Kind of Blue was probably the album that got me into jazz, but there's no doubt that it's John Coltrane's A Love Supreme that made me fall in love with jazz.
Same here... "A Kind of Blue" used to be my go-to gift for people who like music in general... For beginners interested in where to start with jazz, I would recommend starting there on repeat, repeat, repeat... And then there was light... "A Love Supreme" ... (!!!!)
I'm the same. I was kind of teetering on the edge of jazz for a while and wasn't really getting it but that album just fucking GOT ME and I can't explain that to people. I've never heard anyone talk about it, even online or in the best jazz albums lists. They're all Miles Davis and Coltrane and Duke Ellington and so on and they are great but even when Mingus is on there it's always "Ah Um".
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue John Coltrane - Giant Steps Charles Mingus - Ah Um Sun Ra - Jazz In Silhouette Tubby Hayes - Down In The Village Take it from me, these albums are utterly essential!
Really enjoyed this Oliver. Thank you. I committed to finally get into jazz once we had the lock down that started 2 months ago. The question was how. Started by watching the 19 hour documentary from Ken Burns. Listed every artist of note and started listening to their work on my streaming service. When I found something I liked I bought a vinyl version. Two months later, my favorite album so far is Charles Mingus Black Saint. However, I’d argue that it’s not a good place to start your journey as it’s challenging, tonally. I’d add Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus, Art Blakey Moanin’ and Bill Evans Village Vanguard as easier entries than Mingus and Coleman. That said, once you’ve listened to a lot of jazz, Mingus and Coleman are the right choices. Thanks!
There are probably 20 absolute essentials I wanted to put down Mark, include Love Supreme - I'm just trying to keep it to 5 as an accessible entry to the genre. People reading these comments though should definitely go and listen to A Love Supreme though, like you say it is incredible
deep cuts You did a great job with the impossible task of boiling down the entry point of jazz to just five albums. Literally, I could never do a list like this.
@@deepcuts Honestly, I think you missed the mark with "intro" jazz albums. Other than Miles Davis' Kind of Blue and Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come, everything else was frankly boring to me and I believe are highly overrated. IMO, since these are supposed to be "beginner" albums, then you should have included albums with simpler songs that are very memorable, but still jazz. Nat King Cole would be a great artist to include. John Coltrane My Favorite Things and/or Giant Steps is another album that should have been included. Horace Silver Song for my Father is another great beginner album.
My friend picked up the last album that you recommended at a record store near me in Philly and his prompt was “I want something that’s very complex and that I need to sit down and listen to”. You nailed it spot on.
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters, not the most convential jazz but it definitely piqued my interest in the genre, plus it was one of the first albums that convinced me to open my ears more to new sounds. Fantastic stuff, long live jazz and all its fusions
For something more recent that I thought was simply fantastic, check out The Epic by Kamasi Washington. 3 hours long and it never feels tired or worn out
So glad to see Ornette Coleman here. He is really underrated in terms of the jazz greats, people always mention miles Davis and the like (deservedly so) but never mention Coleman.
The Black Saint and Sinner Lady Man. I'm even struggling to type keys and write about it - its just too much. Its like being strapped to the mast of a sailing boat, out at sea in a force 8 gale. Its taking you on a journey and from that opening drum motive there is no escape. It challenges you, throwing you curve balls of momentary safety and then smacking you in the face with a horns that can only have come from the deep south, but those horns have been brought from the depths of hell and then rising up to the surface to wail in the hot summer night. This is hot evening music. This is having a sweat on your body from a fever that just won#t let go. You actually physically wrestle the piece. Its like playing chess against an aggressor, but that aggressor is also drip feeding you a drug that gives you this masochist craving for more. You try and out wit it, making a move where your safe, but its just too much. Its very easy to say that something changed your life. But this did. I watched your post and picked up my 60's mono copy of it. Even picking it up gives me the chills. Someone introduced this to me one hot summer evening, in a large back garden, isolated from anywhere. There was a bonfire and we had dropped mushrooms. At my peak, the speakers started that drum motif and forever I was a changed man. This is Serious. This is Music. Don't mess about with it. Respect it, Play it all. Play it Loud..x (nice choices btw)
my top 5 in no particular order 1 something else cannonball elderly,2miles david kind of blues,3 john coltrone blue train,4kenny burrell midnight blues,5 dave brubeck take five
Thanks so much for posting this video! It was my introduction to Mingus who I wanted to listen to before but didn't know where to start! The album jumped out at me right away.. and I couldn't help but order a copy! Already one of my favourites ever. So excited to hear more from him.
Something about the modern focus on jazz beginning with the hard bop and cool era transitioning into cool jazz and free jazz is what I always felt perpetuated the public's general disinterest with jazz. I genuinely love the older standards and the compositions in earlier experimentation with ragtime, jazz manouche, and string-band music; it's just so fun. And then you have people talking ad infinitum about the Coltrane and Davis-related circles like pallbearers of culture when you have fascinating new artists like Ben Allison and Brad Mehldau. If you're going to "get in to jazz," for the love of god, please explore modern and pre-40s music; there's a wealth of culture and ideas that is being ignored in favor of the same dozen fucking artists everyone jumps to when they need to talk about "jazz." It's a bigger genre that spans a wider timeframe than most of its audience will cop awareness to.
Same goes with other genres of music, particularly rock music, where ''fans'' focus largely if not solely on the rock music made from the mid-1960s to mid/late-1970s and largely ignore the music made outside that narrow period, at least where ''best/must-have'' albums are concerned.
please make more content. there isn't enough of this out there, and you seem to be very smart and educated in music. definently subbed, though would have loved to see Bitches Brew here
Thanks so much Nich, there is definitely a lot more content to come - if you have any suggestions please let me know! I also agree, love Bitches Brew and I know it was an entry point album for a lot of people coming from prog/psychedelic rock.
Bitches Brew would definitely be harder to get invested in if you’re new to Jazz, it’s very complex and bloated for a newcomer😂 it is easily in my top 20 albums of all time though
My 5 would be Bitches Brew by Miles Davis, Waltz for Debbie by Bill Evans (beautiful album), First Meditations by John Coltrane, Money Jungle by Duke Ellington (Mingus on bass and Max Roach on drums), and Somethin' Else by Cannonball Adderly (ft. Miles Davis). Those are the ones I listen to the most. And yeah 4 of the 5 are on Kind of Blue.
No Coltrane? Gotta throw in "Giant Steps" or "A Love Supreme". I personally love the new thing and free jazz stuff, so the far-out late period Coltrane records are some of my favorites. Pharoah Sanders too. Probably not the best place to start if you aren't interested in jazz yet.
