My first Jazz cd

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.

Lots of great suggestions here. Mine is Cannonball Adderley's "Somethin' Else." It's my understanding that this is basically a Miles LP that was released under Cannonball's name for contractual reasons (longtime jazz gurus correct me if I'm wrong.) Kind of Blue is undeniably wonderful but I find I'd rather listen to, well, Somethin' Else most of the time. I love the Blue Note sound, and the late fifties Riverside stuff. Personal faves are Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan, absolutely fantastic stuff. Donald Byrd, Milt Jackson, Kenny Drew, Sonny Stitt, MJQ, Monk, Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, oh man oh man. All that stuff from about 57-61 or so just blows me away. Can't wait to hear some of this stuff on SACD.

Clearly excellent advice from all prior posts. If I might suggest a different twist...if you haven't already done so, I would recommend if possible you take in a live session at an intimate jazz club venue. I think you'll come away with a much heightened perspective/appreciate for all your jazz CD, LP, FM, etc., listening sessions thereafter. BTW, 88.3 FM (WBGO FM) is a truly outstanding (and free) jazz station/resource. If you are outside their range, you can pick up their broadcast via the Internet. Moreover, their Web site in general is an invaluable free resource: http://www.wbgo.org/
Good Listening,
Rick