Building a Sound Jazz Repertoire

[Bill Hart]

Hi

I will try to follow the format used by Looydelee21, there is no hierarchy, the order is as they come to mind, unless noted:
Piano:
• Art Tatum: Piano Starts Here
• Thelonios Monk: Monk’s Dream
• Thelonious Monk: Underground
• Duke Ellington: Jazz Party
• Duke Ellington: Hot Summer Dance
• Oscar Peterson: Night Train
• Oscar Peterson: The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson
• Chick Corea: My Spanish Heart
• Errol Garner: Concert by the Sea
• Bud Powell: Bouncing With Bud
Female Voice:
• Billie Holliday: Lady In Satin
• Nina Simone: I Put A Spell on You
• Ella Fitzgerad: Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Songbook
• Sarah Vaughan: Sara Vaughn in Hi-Fi
• Nancy Wilson: Great American Songbook

Ok the rest. later, that is a lot of work ! and it will be more than 25 albums .. Sue me!!!

Great. Desert Island if you had a couple of large Louis Vuitton trunks and porters to carry them.

 

[LL21]

By the way, does anyone know about Oscar Peterson's Exclusively for My Friends 6-LP/4CD recordings? Specifically, i see that there are some CD/SACD Remasters which were reissued in 2006...relative to the CDs originally issued in '92.

Questions:

1) I understand the original recordings we were well done...how well mastered/recorded are the original CDs?
2) Are the CD/SACD versions actually remasters...or did someone just add the SACD layer and reissue for more money? thanks for any guidance!!

 

[FrantzM]

Great. Desert Island if you had a couple of large Louis Vuitton trunks and porters to carry them.

Rip'em... Then FLAC'em they'll fit on a 8 GB thumbdrive

 

[FrantzM]

Hi


Horns and Sax and other Wind Instruments

• Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (ESSENTIAL)
• Miles Davis: Sketches of Spain
• Miles Davis: In a Silent Way
• John: Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Essential)
• John Coltrane: Blue Trane (ESSENTIAL)
• Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus
• Dizzy, Charlie Parker, Max Roach, Charles Mingus at Massey Hall
• Dizzy Gillespie Quintet - An Electrifying Evening With The D. Gillespie Quintet
• Joshua Redman: Moodswing
• Wynton Marsalis: Live At The House of tribes
• Wynton Marsalis: He and She
• Charlie Parker: The Complete Savoy Sessions ( A box Set but who’s counting?)
• Benny Goodman: Beny Goodman Quartet – Together Again
• Coleman Hawkins: Body and Soul
• Ornette Coleman: The Shape Of Jazz To Come
• Lester Young: Lester Young Trio
• Louis Armstrong: The Definitive Collection
• Louis Armstrong: Gold
• Louis Armstrong: The Best of Louis and Ella (A two fer )


More Later , lot more but that is more work than I thought and I may have forgotten a few favorites.. So it is now 25 plus or minus 15
As for remastering ... I don't seem to care the music is so great with these that it doesn't matter much to me whenever I can I follow fellow audiophiles recommendations or simply get the MSFL or the XRCD, would love to see Winston Ma FIM get thee Masters and do an FIM job with them on CD, SACD and LPs . Again more later

 

[Bill Hart]

Hi


Horns and Sax and other Wind Instruments

• Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (ESSENTIAL)
• Miles Davis: Sketches of Spain
• Miles Davis: In a Silent Way
• John: Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Essential)
• John Coltrane: Blue Trane (ESSENTIAL)
• Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus
• Dizzy, Charlie Parker, Max Roach, Charles Mingus at Massey Hall
• Dizzy Gillespie Quintet - An Electrifying Evening With The D. Gillespie Quintet
• Joshua Redman: Moodswing
• Wynton Marsalis: Live At The House of tribes
• Wynton Marsalis: He and She
• Charlie Parker: The Complete Savoy Sessions ( A box Set but who’s counting?)
• Benny Goodman: Beny Goodman Quartet – Together Again
• Coleman Hawkins: Body and Soul
• Ornette Coleman: The Shape Of Jazz To Come
• Lester Young: Lester Young Trio
• Louis Armstrong: The Definitive Collection
• Louis Armstrong: Gold
• Louis Armstrong: The Best of Louis and Ella (A two fer )


