Hugh Masekela..."Grassin' In the Grass". I heard that song on the radio as a kid and I was hooked! I wanted more Masekela and more jazz! Been hooked on jazz ever since. I spend hours in front of my "music listening-station" absorbing jazz vibes. I made it to Ronnie Scott's in London back in the mid 80s. I got goosebumps sitting in that place for a show just thinking about all the Greats that had played on that stage. But I still play the grooves of "Grassin' In the Grass".
K.Burrell and G.Green : my favs! My first jazz record was a cd of Out to lunch by E.Dolphy....not the easiest entry door but caught me straight and never left me!
Loved this video. I’ve been primarily a metal guy for 30+ years but always loved jazz fusion music and everything Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin did from a solo perspective and in Return to Forever / Mahavishnu Orchestra. Also really like Weather Report. Based on your recommendations I listened to the Myles Davis, Art Blakey and Dave Brubeck albums and I completely connected with them. Thank you so much.
Not sure why all the earlier giants such as Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong and even Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie are always left out of recommended jazz albums lists. I'm into a broad range of music (from Baroque to Motown to metal) and my entry point was Bird and Diz and Ellington's late 1930s small group recordings. If Kind of blue was my starter, would have not bothered to explore jazz - I find it really boring for some reason (although Milestones is really good).
20 years ago I asked a co-worker Jazz fan from the Netherlands to recommenced something he liked. His tip was Roy Hargrove - Criscol Habana. Love it to this day.
I would recommend Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus as a good entry point to jazz, very eclectic collection. Also, Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section is a strong introduction to the cool sound.
Listen to many of the jazz and fusion guitarists from the last 50 years! I know, for example, that Michael Romeo from Symphony X lists Allan Holdsworth as one of his major influences.
Started out as dance rave and indie... dropped all for hip hop rap til it souled out... enter Pink Floyd.... changed forever.... dads old jazz LPs have widened the pallette... such journeys we go on!
I got into Jazz about 4 yrs ago and yes, I started with Kind Of Blue like many have.From there it was pretty easy to chose as the essential lists online are pretty consistent.The recent Blue Note 80 series are a good way to get great sounding affordable versions of some great Jazz albums.
Midnight Blue is still available from AP and sounds simply fantastic. Blue Trane is being reissued by the new AP reissue series, coming out later this summer.
Good list. A few others that could be included: Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall (1938), Somethin' Else (1958) by Cannonball Adderly, or anything by Stan Getz, especially Focus (1961) or the Jazz Samba records (1961-66).
Such an informed, intelligent, practical, quality video! Thanks for posting. Every rock fan should watch this and get busy listening to the recommendations.
Kind of Blue is still my favorite, every time I hear it I discover more interesting parts that I missed It’s just a masterpiece without even trying to be
Great video..when I wanted to explore jazz as a newbie, I googled greatest jazz albums and purchased the top ten on the list..Nice that we have videos like yours to learn from..thanks glen
I like how honest he is. “I have the bn 75 for sale in my store for $21.99, it sounds ok”. Great list too. You should probably do 2 or 3 vids a week. I tell people Jack Johnson too because it’s a rock album with trumpet, not a jazz album with guitar.
'In Groove' if I can make a suggestion....when selling to customers, don't "over-emphasize" one recording's sound over another that you've got for sale. If someone really likes Coltrane's Blue Train in your store over your system, the copy you have for sale isn't going to be THAT inferior. If they like what they hear and you've got it, they're going to LIKE that album. If a jazz lover comes in and says "yeah it's great but it's better on..." then fine, discuss away the merits of one recording over another. But the average music lover isn't going to know the difference between the two. That's NOT disingenuous ! The music is the music. A torn, tattered copy of classic lit still contains the important text no matter the condition of the book. That copy you're selling of Coltrane's Blue Train sounds JUST FINE. Love ya Bro. Great video, keep up the good work !
I was comparing this to my top albums and comparing notes - with a lot of similarities. The Herbie Hancock was a darn good choice. Kind of Blue was at the top of my list. One I had on my list, done by local Indy artist Freddie Hubbard was "Red Clay." Thanks for sharing.
Just discovered your channel through this video. I was very taken with your comparison to jazz giants playing as sidemen on each other's LPs with imagining if parts of the Beatles, Stones or doors etc played on each others records. Very on point and I'd never heard it put that way. I would add 'Something Else' and 'The Sermon' as LPs which are both outstanding examples of jazz and a fairly easy entry to jazz. Thanks. I have kids in Phoenix so will certainly be looking for your store.
I like your choices , I have every one of those albums. You have a great collection, I started listening to jazz in the 60's ,it started with Wes Montgomery.
A nice list. Some other names for jazz newbies to look up are Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea, Wes Montgomery, Charles Mingus, Lee Morgan, Charlie Parker and Bill Evans.
Cannonball Adderley "Jazz Workshop Revisited" features his famous "Jive Samba" and a killer band with his brother Nat, Joe Zawinul, Bill Evans (not the white piano master) but aka Yusef Lateef, who blows you away with his flute and reed work! Must say, you hot the nail just about as perfect as anyone I have followed, so I am subscribing. Knew some of those guys, from the Embers West, NYC. when I began doing jazz art for Musical Heritage Society.
Good list, especially the last two. They would head my list with KIND OF BLUE, the classic of classics at the top. However, you gotta have Coltrane’s GIANT STEPS on any list. A seminal jazz classic. Also, Miles Davis’ SKETCHES OF SPAIN and MILES SMILES along with Thelonious Monk’s MISTERIOSO just to name a few.
