It always seems to be Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, with A Love Supreme by John Coltrane (BTW, Coltrane played on Kind of Blue, for those that don't know), but in my opinion, Time Out by The Dave Brubeck Quartet could possibly contend with that. Or, at least, IMO, it is the first jazz album to buy... 8)
Offer your opinions please... :)
Stairway to Freebird!
have you ever listened to turning point john mayall, bluesy jazz must be the best i have heard :D
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I have a hard time calling Mayall's record Jazz, but that's just me.
Jazz is a huge category, with many sub-genres.
Pre-Swing
Swing
Bop
Post-Bop
Hard Bop
Cool
Hot Club
Free
Avante-Garde
Fusion
Latin
and those can all be subdivided and re-arranged in a zillion different ways.
For folks who are looking to introduce themselves to Jazz as a subject, I usually suggest a collection of CD's rather than one. My "must get to get it" list looks like this:
Louis Armstrong Complete Hot Fives & Sevens
Charlie Christian & Benny Goodman The Genius of the Electric Guitar
Johnny Smith The Sound of the Johnny Smith Guitar or Moonlight In Vermont
Django Rhienhadt and Stephane Grapelli Nuages
Count Basie The Best of Early Basie
Duke Ellington Jump for Joy
Charlie Parker Ornithology
Dave Brubeck Time Out
Miles Davis Kind of Blue
John Coltrane A Love Supreme
Art Blakey Moanin'
Stan Getz & João Gilberto Getz/Gilberto
So when someone is talking about a best "first" album it's really hard to give a good suggestion without knowing something about what they expect when they say "jazz." If someone will like Jazz, then they'll find something in the above list that lights them on fire. If you can listen to all of those discs and not get turned on, then Jazz is just not for you.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
Louis Armstrong Complete Hot Fives & Sevens
Charlie Christian & Benny Goodman The Genius of the Electric Guitar
Johnny Smith The Sound of the Johnny Smith Guitar or Moonlight In Vermont
Django Rhienhadt and Stephane Grapelli Nuages
Count Basie The Best of Early Basie
Duke Ellington Jump for Joy
Charlie Parker Ornithology
Dave Brubeck Time Out
Miles Davis Kind of Blue
John Coltrane A Love Supreme
Art Blakey Moanin'
Stan Getz & João Gilberto Getz/Gilberto
I'm SO glad you mentioned Django Rhienhardt and Stephane Grapelli's 'Nuages'. One of my absolute favorites, along with Charlie Parker's 'Ornithology' (or anything Charlie Parker for that matter). And you can never go wrong with Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, or John Coltrane. IMHO, excellent taste, kingpatzer!
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"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
I just discovered the Tzadik label. The Masada Rock album rocked my socks. I suppose I would file it under the avante-garde. It is one of my new favorite albums. Just trying to dig through all of the fantastic John Zorn stuff could be a full time job!
"My ex-boyfriend can't tell me I've sold out, because he's in a cult, and he's not allowed to talk to me." --Dar Williams
