Calling all cats who apparently are metalheads too, haha. Let's shatter that stereotype that all metallers are rigid and only into classical; Let's express our love for Jazz!

Haha, just kidding. I was talking about breaking stereotypes, and there I go applying one to "rigid classical musicians". Well, anyway, I want to see how many Jazz lovers we have on this board.

And even though I'm not-so-new to the Blues, I am a bit recent in Jazz, to be fairly honest. I was hoping for some recommendations along the Cool Jazz vein. I'm not so into newer Smooth Jazz as much as I am into what people consider "classic" jazz, like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Those are some good names, I guess, but what are others?

Even so, I won't restrict this thread, general Jazz talk, recommendations, etc, I guess.

I am not deeply into jazz but I do like it...at the moment, it's more that it's too vast to come to terms with for me. Haven't gone beyond the big names and only a few at that: Coltrane, Davis, Rollin, Mingus, Brubeck, Monk. I like jazz fusion a lot but again have heard only a handful of artists. My favourites are Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Area and Brand X.

For jazz fans and/or keyboard lovers, I have a specific recommendation though: listen to whatever live performances you can find on youtube of these three organists, namely, Barbara Dennerlein, Rhoda Scott and Joey De Francesco. All three are simply amazing, can pretty much maintain a bass section on the pedals while they solo superbly on the keys. Must add that often the support guitarists/drummers on their gigs are terrific too...I mean, Dennis Chambers does kick ass, doesn't he?

Showin' some love for Weather Report!

And I think you mean Dennis Chambers? Not Dennis Chamberlein.

Yes, I do mean Dennis Chambers...looks like I mixed him up with Neville Chamberlein. Sorry about that.

I very much enjoy Charles Mingus--"Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" is one of the best pieces of music I've heard, period.

Mirrormorbid, since you're into Davis and Coltrane, check out "Maiden Voyage" by Herbie Hancock and "Brilliant Corners" by Thelonious Monk. For cool jazz, Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck and Art Pepper are worth investigating. Cheers!

Yeah, I definitely love some jazz. While I love a lot of the cool jazz and post-bop musicians like Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Alice and John Coltrane, Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis, I think I prefer the jazz fusion stuff. You just can't beat Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock and Mahavishnu Orchestra. I'm also really into a lot of John Zorn's work, lately, too. I like his mellow, exotica stuff as seen on albums like The Dreamers and O'O, as well as his thrash-jazz work exhibited in his bands Naked City and Painkiller. Any other fusion/Zorn fans out there?

I'm really getting into Jazz as well. I really love some of the experimental jazz out today like Contemporary Noise Quintet and Pink Freud. I also have recently become obsessed with Avishai Cohen, a great jazz bassist whose work is brilliant on the album Continuo, mixing jazz with some middle eastern influence in a subtle way that doesn't compromise the integrity of the jazz. I'm also of course a Miles Davis fan. One of the greats.

Oh, I'm really fond of the interesting mixture of jazz and drone that is Bohren und der Club of Gore. Very cool jazz tones mixed with a soft atmosphere. Very soothing, and can be great at times.

I listen to a small amount of jazz - again, the big names like Coltrane and Davis. I also like Margaret Stowe and Spencer Day (this dude is going places).

I listened to some jazz once... big mistake.

The mistake was not listening to it again???

Not exactly...

Doesn't it make you sick when someone tells you that "metal is a bunch of noise that has no sort of melody"? Do you think to yourself when hearing that "they just haven't given it enough of a chance" or "maybe they'll understand some of the other sub genres of metal more than the one they first listen to"? When one says what you just said, they're no better. Jazz is very much so like metal, in the way that a lot of it isn't accessible at all. Yes, you can listen to the smooth jazz trash that Dave Koz will put out that is like the Nu Metal of the jazz genre (meaning not only accessible junk for the most part, but hardly jazz), but the real music of jazz takes a long time to appreciate..