Great video on a wide variety of different classical jazz albums. I would recommend your video to people who ask how to get into jazz and have a listen to all of these ten albums.
Greetings from England. Always nice to see you doing videos like this- i have tried to interest my friends in jazz with mixed results. Will recommend this vid to them.
I really enjoyed and appreciated your video. I have a CD player in my office. I have some Miles and Herbie. You have given me some great albums to seek out. Sorry they will be on CD
Lee Morgan’s Search for the New Land is a good entry point into jazz. All the tracks have memorable themes with strong, concise solos from Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, and Herbie Hancock.
Hi Folks. Greetings from the UK! I managed to get the Mingus and Jazz Dispensary issues even though I arrived quite late at Rough Trade Bristol. Hoping to get to Arizona at some point soon. Hope everyone's having a great day! 👍
I’m primarily a metal/IDM fan, but I think KOB is just an unbelievable album. I’ve since come to really appreciate Somethin’ Else, Moanin, The Cooker, and Time Out (45 RPM which I bought from you).
These are all really good choices. Kind of heavy on the hard-bop which might be the more accessible jazz for people new to it. I'd recommend a Mingus in there too just because Mingus. Either Mingus's Ah Um or if they're into blues music, I think Mingus's Blues & Roots is just stellar too. And then if they are into piano jazz, I'd recommend Explorations by Bill Evans as one his more accessible albums. More than Everybody Digs or Sunday/Waltz. There's always Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown album too! Everyone likes that.
100% on Mingus Ah Um and Bill Evans especially the Village Vanguard or Paris 1972 live recordings. Both are exemplary examples of how complicated music can sound "simple" and easy on the ears yet still provide years of enjoyment as the layers of sound manifest themselves.
Awesome choice! Soft Machine is WAY underrated. "Third" is so many excellent things all at once - ambient, jazz, noise, prog, psych, etc. The band was very influenced by Zappa's "Uncle Meat" in making the recording, especially the sound collages utilized.
Gotta get some Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk in that list. But most of all, some Duke Ellington (perhaps his “Far East Suite”). Kudos for at least going past the usual obvious choices and throwing a Lou Donaldson record in there. (I mean, when’s the last time you actually put on that Brubeck record? But I throw on Lou Donaldson all the time!) Art Pepper, Sonny Stitt and Arnett Cobb all had stunning comeback careers in the 1970s and 80s, proving it wasn’t always just about the 1950s, For those punk rock guys you mention, Ornette Coleman’s “This Is Our Music” and that Sun Ra record right there over your shoulder would be good picks. Art Farmer’s “Portrait of Art” and Shelly Manne’s “My Fair Lady” are great recommendations for somebody who isn’t otherwise into jazz and isn’t into those heavy Miles and Coltrane or Blue Note vibes. Like the Stan Getz, they are records that simply charm the pants off jazz noobs. ;-)
This is a great list, but there are also lots of excellent recordings from the swing era that are very accessible entry points for certain kinds of jazz neophytes. I’m thinking especially of Billie Holiday’s recordings for Columbia and Commodore, the Benny Goodman small group recordings, Duke Ellington recordings from the Blanton-Webster period, Count Basie’s Decca recordings, and the classic recordings of Django Reinhardt’s Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Melodic, swinging music with virtuoso musicianship, and often very appealing to people who don’t yet have much familiarity with jazz.
That is phenomenal music. Billie Holiday's recordings for Columbia are perhaps my favorite music of all time - a national treasure. But the music you mentioned are not albums. They are compilations. Most of that music was made before LPs existed so everything was done on 78s with a limit of about three minutes. Sometimes several of these were combined together in a box or book like a photo album, but the album format was not something artists focused on at that time. Everything was recorded as singles.
@@hume7146 Thanks for your reply, but I have to admit it's got me scratching my head a bit; I neither said nor implied that any of that music originally came out in album format, and my point was precisely that if one is recommending "gateway" music for people who don't currently listen to jazz but would like to give it a try, it seems counterproductive to arbitrarily restrict oneself to music produced during the LP era. (Here I'll add that it seems even more counterproductive to restrict the field to eight albums recorded between 1957 and 1964, plus one from 1967 and one from 1970, as Mike has chosen to do here. That's an awfully narrow slice of the century-plus history of this music!) I'd also suggest that the short performance length imposed by the constraints of the 78-rpm record is actually one of the reasons those recordings are sometimes more accessible for listeners just getting acquainted with jazz. For some folks who are accustomed to commercial pop, rock, hip-hop, or R & B, the sheer length of a track like "Blue Train" - let alone "Right Off" or "Yesternow" - can be a little off-putting.
@@jtoddbrown Yeah, you're right. I was thinking this video was specifically about the best jazz albums, partly because all the ones he listed were albums, but the title does say "records" which could include compilations and such. I agree with you that those shorter 78s can be more accessible for newbies. Especially Billie Holiday's Columbia years. I think that is about the most accessible jazz of all, a bunch of short songs with memorable lyrics, almost like pop music, but with great jazz instrumentation and vocals.
When I first got into Jazz, started with some CTI records. Freddie Hubbard, Grover Washington etc and expanded from there. The best time was the Jazz Workshop and Paul's Mall in Boston to see many live acts, back then you could stay for all 3 sets.
My first three Jazz Albums (in the order I purchased them) The Best of Pete Fountain - Pete Fountain; Idle Moments - Grant Green; The Great Summit - Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.