More Later , lot more but that is more work than I thought and I may have forgotten a few favorites.. So it is now 25 plus or minus 15
As for remastering ... I don't seem to care the music is so great with these that it doesn't matter much to me whenever I can I follow fellow audiophiles recommendations or simply get the MSFL or the XRCD, would love to see Winston Ma FIM get thee Masters and do an FIM job with them on CD, SACD and LPs . Again more later

Frantz- you cookin', baby. This is great.

 

[Bill Hart]

Mr. Moderator in the sky- is there any way, once this thread runs its course, that we could compile the suggestions into one single list and make it a sticky? (I'd be happy to do the cutting and pasting into a single post, or even create a new thread for that purpose, so it becomes one long list, after we are done?)
Thank-you. Keep 'em coming folks!

 

[FrantzM]

Hi


I dropped the Instruments sequence and am going by Artists, groups , Ensemble.. etc

• Duke Ellington and Count Basie: The Count Meets The Duke
• Charles Mingus: Tijuana Moods
• Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um
• Charles Mingus: Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus
• Charles Mingus: The Black Saint and the Lady Sinner
• Weather Report: Heavy Weather
• Joe Zawinul and The Zawinul Syndicate: 75th ( A Live concert celebration of his birthday with a surprise appearance by Wayne Shorter on a rendition of "In A Silent Way" which by itself is worth buying the whole CD set, but there is so much more ...joyful energetic with a good dose of World Music without being, you know "world music" in lowercase.. Zawinul did pass away 4 or 6 months after this album. He was suffering from a cancer even during the concert)
• Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Max Roach: Money Jungle (ESSENTIAL)
• Art Blakey: The jazz Messengers
• Miles Davis: In a Silent Way
• Frank Sinatra with Count Basie Orchestra: AT The Sands
• Jim Hall: Concierto (Ok That is not the greatest Jazz ever but it is an album to have read at the bottom)*
• Immy Smith: The Sermon
• Jimmy Smith: Wlak on the Wild Side
• George Benson: Shape of Things To Come
• George Benson Quartet: Cookbook* ( One of his best albums , when he was playing Jazz and not the crossover he is known for, a superb technique and soulful guitar playing
• Pat Metheny: Letter from Home Home
• Pat Metheny: The Road To You (Live, Well recorded album)
• Keith Jarett: The Koln Concert
• Stan Getz: & Joao Gilberto: Getz and Gilberto
• Stan Getz: The Best of Two Worlds ( An interesting maybe better , IMO, but lesser known collaboration with Gilberto)
• Miles Davis: Bitches Brew An album that grows on you the more your listen to it.
• Charlie Christian: The Genius of the Electric Guitar (Deluxe Box Set)*
• Lionel Hampton and Oscar Peterson: Complete Quartets & Quintets [Box Set]*
• Wes Montgomery: Far West
• Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith: The Dynamic Duo*
• Cannonball Adderley : (With Miles Davis, Hank Jones, Art Blakey, etc) Somethin' Else
• Jason Moran: Black Stars In my opinion one of the best albums of contemporary Jazz maybe the best (2003)


Of course I got tired and will likely stop there. Not because there aren’t more albums I would like to recommend but simply leaving to others to fill the list up and come up with their own suggestions and I may pop up to add a few albums I deem essential.
Jim Hall is a decent guitarist but this album is really special. There is on it a rendition of "Concierto de Aranjuez" that Joaquin Rodriguo himself would have loved !!


