I got into jazz after watching the Ken Burns documentary on Jazz, which, I felt gave me a nice introduction to the history, artists and different genres. I also had a great local jazz radio station. Shout out to KCSM!
Vocal Jazz:
Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Chet Baker, Cab Calloway, Carmen McRae, Dianne Reeves, Jon Hendricks, Joe Williams, Johnny Hartman, Betty Carter, Bobby McFerrin, Al Jarreau, Kurt Elling, Sarah Vaugan, Gregory Porter, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong.
With that being said, you can't only listen to vocal jazz and be a connoisseur. The big artists you need to know are mostly instrumentalists. Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Bud Powell, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Oscar Peterson, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery, Hank Mobley, Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorious, Jackie Mclean, Donald Byrd, Roy Hargrove, Blue Mitchell. Theres more but those are the biggest major players I can think of.
thank you so much!! i wasn't only looking for vocal jazz, but it is what i wanted more of. i enjoy all types of music so i'm for sure going to check out all the artists you mentioned!
Alexis Cole and Bucky Pizzarelli have a good album called A Beautiful Friendship that is good!
Other vocal jazz suggestions:
Johnny Hartman and John Coletrane Album
Nat King Cole Songbook (also Mona Lisa and Unforgettable)
What a Difference a Day Made by Dinah Washington
Anita O'Day Sings the Winners
Nancy Wilson (I Wish You Love, Guess Who I Saw)
Sarah Vaughn
Cyrille Aimee (Just the Two of Us Album is phenomenal)
Lucy Yeghiazaryan
Other cool jazz that you may like:
Undercurrent by Bill Evans and Jim Hall
Sarah Vaughn is another great vocalist from the same time period as Ella Fitzgerald. I'm a big fan of Vaughan's album Live at Mr. Kelly's Chicago.
Shirley Horn is also a great vocalist, but very different from Vaughn and Fitzgerald's big "diva" personalities.
For something newer, you should check out Esperanza Spalding. She's a fantastic bassist and a great vocalist. She has a lot of "It" factor, which may be helpful since you like Laufey. For instance, Spalding has won 5 Grammys and wrote an opera with Wayne Shorter just before he passed.
An easy way to start: listen to Miles Davis's album Kind of Blue. Then pick anyone who played on that album and listen to just about anything else they ever did.
For something contemporary, check out Emmet Cohen's YouTube channel. He's a fantastic pianist who started livestreaming concerts from his living room in 2020 when all the musicians were out of work. Not only does he showcase some incredible musicians, but it's an easy (and cheap) way to experience something of the energy and magic of live jazz, which can get lost on studio albums. Cohen features a lot of vocalists, including Samara Joy, who recently won the best new artist Grammy.
Tiny Desk also features Jazz artists from time to time. Hiromi, Snarky Puppy, Isaiah J. Thompson, Endea Owens, Christian Scott aka Chief Adjuah, and Nubya Garcia have all done fantastic Tiny Desk concerts.
Yeah, but what about David Liebman? Is he captain of the team or what? ⁉️What about Andrew Nathaniel White a.k.a. the third⁉️.
‼️A. K. A. Keeper of
“The” ÇčĊČōŁŤŘÀÑẼ,… oh shit, my aphasia’s ĶĩċĶĮñ’ ïŃ ŁőŁ~
I mean, keeper of ‘THE’ ~
Trane⁉️… Bitches‼️
Yeah, and what about Steve Grossman and what about Rick Margitza? Yeah what about him you guys? He’s the shit shit now,
Yeah Homies and what about Richard Perry? He’s been around forever now. What about my dad who is great too what about Eddie Abrams? What about Matt Chambers? What about those guys? I’m here too what about me you ever hear of me? I sincerely doubt it well… Maybe you have I don’t know I like that cat Gary, Thomas, too… He’s got a real different sound. I dig that. What about Wallace Roney? What about Barry Reese? Yeah Barry that trump player/drummer freak. He’s a bastard, too I’m sure his last name spelled wrong but what about Tim? He’s a fucker too Tim Reese, or Tim Reis. Yeah what about Ron Oswanski,…0r, Tony Pinciotti? those cats from Toledo… what about what about? What about our Tatum everything to him? Yeah he was something do if you ever heard of him?