That Jack Johnson pick was new to me, good choice. Just to go a touch deeper, to this top 10 list I would add the album Search for the New Land by Lee Morgan, with Grant Green on guitar!
"Clifford Brown & Max Roach". Excellent. "Time Out" was my first jazz album, & I still like it. "Brilliant Corners" by Thelonious Monk. "Concert By The Sea" by Erroll Garner. I listened to "Kind of Blue" many times & it left me cold... until about five years ago. Now a favorite. "Jazz Samba" by Getz & Byrd. No matter what the weather or season, when I play Jazz Samba it is a warm summer day. "Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers". And posthumously, Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall".
Great video. I'm having a wonderful day listening to your recommendations. Thank you so much. You have opened a few doors for me. I can't wait to delve into Herbie Hancock
My first jazz album 30 years ago was Kind of Blue. I wasn't a total blank slate because I'd been listening to KJAZ (or whatever it was called back in the nineties). I still find myself stuck in the 50s and 60s: Gerry Mulligan, Coltrane, Monk (lots of Monk), Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown. I was pleased that you mentioned Son Ra,
Incredible can’t believe what I’m seeing . i’ve been a jazz fan since early 60s when I first heard take five. I just wanted to say that I purchased Kind of Blue & Time Out for my grandson in vinyl within the last month and a half I agree on all of your selections Since I do own most of them. Female vocals of the era Morganna King must be Taste of Honey
That was a great dive into jazz records. I have the last two you mentioned, originals that were part of my parent's collection that I now have, I had bought Take Five for myself, after hearing on the home stereo or radio way back when, it hit a chord and I dug it the very first time hearing. Kinda Blue is the other killer album, still getting nods even to this day, can't say enough about these stellar pieces of art.
Didn't Steely Dan get the piano riff for Rikki Don't Lose That Number from that Horace Silver album? I am definitely going to listen to all these. I am a big rock fan, but I like whatever catches my ear.
What little jazz I enjoy at the moment tend to like dixieland, swing, electro swing, and jazz fusion stuff (mostly jazz-rock and some jazz-bossa nova fusion). I’ve had a hard time getting into later jazz.
I was a kid and got the Take Five album by accident from the Columbia Record Club, I hadn't ordered. It introduced me to places I didn't even suspect. Then Bitches Brew never got better for me.
Hi Mike from Slovakia,Europe. Great video,will be great that you make another jazz album video ,it was very interesting and informative,great to watch!
I’ve been asked this question many times as I moved from rock ‘n roll to classical about 35 years ago and now have around 5,100 CDs of classical music. As with crossing over to jazz, it’s important to find pieces that are not too big of a leap between what you’re used to and the new genre. Here’s 3 suggestions: 1) J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Concertos” (esp. no. 5), 2) Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, and 3) Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nacht Music”. Don’t get too hung up on the orchestra who performs it (you’ll have many choices for these 3 pieces).
Not a bad list--but I have to say, "Not the list I'd recommend." I came to jazz from classical music, so my favorites are out there on the complex end: Ornette Coleman: _Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation._ Miles Davis: _Bitches Brew._ Eric Dolphy: _Out to Lunch!._ Charles Mingus: _Pithecanthropus Erectus._ Cecil Taylor: _Cecil Taylor Unit._ These selections are probably too overwhelming for the average beginner, so for the normies, I recommend the following baker's dozen: Dave Brubeck: _Time Out._ John Coltrane: _Giant Steps._ John Coltrane: _A Love Supreme._ Miles Davis: _Kind of Blue._ Bill Evans: _Portrait in Jazz._ Charles Mingus: _Mingus Ah Um._ The Modern Jazz Quartet: _The Complete Last Concert._ The Modern Jazz Quartet: _European Concert._ Thelonious Monk: _Brilliant Corners._ Thelonious Monk: _Monk's Music._ The Quintet: _Jazz at Massey Hall._ Sonny Rollins: _Saxophone Colossus._ Art Tatum: _Piano Starts Here._ While the topic of this video is jazz _albums,_ if you really want to become a jazz aficionado, you've got to listen to artists who flourished before the age of the LP. Unfortunately, compilations come and go with far too much frequency for me to attempt a list here. However, don't miss out on these artists: Louis Armstrong. Bix Beiderbecke. Count Basie. Duke Ellington. Jelly Roll Morton. Charlie Parker.
"Ornette Coleman: Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation"? Are you serious? 😂 This album sounds more like an argument between a drunk husband and his equally tipsy wife than music. For someone just starting to explore the world of jazz, this album would be utterly incomprehensible. Even after 10 years of listening to jazz, I still find it incredibly challenging to digest something like this.
@@bigscarysteve Totally agree, although it's worth mentioning that I found a lot of albums that I like among the ones you suggested. So thanks for those! :)
I see you show mostly new audiophile records on your chAnnel whats your opinion regarding sound quality between lets say a MM or Mofi pressing compare to a Liberty BN press or even a original or a OJC. You should do a video comparing all of them!
I’m surprised you didn’t have something from Vince Guaraldi on your list. His work on the music of the Peanuts specials was for many of us our first exposure to jazz and his other albums like Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus & Alma-Ville are a real treat.
Everyone who has dipped their toe in the water will have their own version of this. One album I have bought multiple times is “miles in the sky” by miles Davis. The drumming just grabbed me when I knew very little of jazz. In the beginning I new Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Blue Train of course. Despite listening to a wide range of music I’d say jazz seems to be where my compass returns me. Albums that seemed inaccessible later become soothing. Sixty years old records that become utterly modern. It’s a deep well to draw on. A genuine 20th century innovation that keeps on giving. Something the 21st century hasn’t yet matched. Beyond the coolness there is freedom and it’s chaos. I’d be interested to see what Mike would have to say on jazz that bewildered him. Take us down the well, so to speak.