Charlie Christian is one of those forgotten masters.. he passed away at an early age (maybe 36) but many considered him along with Charlie "Bird" Parker, likely the best improvisators the jazz World has known .. In both cases too the recordings weren’t of the greatest quality..Our loss… Simply Spectacular

Charles Mingus is one of those Giants of jazz few people seem to know. The Tijuan Moods Album is to me ESSENTIAL. And Mingus belongs in the Pantheon of greatests.. like Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis in my view. To me That is how high he ranks one of the Five Greatest Jazz Artists of All time To make people happy we will put him in the “best 10” list, so that we can Add Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald …

 

[Bill Hart]

Hi


I dropped the Instruments sequence and am going by Artists, groups , Ensemble.. etc

• Duke Ellington and Count Basie: The Count Meets The Duke
• Charles Mingus: Tijuana Moods
• Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um
• Charles Mingus: Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus
• Charles Mingus: The Black Saint and the Lady Sinner
• Weather Report: Heavy Weather
• Joe Zawinul and The Zawinul Syndicate: 75th ( A Live concert celebration of his birthday with a surprise appearance by Wayne Shorter on a rendition of "In A Silent Way" which by itself is worth buying the whole CD set, but there is so much more ...joyful energetic with a twinge of World Music without being, you know "world music" in lowercase.. ZAwinul did pass away 4 or 6 months after this album. He was suffering from a cancer even during the concert)
• Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Max Roach: Money Jungle (ESSENTIAL)
• Art Blakey: The jazz Messengers
• Miles Davis: In a Silent Way
• Frank Sinatra with Count Basie Orchestra: AT The Sands
• Jim Hall: Concierto (Ok That is not the greatest Jazz ever but it is an album to have read at the bottom)*
• Immy Smith: The Sermon
• Jimmy Smith: Wlak on the Wild Side
• George Benson: Shape of t Things To Come
• George Benson Quartet: Cookbook* ( One of his best albums , when he was playing Jazz and not the crossover he is known for, a superb technique and soulful playing
• Pat Metheny: Letter from Home Home
• Pat Metheny: The Road To You (Live, Well recorded album)
• Keith Jarett: The Koln Concert
• Stan Getz: & Joao Gilberto: Getz and Gilberto
• Stan Getz: The Best of Two Worlds ( An interesting maybe ebeter but lesser known collaboration with Gilberto)
• Miles Davis: Bitches Brew
• Charlie Christian: The Genius of the Electric Guitar (Deluxe Box Set)*
• Lionel Hampton and Oscar Peterson: • Complete Quartets & Quintets [Box Set]*
• Wes Montgomery: Far West
• Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith: The Dynamic Duo*
• Cannonball Adderley : (With Miles Davis, Hank Jones, Art Blakey, etc) Somethin'
• Jason Moran: Black Stars In my opinion one of the best albums of contemporary Jazz maybe the best (2003)


Of course I got tired and will likely stop there. Not because there aren’t more albums I would like to recommend but simply leaving to others to fill the list up and come up with their own suggestions and I may pop up to add a few albums I deem essential.
Jim Hall is a decent guitarist but this album is really special. There is on it a rendition of "Concierto de Aranjuez" that Joaquin Rodriguo himself would have loved !!


Charlie Christian is one of those forgotten masters.. he passed away at an early age (maybe 36) but many considered him along with Charlie Byrd Parker, likely the best improvisators the jazz World has known .. In both cases too the recordings weren’t of the greatest quality..Our loss… Simply Spectacular

Charles Mingus is one of those Giants of jazz few people seem to know. The Tijuan Moods Album is to me ESSENTIAL. And Mingus belongs in the Pantheon of greatests.. like Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis in my view. To me That is how high he ranks one of the Five Greatest Jazz Artists of All time To make people happy we will put him in the “best 10” list, so that we can Add Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald …

Thanks again for your efforts here, Frantz. I was going to ask generally for someone to fill in some jazz guitar, but you anticipated that with C. Christian and Wes. Good job!

 

[MylesBAstor]

Thanks again for your efforts here, Frantz. I was going to ask generally for someone to fill in some jazz guitar, but you anticipated that with C. Christian and Wes. Good job!

Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Laurindo Almeida, Charlie Byrd and Barney Kessel for me.

