My first Jazz cd

Get a copy of the book, "What Jazz Is," by Jonny King. It's a good introduction, plus a description of 10 cuts from classic Blue Note recordings, most of which are still in print. Buy a couple, and starting learning!

There's a lot not to like about the Ken Burns series (like his treatment of the last 40 years, his blurring of jazz and swing to make jazz seem more popular than it ever was, and his absolute fixation on race to the exclusion of all other social influences on the music), but a Ken Burns sampler would probably be well-chosen. Also, Smithsonian has put out some good historical box sets over the years.

My first Jazz LP was a 10 in. recording called The Art Blakey Quintet A Night At Birdland Vol 1. I really don't reccomend any of the jazz series as they tend to be skewed, especially Ken Burns. Try this instead; get the names of several jazz artists in different genres of jazz. Find samples of them online. This way you can listen before you buy. Most jazz fans of today like the Blue Note sound. Dester Gordon's Our Man In Paris is a great example of that. The Blue Note sound was often emulated by other jazz labels of the day. Recordings were mostly live in the studio, small groups, very little post production. More spontaneous in the solos and exchanges and interplay between the musicians. Although KOB is an excellent recording, in my opinion it suffers from the Columbia production factory mentality. No exchanges between the musicians. It's Melody, solo,solo...melody. Miles' live recordings at Newport and the Blackhawk do not have this limitation and are in my opinion superior. To understand my opinion, you need to know that I much prefer live jazz or blues or rock over recordings. I frequently travel from Boston to NYC to listen to live jazz. I don't like Lincoln Center or Smithsonian events. Jazz sounds best in small intimate clubs with musicians who can play off each other.

First Five to buy:

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue. If you own a Jazz collection, you must own this CD. It's a given.

Charlie Mingus: Ah-Um. GREAT album. Great players. Great recording.

Weather Report: Heavy Weather. Great '70s side of Jazz. Jaco Pastorius rules the bass world.

John Coltrane: Blue Train. Gotta have it.

Anything by Kenny Barron or McCoy Tyner. Great pianists deserve a place in your collection.

Next up on the list: Duke Ellington, Parker, Herbie Hancock...just mix it up.

Cheers!

i started collecting jazz about 5 years ago with oscar peterson's(piano)trio playing "we get requests". when i wanted to expand beyond peterson, i looked at who was playing in his group, ie. ray brown. they i tried ray brown, ad infinitum. i enjoy and recommend artists playing standards, or interpertations of standards, such as scott hamilton, roy hargrove, charlie haden, fred hersch, as well as the oldies such as bill evans and stan getz. enjoy...

A good place to check out online is the Jazz Musical Heritage Society - http://www.musicalheritage.com/JAZZ/
They aren't necessarily the cheapest place around, but I have been very pleased with the quality of their cd's.