20 albums to begin a Journey into Jazz

[hjames]

Someone on Facebook posts under the name Chet Baker, mostly comments on Blue Note albums and such. Anway, last week they posted a list of "20 albums to begin a Journey into Jazz"... They just showed the album covers and assumed the reader would know what they were - but I had to look some of them up.
Here is what I transcribed, not in any order
================================

(These are ones they listed that I already have)
Dave Brubeck - Time Out (got a buncha Brubeck)
Chet Baker - Chet (I own a ton of Chet Baker already)
Count Basie - April in Paris (1957)
John Coltrane, Blue Train; (I own a ton of Coltrane)
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, (I own a ton of Mile already)
Bill Evans, Waltz For Debby (I own most of the Bill Evans catalog)
Ella Fitzgerald - Mack The Knife (Live in Berlin - I have this one too)
Getz/Gilberto - (Jazz Samba stuff) got it on Reg CD and SACD

These are albums I don't know and need to get/hear/look for

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin' (1958 - Blue Note 4003)
Cannonball Adderly - Somethin' Else (w/Miles) (1958)
Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954)
Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins (1962)
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage (1965)
Billie Holiday Sings (aka Solitude) - 1952
Oliver Nelson -The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Jimmy Smith - Back at the Chicken Shack - The Incredible Jimmy Smith (1960)
The Quintet - Jazz at Massey Hall (1953)
Thelonious Monk - Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2
Satchmo at Symphony Hall (1951)
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960)
====================================

I'm not new to jazz, but you can see about half of the albums were new to me - so I bought a couple of the "unknowns" to give them a listen - and these 2 came over the weekend.

Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage (1965) [Ordered 6/16]
The Quintet - Jazz at Massey Hall (1953) [BMG SACD ordered 6/16]

The Herbie Hancock is nice, I have some of his other early stuff, supposed to be an early concept album,
but yesterday I played the SACD remaster of "The Quintet" - WHOAH!! Its an AMAZING live recording for 1953! Blew me away!

(Wikipedia says: The quintet was composed of several leading 'modern' players of the day: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. It was the only time that the five men recorded together as a unit, and it was the last recorded meeting of Parker and Gillespie)

Really cool stuff from the era - tight playing and just energizing stuff!

Any comments on this list they posted of intro jazz for newcomers??

 

[8xlaxx]

Jimmy Smith - Back at the Chicken Shack - The Incredible Jimmy Smith (1960)

IMHO,...
This is a must have.
Jimmy's recording here is also mentioned on '1000 LPs you must listen to before you die' list.

EDIT:
You just gotta dig the cover, too.

 

[techguy0192]

Hugh Masekela is often overlooked, but is a really great trumpet player.

 

[hjames]

IMHO,...
This is a must have.
Jimmy's recording here is also mentioned on '1000 LPs you must listen to before you die' list.

I have "The Sermon" - next time I have music money I'll look for it ...

 

[carpe-diem]

Two of my favorite albums and must have on the shelf:
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin' (1958 - Blue Note 4003)
Cannonball Adderly - Somethin' Else (w/Miles) (1958)

 

[KrisM]

20 is a tough number!
I can't say anything bad about any of those choices, that's a pile of classics. I'd take that Getz/Gilberto off it personally, but I get why it's there.

I'd say the list needs some Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, JJ Johnson and Sonny Rollins.
I'd also find a way to wedge a Curtis Fuller album on there; Bluesette or maybe Meet The Jazztet. At least he's covered with Blue Train.

 

[hjames]

Well, I love Gary Burton and a number of newer performers, but its a good starting list ...
Lately I've been listening to Sun Ra - but he's kinda fringe - as is Sonny Sharrock ...

 

[darkblue94]

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman is another LP that has to be on the list. This is the only Coltrane LP with a singer and one with the prowess of Johnny Hartman.

