My first Jazz cd

My personal favorite disk : Dexter Gordon "Our Man in Paris". Fabulous sultry tenor sax by my favorite sax player. Recorded in 1950s so quality is not the same as modern day, but still a very pleasing sound. Everyone I have played it for enjoys it.

Here is my wisdom:
Whoever sais that one album is recorded better than the other album you shouldn't pay attention for it. You should only pay attention on how you like this music first. Otherwise you might be in the situation when you will play a small part of fantastically recorded CD or record, realize that it sounds very good, but then you would switch it for something that turns you up for real and let it be not as good recorded.

And finally who knows -- maybe you won't like jazz at all?

BTW: what kind of music have you been listening always?
That can give me idea to tell you precisely what you might like since Jazz has lots of kinds as well.

About 10 yrs ago, I decided I wanted to start a jazz collection, and my guide was an article/list in Rolling Stone called "The 100 Essential Jazz Recordings" or something like that. I saved the article, because after buying about half the items on the list I had to agree that the recordings and artists were fantastic and that I was actually learning a lot about jazz and which styles/eras/artists I preferred. Send me your address (postal rather than email) and I will xerox you a copy of the list. It really provided a great starting point for me.

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.