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OK! I'll bite. I'm going to buy the Monk you're recommending tomorrow. Is that enough of a response?

Hi Joe,

Yes it is!

Thank you for both responding and for having enough faith in my recommendations to actually go out and purchase the recordings. I really appreciate it and I also really believe that you will not be disappointed with "Live At The It Club". I listened to the entire two discs earlier today and I must say that is quite good and a wonderful place to start listening to Monk. Of course it's also a good choice for a "can't miss" addition to anyone's Monk or jazz collection. I hope that you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoy writing about it.

He likes it!
I do like it. I've always had a preference for live recordings. Musicians always give more in a live venue. I'll be checking out more Monk in the future. I already had some but hadn't listened to any in a while. When you're LP collection is 3K+ (CD's 1K+) you sometimes forget what you have and concentrate on favorites. I'm currently listening to Monk In Paris Live At The Olympia. I'd almost forgotten I had it. I regularly read your recommendations. I've just never commented before. Once again thanks for the tip and for making me look at my collection.

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Thanks JF! After seeing The Killers last Monday the rest of the week passed entirely jazzless. Your recommendations just corrected that aberration

struts and jazzfan,

Whats going on guys? I`ve got one for you, if you don`t have it already. But, my vinyl lp has seen many many plays. I just picked up the classic album on cd - Blue Moses by Randy Weston. Every song on here has something to say. But "Ifrane" is my favorite. With the little battle between Freddie Hubbard and Grover Washington Jr. with Hubert Laws bringing up the rear. I can not take it out of my van!! They do not make music like this anymore. A must have.......

Was going to follow your recommendation. Give the link below a look. Check the price for the import. I think I'll look around for a used LP. $24 for new and almost $15 for a used CD. Give me a break!
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...sl_95hbeyv45k_e

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Was going to follow your recommendation. Give the link below a look. Check the price for the import. I think I'll look around for a used LP. $24 for new and almost $15 for a used CD. Give me a break!
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...sl_95hbeyv45k_e

Try finding a lower cost alternative. (Hint: that's what the internet is for.)

Of course I'll do more looking. I just won't be looking on Amazon.

I have been obsessing over this topic, and decided the best way to handle it is to start with my wife's list. It's a bit 'typical' but only because the recordings are so great that others have discovered them.

1) Coltrane's Giant Steps, but she really plays it as part of her continuing love for the Heavyweight Champion boxed set. This may be her favorite 'album' of any genre.

2) Dave Brubeck's Time Out.

3) This next one is a cheat, 'cause I liked it first, but John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. What a great album.

4) "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" by Vince Guaraldi.

5) I don't dig it as much as she does, but Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert.

6) She really digs Monk and Coltrane at Carnegie Hall.

7) KOB/Something Else - of a kind.

8) Cheating again, but she plays Ben Webster's "Gentle Ben" without being prompted.

9) She will cue up vinyl to play "Between Nothingness and Eternity" by The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

10) Tie: "Beyond the Missouri Sky" by Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny gets airplay, and she is also quite fond of Getz/Gilberto.

My, oh, my! This entry in the Jazz forum has been one priceless find. Beings a recent subscriber to Stereophile on-line I've had some catching up to do on my reading and it was certainly worth the time.

Beings rather new to jazz I have a very limited selection. My likes are toward a sound that is relaxed, subtle but intricate - no, I'm not a "smooth" jazz fan. Thus far I have recordings form Chet Baker, John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Horn. I've been lucky having bought these artist after only hearing a few of their songs I thoroughly enjoy their entire CD's.

Now, with this list of artist that everyone has mentioned it will be mch easier to pick and choose who to listen to next.

This is a goldmine!!! Thanks to all.

Fran -

You're right. There are some serious listeners here, and they've posted the good stuff.

One area not covered: the mid-70s to the early 80s, when jazz came back from a very low period, but before the neo-conservatives dominated the conversation.

The music of the era freely combined elements of bop, swing, Ellington and Albert Ayler-brand marching music. It's very easy to get into, but doesn't fall back on old habits.

It's probably not your first stop in jazz - there's no single, towering, world changing figure. But if you run across any of these, buy em.'

In no particular order:

- Anthony Braxton, "Creative Music Orchestra." I think it's only in print as part of the Mosaic collection of all of Braxton's 70s work on Arista, but used copies (especially of the lp) can be found. This is the marching band, reinvented.

- Air, "Air Lore." The trio that put Henry Threadgill on the map. This is probably the best jazz album of the 70s - Jelly Roll Morton and Scott Joplin, through an avant garde trio.

- David Murray, "Morning Song" & "New Life." If there is one most important figure from the era, it's Murray, a sax player who put out about half a million albums. These two are of a piece - one's a quartet, one's an octet, both are filled with memorable tunes and great playing.

- Arthur Blythe, "Lennox Avenue Breakdown." The other best album of the era. All of Blythe's Columbia-era recordings are worth owning, I think.

- Mal Waldron, "Update." A magnificent early 80s solo set from a great, under-appreciated piano player. This is my favorite jazz album, period.

- Archie Shepp & Horace Parlan, "Goin' Home." A piano and sax duet album from one of the big figures of the 60s (Shepp) and a fine post bop piano player, (Parlan). Here's the thing - it's all gospel music. This one is filled with sadness and joy, often at the same time.

- Muhal Richard Abrams, "Blu-Blu-Blu" Abrams is a great writer of jazz who had a huge purple patch just as the 70s became the 80s. This is a representative sample, with large band.

- Steve Lacy "Only Monk." A cheat, because it's from 1987, but Lacy is very much of the spirit of the 70s, early 80s. Lacy was an extraordinary soprano sax player and so, so much more. This is Lacy by himself, playing Monk, his muse.

- Horace Tapscott "The Dark Tree." Another cheat, since it's from 89,' but absolutely required listening. Tapscott was an L.A.-based piano player who never became a major figure in jazz, (primarily because of geography and Tapscott's serious community roots) but who put out an incredible series of solo albums in the early 80s, "The Tapscott Sessions." "Dark Tree" is a quartet set with another unsung hero, John Carter, on clarinet.

- Various artists, "Wildflowers: The New York Jazz Loft Sessions." When jazz started its mighty 70s comeback, it was partly on the strength of the loft scene in New York. These lps - or a cd reissue from a couple of years back - document the scene wonderfully.

- Henry Threadgill, "Just The Facts & Pass The Bucket." Threadgill's first post-Air album, and another great march/swing/skronk set. When you listen to this, you wonder where the adventure in jazz has gone.

Anyway, that's a little from the era worth listening to.

best,

Scott Atkinson
Watertown NY

Scott,

Thanks for the list. Just yesterday I discovered a music store, of mostly used CDs, that has a huge selection of jazz. I'll be going there this weekend and will be sure to look for the releases that you and others have mentioned.
I'll keep you posted as to what I find.

Thanks again.

Fran