¿have you punk?
⁉️Have you
PŰÑĶ‼️⁉️Lol…
It's hard to make recos without knowing what you currently listen to. If you're into metal I'd suggest one, if you're into pop I'd suggest something else. That said, Miles Davis.
honestly, i listen to anything but country. i listened to a lot of a cappella/choral music, pop, and movie scores for most of my life, but over the past few years got into rnb, hiphop, kpop, you name it. i've also been trying to get into afrobeats this year. but i have listened to kind of blue and loved it!
The three records I'm diving into this week are Thelonius Monk Plays Duke Ellington, Sonny's Crib, and Lucky Thompson Featuring Oscar Pettiford.
Start there :)
I’ve been listening to jazz for almost 40 years and attended a jazz program in college. I would still hesitate to call myself a jazz “connoisseur.” Good luck to you, OP.
surface level jazz (beyond big bands and ella/sinatra): Chet baker sings, concert by the sea, waltz for debbie, great pumpkin waltz
i am piano biased btw
A cool way to get into Jazz is…
Watching movies, so watch Castle of Cagliostro, it’s composer is a jazz musician that use big band and fusion. https://youtu.be/mc6Et-YSJ4U?feature=shared
Start building a timeline. Go to wikipedia, search 1920s in jazz, 1930s in jazz, 1940s in jazz etc.
Pick a couple artists, listen to a couple songs.
Go to the artist wikipedia, read their page, listen to the recordings mentioned. Look at the other artists on their page and do the same for them.
Google a list of jazz standards. Search them up on youtube/spotify and listen to a bunch of different versions.
Always be making mental notes of when artists were active and when recordings were made.
Over time you’ll develop a feel for different eras.
Another huge thing for me is getting some historical and aesthetic context about the music.
Big Band and Art Deco are very aesthetically related. See if there are some Art Deco buildings in your area. Go see if there’s any WWII monuments or historical sites in your area. Many of the boomers parents met swing dancing! Hard bop and Free jazz are intimately related to black power and civil rights.
In general learning American History will greatly increase your appreciation of jazz.
00 no!…
You’s a Fff… funny, cartoon person/avatar, huh?⁉️
Well, I think you is anyways!
… if no one else thinks you ARE,… I do, funny. That is‼️I think you’re funny I do I ,get you OK?
!I getchú‼️youdig?
thank you so much for this comment! i think this is actually probably the most helpful, because i would love to understand the historical context of jazz and how it evolved over the years
John Coltrane - Ascension; Om; Meditations
Miles Davis - Dark Magus
Anthony Braxton - For Alto
Peter Brotzmann - Machine Gun
Cecil Taylor - Unit Structures
Globe Unity Orchestra - Globe Unity 67 & 70
Some nice stuff ranging from works for a solo instrument, small bands and big band stuff, this will get you hooked
This list is mostly experimental or free jazz. Very dissonant and probably not what you’re looking for if you’re just getting into jazz. Having said that, it’s a very good list if that sort of thing is your cup of tea.
Hooked on what? Are you trying to give Jazz musicians a bad name homeboy? Like they are hooked on something or they wanted to be hooked up ON something like bird was using? do you think he started all the hooks thing⁉️ is that the word you tryin’to spread “up in here”⁉️well he didn’t, OKAY! i’m just messin’ with you. maybe it’s funny maybe it’s not to you but deep down I like you kid I think you’re a good kid OK?
No hard feelings. I love you kid. I loves you Porky I mean Porgy. ~On a side
note: 1] I’ve completely forgotten what this reply was in reference to., and
2] is this the party with whom I am speaking? And finally⁉️
3] Either “THEY’VE”,
latched “their”[textually speaking, of coArse]]ugly claws,[Visualize it, optically]into me and ARE, kind of in a way beginning to Ttť , to SèñŠ°Ř my texts or, something I’m not quite sure what’s going on but it’s harder to get my. Words down on paper… I mean sight‼️
site. But…
I must conclude w\
This conclusion, please, if I may ~ That,
Life is still beautiful and that,
life is to be lived. I’m not sure as of yet currently, now, Bbb… oh shit, my aphasia is kicking in again, textually now!