'A Love Supreme' is a personal favourite, what a beautiful record. I love that although it is dedicated to his Christian beliefs, (something I don't share) the power of the music makes me appreciate his faith.
Funny, I feel exactly the same way. Actually Coltrane is my standing example in conversations, why it is important to look at the art and the artist separately. First he was a junkie, then a born-again christ. But what a musician!
Oh my god thank you so much. I watched this 3 days ago and now I can't stop listening to jazz, I've probably listened to 15 albums in the last 3 days and I'm absolutely in love with the genre
Your list has both accessible and challenging music. I'm not sure The Shape of Jazz to Come will get many people into jazz, but there's no denying the power of The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.
Just listens to The Shape of Jazz to come and it blew my mind!!!! Albert Ayler Trio's Spiritual Unity is a pretty intense listen in the free jazz realm as well. Miles Davis' On The Corner is a challenging but ultimately rewarding listen too.
My list would be: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus, Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um, Andrew Hill - Black Fire, Ornette Coleman - Shape of Jazz to Come (or possibly a different Free Jazz album; Archie Shepp - Four For Trane or Paul Bley - Open, to Love). It would be cool if you were to do videos on some of the main subgenres of Jazz. If you ever do a video on avant-garde/free Jazz please don't forget to mention Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, Paul Bley, Archie Shepp, Sonny Sharrock, Don Cherry etc. I hope people would be aware of how diverse free Jazz is and that if they don't like one style they might still like another.
well im a committed metal enjoyer and i stumbled upon John coltranes "my favorite" things while just scrolling through spotify,i gave it a shot and i really liked it. So i decided to see more of the genre,and now im here. this video was helpful man, really. thanks alot!
I never found The Shape of Jazz to Come hard to listen to. That's the awesome thing about the album, while free, it's still beautiful and accessible (at least nowadays).
If you liked Ornette's music, you should check out Gato Barberi's debut album "In Search Of The Mystery". A stone cold classic. It will knock you down!
Homie got thrown out of clubs when he was getting ready to write that album. Even once he did I think. People hated it. People got angry. People laughed.
Learning jazz chords on guitar and Cookin’ by miles Davis brought me here. A lot of great standards on that album, including airegin and my funny valentine.
it was Antonio Carlos Jobim's Wave that really got me interested and invested in jazz. Would reccommend to anybody trying to get into thr genre or Bossa Nova in general
the first 'jazzy' musician i listened to was fiona apple, granted her music isn't really jazz but i think that was the first musician with that vibe that i really liked. later i got really into chet baker and then the likes of miles davis, frank sinatra, bill evans, etc
Highly recommended: the jazz pop of the Bronx genius Laura Nyro. Her 1968 album 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession', one of the most influential songwriting albums of the last 50 years. Nyro used only the best jazz musicians on this LP, including greats like Zoot Sims, Joe Farrell, Bernie Glow, Ernie Royal etc. See Nyro youtube raves by Todd Rundgren, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Sara Bareilles. Nyro is Rock Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame. For an introduction to jazz, Sun Ra's 'Lanquidity' (1978) is also fantastic - described as 'cosmic jazz'.
For someone trying to start liking jazz, I would also recommend Coltrane's My Favorite Things - like the Brubeck album, it is quite "accessible", as they say, an excellent album.
It took me a while to become familiar with Mingus' music, but when it happened, Black Saint and the Sinner Lady was catapulted to the top of my favorite records, not only in jazz... monumental sound, it seems to encapsulate every possible human emotion in it. Oh, and his other album, is actually called Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus so you were 2 Mingus short, lol
Awesome choices. The LP that got me into jazz was 'Porgy And Bess' by Miles Davis. I chose that one to buy on purpose because I already knew most of the songs on it, therefore I reasoned that if the players went off on a tangent then at least I would be able to 'hang on' as I would know what the melodies should be. I needn't have worried - it sounded beautiful back in 1986 and it still sounds beautiful now.
I got into jazz through modern albums mashing up jazz with other elements I already loved, most notably in releases by Flying Lotus. Cosmogramma and UTQC were already full of hints of jazz, but You'rd Dead! was the one album which made me want to explore the genre's back-catalog to your picks: I personally found Monk's Music much more engaging and therefore accessible on first listen than Brilliant Corners. I also tried myself very early at Bitches Brew and it was one of the most overwhelming things I heard in my life, but that was perfect because it kept drawing me back to the record until I started to truely love it. Kind of Blue surely is the best first jazz album to listen to to actually enjoy though. For that I also very much recommend Round About Midnight by Miles. Beautiful and laid-back.
There's nothing wrong with your picks, actually there are a lot of good entry points into Jazz. I'd definitely would recommend to start with something accessible though. If you never heard Jazz at all and start with Ornette Coleman, there's a good chance you run away screaming, never to return agein. Which would be a shame. Save Ornette for later, when you are already addicted. ;) There are some other obvious picks to start as well. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme or Keith Jarret - The Köln Concert come to mind - Albums you're likely to find in many househods stacked next to Kind Of Blue. But what brought me into Jazz were the 3 following albums: Dollar Brand - African Marketplace Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain Archie Shepp / Jasper Van't Hof - Mama Rose ..then there's the whole world of vocal Jazz as well -You can't go wrong with Nina Simone. I like your channel a lot, please keep your great content coming, I'll subscribe right away! Cheers! :)
Yeah I included Coleman at the end so if people were exploring then it would give them a taste of the other end of the spectrum, but I take your point it could definitely put some people off!
Oliver, can you make another video about jazz just like you did with contemporary prog records? I would like to see a "top 5 albuns to get into contemporary jazz" from you.
Thanks for Mingus!!!! - i can't stop playing to this man now...Pithecanthropus Erectus, Fables of Faubus, Moaning, Ecclusiastics, Let the Children, East coasting, All the Things You C#, M Plays Piano, Canon...its just endless
A Love Supreme by John Coltrane probably isn’t a conventionally good place to start with jazz but that is where I first landed in my journey into jazz and it’s a truly hypnotic, maybe even transcendent, record. To this day it’s still my all time favorite jazz album.
Anything by Jimmy Smith is good too. depends what vibe you're going for. Worth also mentioning Stanz Getz and Joao Gilberto if you like a Bossonova twist to your jazz.
I love the idea, but just a few ideas: give us a short sample of your favorite song from each album, and please get rid of the bright ass light in the background. I think this could become much more popular if you were to include some of the music too. I can think about jazz, but if I'm new to the genre, I have no idea what all you are talking about unless you give me an example.