Anyways, I love jazz. I'll listen to Charlie Parker and John Coltrane every now and then, but Miles Davis is definitely one of my favorite artists of the jazz genre and of all time. I've been trying to get more and more into Ornette Coleman, but I need more time before I get the hang of it. He's an incredible sax player; if you liked the sax feature is the new Ihsahn album then he's definitely worth checking out.

Not at all. I simply accept that there exist people who don't appreciate a genre I like.

Good reply, but the guy clearly isn't worth it. Some people are content with limiting the breadth of their musical experiences.

I listen to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew and Kind of Blue every once in a while. Bitches Brew is one of the wildest albums I've heard, great album. Other than Miles Davis, I listen to Last Exit. But that's pretty much it. I need to listen to more jazz.

Can anyone recommend something extreme? Something with layers and layers of wild melodies and harmonies.

I know. Those people are so stupid and narrow minded for refusing to listen to music they don't enjoy. What dumbasses.

Well, really there isn't anything like Bitches Brew I've come across, but I did come across a compilation album from Miles Davis called The Complete On The Corner Sessions which has a bunch of layers going around, similar to Bitches Brew. It may be worth checking out.

Allan Holdsworth holds his own!

the only Jazz that I've ever really spent any time trying to get into are Al Di Meola (somewhat debatable, I think) and Naked City... I do like both a lot though....

I'd love to look deeper within the genre, but frankly, with so much metal to still find/hear, the chances of that happening are slim to none...

I haven't heard the complete sessions, but i remember On The Corner being quite funky and kinda Reggae like.

John. McLaughlin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHDO1HN06Fc&feature=fvw

I'm pretty ignorant about jazz as well but I love everything I've heard come from this man's fingertips. That video isn't really jazz. I'd recommend getting your hands on Extrapolation to hear some of his fusion material.

If people want to bitch and troll you for liking a certain genre of music the only reliable method of converting them is to kill it with fire. Really!

I completely agree. But what's impressive is that they can make snap judgments about a complete genre of music much of which is completely dissimilar from what they may have heard and they can do all this after just one listen. That's some mind-blowing talent.

I agree as well. When something sounds horrible to your ears, that is in no way indicative that you don't like it. Only after extensive torture can one accurately determine that pain is bad.

Every now and again I go on huge jazz kicks. I mainly listen to the big names in the genre, other than that most of my jazz listening takes place in the French Quarter of New Orleans whilst eating a plate of beignets.

It's okay to not like something, but you're just being a complete buffoon.

Im way into black metal and baroque, but looking to get into some jazz. What would a seasoned jazz fan recommend?

Miles Davis's Kind of Blue is a good start.

Yep i agree. A Love Supreme could do also.

Jazz (and acid) is responsible for perhaps the first instance of truly extreme music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YQ859p5NQ0

I'm completely new to jazz, and I've intentionally listened to only a few songs every now and then, usually from a friend's initiative. I've liked every song, even the weird stuff (for example, a jazz trio consisting of a pianist, guitarist and a beatboxer ).

Anyhow, I'm now looking for jazz that I could be a true fan of. I have no idea how to describe it genre or style wise, but what I'm looking for is lots variation in dynamics, that is, both soft, beautiful parts and grand, powerful parts. Powerful expression of emotion is the most important part though, especially in guitar and keyboard/piano melodies (guitar isn't a necessity, but a big plus). If such jazz exists, please drop a few names.

No stuff like the one posted above, I draw no enjoyment from listening to that (though I admit I stopped listening at two minutes into the song or so).

Not enjoying a style is not synonymous to not giving a second chance, moron. I've given numerous bands, and music styles, a second chance, and I've never considered any of those a mistake. Even if I failed to get into something.

I listen to some bands like: Al di Meola, SMV, Weather Report, Stanley Clarke, Thanatopsis, John McLaughlin, Return To Forever, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller. Not sure if there's a name for this type of jazz, don't really know - well, anything about this genre. If anybody has artists similar to ones mentioned above feel free to name some albums.

