Jazz Recommendations

Hi, Mijknarf ... I've got several pages of Amazon "Buy It Later" pages, too ... and sometimes I'll move them to "Buy Now" status, but generally I wind up deleting listings as I add more. I'm trying to research sufficiently to wind up with CDs that tend to be described as having great "sonics" ... which I'm hoping will translate as being less compressed. I remain optimistic.

I've got lots of CDs that disappoint, I'm afraid, but the McCaslin CD "In Pursuit" doesn't disappoint at all. Manu Katche's recent CD "Playground" is more than worthy, too, and it's a notch above his "Neighborhood" CD that has received quite a bit of praise, though there are strong similarities. I recently picked up "Out to Lunch" by Eric Dolphy and Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil." I'm going to buy more of Shorter's work and I'm fairly certain that I'll do the same with Shorter. Those guys were really strong musicians.

Anything by Kurt Elling. Simply fabulous singer with good quality recordings on CD. Favourites of the one's that I've bought so far are: 'Flirting with Twilight' (especially tracks, Orange Blossoms in Summertime); 'Man in the Air' (especially tracks, In the Winelight, The Uncertainty of the Poet and The More I Have You); 'Close Your Eyes' (especially tracks, Salame and Those Clouds Are Heavy. He also appears on Bob Belden's compilation, 'Shades of Blue' with the track Tanganyika Dance. I am trying to get everything that he's done and highly recommend him.

Gigi Gryce "Nica's Tempo", this contains some superb Theloniuos Monk tracks.

Ray,

True, I'm looking forward to trawling through some of the great recommendations that keep coming up on this phenomenal thread. Who needs magazine reviews!?

I recently picked up a jazz compilation on acousticsounds.com entitled "Jazz After Midnight" - recorded by Rudy Van Gelder. Those familiar with the 60's Blue Note era recognize Van Gelder as one of the chief architects responsible for shaping the Blue Note sound. However, making the transition from vinyl to CD was never quite as satisfying ... until now. I was never very fond of the RVG recording style of drums/piano/bass, center stage ... with lead instruments - trumpet and/or sax separately tracked on either left or right channel.

This newer "Jazz After Midnight" is a Hybrid Stereo SACD which sounds as good as any I've ever heard. For sound quality and that sense of "there-ness" this production really delivers. The music itself is engaging enough, but may not be everyone's cup of tea ... mostly standards by a few better known folks. This is taken directly from the write-up: "Ten great tracks by the likes of Larry Coryell, Cedar Walton, Joey DeFranceso and David 'Fathead' Newman." At $9.98 a throw, it's a "why not" purchase. Turns out, this has definite potential as a jazz reference piece.