Any type, era etc.

Go!

wow.....

thats like saying recomend me some rock and roll...

here are some of my favorites (one album per artist):

miles davis - kind of blue
ornette coleman - shape of jazz to come
john coltrane - blue train
john zorn - naked city
charles mingus - ah um
medeski martin and wood - last chance to dance trance perhaps ( i know its a greatest hits and im cheating here)

just the scratch the surface....

john coltrane - a love supreme
john coltrane - giant steps

they were recommended to me a great while ago by some other cmjers.

i like jazz, but it's something i listen to in the car, not something i really pay attention to.

but those albums are great and i can really enjoy the listening experience.

Ding!

Also:
Ben Allison & Medicine Wheel - Riding The Nuclear Tiger
John Scofield - Works For Me
The Last Time I Committed Suicide (OST)
Jazz At Mazzey Hall (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Bud Powell)

I've got a ton of Miles, but for simplicities sake I'll recommend a compilation called The Best of the Blue Note Capital Years (i mention b/c i just spun it this morning while i read the paers and its fresh on the mind)

I'm listening to Charles Mingus right now and wish I had more than about the 20 jazz CD's I actually own.

I also wish I could afford a bottle or two of red wine to down while I listen to them.

Sketch, are you of a mind like me that there are not a lot of truly great Jazz "Albums" therefore artist's compilations are acceptable? Oftentimes they are mixed better and don't include bullshit songs that these guys got bonuses to record.....

I am, but I even go further as to suggest multiple artist comps. Playboy's 40th anniversary and the Smithsonian guide to Classic Jazz are two examples thereof.

Shit, 7 repsonses, and no mention of Bird. Get thee some Charlie Parker.

I was going to mention Live At Massey Hall, but Sketch already covered it. FYI, he died 50 years ago yesterday.

Fair enough, but only sandwiched in with everyone else.

So, strike Parker, and replace with Clifford Brown.

Actually Bilz when I mentioned jazz comps, one I was thinking of in particular was a fine Charlie Parker greatest hits that I have treasured for many a moon.

p.s. love your new sig. dude

I've been listening to quite a bit jazz lately, some of the ones I've been digging lately are...

Count Basie Swings and Joe WIlliams Sings (Count Basie leading a swinging band with Williams belting the blues)

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (another vocal one, with the rarity of Coltrane playing in a mellow backing group)

McCoy Tyner - A Night of Ballads and Blues (piano driven laid back jazz)

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder (Blue Note classic)

Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery - Jimmy & Wes, the Dynamic Duo (Jimmy on the organ with Wes playing guitar)

Earl Hines - Once Upon a Time (Earl Hines playing piano and leading what esentially amounts to the Duke Ellington band on a mixed selection of instrumentals and vocal tracks)

There's tons of great jazz, it's kinda like asking for rock recommendations of any era and style. If you could maybe say whether you like mellow or fast paced, vocals or instrumentals, what instruments you like most, or something to go on a bit more, people could probablt make better suggestions. I pretty much just listed the stuff that stuck in my mind from my listening over the last couple weeks.

Oh...and speaking of Charlie Parker, there is a 2 CD collection called Yardbird Suite that's fantastic.

my favs....

bud powell - bud plays bird
freddy hubbard - high pressure blues
herbie hancock - maiden voyage
grant green - his majesty king funk
jimmy smith - back at the chicken shack
lonnie liston smith - expansions
wayne shorter - adams apple
roy ayers - coffy
jimmy smith - root down
mccoy tyner - tender moments
john coltrane - blue train
paolo fedreghini and marco bianchi - several people
diana krall - love scenes
bebel gilberto - de tarde vendo o mar

Louis and Ella
Freddie Hubbard - Breaking Point
Herbie Hancock - Cantoloupe Island
I'll second Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come

a couple more...

Max Roach and Clifford Brown - Study in Brown, At Basin Street
Art Blakey - Birdland vol.1 and 2
Medeski Martin and Wood - Last Chance.., End of the World Party
Miles Davis - Live Evil

Try

Quincy Jones "Walking In Space"
Sonny Rollins "Saxophone Collosus"
Bill Evans "Live at the Village Vanguard"
Bobby Hutchinson "Now!"
Jimmy Smith "Back at the Chicken Shack"

I like that Roy Ayers a lot but I wouldn't really classify it or Bebel Gilberto as jazz.

an all time favorite I haven't seen mentioned:
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch

Also for Mingus:
The Black Saint & the Sinner Lady
Pithecanthropus Erectus

Ans I strongly second billy g's choice of Bill Evans, and I would add the companion recording, Waltz for Debby.

no one has talked about Sun Ra...that's a crime. Even FastnBulbous said he's the most important artist since 1960 or something like that. And it's really fucking true too.

For new jazz, I really like some of the people in the Blue Continuum. Matthew Shipp is probably the best avant jazz pianist going today.

Getz/Gilberto

Hank Mobley - Soul Station
Horace Silver - Song For My Father
Jimmy Smith - The Sermon
Miles Davis - any of the Gil Evans-arranged releases (Porgy and Bess, Miles Ahead, Sketches in Spain)
Bill Evans - Sunday... (as mentioned by Billy G) as well as its companion release, Waltz For Debby
John Coltrane - Giant Steps (as mentioned by bort)
Lee Morgan - Sidewinder (as mentioned by nobody)
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage (as mentioned by Dalen)

I was just about to (although both my recs. are pre-1960, since that's all I really know from him):
Sun Ra - Sound of Joy
Sun Ra - Jazz In Silouhette
Thelonious Monk - Best Of the Blue Note Years
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
Sonny Sharrock - Seize the Rainbow

Thanks, guys, keep 'em coming.

Ornette Coleman looks tempting because he's probably the biggest name I've not got anything by.

However I'm lead to believe he can be quite noisey (I like 'crazy' jazz by the way) but I've been suffering from a lot of headaches recently and maybe I need something a little more laid back.

there's a ton of recs here. what are you looking for? dixieland/hot jazz? swing? avant garde? vocals? instrumental? really fast? really slow? any specific instruments you particularly like? lots of solo or more composition?

don't mean to badger but there's so much variety that, rather than get 5 million recs that you'll never be able to get to, i'd liek to give you a couple that are what you're looking for. i found that, for me, that was the biggest barrier to getting into jazz--the shear volume and size of it as a genre.

c.