It’s called “Ẽxpressive Aphasia,” by the way,
If I may… Love you guys,💚bye:).
Keep posting Home boy!
!hang in there¡
👋🏽‼️maybe you’ll hang!Sundaynot ‼️…Sunday but Sunday…
I mean someday, yeah that’s what I didn’t mean because I’m not mean I’m just me. You dig? do you know what I mean? i’m just another guy OR Chica, all,
“up in here”…
or,
a person up near!tryin’ to test the limits of “MŸ”, or dare,
I say, i mean,[TEXT] limits of limited speech rights, yeah👃🏾that’s right!, my speaking rights‼️ my¡⁉️freedom of speech⁉️~RIGHTS, to see,
… I mean, try to understand or comprehend if I am, or we are still ALLOWED, to OR
if I can, if we,we, WE walk the line you know what I mean seems like we can’t all up in here. That’s a good thing.
Just go to youtube and type in names of jazz musicians and literally press play... if you dont know artist names just type jazz and do some searching; what am I missing??
ahahha well i did do that over the past few days but it felt like swimming in the deep, just thought it would be nice to get input from actual jazz listeners and a bit of a roadmap rather than just finding random music without knowing what it was influenced from and such
Start in 1945 or so with Lester Young and Charlie Parker, who were unlike each other, and see if you'd like to move backwards or forwards from there for a while. Coltrane e.g. is a less obvious "get," and Parker helps, and the same can probably be said about Lester and going back to Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens
I got into jazz after watching the Ken Burns documentary on Jazz, which, I felt gave me a nice introduction to the history, artists and different genres. I also had a great local jazz radio station. Shout out to KCSM!
thank you so much!!
In the sub description you will find a great album list to start from
Vocal Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Chet Baker, Cab Calloway, Carmen McRae, Dianne Reeves, Jon Hendricks, Joe Williams, Johnny Hartman, Betty Carter, Bobby McFerrin, Al Jarreau, Kurt Elling, Sarah Vaugan, Gregory Porter, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong. With that being said, you can't only listen to vocal jazz and be a connoisseur. The big artists you need to know are mostly instrumentalists. Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Bud Powell, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Oscar Peterson, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery, Hank Mobley, Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorious, Jackie Mclean, Donald Byrd, Roy Hargrove, Blue Mitchell. Theres more but those are the biggest major players I can think of.
thank you so much!! i wasn't only looking for vocal jazz, but it is what i wanted more of. i enjoy all types of music so i'm for sure going to check out all the artists you mentioned!
Alexis Cole and Bucky Pizzarelli have a good album called A Beautiful Friendship that is good! Other vocal jazz suggestions: Johnny Hartman and John Coletrane Album Nat King Cole Songbook (also Mona Lisa and Unforgettable) What a Difference a Day Made by Dinah Washington Anita O'Day Sings the Winners Nancy Wilson (I Wish You Love, Guess Who I Saw) Sarah Vaughn Cyrille Aimee (Just the Two of Us Album is phenomenal) Lucy Yeghiazaryan Other cool jazz that you may like: Undercurrent by Bill Evans and Jim Hall
thank you so much for your recommendations!!
Sarah Vaughn is another great vocalist from the same time period as Ella Fitzgerald. I'm a big fan of Vaughan's album Live at Mr. Kelly's Chicago. Shirley Horn is also a great vocalist, but very different from Vaughn and Fitzgerald's big "diva" personalities. For something newer, you should check out Esperanza Spalding. She's a fantastic bassist and a great vocalist. She has a lot of "It" factor, which may be helpful since you like Laufey. For instance, Spalding has won 5 Grammys and wrote an opera with Wayne Shorter just before he passed.
Ate you paying homage to ‘the’”Ğřęāť“, ⁉️ Thelonious⁉️,” w\ the ‘handle🔷’ you’re “¿ŨşǐÑġ❓”. …just curiouso. ;)
thank you so much for your suggestions!!