Anything recorded by Charlie Parker or Dizzy Gillespie in the 30s-40s, and Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool for it's historical importance. The former were huge influences on the latter, and that Miles Davis record is really where he started to master his style of trumpet playing. Also, anything with Thelonius Monk on the keys or Max Roach on the drums is sure to be worthwhile.

Ah, you know how much I love the organ. I saw Joey in concert a few years ago. I must say that although it was great to hear a Hammond master at work, the performance was a little disappointing. I went with an old veteran on the organ and we both thought it was strange that he barely used the foot pedals, and he brought a guitarist with him with no sense of taste when it came to soloing. Still, pretty cool I must say.

I'm a big fan of Ornette Coleman. Everyone should at least listen to "The Shape of Jazz to Come". Also, the man and his small entourage put on one of the best jazz performances I've ever seen (and I've seen very many, considering this is the music I grew up with and I started attending jazz gigs when I was about six).

All that being said, I'm hardly an expert in jazz, and it doesn't really comprise a great amount of my current listening, although I am listening to much funk lately and that's certainly closely related at times. Right now I am listening to Herbie Hancock's "Thrust" and "Headhunters" albums a great deal, and Maynard Ferguson's "Conquistador" album gets regular rotations from me, partially for nostalgic reasons (it's one of the first records I ever grew to love). Maynard was a trumpet player with an incredible ability to hit the most ungodly high notes...sort of the brass equivalent of a Rob halford or Mike Sanders.....he even got the nickname Screech because of these incredible high screams he could do with his horn.

Strange that he didn't use the foot pedal much in the performance you attended, because he does use it a lot here (if I may take the liberty to post videos):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMCtge02AnU

Excellent guitar playing too, by Frank Vignola.

And here's Barbara Dennerlein:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ut7yIuCEY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa-nKS89ATI

Wonderful guitar work in the second one, Mitch Watkins on this one. Aforementioned Dennis Chambers on drums in both, I think it's probably the same concert.

So you do consider yourself an idiot for not listening to music you don't like? Or smart because you do? What are you even arguing? I think we're on two completely different points here.

Finally a thread in the tavern I can contribute to (bar the FFA offcourse). That said i am still a complete newbie to true jazz but cover that up with a strong liking for jazz fusion. Fusion artists more heavy on jazz than rock like Miles Davis (how can one not like Bitches Brew?), Pat Methney, Cobham and the inimitable Herbie Hancock are all wonderfull but it is the John Mclaughlin lead Mahavishnu Orchestra that has me truly sold. Birds of Fire ranks amongst my fav prog rock albums and the title track with those crazy violin defined time signatures is perhaps the template for the perfect jazz fusion song. The other jazz fusion artists I am into are Nucleus and Area. Have heard a bit of each and liked them a decent amount. I ll keep an eye on this thread. It may point me to more artists I may like both jazz and jazz fusion.

And Voice_of_Reason if you dont like a genre, dont waltz in a thread dedicated to it and be a smartass. There could have been a more decent way of expressing your dislike of a genre, yours was surely not one of them. This offence is worse if the thread is in the tavern. Now people who are willing to keep on fighting please take the issues to pm, it would suck if the mods decide to lock this thread due to all the pointless whining.

We are having a perfectly reasonable debate on a subject that came up in the course of the thread. The only person whining is you, ScourgeOfDeath. If you don't want to participate in that part of the thread, just respond to the other posters. Threads usually work out as being two or three concurrent discussions with seperate participants. That's just how forums work. Further, you're the one derailing the thread by trying to act like a mini-mod, making proclamations that the thread will be locked if your advice is not heeded.

In a random mood a couple of months ago I bought a Thelonious Monk compilation and guess what, it's totally down my alley. Really jolly stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmhP1RgbrrY

Most indubitably and since every song is indicative of a whole genre of music, I always choose to just listen to one song per genre and use it to extrapolate to the rest of genre.

It's extremely easy to find a song that is fairly representative of the genre it belongs to. Thus, it's a safe bet.