What Were Your First Few Jazz Albums?
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Topic: What Were Your First Few Jazz Albums?
Posted By: darkshade
Subject: What Were Your First Few Jazz Albums?
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 3:25am
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What were your first jazz albums? Which albums got you started? Technically, this was my first jazz record, back when I was in 6th or 7th grade  Of course, it wasn't until a few years later, while I was still a senior in high school in 2005, when I first got this album. How I came across this album is a long story involving a series of events. I was just getting my feet wet with progressive music, and then this album essentially opened up my eyes and ears to lots of new and interesting music. I think having enjoyed the Charlie Brown album so much as a kid, kinda prepared me for it. And I was coming off of mostly metal and hard rock.  After that I remember getting these albums.     It took a while before I started exploring non-fusion jazz, but I still love the above albums. How bout you guys? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |
Replies:
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 6:06am
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This was my first jazz album: Not bad for an introduction, eh? I think I got it either in my first highschool year (at 15) or in the last gymnasium year (at 14). The band had just played in our town but I didn't go see them, but I was hyped enough to get the album. It sounded quite esoteric for me back then... Strange music. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 7:34am
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Yikes.... In terms of pure jazz, this goes back to the mid-80's
if i don't count my father's jazz albums they weren't mine... and I'd have never bought them) or my first JR/F albums of the very start of the 80's (I know that one is Santana's Caravanserai followed MO's Birds Of Fire and a tad later Miles' Bitches Brew)
theoretically,with pure jazz albums this would bought around 85 or 86 (best I can do)... and it would be Trane's A Love Supreme, but Mingus' Black saint is right up there as well. but I couldn't possibly remember in which order the following jazz vinyl albums came and that would include KOB, Sketches, Time Out and more timeless classics (all vinyls, btw... none of which I still own, I must say, except for Borboletta, Bitches and Caravanserai)
Somehow if I could tell that with my rock albums around when (and sometimes even where) I bought them and in which order or chronology (as a teen, you tend to find it important, or it just sticks to you), in terms of jazz, I was somewhat much older, and these issues didn't seen to matter at all.
------------- my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicted musicians to crazy ones.... 
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 7:37am
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Some of my first jazz records were: Keith Jarrett "Fort Yaweh" Chick Corea "Return to Forever" Coltrane "Om" all on 8 track tape. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 7:52am
Yikes!!! that's ancient!!  ------------- my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicted musicians to crazy ones....
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js wrote:Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 8:05am
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My first jazz albums were lent to me by an older friend, when I was in my early twenties. Coming from rock, metal and folk, I didn't get it right away - it probably took me a year, on and off, to come around. I guess sometimes it just takes a while to appreciate what's going on in jazz (part of what makes it so rewarding) There are the three I was given    And I listened to them in that order too, from memory. When I finally got it, KOB received the most rotation, but I think it was Davis' version of "Round Midnight' that sold me on jazz. Then it was straight to Bitches Brew and I was buried sound, coming up for air with Mahavishnu Orchestra and other albums of a more fusion-nature. Next came my second favourite Miles album  From memory, approximately the same time as either BB or Sketches..., I got Head Hunters by Hancock and was hooked. From there I went mostly into the post-bop area, with this, my second Hancock album, which is still one of my favourites years later  and which in turn led me to Freddie Hubbard and so on and so on! Thanks for the opportunity to ramble here, great thread, Mike ------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews... |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 11:35am
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No problem. The reasons I enjoyed jazz when I first got into it are sooo
much different than they are now. It's probably similar for everyone
here. When I first got into it, I was always looking for great
electric/Rhodes piano work, or some funky bass work. Now it's all about
the overall mood, but I'm into so many different sub-genres and have
wrapped my head around jazz in general, that it's tough to say. My first non-fusion albums were Miles Davis - Kind of Blue and E.S.P. (Way after getting into Miles fusion albums), and Herbie Hancock - Empyrean Isles (after getting into his fusion albums). The rest is history.