I love Blue Train, but Giant Steps and A Love Supreme are probably Coltrane’s two most impactful albums and have drawn many a listener to jazz. You could also make a case for My Favorite Things because of the popularity of the title track, which helped bring the soprano sax into prominence. That was the album that first made me into a jazz fan.
But neither of those records feature Lee Morgan!! I would include at least two or three albums from 'Trane, frankly. Blue and Supreme, for sure. Add, probably Steps.
10 classic jazz albums for those who loved these 10 and want to go crazier: Alice Coltrane - Journey to Satchidananda (1970) Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1970) Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963) Ralph Towner - Solstice (1975) Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) Sun Ra - Lanquidity (1978) The Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame (1971) John Coltrane - Giant Steps (1959) Keith Jarrett - The Survivor's Suite (1976) Herbie Hancock - Sextant (1973)
Amazing list! I would also add some Rahsaan Roland Kirk - either "Rig Rig & Panic" or "The Inflated Tear". Maybe also some Weather Report like "Mysterious Traveller" but having "Sextant" on there is so killer that you may not even need it LOL! Albert Ayler "Live in Greenwich Village - Complete Impulse Recordings" may possibly be the most crazy and out there jazz recording of all time and is highly recommended for those that are saturated and really want to jump off the deep end LOL!
Just bought a turntable, receiver and speakers - and after watching this video I purchased three of these records!
how many now?
Awesome! Enjoy that Turntable and wax! Best thing in my life.
I love it - the sound of vinyl and jazz a masterpiece.
Have a wonderful one
@@markwilding3828 Hundreds !
@@JJTomatoes Do a video and upload the link here. Just showing your whole collection since you posted 3 years ago.
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Bill Evans - Waltz for Debbie
Jaco Pastorius - debut. (More modern segue)
great selection
Coltrane's A Love Supreme made me feel nauseus! Yuuuuck!!! Coltrane was a religious nutcase!
I would add "Somethin' Else" by Cannonball Adderley to the list. It's an album that should be in any collection, jazz or otherwise.
Yeah, also one of the rare currently remaining in print by Analogue Productions (45RPM 2LP).
Absolutely essential album. It’s Blue Note’s Kind of Blue based on sound, style, and lineup.
By far my favourite Jazz album, even better than Kinda Blue...
veteq101 *Kind Of
James Miller
👍🏻 Thats An Understatement!Absolutely Agree 110%
♥️ IT !
Hugh Masekela..."Grassin' In the Grass". I heard that song on the radio as a kid and I was hooked! I wanted more Masekela and more jazz! Been hooked on jazz ever since. I spend hours in front of my "music listening-station" absorbing jazz vibes. I made it to Ronnie Scott's in London back in the mid 80s. I got goosebumps sitting in that place for a show just thinking about all the Greats that had played on that stage. But I still play the grooves of "Grassin' In the Grass".
Erroll Garner’s “Concert By The Sea” is another essential for someone just getting into jazz. Just a piano, but WHAT a pianist!
Thanks a million. Keep 'em coming.
K.Burrell and G.Green : my favs!
My first jazz record was a cd of Out to lunch by E.Dolphy....not the easiest entry door but caught me straight and never left me!
Watching these videos is like therapy to me. Even though I already knew all these albums I still watch it because you are entertaining
Well said! I totally agree
Have a wonderful one
Indeed extremely enlightening. Love it 😍
Loved this video. I’ve been primarily a metal guy for 30+ years but always loved jazz fusion music and everything Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin did from a solo perspective and in Return to Forever / Mahavishnu Orchestra. Also really like Weather Report. Based on your recommendations I listened to the Myles Davis, Art Blakey and Dave Brubeck albums and I completely connected with them. Thank you so much.
I love Al Di Meola too!
What you might call it, MINIMIZING...?Lol.
Save your money for Iron Maiden records.
Not sure why all the earlier giants such as Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong and even Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie are always left out of recommended jazz albums lists. I'm into a broad range of music (from Baroque to Motown to metal) and my entry point was Bird and Diz and Ellington's late 1930s small group recordings. If Kind of blue was my starter, would have not bothered to explore jazz - I find it really boring for some reason (although Milestones is really good).
20 years ago I asked a co-worker Jazz fan from the Netherlands to recommenced something he liked. His tip was Roy Hargrove - Criscol Habana. Love it to this day.
I would recommend Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus as a good entry point to jazz, very eclectic collection. Also, Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section is a strong introduction to the cool sound.
Thumbs up on Sonny Rollins
Rollins goes without saying, but Art Pepper's work really deserves wider attention. An amazingly fluid and bright player with a distinctive sound.
Great, new albums to discover, thanks for this video
It would be awesome if you did a part 2 on this! Thank you for this amazing video.
I'm a "metal guy" , but I like to experience complete "opposite" genres! I'm a broader music lover now in my old age!
I’m the same way, been branching out after 30+ years focusing on Metal.
I love metal and have had a broad taste for over 40 years.
Listen to many of the jazz and fusion guitarists from the last 50 years! I know, for example, that Michael Romeo from Symphony X lists Allan Holdsworth as one of his major influences.
Me too
Started out as dance rave and indie... dropped all for hip hop rap til it souled out... enter Pink Floyd.... changed forever.... dads old jazz LPs have widened the pallette... such journeys we go on!