Appreciate the suggestions Chester, thank you for watching. The reason I have included the actual music is copyright restrictions - I don't want to have to take down a video or re-edit to upload again. From now on I'll probably do a Spotify playlist reflecting each video, so people will be able to more directly find the music.
Yes you risk the video being flagged... but small clips with commentary explaining what one should be looking for would most certainly fall under fair use. Even if (more probably like when) a video is flagged you would be able to counter it. I know doing so would increase the effort needed and frustration of dealing with the UA-cam copyright system, but I agree with Chester in that examples would really enhance the presentation. As for this video itself, certainly yes Jazz is expansive and rife with sub-genres, but I hope to see a followup going into the earlier Swing and Gypsy Jazz era. Bringing back copyright issues, you could talk about how the evolution of copyright law changed Jazz from many artists/bands playing the same 'standards' but with their own style/arrangement to where most of the work being put out today is original compositions. But otherwise you've earned a subscription for me, and I'm looking forward to more. Thanks!
Thanks Jason, you're right with regards to small clips falling under fair use I'm sure, I'll think about adding them in future content. And thank you for the subscription, much appreciated and there will be more content coming ASAP!
Those are all very good choices. Have listened to all.. Sketches of Spain (Miles Davis) is such a beautiful album.. Other favs of mine.. Saxophone Collosus (Rollinss), Live At The Club (C Adderley), Night in Tunisia (A Blakey), Ole (Coltrane)... So many others.. but these are good ones and recorded well. A good avant Garde.. Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
Jeez, this is a tough one. Do people have the ears to hear the harmonic complexity of most jazz anymore? Chords as complicated and unusual as the ones routinely hear in 50s and 60s jazz almost never occur in contemporary pop music. To go from that to Thelonious Monk would be like (to paraphrase one from your fellow UA-camr Rick Beato ) taking a kid who had never eaten broccoli in his life and suddenly giving him a plateful. Maybe start folks off with a little jazz-influenced pop-rock (Steely Dan, Jeff Beck, Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Sting) and then ease 'em in to the proper jazz? Just thinking out loud here.
Jazz just recently got me in two different avenues: Very deep dark experimental vanguard Metal. I started to listen jazz embedded in metal, amazingly was a natural following. I saw some performances in NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts of jazz/jazz fusion bands. Was like to see new colors all of the sudden.
Slightly different perspective: 1) Coleman Hawkins - Hawk Flies High (at least a sample of one of the earliest jazz innovators and a legend?) 2) Booker Ervin - Space Book (ain't this a fab avant-garde album) 3) Herbie Hancock - Sextant (how those electronic instruments are made to sing) 4) Ornette Coleman - Three Women (I find his 1980s albums more 'accessible' than much of the Atlantic stuff) 5) Charlie Parker - Bird & Diz (come on these are the guys that truly 'revolutionalised' jazz... but rarely ever on anyone's recommended list..?) .. I'd add soul jazz (plenty B3organ) and vibes albums but, it's only 5.
He's incredible, he knows how to make heavenly Jazz songs, knowing how to balance instrumentals and vocals, as well as how to make both of them the best that they possibly can. And his voice... never has an artist with a raspy voice made themselves still sound so good. I'm a pretty big fan
Hot Fives and Sevens in particular are universally beloved and regarded as foundational. Most jazz musicians I know don’t listen to them very often-when I ask them for Top 5 album lists, it’s usually dominated by post-bop and (especially for people around my age) fusion-but everyone I know respects them. Good jazz musicians tend to be students of the genre’s history as well, and those were really a turning point.
and I was so sure you'd pick Take it Away by Buddy Rich - from a drummers perspective :D great anyways, got them all now. Loving Time Out, getting into The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and will probably need a few more years to really dig Ornate Colemans free jazz. thanks- from a musician btw great lighting, speaking, structure and style - one little little thing, which is the only thing I can find: maybe work out another design for the deep_cuts symbol in the corner. easiest would be combining visual style and literal interpretation/meaning of the name or what you want to convey keep making content!
Thanks a lot Exo, really appreciate the constructive feedback. Man I love Buddy Rich, also a massive Gene Krupa fan. There are just too many brilliant artists to mention! I'm going to do a couple of jazz follow up videos to this soon, probably one on earlier jazz and one on modern jazz artists
Besides hard bop, Miles Davis also changed the game with Cook Jazz (album The Birth of Cool), and on Kind of Blue Modal Jazz, and then a decade later with albums like Bitches Brew, Fusion.
Hi, Oliver! I have started to view your videos because one got my attention. I am into experimental and avant-garde music, I would like to "compose" some as well, but first I feel that I need to know more about different genres, so your channel is just perfect for me, thus I started to view your videos from the beginning. I don't know why you have started with jazz, that is for me one of the biggest walls, and I still cannot climb it. Here are my raw thoughts about the albums you recommended. Keep in mind I am nowhere near an expert, I am only a curious listener. 1) Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959) - This is the music I think of when somebody mentions jazz. It hurts my brain (and I am listening to noise music), and I am not friends with the trumpet either. 2) Dave Brubeck - Time Out (1959) - Weel, this, my friend, is entertaining, colourful, playful, beautiful, you got me with this one. 3) Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners (1957) - I can feel the tension in this one, and for me, it is a negative tension. An unbearable genius. 4) Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963) - No, no, no, sorry, no. 5) Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) - "Peace" is alright. Bass and drum is beautiful, but my brain keeps rejecting these brass instruments. All in all, I still think Jazz is not for me, but I have found some favourites to add to my playlist. Thank you for the journey.
bill evans trio at the village vanguard 1961 is an exercise in musical telepathy and the eric dolphy albums out to lunch and out there are pretty fantastic as well .
I've only listened to 3 of the 5 albums on this list, can't wait to check out the others. I'm super bummed Horace Silver wasn't mentioned, but maybe I'll find out why once I listen to the rest.
Always dug al dimeola, then lite jazz like earl klugh and later George benson, but then I heard Chet Baker and was so floored I immediately bought every album I could find. That was it. Now mostly hardtop is where I’m at. Jazz messengers yeah
Bravo. Almost all are my picks for suggestions to a new jazz person. Even though Black Saint is along with a Love Supreme the two best unified, theme records, I would suggest Ah Um and Mingus Dynasty (as one choice, even though they are two different lps.) They would have made a great double lp. In fact that's how I bought them originally, as packaged into one lp called Better Get it in Your Soul. For a rock lover, these lps by Mingus have everything - blues, soul, R&B, movie theme, gospel influences and more. Very, very accessible and technically great. They are my favs along with Brilliant Corners.
Kind of Blue was the first Jazz LP I ever listened all the way through, Dave Brubeck's Take Five is the first jazz song I remember loving, and Black Saint is the album that made me properly fall in love with the creative musical maelstrom that is Jazz music.