 

[KrisM]

Well, I love Gary Burton and a number of newer performers, but its a good starting list ...
Lately I've been listening to Sun Ra - but he's kinda fringe - as is Sonny Sharrock ...

Oh yeah, I'd say it's a great start.

I'd probably switch up some of the selections for Ellington, Armstrong, and Monk, but not in a way that is any 'better' than those choices. Just a personal choice thing.
I also forgot to mention Benny Goodman and Sidney Bechet. I'd get them on the list, too.

I should probably stop. 20 will become 200 in no time.

 

[JDub]

Several of the titles listed wouldn’t make my stereo, let alone a top 20 list, but I’m not particularly a jazz aficionado, so that’s neither here nor there. (Agree with KrisM that JJ Johnson and Sonny Rollins could happily replace a few on the list). The real critique, though, is that the list only covers about 15 years out of a century of music. Has nobody recorded anything essential in the last 50 years? Jazz really must be dead. From the other end, Joe Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, Lester Young?

 

[8xlaxx]

I don't want to open up a can of worms here or dump on the OPs thread but I think Kenny Burrell or Grant Green need to be up in here somewhere.
There's something special about these two LPs:

 

[KrisM]

I don't want to open up a can of worms here or dump on the OPs thread but I think Kenny Burrell or Grant Green need to be up in here somewhere.
There's something special about these two LPs:

View attachment 954836

View attachment 954837

Yeah. A list of 20 jazz guitar albums alone would fill up quick.
I'd put some Barney Kessel in the mix, something from Contemporary, like Let's Cook.

 

[8xlaxx]

^^^^^ I'm going to hunt for his stuff.^^^^ . Thanks for the lead.

 

[SA-708]

I'd have Charles Mingus (Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus perhaps, with some great Eric Dolphy solos) & Sonny Rollins (Saxophone Colossus) in I put together a list like that.

 

[KrisM]

^^^^^ I'm going to hunt for his stuff.^^^^ . Thanks for the lead.

No problem. If you like Burrell and Green you'll probably dig Kessel too.
If you like what you hear also look towards The Poll Winners' albums. There are a few of them. Him, Shelly Manne and Ray Brown.

 

[hjames]

Mingus and Dolphy might be a bit ... shall we say ... out there for a beginner's introduction to jazz.
Just like my wife can't get her head around Ornette Coleman ["I think he's puttin' us on" - Mile Davis]

... and no one has mentioned the ECM jazz stuff - Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek - that stuff was my bread and butter when I was discovering jazz ...

 

[SA-708]

I guess so. Pithecanthropus Erectus is prob'ly a better starting point for Mingus.

To be honest, back when I was a teenager, the original 6LP edition of The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz was my introduction to the genre, and it served me well. So much early jazz was released on singles instead of albums. Side 6, with Monk, Davis, Rollins, MJQ and Mingus was my favorite.

https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Smithsonian-Collection-Of-Classic-Jazz/release/969390

 

[danomar]

I like The Quintet but honestly think it is a let-down considering who is playing.

+1 on Grant Green, but I would start with Idle Moments.
Donald Byrd gets lumped into the soul/R&B category for a handful of albums: Listen to Fancy Free and change your perspective.
Maiden Voyage is one of the best from Herbie.
Ah, Um from Mingus is one of my favorites, period.
Groovy from Red Garland belongs on a list somewhere.
Blues and the Abstract Truth is Oliver Nelson at his best. He was a fantastic arranger and no slouch on his own.
Kenny Dorham's Quiet Kenny is a stunning performance.

Less classic but still a classic in its own right is Word of Mouth by Jaco Pastorious.

The list could go on and on...

 

[RT Fan]

These should get anyone started down the right path.

 

[shrinkboy]

in these 'intro to jazz' threads, i am always astonished at how one of the giants is overlooked, that being Mr Yusef Lateef. for openers, i suggest the beginner check out the ageless beauty of his LP 'Eastern Sounds', the equal in my mind of any Time Out, Kind of Blue, or Coltrane pressing