I got into Jazz about 4 yrs ago and yes, I started with Kind Of Blue like many have.From there it was pretty easy to chose as the essential lists online are pretty consistent.The recent Blue Note 80 series are a good way to get great sounding affordable versions of some great Jazz albums.
Midnight Blue is still available from AP and sounds simply fantastic. Blue Trane is being reissued by the new AP reissue series, coming out later this summer.
Wish they’d do more 33rpm reissues. Not everyone likes to flip a record every 5 minutes, high sonic quality notwithstanding.
Are you sure about Blue Train? They’re doing Ballads and A Love Supreme but I haven’t seen anything about Blue Train until reading this comment
Maybe I was mistaken
@@gtaylor3350 I was mistaken. It was A Love Supreme that I was thinking of.
Good list. A few others that could be included: Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall (1938), Somethin' Else (1958) by Cannonball Adderly, or anything by Stan Getz, especially Focus (1961) or the Jazz Samba records (1961-66).
Such an informed, intelligent, practical, quality video! Thanks for posting. Every rock fan should watch this and get busy listening to the recommendations.
Kind of Blue is still my favorite, every time I hear it I discover more interesting parts that I missed
It’s just a masterpiece without even trying to be
Agreed! Kind of Blue is my favorite album of all time 🎺
Try this: start the album Saturday night...midnight, listen all the way through
My favorite too. Kind of Blue straight fire
Yes it is
Kind Of Blue was the first jazz album to give me a boner.
Great video..when I wanted to explore jazz as a newbie, I googled greatest jazz albums and purchased the top ten on the list..Nice that we have videos like yours to learn from..thanks glen
You have created the perfect record store! A jazz guy that is also an audiophile. I wish you had a store in the Bay Area!
What's kind of your go to bay area jazz store? I personally like tunnel records in sf
Great video. I'm a new fan of jazz, I'm beginning my Jazz album collection. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Chet Baker etc. Watching from London UK 🇬🇧
I like how honest he is. “I have the bn 75 for sale in my store for $21.99, it sounds ok”. Great list too. You should probably do 2 or 3 vids a week. I tell people Jack Johnson too because it’s a rock album with trumpet, not a jazz album with guitar.
'In Groove' if I can make a suggestion....when selling to customers, don't "over-emphasize" one recording's sound over another that you've got for sale. If someone really likes Coltrane's Blue Train in your store over your system, the copy you have for sale isn't going to be THAT inferior. If they like what they hear and you've got it, they're going to LIKE that album. If a jazz lover comes in and says "yeah it's great but it's better on..." then fine, discuss away the merits of one recording over another. But the average music lover isn't going to know the difference between the two. That's NOT disingenuous ! The music is the music. A torn, tattered copy of classic lit still contains the important text no matter the condition of the book. That copy you're selling of Coltrane's Blue Train sounds JUST FINE. Love ya Bro. Great video, keep up the good work !
“just fine.” Your right. But he is trying to cater for dudes with super high end stereos where degrees of
quality matters
THNX FOR THE ALBUMS YOUR giving a direction where to see in jazz instead of being lost listening to every random song
'Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - Album of the Year". This was the first jazz album I liked.
I was comparing this to my top albums and comparing notes - with a lot of similarities. The Herbie Hancock was a darn good choice. Kind of Blue was at the top of my list. One I had on my list, done by local Indy artist Freddie Hubbard was "Red Clay." Thanks for sharing.
Just discovered your channel through this video. I was very taken with your comparison to jazz giants playing as sidemen on each other's LPs with imagining if parts of the Beatles, Stones or doors etc played on each others records. Very on point and I'd never heard it put that way. I would add 'Something Else' and 'The Sermon' as LPs which are both outstanding examples of jazz and a fairly easy entry to jazz. Thanks. I have kids in Phoenix so will certainly be looking for your store.
I like your choices , I have every one of those albums. You have a great collection, I started listening to jazz in the 60's ,it started with Wes Montgomery.
A nice list. Some other names for jazz newbies to look up are Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea, Wes Montgomery, Charles Mingus, Lee Morgan, Charlie Parker and Bill Evans.
Herbie Mann at the Village Gate should be in everyone's jazz collection.
Cannonball Adderley "Jazz Workshop Revisited" features his famous "Jive Samba" and a killer band with his brother Nat, Joe Zawinul, Bill Evans (not the white piano master) but aka Yusef Lateef, who blows you away with his flute and reed work! Must say, you hot the nail just about as perfect as anyone I have followed, so I am subscribing. Knew some of those guys, from the Embers West, NYC. when I began doing jazz art for Musical Heritage Society.
Good list, especially the last two. They would head my list with KIND OF BLUE, the classic of classics at the top. However, you gotta have Coltrane’s GIANT STEPS on any list. A seminal jazz classic. Also, Miles Davis’ SKETCHES OF SPAIN and MILES SMILES along with Thelonious Monk’s MISTERIOSO just to name a few.
Great video on a wide variety of different classical jazz albums. I would recommend your video to people who ask how to get into jazz and have a listen to all of these ten albums.
Greetings from England. Always nice to see you doing videos like this- i have tried to interest my friends in jazz with mixed results. Will recommend this vid to them.
I really enjoyed and appreciated your video. I have a CD player in my office. I have some Miles and Herbie. You have given me some great albums to seek out. Sorry they will be on CD
I'm familiar with all all of them.. I have some of theses, and need some of these! Great suggestions indeed!
Hey Mike! Just wanted to Thank You for all you wonderful recommendations!!!
