Try to find some various artists complilations and then buy individual albums by the artists you like best. See where it leads, I think discovering music that is new to you is the best part of this hobby.
Help Where to start with jazz?????
The last couple of weeks I've become hooked to a radio statio called KCSM in San Mateo, CA. I love every song, all day all night. Where do I start diving into this new genre? Jazz is my last undiscovered territory. I want it all! What do you recommend??? Please no smooth jazz!!!
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"The Sound of Jazz" an album on Columbia that was an outshoot of one-of TV show in the late fifties should give you some insight into various jazz performers of the period. A visit to the bookshop to pick up one of the guides to Jazz would be a great help also. Not to be difficult, but the world of Jazz is really big so don't get upset if you go down a few paths that don't lead to something you like; double back and go another way until you find a style or artists that you connect with. Good luck. |
Not that I disagree with any of the suggestions, but whenever someone asks for where to start in jazz, and it is a frequent question, why are all the suggestions post 1950 music? The 50s and 60s were great and innovative years for jazz, but by then jazz had already become a niche music category catering to a small, but loyal fan base. The real glory days for jazz were the 30s and 40s when jazz was America's popular music. If you really want to understand jazz you have to go back to this period. Pretty much all modern jazz starts with Louis Armstrong. You might then move on to Duke Ellington and then sample some bebop. Enjoy! |
The Ken Burns Jazz PBS series was a great intro to jazz. There is a multi-CD recording of music from the early 1900's to the 1990's. Listening to the radio is an excellent way to get acquainted with jazz. Just go buy something you heard and liked and then maybe another by the same artists. Pay attention to whether you relate more to singers or instrumentalists. Is there some one particular instrument that really gets you (I'm a big fan of jazz organ and piano)? Any one particular performer? How about the jazz blues? Good luck with your new found taste for jazz. |
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