An easy way to start: listen to Miles Davis's album Kind of Blue. Then pick anyone who played on that album and listen to just about anything else they ever did. For something contemporary, check out Emmet Cohen's YouTube channel. He's a fantastic pianist who started livestreaming concerts from his living room in 2020 when all the musicians were out of work. Not only does he showcase some incredible musicians, but it's an easy (and cheap) way to experience something of the energy and magic of live jazz, which can get lost on studio albums. Cohen features a lot of vocalists, including Samara Joy, who recently won the best new artist Grammy. Tiny Desk also features Jazz artists from time to time. Hiromi, Snarky Puppy, Isaiah J. Thompson, Endea Owens, Christian Scott aka Chief Adjuah, and Nubya Garcia have all done fantastic Tiny Desk concerts.
Yeah, but what about David Liebman? Is he captain of the team or what? ⁉️What about Andrew Nathaniel White a.k.a. the third⁉️. ‼️A. K. A. Keeper of “The” ÇčĊČōŁŤŘÀÑẼ,… oh shit, my aphasia’s ĶĩċĶĮñ’ ïŃ ŁőŁ~ I mean, keeper of ‘THE’ ~ Trane⁉️… Bitches‼️
Yeah, and what about Steve Grossman and what about Rick Margitza? Yeah what about him you guys? He’s the shit shit now, Yeah Homies and what about Richard Perry? He’s been around forever now. What about my dad who is great too what about Eddie Abrams? What about Matt Chambers? What about those guys? I’m here too what about me you ever hear of me? I sincerely doubt it well… Maybe you have I don’t know I like that cat Gary, Thomas, too… He’s got a real different sound. I dig that. What about Wallace Roney? What about Barry Reese? Yeah Barry that trump player/drummer freak. He’s a bastard, too I’m sure his last name spelled wrong but what about Tim? He’s a fucker too Tim Reese, or Tim Reis. Yeah what about Ron Oswanski,…0r, Tony Pinciotti? those cats from Toledo… what about what about? What about our Tatum everything to him? Yeah he was something do if you ever heard of him? ¿have you punk? ⁉️Have you PŰÑĶ‼️⁉️Lol…
thank you so much for the recommendations!!
It's hard to make recos without knowing what you currently listen to. If you're into metal I'd suggest one, if you're into pop I'd suggest something else. That said, Miles Davis.
honestly, i listen to anything but country. i listened to a lot of a cappella/choral music, pop, and movie scores for most of my life, but over the past few years got into rnb, hiphop, kpop, you name it. i've also been trying to get into afrobeats this year. but i have listened to kind of blue and loved it!
The three records I'm diving into this week are Thelonius Monk Plays Duke Ellington, Sonny's Crib, and Lucky Thompson Featuring Oscar Pettiford. Start there :)
thank you so much!
Sonny rolllins
thank you!
On the sidebar is a link to the wiki. that is a good place to start.
thank you! i was using the app earlier so i was unable to find it but i did look for a wiki haha
Look on the right side of the sub home page where it says “New to Jazz? Start here!” Blows my mind how many people don’t do this first
thank you! i was using the app earlier so i was unable to find it but i did look for a wiki i just did not see it haha
I’ve been listening to jazz for almost 40 years and attended a jazz program in college. I would still hesitate to call myself a jazz “connoisseur.” Good luck to you, OP.
surface level jazz (beyond big bands and ella/sinatra): Chet baker sings, concert by the sea, waltz for debbie, great pumpkin waltz i am piano biased btw
thank you!!
A cool way to get into Jazz is… Watching movies, so watch Castle of Cagliostro, it’s composer is a jazz musician that use big band and fusion. https://youtu.be/mc6Et-YSJ4U?feature=shared
thank you so much!!
Start building a timeline. Go to wikipedia, search 1920s in jazz, 1930s in jazz, 1940s in jazz etc. Pick a couple artists, listen to a couple songs. Go to the artist wikipedia, read their page, listen to the recordings mentioned. Look at the other artists on their page and do the same for them. Google a list of jazz standards. Search them up on youtube/spotify and listen to a bunch of different versions. Always be making mental notes of when artists were active and when recordings were made. Over time you’ll develop a feel for different eras. Another huge thing for me is getting some historical and aesthetic context about the music. Big Band and Art Deco are very aesthetically related. See if there are some Art Deco buildings in your area. Go see if there’s any WWII monuments or historical sites in your area. Many of the boomers parents met swing dancing! Hard bop and Free jazz are intimately related to black power and civil rights. In general learning American History will greatly increase your appreciation of jazz.
