Jazz Recs for Classical Music Fan - Challenging


Having acquired 1000s of classical CDs (probably more than I could ever listen to), I think that it is time to start with some Jazz. I know there are a lot of forums, websites, and books that give much great advice on how to approach the subject. However, I am looking for more particular recommendations. Perhaps some fellow posters with classical tastes in the Romantic and Modern eras could give some recs that would nicely bridge the gap. I've tried to make my way into Jazz a couple of times, but haven't been successful to date. Perhaps someone here can help me make the breakthrough.

Here are some of the things I am looking for:
1) Decent recordings. This probably means something from the 60s, forward. A little tape hiss is OK, but excessively remastered or noisy recordings are not what I'm looking for. I know that many of the great recordings are from the 30s through the 50s, and I have ordered a couple of those.
2) Naturally recorded. No amplification, no over-miking, good engineering. Vocals should be minimally or not amplified. Soundstage needs to be realistic. The venue should be apparent. No 50 ft clarinets and vocals eminating from the entire soundstage.
3) Acoustic instruments. I do not like electronic music.
4) No divas-come-lately. I don't care to hear the latest 22 year old with a big voice, amplified and electronically filtered to 'perfection', a pretty album cover, and a marketing campaign to tell me how great she is.
5) Emotional content. Not just for tapping your foot or for background music.
6) Great performances. Not just something that came out last month with high recommendations in the press.
7) Probably smaller ensemble pieces. Vocals, piano, quartets, etc.
8) There may be some labels that have classical and jazz recordings that overlap (?ECM).

Thanks,
Rob
rtn1

Showing 1 response by episteme

A good place to start is with the classic records from the '60s. Small jazz combos playing bop, and hard-bop. Tons to recommend here.

Rather than providing another immense list, I would like to urge you to take very seriously the lists provided by both slipknot1 and rushton. These are very good suggestions and, in my opinion, are much, much better places to start than what many of the others have suggested. You will have plenty to work with there.

For what it is worth, you can get a great collection of '60s classic jazz from bmg. Look for the remastered versions of the classic blue note 60's stuff. All Music Guide (available on-line) can help you identify which they are. (Miles Davis, Grant Green, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Kenny Dorham, Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock!!, Johnny Griffin, Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson, etc., etc.)

Hope this is of some help.