nate, on Apr 18 2004, 03:06 PM, said:
there are many variants of jazz, and it is helpful to hear many of them to decide where your particular tastes lie--so here we go, from an historical and stylistic timeline (not comprehensiv, just a basic overview, add to it with your own favorites)
early--dixieland/ragtime--roots in new orleans, heavy on brass and piano--this is a wide genre that spans from Scott Joplin stuff from the late 1800's to today. as with everything jazz, there is a certain amount of overlap
old:Jellyroll Morton --he was recorded by John Lomax in the 1920's--his music is populated by a large brass section, an acoustic guitar (usually inaudible) , and a piano
recent:Leon Redbone--using the same basic instrumentation as Jellyroll (and songs from the era), Redbone modifies the formula slightly by replacing some brass with his voice (since Redbone is an anachronism, his music has sort of fallen into the "novelty" category)
more recent:Squirrel Nut Zippers riding on a swing invasion about 5 years ago, they had a hit with their new orleans stylings in the form of "Hell"--heavy on brass, acoustic rhythm guitat on the side
improv/scat vocals become more prominent, including nonsense lyrics or "scatting" instrumentation gets a little more sparse, less regimented
old Louis Armstrong he got his start in King Oliver's orchestra, and set out on his own--his career spanned from the 20's until his death in the 1970's--a trumpeter, but also famous for scat
recent Denver and the Mile High Orchestra another throwback, a combo of old big band orchestras and scat
Lounge small combos-- trios, quartets, quintets often include a trumpet/coronet, bass, piano, or sax--very tight compositions but they still allow for each player to have an improvised solo. (this is one of my favorites)
Dave Brubeck his combos include as many as 8 members (sometimes his son on bass)--piano driven. a great starter album is "Time Out!"
Vince Guaraldi most famous for his work on Charlie Brown cartoons, he has a much wider selection including latin rooted jazz
Cannonball and Nat Adderley sax led lounge (as opposed to piano led like Brubeck and Guaraldi) for Julius "Cannonball", and coronet for Nat--they often worked together
recent Ben Foldsrock merged with Brubeck style piano-led lounge--i like this a lot
Latin lots of percussion--congos, bongos, and marimbas, very gritty vocals, high energy, and lots of brass--influenced by the music of the Carribbean and South America
Poncho Sanchez personifies the above description, often infusing jazz standards with gigawatts of pure energy
Carl Tjader a variation on the latin theme, flutes, bass--more mellow and subded than the raw energy of Poncho or Tito Puente, but still excellent
Mongo Santamaria he had a hit in the 60's with "Watermelon Man", often used in commercials to personify "hip" products--he isn't afraid to yell in the middle of a song--high energy
Solo Legends artists that carved their own niche
Bill Evans there are 2 (3 if you count Yusef Lateef, since that was his name too) one sax, and one piano--the piano Bill evans made about 100 solo albums--the sax one is still working--Piano Bill did some pretty avant-garde stuff, lots of ground to cover if you check him out
Miles Davistrumpet an unbelievable variety of stuff, ranging from trio and lounge to wahwah pedal fueled weirdness--a 50 year career with more than 100 releases of his own, plus collaborations
Django Reinhart early pioneer of classical/jazz guitar
insert your faves here! magnificent work and good quality, thank u very much, now i would like to
know how i can get these files, if u can give me a link, that would be nice, thx.
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