 

[Bill Hart]

Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Laurindo Almeida, Charlie Byrd and Barney Kessel for me.

Recordings, Myles, recordings!
Yep, all great, add Django and T-Bone, but none that I have are great recordings, particularly the former- did he even survive into the LP era, or were they all transcriptions from 78's?

 

[FrantzM]

Recordings, Myles, recordings!
Yep, all great, add Django and T-Bone, but none that I have are great recordings, particularly the former- did he even survive into the LP era, or were they all transcriptions from 78's?

Which is to me another problem with Charlie "Bird" Parker and Charlie Christian and many of Jazz recordings before the so-called modern era of recording.. I love Parker but his recordings are usually just OK sonically often bad, but the music, the music, you know you are listening to a treasure but it does require more mental processing because of the lack of fidelity and on this I believe that is what the best music reproduction systems do, a subject for another thread ...

Anyway, Django Reiinhart is not casual listening because of the above, his recordings are all ancient and the one I have anyway ancient sounding. Far from the sound of something like Saxophone Colossus or any of the jazz Albums from the Golden Era of Recording so many sound beter than today usual fare... even in mono. Duke Ellington's Jazz Party is an example. Thse recrodings are not better than an mp3 at 64 K

I would like to add a few people from the old continent that have made great contributions to Jazz:

Martial Solal: Martial Solal Trio at Newport , Very good pianist, a very good album to have an idea of his talent. I had the pleasure to hear live in P-au-P Haiti when I was twenty or so ...

Jazz in Paris: Oscar Peterson-Stephane Grappelli Quartet, Vol. 1 and Vol.2 . An unusual instrument in Jazz settings.. oddly it works with Grappelli. oh he can swing!. There is a song in my head from Grappelli and I don't want to buy his entire discography just to get to this song, can't remember the name of course, else ... but I buy one of his CDs once in while in the hope of finding that great tune... : This song is related to a very pleasant event as a youth and to this day, I can hum it without a fault but so far no luck but only 6 albums, his discography is much more extended

The Very Best of Grappelli and Menuhin: Odd but greatly entertaining album. A collaboration between Stephane Grappelli, Jazz Violonist with Yehudi Menuhim, Classical Violinist with a penchant for jazz Music


Toots Thielmans and Oscar Peterson: Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival, 1980
Toots Thielmans : The Brasil Project 1 and 2 (Two different albums)

Ok I am done ... but I have to come back for the African continent contributions to Jazz too ... And we should not forget Cuba (Very, very strong) and Brasil .. This will never end

 

[Bill Hart]

Which is to me another problem with Charlie "Bird" Parker and Charlie Christian .. I love Parker but his recordings are usually just OK sonically ofen bad, nust themusic, the music, you know you are listening to a treasure but it does require more mental processing because of the lack of fidelity and on this I believe that is what the best music reproduction systems do, a subject for another thread ...

Anyway, Djngo Reiinhart is not casual listening because of the above, his recoding are all ancient and the one I have anyway ancient sounding. Far from the sound of something like Saxophone Colossus or any of the jazz Albums from the Golden Era of Recording so many sound beter than today usual fare... even in mono. Duke Ellington's Jazz Party is an example

I would like to add a few people from the old continent that have made great contributions to Jazz:

Martial Solal: Martial Solal Trio at Newport , Very good pianist, a very good album to have an idea of his talent. I had the pleasure to hear live in P-au-P Haiti when I was twenty or so ...

Jazz in Paris: Oscar Peterson-Stephane Grappelli Quartet, Vol. 1 and Vol.2 . AN unusual instrument ina a Jazz setting.. oddly it works with Grappelli. There is a songun myhead from Grappelli and I don't want to buy his entire discography but I buyone of his CD once in while in the hope of finding that great tune... : This song is related to a nice event for me and to this day, i can hum it without a fault ubt so far no luck


The Very Best of Grappelli and Menuhin: An odd but greatly entertaining album. A collaboration between Stephane Grappelli, Jazz Violonist with Yehudi Menuhim, Classical Violinist with a penchant for jazz Music


Toots Thielmans and Oscar Peterson: Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival, 1980
Toots Thielmans : The Brasil Project 1 and 2 (Two different albums)

Ok I am done ... but I have to come back for the African continet contribution to jazz too ... And we should not forget Cuba and Brasil .. This will never end

If and when, Frantz, you've done great. My hope is that if this thread continues, we can put it together into a 'list'; i don't know that I have time to search out the best performances or recordings for each, but if others chime in, they can add their thoughts. Maybe then, with some moderator help, we can create a semi-definitive list.
thank you.

