Jazz Recommendations

I guess the original post asked about "mainstream", but some of the most interesting and best recorded stuff put out in the last 20-30 years can be found on the ECM, Soul note, CMP, Enja, and JMT labels. It's a great time to be a music consumer. Try Max Roach- Pictures in a Frame, David Murray- Ballads for Bass Clarinet, or Lucky Four,John Zorn Masada or his Sonny Clark Mem.Quart. titled Voodoo, Jerry Granelli-Another Place, Ed Blackwell- What It Is, Francois Bourassa trio- Echo. None of these are real outside avant brain fry recordings, but they are beautifully played and amazingly well recorded. This is just a tiny sample, there is an incredible amount of GREAT stuff out there. We are a bunch of lucky dogs.

Combining your knowledge with a very pleasant writing style should yield a best seller.

Thanks for the education.

Wow this thread is a classic. I will mention two books that I have with info on jazz: All that jazz-the illustrated story of jazz music. This book contains great pics and I recommend it for someone who is just starting out. The other is Jazz by John Fordham and has a forward by Sonny Rollins. Both are informitive and a must for your jazz library. Good listening!

If you can find it, Norris Turney - Big, Sweet, & Blue. It is somewhat obscure from the label "Mapleshade", but excellent jazz. He was an altoist and flutist for Ellington towards the end of Duke's life. This was his first and only release under his name. Great jazz and a great recording!
Lester Young with Oscar Peterson
John Coltrane My Favorite Things
Dave Brubeck Jazz at Oberlin
Dexter Gordon Live At Carnegie Hall
Ben Webster with Oscar Peterson
Miles Davis so much great music but as a beginner it all starts with Kind of Blue-my all time favorite- all genre

Jazz: From It's Origins to the Present by Lewis Porter and Michael Ullman is an excellent introduction to jazz. It's a paperback text book. Very clear and easy to read. It explains why certain people or music are "important" and puts them into their historical context. You get a good sense of what the good artists and pieces are.

The book accompanies/tracks a jazz collection put out by the Smithsonian, as they sometimes go into specific pieces on that set. Try to pick one up cheap on half.com.

I use the Penguin Guide to Jazz and www.allmusic.com to learn more about artists and pick albums. They're choices are pretty straight ahead and obvious to the more seasoned jazz fan, but you won't be lead astray with any critic's unusual tastes.