, this is beautiful and very deep music which I find very relaxing. Audio quality is generally outstanding, particularly their ECM recordings.
Mark Isham "Blue Sun" is some seriously relaxing jazz. He does a lot of film soundtracks, this is not one of them. Start with "Blue Sun" and if you like that, explore away.
Try Melody Gardot,Eliane Elias & if you like Billie Holiday,Madeleine Peyroux.I'm also surprised no one mentioned Patricia Barber.I find her smoky sultry voice a perfect match for Highland Single Malt.
There are a couple of series of compilations of relaxing jazz that are mainstream jazz, not smooth jazz, that are available on Amazon and eBay cheap.
The first is from the Savoy label and it has titles that begin with, “Jazz For…” as in “Jazz For A Rainy Afternoon.” Here is a description of that title:
“Jazz for a Rainy Afternoon” as released by Savoy Jazz in 2003 is basically an expanded version of the Jazz for a Rainy Afternoon disc released by 32 Jazz in 1999. Instead of one disc, there are now two, which increases the total number of tracks from 11 to 20. The new tracks are drawn from the same source as those on the original release, the catalog of the Muse label from the '70s, '80s, and '90s. Jazz giants like Houston Person, David "Fathead" Newman, Red Garland, and Sonny Criss all contribute tracks and brush shoulders with jazz middleweights like Jimmy Ponder, Warren Vache, and Carol Welsman. As the title suggests, the songs are relaxed and the mood is mellow and very laid-back. Although the songs date from well-beyond jazz's peak years, the performances are uniformly solid and the disc is a nice, low-priced collection of mood music. ~ Tim Sendra
As noted above, they come as single cd and 2 cd sets. You want the 2 cd sets.
The other series is 2 cd sets from Denon that have better known artists and have titles that are variations on, “The Most Relaxing Jazz Music In The Universe.” Here are the tunes from the title I mentioned:
DISC 1: 1. Some Other Time - Ralph Moore Quintet 2. Come Sunday - Pat Martino 3. I Married an Angel - Donald Byrd 4. Moonlight in Vermont - Marian McPartland Trio 5. Stella by Starlight - Yusef Lateef 6. All Blues - Kenny Burrell 7. These Foolish Things - Art Pepper 8. Foolish Heart - Sadao Watanabe 9. Sad to Say - Benny Golson/Freddie Hubbard Quintet 10. Ruby My Dear - The Great Jazz Trio 11. Dignified Appearance - Tommy Flanagan
DISC 2: 1. Is It All a Game? - Curtis Fuller Quartet 2. I Remember Clifford - Pat Martino 3. Star Dust - Dizzy Gillespie 4. A Nightinggale Sang in Berkeley Square - Marion McPartland Trio 5. Lover Man - Yusef Lateef 6. But Beautiful - Ralph Moore Quintet 7. In a Sentimental Mood - Dave Burrell 8. In the Wee Small Hours - Sadao Watanabe 9. My One and Only - Kenny Burrell 10. Maiden Voyage - Art Farmer 11. Lush Life - Dave Burrell
Both series feature music that is good enough to hold up to repeated listening and the sound on both is very good but not audiophile quality.
I have that Jazz For a Rainy Afternoon CD and a couple of others from the series including "Latin Jazz for Lovers." Excellent sound and music for sure.
Would like to add: The Gentle Side of John Coltrane
This has been my go-to "Intro to Coltrane" with friends. It's a compilation from 1975, and was released as a double album. Features McCoy Tyner on piano.
I don’t imagine many think of him as relaxing per se, but late nights when I feel restless Bud Powell is my go-to, it just seems all’s right with the world when I hear Bud .
Perhaps its because in Jazz i listen for the time setter and with Bud its not hard to hear who that is . And his chromatics are right up there with the best of the Classical composers IMO . And perhaps he's just so damn fine .
I've enjoyed some of Stanley Turrentine's work but have few albums. Just searching the net heard "Since I Fell for You" from an older album with the 3 Sounds; Blue Hour on Blue Note. Does anyone know this album? Comments?
Stanley Turrentine's CTI record; Salt Song, a great record that could be construed as 'relaxing'. For that matter, most CTI records would have the same affect!
Lars Danielsson was involved in many bands and projects. Jazz Baltica in particular-- not only the festival, but rather gathering and jamming of Northern European jazz masters. I liked combo of Lars Danielsson/Wolfgang Hafner/Marcus Wasilewski/Roy Hargrove
Anything by Art Tatum, or Teddy Wilson. Unfortunately, a little pre-hifi, but still good. Esp. Tatum group performances on Pablo. Love for Sale with Lionel Hampton is a masterpiece.
And last but not least, the leader of the band Carmen Gomes, whose phrasing and control of emotion has reached complete mastery. Every word and melodic phrase seems to appear from years of soul searching and life experience. Carmen Gomes knows just how much or little is needed to convey the right amount of feeling for a particular song. Although sometimes the amount of feeling and emotion that is needed is almost too much for Carmen herself. We had to call for break after the Little Girl Blue take because Carmen was in tears and overcome with emotions. You can hear the voice starting to break up towards the end of the song.
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