Lee Morgan’s Search for the New Land is a good entry point into jazz. All the tracks have memorable themes with strong, concise solos from Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, and Herbie Hancock.
I love that album, too, but "concise" isn't exactly the word that comes to mind when I think of the nearly 16-minute long title track!
Great list, thanks! You like the Rudy van Gelder recordings?
Hi Folks. Greetings from the UK! I managed to get the Mingus and Jazz Dispensary issues even though I arrived quite late at Rough Trade Bristol. Hoping to get to Arizona at some point soon. Hope everyone's having a great day! 👍
If you're a hip hop RnB fan: blue breakbeats and the best of blue note and you're hooked.
Super helpful and rich information. I have just purchased nine of them only because of this amazing reference. Thank you
LOVE the videos that focus on Jazz!!! I am subscribing today just for the Jazz content! Happy to have found this channel!
Hi,
I recently watched the tv series Bosch. In the episodes was some good jazz music. That's how I got into jazz.
id say for someone who doesnt like jazz but wants to bridge the gap from pop to jazz, black radio (robert glasper) works really well.
Love your videos! Which press of the kind of blue and brubeck quartet you recommend?
Great selection picks...I like the way you do your show, Mike..
I’m primarily a metal/IDM fan, but I think KOB is just an unbelievable album. I’ve since come to really appreciate Somethin’ Else, Moanin, The Cooker, and Time Out (45 RPM which I bought from you).
These are all really good choices. Kind of heavy on the hard-bop which might be the more accessible jazz for people new to it. I'd recommend a Mingus in there too just because Mingus. Either Mingus's Ah Um or if they're into blues music, I think Mingus's Blues & Roots is just stellar too. And then if they are into piano jazz, I'd recommend Explorations by Bill Evans as one his more accessible albums. More than Everybody Digs or Sunday/Waltz. There's always Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown album too! Everyone likes that.
100% on Mingus Ah Um and Bill Evans especially the Village Vanguard or Paris 1972 live recordings. Both are exemplary examples of how complicated music can sound "simple" and easy on the ears yet still provide years of enjoyment as the layers of sound manifest themselves.
I got into jazz back in middle school, introduced by the soft machine's third album. Still my favorite
Awesome choice! Soft Machine is WAY underrated. "Third" is so many excellent things all at once - ambient, jazz, noise, prog, psych, etc. The band was very influenced by Zappa's "Uncle Meat" in making the recording, especially the sound collages utilized.
Gotta get some Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk in that list. But most of all, some Duke Ellington (perhaps his “Far East Suite”). Kudos for at least going past the usual obvious choices and throwing a Lou Donaldson record in there. (I mean, when’s the last time you actually put on that Brubeck record? But I throw on Lou Donaldson all the time!) Art Pepper, Sonny Stitt and Arnett Cobb all had stunning comeback careers in the 1970s and 80s, proving it wasn’t always just about the 1950s, For those punk rock guys you mention, Ornette Coleman’s “This Is Our Music” and that Sun Ra record right there over your shoulder would be good picks. Art Farmer’s “Portrait of Art” and Shelly Manne’s “My Fair Lady” are great recommendations for somebody who isn’t otherwise into jazz and isn’t into those heavy Miles and Coltrane or Blue Note vibes. Like the Stan Getz, they are records that simply charm the pants off jazz noobs. ;-)
Sleeping Beauty is a better intro to Sun Ra album in my opinion
Cool collection I want to get in to jazz music
This is a great list, but there are also lots of excellent recordings from the swing era that are very accessible entry points for certain kinds of jazz neophytes. I’m thinking especially of Billie Holiday’s recordings for Columbia and Commodore, the Benny Goodman small group recordings, Duke Ellington recordings from the Blanton-Webster period, Count Basie’s Decca recordings, and the classic recordings of Django Reinhardt’s Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Melodic, swinging music with virtuoso musicianship, and often very appealing to people who don’t yet have much familiarity with jazz.
That is phenomenal music. Billie Holiday's recordings for Columbia are perhaps my favorite music of all time - a national treasure. But the music you mentioned are not albums. They are compilations. Most of that music was made before LPs existed so everything was done on 78s with a limit of about three minutes. Sometimes several of these were combined together in a box or book like a photo album, but the album format was not something artists focused on at that time. Everything was recorded as singles.
@@hume7146 Thanks for your reply, but I have to admit it's got me scratching my head a bit; I neither said nor implied that any of that music originally came out in album format, and my point was precisely that if one is recommending "gateway" music for people who don't currently listen to jazz but would like to give it a try, it seems counterproductive to arbitrarily restrict oneself to music produced during the LP era. (Here I'll add that it seems even more counterproductive to restrict the field to eight albums recorded between 1957 and 1964, plus one from 1967 and one from 1970, as Mike has chosen to do here. That's an awfully narrow slice of the century-plus history of this music!) I'd also suggest that the short performance length imposed by the constraints of the 78-rpm record is actually one of the reasons those recordings are sometimes more accessible for listeners just getting acquainted with jazz. For some folks who are accustomed to commercial pop, rock, hip-hop, or R & B, the sheer length of a track like "Blue Train" - let alone "Right Off" or "Yesternow" - can be a little off-putting.
@@jtoddbrown Yeah, you're right. I was thinking this video was specifically about the best jazz albums, partly because all the ones he listed were albums, but the title does say "records" which could include compilations and such. I agree with you that those shorter 78s can be more accessible for newbies. Especially Billie Holiday's Columbia years. I think that is about the most accessible jazz of all, a bunch of short songs with memorable lyrics, almost like pop music, but with great jazz instrumentation and vocals.