My favorite type of jazz is probably hard bop and I really love the chromatic harmonica as a medium to play it. A great example of this would be Toots Thielemans’ work. There’s also a chromatic harmonica player on UA-cam by the name of Filip Jers who’s jazz playing I’ve really been enjoying as of late.
yes, yes, yes, amazing selection. I would have chosen the underground album or the one in SF by monk and I personally like cooking, working or relaxing by miles davis but I understand it's a starters pack and not your personal favorites. For the other albums I would have chosen exactly the same.
I love the other 4, but could never get into The Shape of Jazz to Come. Always seemed too random. It may click down the road and I appreciate what they were doing and how it changed things but it doesn't click with me for some reason.
OLIVER! Long story short, Thom Yorke put me onto Charles Mingus. Mingus was my intro to jazz, and honestly, besides Coltrane and a few others, he's still at the top for me. There's a problem though. I have yet to find anything as pinnacle, as daring, as romantic, as vigorous, as storytelling, as majestic as Black Saint And The Sinner Lady. It is hands down my favorite album to date. That's an understatement. Do you know of any other avant-garde jazz records that hold qualities such as the ones mentioned above, that maybe come close to it? Thanks!
the album that got me into jazz was Cannonball Adderly's live album "Mercy, mercy, mercy live at the club" it's smooth, and groovy with tons of catchy licks, still one of my favorites
there's also Oscar Peterson, what a genius. if anyone wants to get into jazz, listen to his music, he was one of the first jazz-musicians as well as pianists i got to know. still remember his magnificent 'Canadiana Suite', it's majestic :)
I've been in a smoky hifi cafe before, although I think it was smoky because of some kind of cooking going on behind the scenes, but it was a nice alternative to the smoke of cigarettes haha
I've always wanted to do something like this online. Something to help people out because you can go in so many directions. I can't fault your choices because 3 of them are THE accessible places to start for anyone just starting out. I suppose your other choices for Mingus and Monk came down to you thinking..."I've got to put some Mingus and Monk in there, somewhere!"I suppose I would have said "Blues And Roots" for Mingus (it may be slightly more accessible than "Mingus At Antibes," which is my favorite) and "Monk And Trane" for Monk...but like so many others, I'm a Coltrane fan. The really interesting question is where to go to next. Jazz is as daunting as classical music - more or less - but a good idea is just to start off with the names that you've heard. Just as you would probably start off with Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, you could do a lot worse than starting out with Miles, Bird, Mingus, Monk, Trane, Ornette, Duke, and Armstrong.
For me, the easiest "next step" to recommend would be Coltrane. As a number of people for this video have mentioned, the most likely next recommendations for Coltrane should probably include: Blue Train (1957), Giant Steps (1959), My Favorite Things (1960) and A Love Supreme (1964). I would further recommend his band playing live (take your choice of anything he recorded between 1961 and 1965) like Live In Paris (1962), Live At Birdland (1963), his live performance of A Love Supreme (1965) or, if you've got the $, his Live At The Village Vanguard recordings in 1961, which included help from another favorite of mine, Eric Dolphy.
Furthermore, if you're going to see how far you want to go with jazz, I would highly recommend any of a number of his 1965 recordings WAY before Miles Davis' fusion period (and, say, Bitches Brew (1969)). Try First Meditations (Sept. 65), Transition (May/June 65), or my favorite, Sun Ship (Aug 65). Can't go wrong with any of those.
Oliver, I daresay this is my favorite youtube channel. Some recommendations for Genre guides that I'd love to see: 1) Soul or Neo Soul 2) R&B 3) NuGaze Thanks for all the work...fascinating stuff
Kind of Blue was probably the album that got me into jazz, but there's no doubt that it's John Coltrane's A Love Supreme that made me fall in love with jazz.
A loooVE SuuPREME A loVE SuPREME
Both are some of my all time favorites.
I'm glad some metal elitist likes jazz
and the mahavishnu reimagination, among the others
Same here... "A Kind of Blue" used to be my go-to gift for people who like music in general... For beginners interested in where to start with jazz, I would recommend starting there on repeat, repeat, repeat...
And then there was light... "A Love Supreme" ... (!!!!)
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady was THE album that got me into jazz.
YEAH. I probably could have done a whole video dedicate to it, just a perfect album.
I'm the same. I was kind of teetering on the edge of jazz for a while and wasn't really getting it but that album just fucking GOT ME and I can't explain that to people. I've never heard anyone talk about it, even online or in the best jazz albums lists. They're all Miles Davis and Coltrane and Duke Ellington and so on and they are great but even when Mingus is on there it's always "Ah Um".
James Butko Mingus Ah Um got me, Black Saint fucking blown me away.
My favorite record at this moment, it's mesmerizing. This last three days i been listening to Sun Ra, i think has become an obsession.
By far my favourite record in the genre. Takes you on an adventure like no other jazz album can.
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Charles Mingus - Ah Um
Sun Ra - Jazz In Silhouette
Tubby Hayes - Down In The Village
Take it from me, these albums are utterly essential!
How is Sun Ra and Tubby Hayes essential lmao
I would replace "Kind Of Blue" with "Interplay", if you're not a fan of Miles trumpet playing.
@@spode8520if you don’t get Sun Ra I’m sorry for you. You probably like brecker and marsalis
@@-solidsnake- I totally like sun ra, but not what I would consider essential.
@@spode8520 fair
in a silent way is perfection
pretty groundbreaking too
it's proto-ambient in a way
Thats jazz fusion (different video)
It's not a jazz album.
It's fusion.
Different story
@@seanpanigel5494 wah wah
To Pimp A Butterfly brought me here.
same buddy
"u" and "I"
I REMEMBER YOU WAS CONFLICTED
@@BrandonCuringtonOfficial MISUSING YA INFLUENCE
Now you must acquire a taste for
*FREEFORM JAZZ*
Really enjoyed this Oliver. Thank you. I committed to finally get into jazz once we had the lock down that started 2 months ago. The question was how. Started by watching the 19 hour documentary from Ken Burns. Listed every artist of note and started listening to their work on my streaming service. When I found something I liked I bought a vinyl version. Two months later, my favorite album so far is Charles Mingus Black Saint. However, I’d argue that it’s not a good place to start your journey as it’s challenging, tonally. I’d add Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus, Art Blakey Moanin’ and Bill Evans Village Vanguard as easier entries than Mingus and Coleman. That said, once you’ve listened to a lot of jazz, Mingus and Coleman are the right choices. Thanks!
