Building a Jazz Library
There's more to jazz than Kenny G and Wynton Marsalis. That's why we created Building A Jazz Library. With this resource, you can home in on the players and styles essential to the past and future of jazz. Each section in this series features a brief introduction which provides some background and biographical information to shed light on each particular artist or style.
Then we list the discs. You'll find landmark material here, true high-water marks worthy of respect and attention. We recruited a special enthusiast to assemble each section in this series. These people have spent a lot of time with the subject (and probably bought way too many records to back it up). We assure you that the nuggets listed here are carefully considered and on-target. If you're new to Jazz -- or new to an artist or style -- treat Building A Jazz Library as a primer of sorts. It will provide you with enough information to step confidently into the store (or the library) and find something tasty. Or if you're a serious collector, you might just find that a few of these recommendations may fill some gaping holes on your shelf. Building A Jazz Library throws its doors wide open to all different kinds of Jazz fans and interests. Certain sounds may mesh with your particular tastes, and this series aims to bring you and the music together in perfect harmony.
So dig in, and enjoy!
Related: Essential Buying Tips for Building a Jazz Collection on a Budget.
Jazz on Soul, Pop, Rock, Folk, and other intangible territories - Part 2
by Artur Moral
Part 1 | Part 2 James Carter soloing on a song by Sting? A prolific French guitarist and producer, approaching his thousandth album, deconstructing one of Billy Joel's most candid love songs? A Spanish trumpeter translating the Bee Gees into the jazz language? Yes, all this will happen in this second installment of a series that insists on finding the most surprising versions of songs born in external demarcations, with absolutely no exclusions: our only frontier will be ...
read moreTop Ten Sci-Fi Jazz Albums
by Chris May
On The Launch Pad Robert Frosch, head honcho at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from 1977 to 1981, wrote that at cocktail parties he was sometimes asked whether NASA had some gizmo or other that had recently been brought to fictional life in a sci-fi book or movie. If Frosch's answer was “No," the next question was usually, “Are you going to get one?" To which Frosch's answer, a truthful one, was often, “We're working on it."
read moreEight Sinatra Surprises
by David Bittinger
Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald were mutual fans who joined up for superb duets and had similar repertoires. Is it possible to call one of them primarily a “jazz singer" and one not? Yeah, it's possible. Listen to Ella scat on How High The Moon and you hear a genius singer who came from jazz territory and could riff like an instrumentalist. Frank really wasn't a jazz singer and had just one little joke scat, “dooby dooby doo," ...
read moreJazz on Soul, Pop, Rock, Folk, And Other Intangible Territories - Part 1
by Artur Moral
Part 1 | Part 2Jazz is synonymous with improvisation, but in many cases, it's also about adaptation. This means not just adjusting to new times and social changes, but also frequently reinterpreting songs from its own history and others beyond its vague borders. Here, we present ten highly disparate compositions from different genres, showcasing how they can be transformed in unexpected ways. Artists like Stevie Wonder, ABBA, Rufus Wainwright, and Radiohead will have their works reimagined, sometimes fitting ...
read moreTen Supreme Fender Rhodes Albums
by Chris May
In 1965, reeling from the impact of Motown and the Brit invasion led by the Beatles, and about to be hit by the triple whammy that was acid rock and the rebel culture that went with it, jazz was on the back foot. Its relevance as entertainment, art form and spiritual sustenance was under threat, at least for people under thirty years of age. And then along came Harold Rhodes and the Fender Rhodes. The electric piano was not a ...
read moreSaxophone Meets Guitar: The Dynamic Duo of Jazz
by Robert Middleton
Imagine a smoky jazz club where the deep, soulful wail of a saxophone weaves effortlessly with the nimble, melodic lines of a guitar. This rare instrumental combination is a hidden gem in the world of jazz that deserves more attention. Jazz is not just a genre--it is a universe with galaxies of swing, bebop, hard bop, and free jazz. But amidst this cosmic diversity, there's a rare constellation that shines especially bright: the saxophone-guitar quartet. Uncommon ...
read moreWayne Shorter: The Final Mission
by Chris May
Every good story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Depending on how one figures it, Wayne Shorter's recording history has upwards of half a dozen important chapters. They tell a tale of superheroes, of monsters and demons and, ultimately, of the sight of a new dawn. Just three of the chapters cover the story's beginning, middle and end. The first concerns Shorter's own-name Blue Note albums of the middle to late 1960s; the middle one his years with ...
read moreDavid Bowie Jazzed: Ten Essential Bowie Covers
by Ian Patterson
One of the measures of a great artist is the number of covers they have inspired. Covers of David Bowie songs are not in short supply; Blondie, The White Stripes, The Cure, Philip Glass, Nirvana, Bauhaus, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers, to name just a handful, have all paid homage to the great pop iconoclast, who died in 2016. So too have a host of jazz musicians. The following is not meant in any way ...
read moreCharles Lloyd: Defiant Warrior Still On Song
by Chris May
As fool's errands go, few compare with selecting a Top Ten Albums collection from Charles Lloyd's extensive top-drawer output. But here goes. Lloyd newbies could consider the list a launch pad, and seasoned fans can compare the choices with their own... Anyone going to jazz festivals in summer 1966, and lucky enough to catch the Charles Lloyd Quartet, will likely have one tune in particular imprinted on their memory. Not because Lloyd had already twice recorded “Forest ...
read moreThe Keith Jarrett Trio: Ten Essential Recordings
by Karl Ackermann
The Keith Jarrett Trio, or The Standards Trio, as it later became known, with Gary Peacock on double bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums, is one of the most celebrated and influential jazz trios of all time. The group was formed in 1983 but Jarrett and DeJohnette had been collaborating since the late 1960s when they performed together in Miles Davis' band. The early version of the Jarrett trio featured Charlie Haden on bass, with Peacock coming in at the ...
read moreShowcase
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