@n80-jazz, perhaps more than any other type of music, affords you the ability to explore based on the performers. Many of the sidemen who worked on albums for a featured performer appear either as featured artists or sidemen on other recordings, so you can "surf" an artist and find a wealth of material.
I had lost interest in straight ahead jazz a while ago and got hooked by venturing into so-called "spiritual" or soul-jazz typically recorded in the ’70s. Cecil McBee, who shows up on a number of the releases from Strata-East, is an amazing bassist who has recorded a huge number of albums, some famous, others fairly obscure.
This sort of free-wheeling exploration can lead you down many different paths--from the relatively rare Jothan Callins’ Winds of Change to Art Pepper Today (where Pepper reprises "Patricia," a track that got a boost from the popular TV show Bosch).
Coltrane was a huge influence on a lot of the people who were responsible for this movement, but there were other reasons too-- the change in popular music that left jazz in the rear view mirror, greater self-awareness within the black community and a fair number of small labels that acted as collectives for musicians, among them Black Jazz, the aforementioned Strata-East (with some stratospheric prices these days) to Nimbus West, which released output from Horace Tapscott, Nate Morgan and others. (Nate Morgan had an amazingly strong left hand, and had the chops of a McCoy Tyner with a little funk thrown in).
In the course of my own self-education, my ears became more accustomed to what I probably would have regarded as cacophony ten years ago-- I’m not much for so-called "free jazz" (where 4 different people are playing 5 different songs simultaneously), but just like your palate changes after exposure to food, wine or other consumables, your ears for this stuff can become different through exposure.
Best advice I could offer is to explore and if you identify a player you like, search through their discography for more of their work. You may find that rewarding, and along the way, will enjoy the experience of learning.
I had lost interest in straight ahead jazz a while ago and got hooked by venturing into so-called "spiritual" or soul-jazz typically recorded in the ’70s. Cecil McBee, who shows up on a number of the releases from Strata-East, is an amazing bassist who has recorded a huge number of albums, some famous, others fairly obscure.
This sort of free-wheeling exploration can lead you down many different paths--from the relatively rare Jothan Callins’ Winds of Change to Art Pepper Today (where Pepper reprises "Patricia," a track that got a boost from the popular TV show Bosch).
Coltrane was a huge influence on a lot of the people who were responsible for this movement, but there were other reasons too-- the change in popular music that left jazz in the rear view mirror, greater self-awareness within the black community and a fair number of small labels that acted as collectives for musicians, among them Black Jazz, the aforementioned Strata-East (with some stratospheric prices these days) to Nimbus West, which released output from Horace Tapscott, Nate Morgan and others. (Nate Morgan had an amazingly strong left hand, and had the chops of a McCoy Tyner with a little funk thrown in).
In the course of my own self-education, my ears became more accustomed to what I probably would have regarded as cacophony ten years ago-- I’m not much for so-called "free jazz" (where 4 different people are playing 5 different songs simultaneously), but just like your palate changes after exposure to food, wine or other consumables, your ears for this stuff can become different through exposure.
Best advice I could offer is to explore and if you identify a player you like, search through their discography for more of their work. You may find that rewarding, and along the way, will enjoy the experience of learning.