I'm so surprised he didn't put A Love Supreme by John Coltrane. I know it's generic, but then again, It's one of the greatest albums ever.
There are probably 20 absolute essentials I wanted to put down Mark, include Love Supreme - I'm just trying to keep it to 5 as an accessible entry to the genre. People reading these comments though should definitely go and listen to A Love Supreme though, like you say it is incredible
deep cuts You did a great job with the impossible task of boiling down the entry point of jazz to just five albums. Literally, I could never do a list like this.
@@deepcuts Honestly, I think you missed the mark with "intro" jazz albums. Other than Miles Davis' Kind of Blue and Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come, everything else was frankly boring to me and I believe are highly overrated. IMO, since these are supposed to be "beginner" albums, then you should have included albums with simpler songs that are very memorable, but still jazz. Nat King Cole would be a great artist to include. John Coltrane My Favorite Things and/or Giant Steps is another album that should have been included. Horace Silver Song for my Father is another great beginner album.
@@rameynoodles152 Imagine liking Kind of Blue but consider Charles Mingus and Thelonius Monk boring lmao
@@rameynoodles152 Shades of Blue by Madlib is also a really dope jazz intro album
My friend picked up the last album that you recommended at a record store near me in Philly and his prompt was “I want something that’s very complex and that I need to sit down and listen to”. You nailed it spot on.
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters, not the most convential jazz but it definitely piqued my interest in the genre, plus it was one of the first albums that convinced me to open my ears more to new sounds. Fantastic stuff, long live jazz and all its fusions
Definitley a good transition album for someone to get into jazz who already likes funk and rock
Your channel is amazing. I don't know the last time I felt this giddy about discovering a music critic.
Thank you so much Robin, lots more content on the way to get stuck in to!
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is a masterpiece. Probs one of my favorite albums of all time. Oh, awesome channel. Subbing!
Cheers Shane! It really is a masterpiece, an album I always go back to time and time again
The shape of jazz to come really got listening to jazz more regularly
It's just brilliant isn't it. Glad to see lots of love for it in this comment section
For something more recent that I thought was simply fantastic, check out The Epic by Kamasi Washington. 3 hours long and it never feels tired or worn out
Yes the Epic is fantastic, also all of the footage I've seen of the band perform it live is pretty incredible
So glad to see Ornette Coleman here. He is really underrated in terms of the jazz greats, people always mention miles Davis and the like (deservedly so) but never mention Coleman.
The Black Saint and Sinner Lady
Man. I'm even struggling to type keys and write about it - its just too much.
Its like being strapped to the mast of a sailing boat, out at sea in a force 8 gale. Its taking you on a journey and from that opening drum motive there is no escape.
It challenges you, throwing you curve balls of momentary safety and then smacking you in the face with a horns that can only have come from the deep south, but those horns have been brought from the depths of hell and then rising up to the surface to wail in the hot summer night.
This is hot evening music. This is having a sweat on your body from a fever that just won#t let go. You actually physically wrestle the piece. Its like playing chess against an aggressor, but that aggressor is also drip feeding you a drug that gives you this masochist craving for more. You try and out wit it, making a move where your safe, but its just too much.
Its very easy to say that something changed your life. But this did.
I watched your post and picked up my 60's mono copy of it. Even picking it up gives me the chills.
Someone introduced this to me one hot summer evening, in a large back garden, isolated from anywhere. There was a bonfire and we had dropped mushrooms. At my peak, the speakers started that drum motif and forever I was a changed man.
This is Serious. This is Music. Don't mess about with it. Respect it, Play it all. Play it Loud..x
(nice choices btw)
my top 5 in no particular order 1 something else cannonball elderly,2miles david kind of blues,3 john coltrone blue train,4kenny burrell midnight blues,5 dave brubeck take five
Thanks so much for posting this video! It was my introduction to Mingus who I wanted to listen to before but didn't know where to start! The album jumped out at me right away.. and I couldn't help but order a copy! Already one of my favourites ever. So excited to hear more from him.
Something about the modern focus on jazz beginning with the hard bop and cool era transitioning into cool jazz and free jazz is what I always felt perpetuated the public's general disinterest with jazz. I genuinely love the older standards and the compositions in earlier experimentation with ragtime, jazz manouche, and string-band music; it's just so fun. And then you have people talking ad infinitum about the Coltrane and Davis-related circles like pallbearers of culture when you have fascinating new artists like Ben Allison and Brad Mehldau. If you're going to "get in to jazz," for the love of god, please explore modern and pre-40s music; there's a wealth of culture and ideas that is being ignored in favor of the same dozen fucking artists everyone jumps to when they need to talk about "jazz." It's a bigger genre that spans a wider timeframe than most of its audience will cop awareness to.
Same goes with other genres of music, particularly rock music, where ''fans'' focus largely if not solely on the rock music made from the mid-1960s to mid/late-1970s and largely ignore the music made outside that narrow period, at least where ''best/must-have'' albums are concerned.
Ya. There’s a reason for that. Dont be a fucking know-it-all asshole.
@@thevinyltruffle When you say "there's a reason for that," what is "that" in the sentence? I genuinely feel like you aren't tracking the convo.
I agree, but it's a heck of a place to start.
please make more content. there isn't enough of this out there, and you seem to be very smart and educated in music. definently subbed, though would have loved to see Bitches Brew here
Thanks so much Nich, there is definitely a lot more content to come - if you have any suggestions please let me know!
I also agree, love Bitches Brew and I know it was an entry point album for a lot of people coming from prog/psychedelic rock.
Bitches Brew would definitely be harder to get invested in if you’re new to Jazz, it’s very complex and bloated for a newcomer😂 it is easily in my top 20 albums of all time though
My 5 would be Bitches Brew by Miles Davis, Waltz for Debbie by Bill Evans (beautiful album), First Meditations by John Coltrane, Money Jungle by Duke Ellington (Mingus on bass and Max Roach on drums), and Somethin' Else by Cannonball Adderly (ft. Miles Davis). Those are the ones I listen to the most. And yeah 4 of the 5 are on Kind of Blue.
Something Else is a classic
No Coltrane? Gotta throw in "Giant Steps" or "A Love Supreme". I personally love the new thing and free jazz stuff, so the far-out late period Coltrane records are some of my favorites. Pharoah Sanders too. Probably not the best place to start if you aren't interested in jazz yet.
'A Love Supreme' is a personal favourite, what a beautiful record. I love that although it is dedicated to his Christian beliefs, (something I don't share) the power of the music makes me appreciate his faith.
Funny, I feel exactly the same way. Actually Coltrane is my standing example in conversations, why it is important to look at the art and the artist separately. First he was a junkie, then a born-again christ. But what a musician!
