My first Jazz LP was a 10 in. recording called The Art Blakey Quintet A Night At Birdland Vol 1. I really don't reccomend any of the jazz series as they tend to be skewed, especially Ken Burns. Try this instead; get the names of several jazz artists in different genres of jazz. Find samples of them online. This way you can listen before you buy. Most jazz fans of today like the Blue Note sound. Dester Gordon's Our Man In Paris is a great example of that. The Blue Note sound was often emulated by other jazz labels of the day. Recordings were mostly live in the studio, small groups, very little post production. More spontaneous in the solos and exchanges and interplay between the musicians. Although KOB is an excellent recording, in my opinion it suffers from the Columbia production factory mentality. No exchanges between the musicians. It's Melody, solo,solo...melody. Miles' live recordings at Newport and the Blackhawk do not have this limitation and are in my opinion superior. To understand my opinion, you need to know that I much prefer live jazz or blues or rock over recordings. I frequently travel from Boston to NYC to listen to live jazz. I don't like Lincoln Center or Smithsonian events. Jazz sounds best in small intimate clubs with musicians who can play off each other.
My first Jazz cd
I would really like to try some Jazz but I dont know where to start. I was thinking of the Time Life series. I thought that it would let my audtion many different artist at once and give me a chance to get a feel for what I like.
Does that set have a good selection of music? How is the recording quality? Any other suggestions are more then appreciated.
Does that set have a good selection of music? How is the recording quality? Any other suggestions are more then appreciated.