Had Art Blakey and Hoeace 1962!
When I first got into Jazz, started with some CTI records. Freddie Hubbard, Grover Washington etc and expanded from there. The best time was the Jazz Workshop and Paul's Mall in Boston to see many live acts, back then you could stay for all 3 sets.
My first three Jazz Albums (in the order I purchased them) The Best of Pete Fountain - Pete Fountain; Idle Moments - Grant Green; The Great Summit - Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.
Just listened to Horace Silver 'Song for my father' album. Amazing!
That Jack Johnson pick was new to me, good choice. Just to go a touch deeper, to this top 10 list I would add the album Search for the New Land by Lee Morgan, with Grant Green on guitar!
This is exactly what I was looking for … thanks so much!!!
Great selection. I would include Blossom Dearie's "Sweet" it's as good as anything on this list.
I love your videos. Not only are they informative, they are unpretentious
"Clifford Brown & Max Roach". Excellent. "Time Out" was my first jazz album, & I still like it. "Brilliant Corners" by Thelonious Monk. "Concert By The Sea" by Erroll Garner. I listened to "Kind of Blue" many times & it left me cold... until about five years ago. Now a favorite. "Jazz Samba" by Getz & Byrd. No matter what the weather or season, when I play Jazz Samba it is a warm summer day. "Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers". And posthumously, Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall".
I am pretty sure they all sound perfectly fine in the print you have right there 😉
This is great! Can you make video about the 10 best classical records to start a collection?
Not just Hip Hop. Listen to Steely Dan’s Rikki Don’t Lose That Number and the bass line from Song For My Father. Identical give or take.
Great video. I'm having a wonderful day listening to your recommendations. Thank you so much. You have opened a few doors for me. I can't wait to delve into Herbie Hancock
My first jazz album 30 years ago was Kind of Blue. I wasn't a total blank slate because I'd been listening to KJAZ (or whatever it was called back in the nineties). I still find myself stuck in the 50s and 60s: Gerry Mulligan, Coltrane, Monk (lots of Monk), Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown. I was pleased that you mentioned Son Ra,
Incredible can’t believe what I’m seeing . i’ve been a jazz fan since early 60s when I first heard take five. I just wanted to say that I purchased Kind of Blue & Time Out for my grandson in vinyl within the last month and a half I agree on all of your selections Since I do own most of them. Female vocals of the era Morganna King must be Taste of Honey
i never realized the SRV version was a cover of Kenny Burrell, and I have both albums!
Great to see Kenny Burrell getting some attention. I love his work with Jimmy Smith too.
That was a great dive into jazz records. I have the last two you mentioned, originals that were part of my parent's collection that I now have, I had bought Take Five for myself, after hearing on the home stereo or radio way back when, it hit a chord and I dug it the very first time hearing. Kinda Blue is the other killer album, still getting nods even to this day, can't say enough about these stellar pieces of art.
Can you open a store in Germany? We need you over here too! 😩
Didn't Steely Dan get the piano riff for Rikki Don't Lose That Number from that Horace Silver album?
I am definitely going to listen to all these. I am a big rock fan, but I like whatever catches my ear.
great selection i would add Lee Morgan the Sidewinder, Art Pepper Today, and Chet Baker Sings
What little jazz I enjoy at the moment tend to like dixieland, swing, electro swing, and jazz fusion stuff (mostly jazz-rock and some jazz-bossa nova fusion). I’ve had a hard time getting into later jazz.
Highly asvise John Coltrane's Giant Steps. Hard Bop. Its not over bloated to the point and catchy imo.
Great video! Thank you for the education. I’ve never been into jazz but I’m going to check these recommendations out. Thank you!
Ahhh! Dying for more of these review videos! Nothing is more satisfying than seeing the copy of a record I own is the one you consider to be the best.
Thanks for the recommendations! Really nice selection!
Nice list....for getting into jazz I would have Ellington's "... and his mother called him Bill", and Sun Ra's "Jazz in Silhouette "
I just got into jazz several years ago and I started with about 6 of these albums. GREAT list for starters!
Had my like as soon as you mentioned Art Blakey....his drumming is just masterful 👏
I was a kid and got the Take Five album by accident from the Columbia Record Club, I hadn't ordered. It introduced me to places I didn't even suspect. Then Bitches Brew never got better for me.
Hi Mike from Slovakia,Europe. Great video,will be great that you make another jazz album video ,it was very interesting and informative,great to watch!
Please do one of these for classical, I'm a rock and jazz guy. Never knew where to start with classical
I’ve been asked this question many times as I moved from rock ‘n roll to classical about 35 years ago and now have around 5,100 CDs of classical music. As with crossing over to jazz, it’s important to find pieces that are not too big of a leap between what you’re used to and the new genre. Here’s 3 suggestions: 1) J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Concertos” (esp. no. 5), 2) Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, and 3) Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nacht Music”. Don’t get too hung up on the orchestra who performs it (you’ll have many choices for these 3 pieces).
I’d first check out the Romantic period. Listen to: Debussy, Chopin, Satie, Liszt.
Not a bad list--but I have to say, "Not the list I'd recommend."
