Can you recommend some albums to get me started?
Donald Byrd - Ethiopian Knights (1972)
Cannonball Adderley: The Black Messiah (1972)
The Cannonball Adderly Quintet - Country Preacher (1970)
Jimmy Smith - Root Down (1972)
King Curtis - Live at the Fillmore West (1971)
Donny Hathaway - Live (1972)
Baby Huey - The Baby Huey Story (1971)
Various Artists - Wattstax (1973)
Gil Scott Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1974)
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (1971)
The Temptations - Masterpiece (1973)
The Meters - Rejuvenation (1974)
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1969)
Miles Davis - A Tribute To Jack Johnson (1971)
Miles Davis - On The Corner (1972)
Weather Report - Black Market (1976)
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius (1976)
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (1973)
Herbie Hancock - Thrust (1974)
Billy Cobham - Spectrum (1973)I will add: Weather Report - Mysterious Traveler Quincy Jones - I Heard That (just because the breaks) Bob James - 1 through 4... Grover Washington Jr - Feels so good Cannonball Adderley - Love Sex and the Zodiac Cannonball Adderley - Soul Zodiac The Meters - Look-Ka Py Py
Other than that, I have some new albums to check out this weekend. Thanks for the list.
Miles Davis You Should Listen To, Kind of In Order
(This is interesting because, in large part, it's the development of jazz from immediately postwar through fusion)
1. Birth of the Cool (Capitol, 1957 -- but recorded in 1949)
2. Round About Midnight (Columbia, 1957; recorded 1955-6)
3. Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959). If you listen to nothing else, listen to this.
4. Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1960).
5. In A Silent Way (Columbia, 1969). Fusion/electric jazz starts here..
6. Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970). GIANT of the genre. You're either gonna love this or hate it.
Jazz You Should Listen To That Isn't Miles Davis:
John Coltrane:
- Blue Train (Prestige/Blue Note, 1958)
- Giant Steps (Atlantic, 1959)
- My Favorite Things (Atlantic, 1961)
- Live at Birdland (Impulse, 1964)
- A Love Supreme (Impulse, 1965)
Charles Mingus:
- Mingus Ah Um (Columbia, 1959)
Dave Brubeck
- Time Out (Columbia, 1959)
Ornette Coleman
- The Shape of Jazz to Come (Atlantic, 1959)
Not for nothing, but pay attention to what an outstanding year 1959 was.
A traditionalist might tell you to learn the head and chord changes to the 100 most recorded jazz standards as a core basis for listening/learning. Along that line consider creating play lists that are all the same tune from different artists.
If you don't know this era, don't confuse <= 1975 Genesis with the 80s Genesis most people know.
It was one of the first LPs that I would sit down and listen to back to back.