I find myself listening to it more and more often. Its also one of the few genres where i feel despite owning a fair amount of it that I feel like I've probably barely skimmed the surface. So recommend some of your favorites...to keep this from just becoming another Jazz Standards thread, lets start with the rule, NO MILES or COLTRANE.

I'm going to lunch, have at it. I'll add some myself later assuming this thread doesn't sink like a rock.

By far my favorite jazz (cosmic) album ever. Incredible stuff.

Quite possibly the most celebrated album ever from keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith -- a groove-heavy classic that's burned up many a dancefloor in its day, yet also a record that features some great mellow moments as well! The title track "Expansions" is virtually a blueprint for the migration of the cosmic jazz sound onto the dancefloor -- a tune that's as funky as it is righteous -- but other cuts on the album slow down the pace a bit too, and show off the mellower, more introspectively spiritual side that's always made Lonnie way more than just a funky jazz artist. Easily the best place to start in the all-great Lonnie Liston Smith catalog -- and featuring tracks that include "Expansions", "Summer Days", "Desert Nights", "Shadows", "My Love", "Peace", and "Voodoo Woman".

I'm stepping out the door for a better part of the evening. I'll add some to this though. And Billy, you know for the most part its gonna be the free-jazz stuff

Soweto Kinch - Conversations with the Unseen (There are some silly "interludes" where they rap but just skip those because the jazz is really good)

Carmell Jones - Jay Hawk Town

And I really think you'll like this one if you don't have it already Billy because it's a little funky

Bobby Timmons - This Here is Bobby Timmons

Here's a few older ones that I never seem to see mentioned enough:

Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus. A great album, but a MUST-HAVE for "St. Thomas" alone.

Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue. Killer jazz guitar - this rides the line between blues and jazz and it's all the better for it.

Grant Green - Green Street and The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark. More great guitar.

Freddie Hubbard - Red Clay. Must get the one with the bonus live version of the title track, which is killer - 18 minutes and features George Benson burning things up on guitar before he went all smooth on us. What a waste of so much talent.

And some newer stuff that rarely gets attention, which is just sad:

Dave Douglas - Moonshine. There's a lot of cheesy "modern" jazz that has tried to incorporate DJ elements, but not much works - Douglas and his band actually make it work. Not surprisingly, Douglas is also repeatedly nominated for jazz magazines' best trumpeter awards (he often wins, too.)

Drew Gress - Irrational Numbers. If you like things free-er, this is great stuff. Tim Berne, a cohort of John Zorn, is along for the ride, if that gives you any indication. It's not total insanity, more like "measured insanity." Very, very cerebral stuff, but also very exciting and not too far off the deep end that it doesn't circulate some cool grooves.

Nik Bartsch's Ronin - Holon. Think minimalist classical mixed with jazz - say, Philip Glass or Steve Reich in a post-bop setting - and you have a very good idea of what this sounds like. I think it's pretty damned awesome stuff, but it's not for everyone. Contemplative, repetitive, meditative, but also intense.

I like that I came home and found this thread at the top. I also like that I don't know most of these recommendations other than the first half of the mayor's.

I somehow always confuse Lonnie Liston Smith with Dr. Lonnie Smith. I have a few of Dr. Lonnie Smith's but none of Lonnie Liston Smith's including the one recommended by Dalen. It does indeed look like something i need.

I think i also need that bobby timmons. I own a few things he's played on including one I'lll recommend:





ok the cut and paste is lazy i know....i'll include more original thoughts later if this thread lasts long enough.

I submitted the title track for Dalen's obner mix from earlier this year...

Billy, I'll up the Liston album for you this weekend, as well as a few other things in this thread.

I've never heard this but it looks awesome just looking at who's playing on it.

Agreed.

No shit. Never heard of this but will be tracking it down today. Thanks, beeg.

Recommended:
&

FYI:
Amazon mp3 139 jazz records for $5 each

I've been working my way through this list BG.