I like it!!! Who is that? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 3:26pm
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^ I suggested them for JMA here: forum_posts.asp?TID=241&KW=jazz+unit" rel="nofollow - Jazz Unit / Romania That track is a composition by Lucian Ban and Eduard Jak Neumann (who both have solo entries on JMA too). Unfortunately the album can't be accessed in any way. My cassette is lost, too, so if I ever get the mp3s in a way or another, I'm going to upload them to YouTube. The best part of the album, or at least the one that fascinated me the most, was a track dedicated to Mingus and which started with more than one minute of a very realist simulation of the sounds emitted by an African cow herd and its shepherds (all done with musical instrument). That was amazing to listen at headphones, at night, in the dark. Took me to Africa... |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 3:52pm
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^ Sounds really cool. I will have to check them out. Are they on the site?
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |
Posted By: Cannonball With Hat
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 4:34pm
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Christ...I have no idea. Haha. I'm assuming it was something in the fusion field being I only started to get into jazz proper recently. Maybe Brand X's Moroccan Roll? I've also had some The Industrial Jazz Group stuff for what seems like quite a long time, so maybe their City Of Angels.
For jazz proper...idk...hmm...seriously I have no idea. Maybe Bitches Brew (yes yes...technicall jazz-rock but lord knows I can't tell  ) But I'm drawing serious blanks here. ------------- Hit it on Five. Saxophone Scatterbrain Blitzberg Stab them in the ears. |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2011 at 5:45pm
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If I'd been doing the cataloging thing many years ago I might be able to answer that. Most likely stuff from ECM.
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Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2011 at 8:52am
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In order of purchase (and in one case, in order of having heard after borrowing and then eventually buying from a friend):
Dave Brubeck Quartet: Carnegie Hall Live Volume 2
John McLaughlin: Extrapolation (on the original Marmalade label)
Lifetime: Turn It Over
Mike Westbrook: Marching Song
(Soft Machine: Volume 2 fits in here, on the cusp between underground music and jazz fusion, and indeed the underground music was somewhere between psychedelia and progressive music)
Miles Davis: Bitches Brew - in fact purchased after hearing Pete Drummond play the whole of Pharoah's Dance on BBC Radio 1 - sad to say that station lacks that sort of imagination anymore.
I may add, working at the end of the 60's in a record department of a well know British chain as a Saturday job, I had access to LPs which might have ended up in the dumper bins during sales - and that's where I found the first two for less than10 bob, (50 pence nowadays) !!!
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Posted By: Matt
Date Posted: 13 Aug 2011 at 4:01pm
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I don't remember clearly but it was Miles......"Bitches Brew"( definitely first). "Round about Midnight", 'Milestones" and "Kind of Blue" and "Blue Trane" by Coltrane or Moanin' by Art Blakey. But I was starting to pick up Blue Note albums as well.
Primarily started with Miles though. That cover on Bitches Brew always had me curious about what music it contained for years and back then and still now to a degree I personally found that Rock and Pop had pretty much done it all. As you may know I find a lot of those Alternate and Indie bands are just not me and I was going to a music store and thinking there is nothing I want so I took up Jazz, Latin and African music. Result, Boredom no more
 Have I mentioned Hard Bop rules
 Always played Country though, from when I first shot out of me mum.
------------- Matt |
Posted By: Chicapah
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2011 at 1:02pm
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I'm pretty sure it was an album by Jimmy Smith because I loved the sound of the Hammond B3 ever since I'd heard Dave "Baby" Cortez's 45 single of "The Happy Organ." Not sure if I was ready for what Smith was doing, though, and the fact that I don't still have that LP proves that it went over my head. "Streetnoise" by Brian Auger and the Trinity may have been the first one that I liked enough to keep but that one opened me up to all sorts of possibilities.