I came to jazz from classical music, so my favorites are out there on the complex end:
Ornette Coleman: _Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation._
Miles Davis: _Bitches Brew._
Eric Dolphy: _Out to Lunch!._
Charles Mingus: _Pithecanthropus Erectus._
Cecil Taylor: _Cecil Taylor Unit._
These selections are probably too overwhelming for the average beginner, so for the normies, I recommend the following baker's dozen:
Dave Brubeck: _Time Out._
John Coltrane: _Giant Steps._
John Coltrane: _A Love Supreme._
Miles Davis: _Kind of Blue._
Bill Evans: _Portrait in Jazz._
Charles Mingus: _Mingus Ah Um._
The Modern Jazz Quartet: _The Complete Last Concert._
The Modern Jazz Quartet: _European Concert._
Thelonious Monk: _Brilliant Corners._
Thelonious Monk: _Monk's Music._
The Quintet: _Jazz at Massey Hall._
Sonny Rollins: _Saxophone Colossus._
Art Tatum: _Piano Starts Here._
While the topic of this video is jazz _albums,_ if you really want to become a jazz aficionado, you've got to listen to artists who flourished before the age of the LP. Unfortunately, compilations come and go with far too much frequency for me to attempt a list here. However, don't miss out on these artists:
Louis Armstrong.
Bix Beiderbecke.
Count Basie.
Duke Ellington.
Jelly Roll Morton.
Charlie Parker.
"Ornette Coleman: Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation"? Are you serious? 😂 This album sounds more like an argument between a drunk husband and his equally tipsy wife than music. For someone just starting to explore the world of jazz, this album would be utterly incomprehensible. Even after 10 years of listening to jazz, I still find it incredibly challenging to digest something like this.
@@CristiHolerga Well, as they say, there's no accounting for taste.
@@bigscarysteve Totally agree, although it's worth mentioning that I found a lot of albums that I like among the ones you suggested. So thanks for those! :)
I see you show mostly new audiophile records on your chAnnel whats your opinion regarding sound quality between lets say a MM or Mofi pressing compare to a Liberty BN press or even a original or a OJC. You should do a video comparing all of them!
I’m surprised you didn’t have something from Vince Guaraldi on your list.
His work on the music of the Peanuts specials was for many of us our first exposure to jazz and his other albums like Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus & Alma-Ville are a real treat.
Yeah, Vince's work is very hip. His compositions share many similarities with Pat Metheny's work. Excellent entry point into jazz.
I never really thought of it, but yeah lol
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
Agreed. I would have recommended “Head Hunters” or “Maiden Voyage” for Herbie albums.
yeah but, tell me if I'm wrong, Headhunters is proto-fusion (if not outright) and I think In Groove's idea is to initiate folks to trad jazz.
@@EastmanD Sure... Then why would he recommend Miles - Jack Johnson (rock/fusion jazz)? Is that trad jazz?
@@Jamko1970 now that I've listened to it, no not even close...is it even jazz ?? Love me some McLaughlin !
Everyone who has dipped their toe in the water will have their own version of this. One album I have bought multiple times is “miles in the sky” by miles Davis. The drumming just grabbed me when I knew very little of jazz. In the beginning I new Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Blue Train of course. Despite listening to a wide range of music I’d say jazz seems to be where my compass returns me. Albums that seemed inaccessible later become soothing. Sixty years old records that become utterly modern. It’s a deep well to draw on. A genuine 20th century innovation that keeps on giving. Something the 21st century hasn’t yet matched. Beyond the coolness there is freedom and it’s chaos. I’d be interested to see what Mike would have to say on jazz that bewildered him. Take us down the well, so to speak.
I love Blue Train, but Giant Steps and A Love Supreme are probably Coltrane’s two most impactful albums and have drawn many a listener to jazz. You could also make a case for My Favorite Things because of the popularity of the title track, which helped bring the soprano sax into prominence. That was the album that first made me into a jazz fan.
A love supreme is awesome
As you say all 3 are
I feel like "Giant Steps" gets overlooked too much. "Naima" is brilliant.
But neither of those records feature Lee Morgan!! I would include at least two or three albums from 'Trane, frankly. Blue and Supreme, for sure. Add, probably Steps.
For me it's My Favorite Things, that's my favorite Coltrane album by far and one of my favorite jazz albums altogether
This list is amazing great choices. Midnight blue 💙
Great video. Thank you for taking the time to do it.
Great video and recommendations!
Mike did u ever see Blakey live?
I did Ronnie Scotts early 70’s in London he was a force to be reckoned with
I'll be adding all these to my "must hear" collection. Was glad to hear Grant Green's name mentioned. Thanks 'In' Groove !!
10 classic jazz albums for those who loved these 10 and want to go crazier:
Alice Coltrane - Journey to Satchidananda (1970)
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1970)
Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963)
Ralph Towner - Solstice (1975)
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
Sun Ra - Lanquidity (1978)
The Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame (1971)
John Coltrane - Giant Steps (1959)
Keith Jarrett - The Survivor's Suite (1976)
Herbie Hancock - Sextant (1973)
Amazing list! I would also add some Rahsaan Roland Kirk - either "Rig Rig & Panic" or "The Inflated Tear". Maybe also some Weather Report like "Mysterious Traveller" but having "Sextant" on there is so killer that you may not even need it LOL! Albert Ayler "Live in Greenwich Village - Complete Impulse Recordings" may possibly be the most crazy and out there jazz recording of all time and is highly recommended for those that are saturated and really want to jump off the deep end LOL!
The first Jazz album I bought was Miles Davis - Bitches Brew. Awesome album!
Charles Mingus said: What Miles is doing now is Bullshit!
I’m definitely gonna put these on my music playlist.
Love these picks! Just a quick FYI Gilberto from the Getz/Gilberto is pronounced “Jill-Ber-To”.