Highly recommend the Elmo Hope record.

I'll make a few suggestions that lean toward the laid back bluesy side of jazz. First off I am a huge fan of a pair of albums made with small groups with Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges, his longtime player who leads the small group sessions on Back to Back and Side to Side, two separate albums. Great stuff.



The next one I wanna suggest I've been playing a bit lately combines 2 LPs on a 2CD compilation with a couple added bonus tracks for both sessions. It is a couple soulful bluesy jazz dates featuring Milt Jackson and Ray Charles in an all instrumental role, including his only recordings on the alto sax. The original albums are called Soul Brothers and Soul Meeting. The combined CD set is just called Soul Brothers / Soul Meeting, real original. Anyway, great late night stuff.

jazz rules

Yeah that's a good one.

Kind of random stuff here, but these are three of my most recent jazz acquisitions that I've enjoyed immensely.


Roland Kirk - Volunteered Slavery

This is a live recording from 1969 of Kirk and his band in top form. It's spirited and lively and intense and a lot of fun. Really incredible music.

Here's a clip of one of the songs, but this isn't the same performance as what's on the record. The sound's not great, but you get the idea.




John McLaughlin - My Goal's Beyond

I suppose this is probably fairly well known to anyone who's a fan of McLaughlin. This precedes the Mahavishnu Orchestra stuff and is fairly different. It's mostly acoustic and mostly solo (or all, I don't remember), and yet it's highly varied. Sometimes intense and sometimes relaxing and meditative. Great record.



Don Cherry - Brown Rice

Another one that may be fairly well known, this is only the second of Cherry's albums I've heard after Where Is Brooklyn? And I like this one way more. A deep, funky fusion record sort of like some of Herbie Hancock's stuff on Warner Bros. (like Mwandishi, maybe) or Miles Davis' more subdued electric stuff. Just check this out, I guess:


Other stuff...

I only recently got a copy of Pharoah Sanders' Thembi, and I think it might be my favorite of his so far. (I've got a handful of his albums including Karma, Jewels of Thought, and Summun, Bukmun, Umyun.) I also got Archie Shepp - Sea of Faces and Bobby Hutcherson - Stick Up!, and both of those are very good.

On the down side, I decided to try out Nils Petter Molvaer based on harry's continued recommendations with the album Khmer, but I'm not really liking it at all. Sort Jon Hassell-type ambient jazz with cheesy, very '90s-sounding electronic beats (think Crystal Method and the Propellerheads, maybe a little bit of early Bjork). I also downloaded a James Blood Ulmer album, Odyssey and while it certainly isn't bad, I don't really get what the big deal is. I'm still going to try to check out some of his older stuff, though, namely Tales of Captain Black.

You probably know these, but just in case:
John Zorn's Masada project is pretty great. Melds Western jazz with middle eastern musical styles, without getting all klezmer on you. (Not that there's anything wrong wtih klezmer):

I just added that Young Lions CD to my Amazon wish list. I don't know why I didn't make a note of it the first time this thread came around.

I noticed earlier in the week that dusty groove had a cheap used copy.

I like that Volunteered Slavery album a lot. Thembi is really good too but not my favorite Pharoah Sanders album.

Never heard Brown Rice but I like the couple of Don Cherry albums I have (Symphony for Improvisors & The Complete Mu Sessions).

As bgl3 mentioned, that Cannonball Adderley, with Miles Davis, is, perhaps, my favorite jazz album. It's quintessential stuff. You can't go wrong with any Alfred Lion-produced Blue Note recordings: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers "Moanin'"; Kenny Burrell's "Midnight Blue" (also previously mentioned); Duke Ellington "Money Jungle"; Herbie Hancock; Lee Morgan.

Aside from those, one of my other favorite recordings is Duke Ellington & His Orchestra "At Newport". Recorded in '56, it was Ellington's return to the grand stage. Paul Gonzalves' sax solo in Diminuendo & Crescendo in Blue is legendary.