Technically he's there in Kind of Blue...
Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder is an old favorite that was suggested to me years ago. This is really excellent content.
Oh my god thank you so much. I watched this 3 days ago and now I can't stop listening to jazz, I've probably listened to 15 albums in the last 3 days and I'm absolutely in love with the genre
Your list has both accessible and challenging music. I'm not sure The Shape of Jazz to Come will get many people into jazz, but there's no denying the power of The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.
Time Out was my intro to jazz sometime last year. Soooooooo guuuuuuuuuuuuud.
Horace Silver’s “Song For My Father” got me interested in jazz.
John Coltrane's A Love Supreme was the album that hooked me in to jazz. Can't get enough of that album.
Just listens to The Shape of Jazz to come and it blew my mind!!!! Albert Ayler Trio's Spiritual Unity is a pretty intense listen in the free jazz realm as well. Miles Davis' On The Corner is a challenging but ultimately rewarding listen too.
My list would be:
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus, Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um, Andrew Hill - Black Fire, Ornette Coleman - Shape of Jazz to Come (or possibly a different Free Jazz album; Archie Shepp - Four For Trane or Paul Bley - Open, to Love).
It would be cool if you were to do videos on some of the main subgenres of Jazz. If you ever do a video on avant-garde/free Jazz please don't forget to mention Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, Paul Bley, Archie Shepp, Sonny Sharrock, Don Cherry etc. I hope people would be aware of how diverse free Jazz is and that if they don't like one style they might still like another.
One of my personal favourite jazz albums is Blossom Dearie My Gentleman Friend its so nice to listen too
well im a committed metal enjoyer and i stumbled upon John coltranes "my favorite" things while just scrolling through spotify,i gave it a shot and i really liked it. So i decided to see more of the genre,and now im here. this video was helpful man, really. thanks alot!
Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert was the one that got me started...
I never found The Shape of Jazz to Come hard to listen to. That's the awesome thing about the album, while free, it's still beautiful and accessible (at least nowadays).
If you liked Ornette's music, you should check out Gato Barberi's debut
album "In Search Of The Mystery".
A stone cold classic. It will knock you down!
Homie got thrown out of clubs when he was getting ready to write that album. Even once he did I think. People hated it. People got angry. People laughed.
Learning jazz chords on guitar and Cookin’ by miles Davis brought me here. A lot of great standards on that album, including airegin and my funny valentine.
it was Antonio Carlos Jobim's Wave that really got me interested and invested in jazz. Would reccommend to anybody trying to get into thr genre or Bossa Nova in general
I've just put it on at work, the title track is putting me in a trance. Lovely vibes, thanks for the recommendation!
Great album. I love all his work. One of my favourite albums of his is Paasarim it's so beautiful.
the first 'jazzy' musician i listened to was fiona apple, granted her music isn't really jazz but i think that was the first musician with that vibe that i really liked. later i got really into chet baker and then the likes of miles davis, frank sinatra, bill evans, etc
Highly recommended: the jazz pop of the Bronx genius Laura Nyro. Her 1968 album 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession', one of the most influential songwriting albums of the last 50 years. Nyro used only the best jazz musicians on this LP, including greats like Zoot Sims, Joe Farrell, Bernie Glow, Ernie Royal etc. See Nyro youtube raves by Todd Rundgren, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Sara Bareilles. Nyro is Rock Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame. For an introduction to jazz, Sun Ra's 'Lanquidity' (1978) is also fantastic - described as 'cosmic jazz'.
Surprised love supreme wasn't on here
I should have done ten records, too many great ones to fit
why listen to the greatest ever recorded when you're only getting into the genre ? save that shit for later :-)
For someone trying to start liking jazz, I would also recommend Coltrane's My Favorite Things - like the Brubeck album, it is quite "accessible", as they say, an excellent album.
It took me a while to become familiar with Mingus' music, but when it happened, Black Saint and the Sinner Lady was catapulted to the top of my favorite records, not only in jazz... monumental sound, it seems to encapsulate every possible human emotion in it. Oh, and his other album, is actually called Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus so you were 2 Mingus short, lol
Awesome choices. The LP that got me into jazz was 'Porgy And Bess' by Miles Davis. I chose that one to buy on purpose because I already knew most of the songs on it, therefore I reasoned that if the players went off on a tangent then at least I would be able to 'hang on' as I would know what the melodies should be. I needn't have worried - it sounded beautiful back in 1986 and it still sounds beautiful now.
Great video man! I think you should make one about funk music... It would be really interesting
It exists now
Dave Brubeck - Time Out is one of my all time favourites. It's a very fun album. I recommend it to anyone.
I got into jazz through modern albums mashing up jazz with other elements I already loved, most notably in releases by Flying Lotus. Cosmogramma and UTQC were already full of hints of jazz, but You'rd Dead! was the one album which made me want to explore the genre's back-catalog
to your picks:
I personally found Monk's Music much more engaging and therefore accessible on first listen than Brilliant Corners.
I also tried myself very early at Bitches Brew and it was one of the most overwhelming things I heard in my life, but that was perfect because it kept drawing me back to the record until I started to truely love it. Kind of Blue surely is the best first jazz album to listen to to actually enjoy though. For that I also very much recommend Round About Midnight by Miles. Beautiful and laid-back.
There's nothing wrong with your picks, actually there are a lot of good entry points into Jazz. I'd definitely would recommend to start with something accessible though. If you never heard Jazz at all and start with Ornette Coleman, there's a good chance you run away screaming, never to return agein. Which would be a shame. Save Ornette for later, when you are already addicted. ;)
There are some other obvious picks to start as well. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme or Keith Jarret - The Köln Concert come to mind - Albums you're likely to find in many househods stacked next to Kind Of Blue. But what brought me into Jazz were the 3 following albums:
Dollar Brand - African Marketplace
Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain
Archie Shepp / Jasper Van't Hof - Mama Rose
..then there's the whole world of vocal Jazz as well -You can't go wrong with Nina Simone.
I like your channel a lot, please keep your great content coming, I'll subscribe right away!
Cheers! :)
Yeah I included Coleman at the end so if people were exploring then it would give them a taste of the other end of the spectrum, but I take your point it could definitely put some people off!
This guys voice is so relaxing
Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil and Herbie Hancock's Empyrean Isle are the two albums that got me into Jazz.
Oliver, can you make another video about jazz just like you did with contemporary prog records? I would like to see a "top 5 albuns to get into contemporary jazz" from you.
Let My Children Hear Music by Charles Mingus and Journey In Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane got me into jazz - both incredible!