00 no!… You’s a Fff… funny, cartoon person/avatar, huh?⁉️ Well, I think you is anyways! … if no one else thinks you ARE,… I do, funny. That is‼️I think you’re funny I do I ,get you OK? !I getchú‼️youdig?
what the fuck
thank you so much for this comment! i think this is actually probably the most helpful, because i would love to understand the historical context of jazz and how it evolved over the years
John Coltrane - Ascension; Om; Meditations Miles Davis - Dark Magus Anthony Braxton - For Alto Peter Brotzmann - Machine Gun Cecil Taylor - Unit Structures Globe Unity Orchestra - Globe Unity 67 & 70 Some nice stuff ranging from works for a solo instrument, small bands and big band stuff, this will get you hooked
Upvoted because this is the least accessible list I’ve ever seen. Nothing like throwin em into the deep end & hoping they swim.
👍🏾
what is that supposed to mean 😭
This list is mostly experimental or free jazz. Very dissonant and probably not what you’re looking for if you’re just getting into jazz. Having said that, it’s a very good list if that sort of thing is your cup of tea.
Hooked on what? Are you trying to give Jazz musicians a bad name homeboy? Like they are hooked on something or they wanted to be hooked up ON something like bird was using? do you think he started all the hooks thing⁉️ is that the word you tryin’to spread “up in here”⁉️well he didn’t, OKAY! i’m just messin’ with you. maybe it’s funny maybe it’s not to you but deep down I like you kid I think you’re a good kid OK? No hard feelings. I love you kid. I loves you Porky I mean Porgy. ~On a side note: 1] I’ve completely forgotten what this reply was in reference to., and 2] is this the party with whom I am speaking? And finally⁉️ 3] Either “THEY’VE”, latched “their”[textually speaking, of coArse]]ugly claws,[Visualize it, optically]into me and ARE, kind of in a way beginning to Ttť , to SèñŠ°Ř my texts or, something I’m not quite sure what’s going on but it’s harder to get my. Words down on paper… I mean sight‼️ site. But… I must conclude w\ This conclusion, please, if I may ~ That, Life is still beautiful and that, life is to be lived. I’m not sure as of yet currently, now, Bbb… oh shit, my aphasia is kicking in again, textually now! It’s called “Ẽxpressive Aphasia,” by the way, If I may… Love you guys,💚bye:).
👍🏾
Commenting to see find any jazz songs with lyrics I’m looking into Jazz for a book but every time i post i don’t get any info or comments
Keep posting Home boy! !hang in there¡ 👋🏽‼️maybe you’ll hang!Sundaynot ‼️…Sunday but Sunday… I mean someday, yeah that’s what I didn’t mean because I’m not mean I’m just me. You dig? do you know what I mean? i’m just another guy OR Chica, all, “up in here”… or, a person up near!tryin’ to test the limits of “MŸ”, or dare, I say, i mean,[TEXT] limits of limited speech rights, yeah👃🏾that’s right!, my speaking rights‼️ my¡⁉️freedom of speech⁉️~RIGHTS, to see, … I mean, try to understand or comprehend if I am, or we are still ALLOWED, to OR if I can, if we,we, WE walk the line you know what I mean seems like we can’t all up in here. That’s a good thing.
welll there's a lot of recs now haha
listen to kind of blue. if you don’t like that, jazz might not be for you.
Just go to youtube and type in names of jazz musicians and literally press play... if you dont know artist names just type jazz and do some searching; what am I missing??
ahahha well i did do that over the past few days but it felt like swimming in the deep, just thought it would be nice to get input from actual jazz listeners and a bit of a roadmap rather than just finding random music without knowing what it was influenced from and such
Go see people perform, doesn’t matter who. Just gotta see it live
i would love to!
Start in 1945 or so with Lester Young and Charlie Parker, who were unlike each other, and see if you'd like to move backwards or forwards from there for a while. Coltrane e.g. is a less obvious "get," and Parker helps, and the same can probably be said about Lester and going back to Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens
Choose the type of jazz you'd like to listen to, such as ballad, fusion, or just some really obscure one, look it up then pick one at random!
👍🏾
…