Jazz artists for late starter.

For some great drumming, and a really good recording, try Duke Ellington's Big Four on the Pablo label. Its a quartet date, extremely well recorded with Louis Belson on sticks. Both cd and vinyl are nicely done and Pablos are usually very reasonable.

I can also second Art Pepper+Elevin (listening to side two right now). A smokin' early stereo recording. Not sure about the cd, but the Japanese vinyl is extraordinary.

Art Blakey! Don't forget Art Blakey! In fact, try Thelonius Monk, Monk's Music. Blakey takes a solo on - I think - Off Minor where he taps the high hat for a rock solid beat the whole way through but plays an absolutely arythmic solo around it. Its one of the most amazing drum solos ever. IMHO Blakey was the perfect accompianist for Monk. Its never defined this way but I equate it to Mulligan and Baker, Parker and Gillespie et al.

I would second the peter erskine suggestion,a new favorite is a cd called the triangle(arlid anderson).nice stuff.Bobo stensons war orphans or goodbye.All these are great recordings.

Gawdbless,

I really appreciate where you are. I was at the same place about three or four years ago. My jazz collection has grown substantially since. Good luck on your quest. I got a lot of good advice on this forum on artists. Lots of great suggestions here, Jazzbird and others have covered many great artists. I would add a few in no particular order; Tord Gustavsen, Gene Ammons is not to be missed. Also, I really like Concord Jazz artists Scott Hamilton, Ray Brown, Toshiko Akiyoshi (is dynamite) et.al. Paul Desmond, LA 4, Gerry Mulliagan. Red Garland is great. If you like drums, Art Blakey-Drum Suite. Also, Andre Previn is known for classical but he did some great jazz. Don't forget Charlie Haden and Kenny Barron. A hearty second on often over looked Hank Jones also. There is a lot of great drumming on the Blue Note bop recordings of many of the artists mentioned above. To me one of the great things about the genre is not just the individual artists but all the great collaberations between them.

Gawdbless said:
"I just like the music, being a piano player, I really
like and appreciate the way Bill Evans plays and the cd 'Trio 65' is excellent! a minor down side is the brushes, I love the snap of a stick hitting a snare drum. Brushes should be only used for painting walls,lol."

Almost any jazz album with a drummer will have brushes occasionally. I'm sorry you don't like that, but I'm afraid it's unavoidable, in general.

As for great pinaist, put Bill Mays Trio at the top of your list to find. He's a great player, well recorded on Concord. Concord has a Duo album with Bill Mays and Ed Bickert on guitar, where I can guarantee no brushes.

Keith Jarrett is an incredible interpreter of ballads. I think you'll like Keith's "The Melody At Night, With You". On this album Keith stays very close to the melody and relies on dynamics, rubato and very careful note selection to put together one of the best piano albums of all time, IMHO.

Benny Green is another great pianist. Look for his stuff with Russel Malone on guitar.

Dave