------------- Make a joyful noise unto the Lord... |
Posted By: Moshkito
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2011 at 8:46pm
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Hi,
My first taste of "jazz" was in Brazil ... Getz, Jobim, and a few others, that pretty much became synonymous with a lot of music in the 60's in Brazil, some of which really stuck it out good. Later on, Milton (Nascimiento) and then later Gismonti and a few others that defy the description of music and jazz!
A lot of it preceeded the "fame" and the "radio" era like the American Black music that was wiped out in the 50's in favor of the movie stars and fame game.
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Posted By: Noak2
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2011 at 7:55am
| The first jazz albums I really got into were The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady by Mingus, and Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival 1965 by John Handy. |
Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2011 at 10:49pm
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I was listening to hard rock and prog rock well at student's time. However, jazz was an unknown territory for me. However, the music to which I listened at infancy time and the music to which it listens in one's teens are connected with jazz. It was felt that it was inevitable. Tune of Art Blakey to which I listened on radio by chance. And, 8:30 of Weather Report to which it listens by chance in the library of the university. These have expanded my interest in jazz. |
Posted By: harmonium.ro
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2011 at 5:28am
I also started my interest in fusion with Weather Report (Black Market)  |
Posted By: Reserpine Wonk
Date Posted: 15 Jan 2012 at 3:23am
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I started learning piano at 16 and was babysitting for a couple with a huge record collection. In it was The Koln Concert. My first teacher was really a drummer but he told me to start listening to Jazz 90 (in Philly). On one of my first few listens, they played Trane's "My Favorite Things." So luckily, I was exposed to top tier stuff from the beginning. Then, while in college, I got a job at a jazz CD shop. The owner was cool and allowed me to open any CD in the store to play it -- frequently, a customer would buy it as a result -- and let employees make purchases by paying cost only. This was when the first Penguin Guide came out so I'd give a listen to whatever Morton and Cook recommended. I spent just about everything I earned buying jazz CDs. But it was very nice at that time to be able to avoid clunkers. |
Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 15 Jan 2012 at 3:34am
^ Very cool! Welcome to JMA. I used to work for a CD retailer too - it was pretty damn good having access to amazing music at a staff discount!  ------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews... |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: 15 Jan 2012 at 3:43am
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Welcome or Reserpine... You guys are kind of lucky... I always wished I could work in a music outlet... but to be honest, thinking about it, most of my buddies that did so, were sooooooo tired of music when they got home (since they spent many hours per day in it) that they rarely played music there ------------- my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicted musicians to crazy ones....
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Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 15 Jan 2012 at 3:52am
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^ Luckily for me I didn't have that problem the whole time - our store played Top 40 only and often if was only house/club or techno (the pop stuff anyway) and the only time I could play what I wanted was before we opened and when we closed, so I still had some headspace for music when I got home. Other times I just had a headache. ------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews... |
Posted By: Stooge
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2012 at 11:26am
| I'm pretty sure that my first jazz or fusion album was "Heavy Weather" by Weather Report. I had some bass instructional books, and of course Jaco's name appeared in a great deal of them. My curiosity to hear a bass player I had never heard before allowed me to get my feet wet in the jazz waters. I think I was around 18 or 19, and I asked for it as a Christmas gift. |
Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2012 at 1:17pm
My very first one was Corea's "The Mad Hatter" (when still in school years) and I wasn't impressed at all Some years later I got his "Return To Forever" a fell in love with it  |
Posted By: Abraxas
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2012 at 5:29pm
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My first personal jazz purchase was Giant Steps. However, I had been listening to a lot of jazz and fusion prior to that, probably the jazz albums that made me want to listen to more of the genre were: Kind of Blue, My Favorite Things, Empyrean Isles and A Love Supreme. |
Posted By: Cannonball With Hat
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2012 at 8:48pm