 

[rbbert]

The OP said vinyl only, so I sort of ignored this thread, but I see by many of the posts that "vinyl only" is no longer a qualifier?

 

[Bill Hart]

Well, since I'm the one asking, I'll take what you have to offer, Rbbert To the extent the recording is only in current release in digital media, that doesn't mean we can't find a dusty old vinyl disc of it somewhere. So, knock yourself out. It's really about the music anyway (though I personally don't have any digital playback in the main system at this point). And thanks.

 

[rbbert]

I'm almost always pleasantly surprised (musically) by anything put out by Mosaic. Many are OOP, of course, and most were originally offered on LP as well. As far as their CD's go, the mastering is about as good as it gets (Winston Ma's releases perhaps excepted).

Almost all jazz recorded after about 1990 will be originally on digital media, whether or not LP's were also released. Not necessarily to eveyone's taste, of course, but I think there's lots of good new stuff.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Recordings, Myles, recordings!
Yep, all great, add Django and T-Bone, but none that I have are great recordings, particularly the former- did he even survive into the LP era, or were they all transcriptions from 78's?

I was at work so couldn't give you the albums. Here goes!

Grant Green: Green Street, Blue Note BST 84071 (AP 45 rpm)
Grant Green: His Majesty King Funk, Verve V6-8627 (Speakers Corner)
Jack Marshall and Shelly Manne: Sounds Unheard Of, Contemporary S9006 (AP reissued it but didn't do the original justice)
Charlie Byrd: The Charlie Byrd Trio at the Village Gate, Riverside RLP 9467 (AP 45 rpm)
Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne and Ray Brown: The Poll Winners, Contemporary S7010 (AP 45 rpm)
Kenny Burrell: Blue Lights V.1 and 2, Blue Note BST 1596 and 1597 (Classic Reissue; when the system is set up right, this recording is scary!)
Kenny Burrell: Guitar Forms (arranged by Gil Evans), Verve V6-8612 (Speakers Corner)
George Benson: The Other Side of Abbey Road (arranged by Don Sebesky), A&M Records/CTI SP 3028 (Speakers Corner and a RVG!)

 

[LL21]

The OP said vinyl only, so I sort of ignored this thread, but I see by many of the posts that "vinyl only" is no longer a qualifier?

Well, i took it that the OP was looking for recommendations for a jazz starter collection...and i think many people are making some. The OP also said 'vinyl only'...but i interpreted that to mean if people were going to recommendation specific versions of the jazz album...that the recommendation should be for vinyl versions.

 

[FrantzM]

I didn't catch the "vinyl only" and since threads are dynamic we have moved way past that... It is about music.. OI can and do listen to those in mp3 in my car and in my office ...

Myles

I also like the George Benson Album: The other side of Abbey Road..

 

[flez007]

I think an effort to acquire the original Blue Note catalog and the original Prestige catalog would be a good starter. Then I would look to add the various Mosaic LP's and I think one would have a great foundation. Very pricey undertaking, BUT nobody said anything about cost.

Agreed - what about Verve labeled records as well?

 

[DaveyF]

Agreed - what about Verve labeled records as well?

Absolutely. Unfortunately, IMHO the scope of this thread is so wide that one could go on almost ad-infinitum as to what to include and specific recordings/labels/pressings etc., therefore I think one has to answer in generalities only. I have been collecting jazz LP's for over 40 years and still have only just built up what I consider to be a modicum of a repertoire.