Only Mingus could come up with a title like "The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers"
Thanks for Mingus!!!! - i can't stop playing to this man now...Pithecanthropus Erectus, Fables of Faubus, Moaning, Ecclusiastics, Let the Children, East coasting, All the Things You C#, M Plays Piano, Canon...its just endless
A Love Supreme by John Coltrane probably isn’t a conventionally good place to start with jazz but that is where I first landed in my journey into jazz and it’s a truly hypnotic, maybe even transcendent, record. To this day it’s still my all time favorite jazz album.
Anything by Jimmy Smith is good too. depends what vibe you're going for. Worth also mentioning Stanz Getz and Joao Gilberto if you like a Bossonova twist to your jazz.
I love the idea, but just a few ideas: give us a short sample of your favorite song from each album, and please get rid of the bright ass light in the background. I think this could become much more popular if you were to include some of the music too. I can think about jazz, but if I'm new to the genre, I have no idea what all you are talking about unless you give me an example.
Appreciate the suggestions Chester, thank you for watching. The reason I have included the actual music is copyright restrictions - I don't want to have to take down a video or re-edit to upload again. From now on I'll probably do a Spotify playlist reflecting each video, so people will be able to more directly find the music.
Yes you risk the video being flagged... but small clips with commentary explaining what one should be looking for would most certainly fall under fair use. Even if (more probably like when) a video is flagged you would be able to counter it. I know doing so would increase the effort needed and frustration of dealing with the UA-cam copyright system, but I agree with Chester in that examples would really enhance the presentation.
As for this video itself, certainly yes Jazz is expansive and rife with sub-genres, but I hope to see a followup going into the earlier Swing and Gypsy Jazz era. Bringing back copyright issues, you could talk about how the evolution of copyright law changed Jazz from many artists/bands playing the same 'standards' but with their own style/arrangement to where most of the work being put out today is original compositions.
But otherwise you've earned a subscription for me, and I'm looking forward to more. Thanks!
Spotify playlist is the right way to share the music. Good idea.
Thanks Jason, you're right with regards to small clips falling under fair use I'm sure, I'll think about adding them in future content.
And thank you for the subscription, much appreciated and there will be more content coming ASAP!
Checked your list. I have them all. Some like SInner Lady and Kind of blue are my favourites. Suscribed.
Those are all very good choices. Have listened to all.. Sketches of Spain (Miles Davis) is such a beautiful album..
Other favs of mine.. Saxophone Collosus (Rollinss), Live At The Club (C Adderley), Night in Tunisia (A Blakey), Ole (Coltrane)... So many others.. but these are good ones and recorded well. A good avant Garde.. Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
Jeez, this is a tough one. Do people have the ears to hear the harmonic complexity of most jazz anymore? Chords as complicated and unusual as the ones routinely hear in 50s and 60s jazz almost never occur in contemporary pop music. To go from that to Thelonious Monk would be like (to paraphrase one from your fellow UA-camr Rick Beato ) taking a kid who had never eaten broccoli in his life and suddenly giving him a plateful. Maybe start folks off with a little jazz-influenced pop-rock (Steely Dan, Jeff Beck, Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Sting) and then ease 'em in to the proper jazz? Just thinking out loud here.
Jazz just recently got me in two different avenues:
Very deep dark experimental vanguard Metal. I started to listen jazz embedded in metal, amazingly was a natural following.
I saw some performances in NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts of jazz/jazz fusion bands. Was like to see new colors all of the sudden.
You should listen to Naked City by John Zorn if you haven’t already. Also check out Spirant by Sissy Spacek, most insane album I’ve ever heard
Slightly different perspective:
1) Coleman Hawkins - Hawk Flies High (at least a sample of one of the earliest jazz innovators and a legend?)
2) Booker Ervin - Space Book (ain't this a fab avant-garde album)
3) Herbie Hancock - Sextant (how those electronic instruments are made to sing)
4) Ornette Coleman - Three Women (I find his 1980s albums more 'accessible' than much of the Atlantic stuff)
5) Charlie Parker - Bird & Diz (come on these are the guys that truly 'revolutionalised' jazz... but rarely ever on anyone's recommended list..?)
.. I'd add soul jazz (plenty B3organ) and vibes albums but, it's only 5.
I'm interested to know what jazz enthusiasts think of Louis Armstrong. He was the one who got me into jazz
He's incredible, he knows how to make heavenly Jazz songs, knowing how to balance instrumentals and vocals, as well as how to make both of them the best that they possibly can. And his voice... never has an artist with a raspy voice made themselves still sound so good. I'm a pretty big fan
Hot Fives and Sevens in particular are universally beloved and regarded as foundational. Most jazz musicians I know don’t listen to them very often-when I ask them for Top 5 album lists, it’s usually dominated by post-bop and (especially for people around my age) fusion-but everyone I know respects them. Good jazz musicians tend to be students of the genre’s history as well, and those were really a turning point.
Found this channel, saw several videos + subscribed!
That monk album is ridiculously good. Thanks! Just coming to falling in love with jazz this year.
and I was so sure you'd pick Take it Away by Buddy Rich - from a drummers perspective :D
great anyways, got them all now. Loving Time Out, getting into The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and will probably need a few more years to really dig Ornate Colemans free jazz.
thanks- from a musician
btw great lighting, speaking, structure and style - one little little thing, which is the only thing I can find: maybe work out another design for the deep_cuts symbol in the corner. easiest would be combining visual style and literal interpretation/meaning of the name or what you want to convey
keep making content!
Thanks a lot Exo, really appreciate the constructive feedback. Man I love Buddy Rich, also a massive Gene Krupa fan. There are just too many brilliant artists to mention! I'm going to do a couple of jazz follow up videos to this soon, probably one on earlier jazz and one on modern jazz artists
Great Video! Thank you for your Recommendations ... i listen to Metal for 40 years, and would like to hear more Jazz
Thks to deep cuts for all of your vids on all the diff genres. You know yr stuff young man. Top marks from Liverpool la..:-)
Blue Train by Coltrane got me into jazz
Huge fan and sick video, love your humour and effort!!!! Please never stop 🔥
i must have passed grade 1 Jazz appreciation because i know and love all this.
Besides hard bop, Miles Davis also changed the game with Cook Jazz (album The Birth of Cool), and on Kind of Blue Modal Jazz, and then a decade later with albums like Bitches Brew, Fusion.
Hi, Oliver!
I have started to view your videos because one got my attention. I am into experimental and avant-garde music, I would like to "compose" some as well, but first I feel that I need to know more about different genres, so your channel is just perfect for me, thus I started to view your videos from the beginning. I don't know why you have started with jazz, that is for me one of the biggest walls, and I still cannot climb it. Here are my raw thoughts about the albums you recommended. Keep in mind I am nowhere near an expert, I am only a curious listener.
1) Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)
- This is the music I think of when somebody mentions jazz. It hurts my brain (and I am listening to noise music), and I am not friends with the trumpet either.
2) Dave Brubeck - Time Out (1959)
- Weel, this, my friend, is entertaining, colourful, playful, beautiful, you got me with this one.
3) Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners (1957)
- I can feel the tension in this one, and for me, it is a negative tension. An unbearable genius.
4) Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963)
- No, no, no, sorry, no.
5) Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) - "Peace" is alright. Bass and drum is beautiful, but my brain keeps rejecting these brass instruments.
All in all, I still think Jazz is not for me, but I have found some favourites to add to my playlist. Thank you for the journey.
bill evans trio at the village vanguard 1961 is an exercise in musical telepathy and the eric dolphy albums out to lunch and out there are pretty fantastic as well .
I've only listened to 3 of the 5 albums on this list, can't wait to check out the others. I'm super bummed Horace Silver wasn't mentioned, but maybe I'll find out why once I listen to the rest.
I really like this channel. Keep it up!
Some Pharoah Sanders piece I heard on the radio circa 1970 made me a jazz fan.
Always dug al dimeola, then lite jazz like earl klugh and later George benson, but then I heard Chet Baker and was so floored I immediately bought every album I could find. That was it. Now mostly hardtop is where I’m at. Jazz messengers yeah
Bravo. Almost all are my picks for suggestions to a new jazz person. Even though Black Saint is along with a Love Supreme the two best unified, theme records, I would suggest Ah Um and Mingus Dynasty (as one choice, even though they are two different lps.) They would have made a great double lp. In fact that's how I bought them originally, as packaged into one lp called Better Get it in Your Soul. For a rock lover, these lps by Mingus have everything - blues, soul, R&B, movie theme, gospel influences and more. Very, very accessible and technically great. They are my favs along with Brilliant Corners.
Kind of Blue was the first Jazz LP I ever listened all the way through, Dave Brubeck's Take Five is the first jazz song I remember loving, and Black Saint is the album that made me properly fall in love with the creative musical maelstrom that is Jazz music.
Another album worth listening to for Charles Mingus is "Charles Mingus presents Charles Mingus"
Just absolutely incredible
My favorite type of jazz is probably hard bop and I really love the chromatic harmonica as a medium to play it. A great example of this would be Toots Thielemans’ work. There’s also a chromatic harmonica player on UA-cam by the name of Filip Jers who’s jazz playing I’ve really been enjoying as of late.
blue train by coltrane got me interested in jazz
yes, yes, yes, amazing selection. I would have chosen the underground album or the one in SF by monk and I personally like cooking, working or relaxing by miles davis but I understand it's a starters pack and not your personal favorites. For the other albums I would have chosen exactly the same.
Awesome channel, subbing right now!
+Fernando Rubio welcome!
I would also include something by Ellington - Live At Newport or Indigos.
Immediately subbed from the the intro
Also: Chet Baker! Cooooool jazz baby.
Get the Monk’s Dream album, just a brilliant album.
great channel! please do soul music, love this!
Bro TBSATSL is just so good but Kind of Blue got me unto jazz so it is my favorite
Time Out was the Jazz Album that got my interest, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady was the Jazz album that got my attention.
I love your selection
I love the other 4, but could never get into The Shape of Jazz to Come. Always seemed too random. It may click down the road and I appreciate what they were doing and how it changed things but it doesn't click with me for some reason.
OLIVER!
Long story short, Thom Yorke put me onto Charles Mingus.
Mingus was my intro to jazz, and honestly, besides Coltrane and a few others, he's still at the top for me.
There's a problem though. I have yet to find anything as pinnacle, as daring, as romantic, as vigorous, as storytelling, as majestic as Black Saint And The Sinner Lady. It is hands down my favorite album to date. That's an understatement. Do you know of any other avant-garde jazz records that hold qualities such as the ones mentioned above, that maybe come close to it? Thanks!
the album that got me into jazz was Cannonball Adderly's live album "Mercy, mercy, mercy live at the club" it's smooth, and groovy with tons of catchy licks, still one of my favorites
Black Saint is my favorite jazz album. I simply love Charles Mingus. So many.... Money Jungle as an example.
there's also Oscar Peterson, what a genius. if anyone wants to get into jazz, listen to his music, he was one of the first jazz-musicians as well as pianists i got to know. still remember his magnificent 'Canadiana Suite', it's majestic :)
Giant steps was what got me into jazz
I've been in a smoky hifi cafe before, although I think it was smoky because of some kind of cooking going on behind the scenes, but it was a nice alternative to the smoke of cigarettes haha
These 5 Albums get you totally into Jazz. Good choices!
I've always wanted to do something like this online. Something to help people out because you can go in so many directions. I can't fault your choices because 3 of them are THE accessible places to start for anyone just starting out. I suppose your other choices for Mingus and Monk came down to you thinking..."I've got to put some Mingus and Monk in there, somewhere!"I suppose I would have said "Blues And Roots" for Mingus (it may be slightly more accessible than "Mingus At Antibes," which is my favorite) and "Monk And Trane" for Monk...but like so many others, I'm a Coltrane fan. The really interesting question is where to go to next. Jazz is as daunting as classical music - more or less - but a good idea is just to start off with the names that you've heard. Just as you would probably start off with Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, you could do a lot worse than starting out with Miles, Bird, Mingus, Monk, Trane, Ornette, Duke, and Armstrong.
For me, the easiest "next step" to recommend would be Coltrane. As a number of people for this video have mentioned, the most likely next recommendations for Coltrane should probably include: Blue Train (1957), Giant Steps (1959), My Favorite Things (1960) and A Love Supreme (1964). I would further recommend his band playing live (take your choice of anything he recorded between 1961 and 1965) like Live In Paris (1962), Live At Birdland (1963), his live performance of A Love Supreme (1965) or, if you've got the $, his Live At The Village Vanguard recordings in 1961, which included help from another favorite of mine, Eric Dolphy.
Furthermore, if you're going to see how far you want to go with jazz, I would highly recommend any of a number of his 1965 recordings WAY before Miles Davis' fusion period (and, say, Bitches Brew (1969)). Try First Meditations (Sept. 65), Transition (May/June 65), or my favorite, Sun Ship (Aug 65). Can't go wrong with any of those.
Great video. Cheers
Oliver, I daresay this is my favorite youtube channel.
Some recommendations for Genre guides that I'd love to see:
1) Soul or Neo Soul
2) R&B
3) NuGaze
Thanks for all the work...fascinating stuff