Having rethought this with the bumping of this thread...I'm going to say either Brubeck's Time Out or whatever my first Sun Ra purchase was. (Which I think was either Atlantis or Cosmic Tones....) ------------- Hit it on Five. Saxophone Scatterbrain Blitzberg Stab them in the ears. |
Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2012 at 8:54pm
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^ Time Out is a great place to have started too
------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews... |
Posted By: darkprinceofjazz
Date Posted: 21 Jan 2012 at 10:45pm
| I Started with kind of blue, I had that for a few years, then I pretty sure it was Porgy and Bess from Miles, but I hate to give to much credit to Ken Burns, But when that Documentary came out, as incomplete as it was, it really does a fine job explaining the history up to 1960, the music really came alive for me, I went and bought that 5 CD companion Box set, and it all really started there, I pretty much bought 200 CD's based on a lot of what was in that set. I still think it's a great starter set. though it almost completely ignores Jazz Rock and Free Jazz, as did the documentary, but I was exposed to Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor through it. |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2012 at 11:38pm
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^ Yea, I watched the Ken Burns Jazz documentary since it's on Netflix, and up until 1967 or 1968, it goes over all the major artists, bands, genres, and eras pretty well. After 1967, the documentary takes a huge dip in quality, as if the makers could care less about jazz after 1967; except for talking about Winton Marsalis, who they seemed to adore. They only "mentioned" jazz-fusion because they were continuing the Miles Davis discussion, and briefly mention that there are new, young artists today.
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |
Posted By: darkprinceofjazz
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2012 at 8:52am
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Posted By: Rokukai
Date Posted: 26 May 2012 at 11:35pm
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McCoy Tyner Expansions
Joe Pass Live at Yoshi's Vol II Yusef Lateef Live at Pep's Coltrane live at Birdland Atlantic Jazz Masters, Vol II |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 27 May 2012 at 12:37pm
That's the problem with that documentary, and others too, is the bias. You can't have that when documenting a musical genre, especially one as vast as Jazz. The idea of Ken Burns Jazz is a great one, but if you're going to do one episode on the last 40 years of jazz, where the other 12-13 episodes focused on one period of time, like say 10 years, then you're greatly dismissing a lot of music, and possibly keeping newbies to jazz from checking out the genre, because what they might take away from the documentary is that Jazz is "archived" music, "institutional" music, or just plain "old" music, with nothing new going on, so why delve into it, besides a few classics? You have to cover everything, even including the kitchen "smooth jazz" sink, too. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: 27 May 2012 at 7:38pm
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I think my first record ever was MJQ's Blues on Bach, I must've been about ten |
Posted By: smartpatrol
Date Posted: 30 May 2012 at 6:23pm
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I am still slowly making my way into jazz. First jazz album: Time Out - Dave Brubeck Quartet After that: Playlist: the Very Best of Dave Brubeck Waka/Jawaka - Frank Zappa Jazz albums on my wishlist: Free Jazz - Ornette Coleman Worlds - Aaron Goldberg The Guest House - Trio M Footloose! - Paul Bley Mike Telesmanick Trio - Illumination |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 30 May 2012 at 8:05pm
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^ You're off to a good start from what I can tell. Also, Diet Pepsi is better than Diet Coke (not that I prefer either when I want soda), yet regular Coke is better than regular Pepsi... ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |
Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 30 May 2012 at 9:00pm
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^ I agree, absolutely ------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews... |
Posted By: triceratopsoil
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2012 at 2:15am
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Time Out is a great start. Knowing what you like, you need to check out some Mingus and Sun Ra ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/TullDerGraff" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: HURBRET
Date Posted: 14 Aug 2012 at 10:56pm
| My first album was Kind of Blue, because I had been told it was "the" jazz album to buy. The first jazz album I bought and really liked was Giant Steps. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: 15 Aug 2012 at 2:32am
Apparently you liked KoB enough to keep venturing into jazz  If I can suggest that you try (unless you've done so a long time ago) Trane's following album on the Atlantic label called Olé Coltrane... It's a whole new world that opened up with that album. ------------- my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicted musicians to crazy ones....
