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Disappearing Jazz?

After years of collecting all types of music except jazz and big band I'm now playing catchup.  Looking at the recordings of Ruby Braff (trumpet), Dick Hyman (piano) Roland Hanna (piano). Art Tatum (piano), Claude Bolling even the great vocalist Sarah Vaughan I find the majority of their catalog is only available used on vinyl.  There are many other names I could have included in this list - I'm gradually getting to them (Thelonious Sphere Monk, etc ).

Beyond the lack of availability what alarms me as a new collector of this genre is that there doesn't appear to be musicians to take the place of these giants.  Not to say there are no more Big Bands or jazz pianists BUT how many new artists have the hundreds of recordings these musicians created?

Is jazz disappearing?  Will streaming services eventually include recordings only available on LP? 

Feel free to offer any suggestions for other artists to collect in the traditional jazz / big band category.  I also have collected Miles, Coltrane and Bill Evans though just starting to dive into Ellington.

Hoping to find this music soon.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

bigquery
bigquery OP
978 posts
 

Discogs - Claude Bolling

Discogs Ruby Braff

Discogs Sarah Vaughan

DIscogs Art Tatum

Discogs Dick Hyman

@larsman @carlsbad @bigtwin 

 

Thanks for the recent adds to this discussion.  I've taken away something from each comment.

Even with these useful insights there is still the matter of the majority of these recordings are still in vinyl.  One can say, "Well, the same problem occurred with 78s - lots of music just drifted off into history."  Here's the difference - recording had advanced in the 50s, 60s and 70s leaving us with very good sound.

SO ... my question remains - is this very good sounding jazz disappearing?  Will streaming services pick up the vinyl and include it in their offering?  Or, using the resources suggested by @rok2id will I also be chasing down vinyl (I've got a basement filled with it already!!!).

Great conversation.  

sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 

There's tons of jazz new and recent. Qobuz and Qobuz with Roon even more so are fantastic ways to find it. 

WRTI Jazz out of Temple University is another. 

Be sure to explore the ECM label. Over the last few decades they're put out uncompromsing music with great sonics...Keith Jarrett on ECM is a natural place to start.

It's a shame if you're not into vinyl. Most of the masterpieces in jazz were recorded in the all analog era, and the recent introductions of the Blue Note Tone Poet and Classic reissue series are putting numerous high quality releases out with superb sound quality at affordable prices. The best value out there! 

Cheers,

Spencer

jl35
3,943 posts
 

not sure where you are looking but I've found many dozens of new and old big band jazz CD's...even on Amazon !!!

bigtwin's avatar
bigtwin
1,141 posts
 

Here's just one example of a great bargin:  I have also started buy a lot of CD from the "used" option on Amazon.  Anything listed as Very Good has arrived looking new and played perfectly.  Agree with sbank above on the Tone Poet re issues.  Great quality.

 

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,228 posts
 

@bigquery,

You might want to check out Gregory Tardy. He’s a sax player from New Orleans, with at least a dozen albums and he’s just 56.

All the best.

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