Jazz Recommendations

I'm a relative novice, having just begun to explore the world of Jazz. Of the 50 or so titles I now own, by far,and by a wide margin, the best selection is Wayne Shorter's JU JU.

unless i missed other posts,their is some out-standing material out on the ecm label.

To be totally contentious :)...

Although I like many of the recordings mentioned in the previous posts I find MANY of them boring, repetitve, and, to be frank, out of date. What was cutting edge 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago is no longer. This is not to say I don't like that music. My SACD of Stan Getz, Jobim, and Gilberto gets lots of late night airplay, as well as recordings by Miles, Mingus, Coltrane, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly..etc., etc., etc..

However...! Here are a few more comtemporary suggestions:

Dave Douglas "Freak In" And "The Infinite"
Laurent de Wilde (killer!) Stories
Brad Meldhau (any recording)
Tomasz Stanko Soul of Things
e.s.t. Somewhere Else Before
Jacky Terrason Smile and A Paris...
Jon Abercrombie (almost any recording) Tactics...best live performance I've ever heard, with Pat Martino and Joey Defrancesco Live At Yoshi's a close second
Lonnie Plaxico Melange
Charles Mc Bride Vertical Vision
Dan Wall Of The Wall (he plays Hammond Organ for John Abercrombie)
Anything by a Canadian group called Metalwood

And check out the DVD Audio recording of Medeski Martin and Woods Uninvisible. Also check out John Scofield.

IMO, although much of the older stuff is revealing of jazz's history, and possessed of much good playing it is no longer cutting edge and innovative. It is certainly the wellspring and body of work which must be mastered by anyone hoping to "play jazz" but I believe that the essence of jazz does not lay in the past, but in the present (or future), and very much in the hands of young technically accomplished musicians who mine tradition for technique but who are also fired up by more current musical trends.

BTW I offer these observations and suggestions in the spirit of friendly controversy. I mean no offense to the "trad jazz" fans.

Doug

PS anyone know the origins of the word "jazz"?

Hi Dok,

There is nothing contentious about acknowledging the essentially modern outlook of Jazz. You are absolutely correct about that, and I think many, if not most people in the music would see it that way. Certainly many of its most important contributors (i.e. Coleman Hawkins, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, etc.) were fierce modernists that strived to remain part of the creative flow. However, I would never say that Thelonius Monk's music is dated, nor much of Miles Davis' oeuvre, nor that of many others. Their art is essentially timeless, perhaps the only useful definition of the word "classic" as it applies to Jazz.

According to an old book on Jazz by Marshall Stearns, the word Jazz is derived from the word Jass, which was a slang word in the New Orleans red light district that meant screwing.

My all time favorite is the JVC XRCD Sonny Rollins "way out west" CD.Breath taking CD..XRCD medium is amazing..