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Posted By: HURBRET
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2012 at 5:11pm
I did like KoB, Giant Steps, though, blew me away. |
Posted By: dreadpirateroberts
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2012 at 10:46pm
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Giant Steps is another monstrously good album. Good candidate for another of Mike's album series too perhaps
------------- We are men of action. Lies do not become us. http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/dreadpirateroberts%28member%29.aspx?reviews=all/" rel="nofollow - Reviews... |
Posted By: Amilisom
Date Posted: 27 Sep 2012 at 3:33pm
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My introductory jazz albums were Kind of Blue and a Love Supreme, my friend copied them for me onto CDs. At the time we didn't realize that they were two of the greatest jazz albums in all of history, which when we found out felt rather ironic. ------------- "Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has never been a statue set up in honor of a critic." -Jean Sibelius |
Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 7:58pm
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Since I just got into Jazz this should be really easy. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come Lee Morgan - Search for the New Land Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch ------------- 
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:14pm
| What a great start, all of those are the best. |
Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:23pm
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Yeah, I'm really looking forward to buying Coleman's first two albums, as "The Shape" really impressed me. -------------
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:27pm
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The first one has a piano player, which makes it an odd one in the early Coleman discog. I think the piano is gone by the second album, if I remember correctly. Dolphy's "Out to Lunch" is just incredible.
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Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:40pm
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It really is, that's actually what I'm listening to at the moment. Would you recommend any other albums by Dolphy? All I know is that sadly, he had a rather short career. -------------
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Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:43pm
I believe that these musicians are mixed in Last.fm which you have.
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:44pm
| Re "Out to Lunch" - That one is unique, his other albums are good though, sort of twisted hard bop, a bit like Mingus, but "Lunch" is in a world by itself. |
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:47pm
| Ah yes, now I notice the Last FM. Faith No More eh, that goes way back, I used to know them before they hit the big time, we were in the same club scene in San Francisco, we did many shows together, those were the days, ha. |
Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:51pm
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Wow, that's so cool, was Chuck Mosely in the band at the time? -------------
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Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:53pm
| Oh? Really? Splendid. Before Zazerac? |
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:55pm
Yeah, I remember Chuck, I actually preferred that version of the band, it was a little truer to what they set out to do.
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:56pm
| I had a cassette of that first album for a long time, not sure if I still do or not. |
Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 8:59pm
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True, it's hard not to love their first to albums. My first encounter with them however, was the Angel Dust album. It remains my favorite to this day, both versions of the band are great though. -------------
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 9:04pm
| Do you know about their long running feud with the Chili Peppers over that video? If not, do some searches, its really funny. |
Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 11:00pm
I didn't know about until now. It is pretty funny, I even watched a video of Mr. Bungle mocking the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was pretty great. I love Mike Patton's humor.-------------
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 11:05pm
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There's also a well known video on youtube where Patton is being interviewed and all of a sudden he hears Wolf Mother playing. Do a search with "Mike Patton talks about Wolf Mother", I love the double take he does when he first hears them playing, "what year is this?" ...ha ha.
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Posted By: js
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 11:08pm
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Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKDvJTxZDbA" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKDvJTxZDbA
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Posted By: bytor2112
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2012 at 11:12pm
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I have seen that one before, I thought it was hilarious. But have you seen the interview of Patton during the Angel Dust sessions? It's quite interesting and funny to be honest.
here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TbM04nxetI It would be hard to interview this guy. -------------
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Posted By: Hawkwise
Date Posted: 17 Dec 2012 at 10:03pm
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From Canterbury to Jazz wasn't a huge leap that's how it all started for me back in 75. was also already listening Isotope. Brand x . and Stanley Clarke. The first jazz album i really fell in love with was Journey to Love By Stanley Clarke and still to this day it's one of my all time fav Jazz albums. ------------- "If you're trying to be hip, be hip." - Miles Davis |
Posted By: Argonaught
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2014 at 10:00pm
ELP Works Vol.2, although at that time I didn't realize it was jazz .. seriously 
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