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Jazz Starter Kit


nate

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what about "Steely Dan", I thought "two against nature" was kinda jazzy, they always seemed to have a jazz influence in their music to me too, anyone agree?

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yes indeed, jazz was always a strong part of the Steely Dan sound, along with other influences all blended together. Here's the AMG view of the group:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=Bqmfozffheh6k

Another group, which may or may not have been mentioned in this thread is Al Kooper's creation, Blood, Sweat & Tears.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=Aoqozefykhgf5

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=Bm9m8b5x4tsq4

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Steely Dan uses very atypical compositions, very tight construction

if it isn't jazz, it's damn close (avant garde or smooth maybe?)

You're right nate...I think i'd term it "Cold War Jazz" , since that's an era that seemed to be such an influence on Donald Fagen.

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Steely Dan sounds more like latin jazz to me... but what do I know... :unsure:

i had Bodistadtva going thru my head at the time, so i said what i did

latin to me is more percussion and brass, but maybe you are thinking of different Steely Dan stuff than i am

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When I think of Latin Jazz, I think of Deodato, Flora Purim and Airto. Steeley Dan had a rock/pop phase before AJA, which is a terrfic album. They stopped touring and spent an enormous amount of time in the studio. I thought they were really doing groundbreaking sutff for their first few fusion albums. If you liked AJA, then check out the Crusaders Souuthern Comfort double album, or Grover Washington or John Klemer, the sax players, or any of the CTI albums in the mid seventies to early eighties.

I think Steely Dan has begun to lose its luster now--the sound is always the same, and there are no breaks for the instrumentation to take off--just wall-to-wall vocals.

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  • 1 month later...
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  • 2 years later...

What a fantastic opening thread for me to read.. i'm really into jazz, but still not totally sure what's out there and who i'm really into yet.. the few that stand out for me so far are Dave Brubeck, John Zorn and Tribal Tech (the best of the fusion stuff I've heard so far), so this gives me a few more names to follow up on.. thanks for that.

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  • 5 months later...
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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  • 1 year later...
I would call herbie hancocks thrust, head hunters era straight up funk/jazz. If you have not herd thrust, get this album. Along with some grover washington stuf, soulive, skofield.

Nice post. And if you like Grover Washington, check out all the CTI lablel's product line from the 70s and 80s

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  • 2 years later...

lets not forget what Joshua Redman is doing these days... He just played a show at the Blue Note with the Bad Plus which I heard was fantastic and his Elastic band he was playing with was on fire! Brian Blade is the dirtiest drummer out there!

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