Who's a jazz fan? Recs?

[pistachio]

I'm looking for jazz recs! Jazz is my dad's favorite music and I want to connect with him more over it. I have been listening to Sons of Kemet recently and I really like them. I also like Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk. I am a fan of fast, interesting instrumentals more so than vocals or any smoother/mellower stuff.

I like physical media/CDs, so if you have links to good jazz CDs that would also rock! I'm also interested in exploring weird jazz fusion genres. Jazz/punk? Jazz/shoegaze? Jazz/indie/alt-folk? Send it to me! I also love anything with African instruments and rhythms.

Thanks!!!

[DiffydaDude]

I like jazz! Theres one jazz band that comes to my head when thinking about the genre, and thats the Staunton Moore Trio. I found their music when one of the counselors put their music on when we were doing schoolwork, safe to say their music is awesome and underrated.

[kurohaato]

I don't listen to jazz all the time, but when I do it's usually arranges of vocaloid songs. Baguettes Ensemble has some really good ones, like their covers of Meltdown and Double Lariat. They've also done some touhou covers, but they're all on the slower side of things. The smiles of fortune is one of their faster touhou arranges. 
 

Double Lariat

Meltdown

The Smiles of Fortune

[Tadd]

I am not a huge jazz fan just on the basis that I haven't been in the right spaces to learn more about it, but the stuff I have found I know I enjoy. :) I have truly only ever listened to Miles Davis on account of the fact he has a song called "Tadd's delight" In his discography, and that just so happens to be my name. Good fuckin' song though, even if it comes from an artist that I'd assume plenty of people are familiar with. Going to hover round this topic a bit so I can add some new music to my playlists.   

Edit: Jazz shoegaze sounds like something I want a part of holy shit haha

[arsenicCatnip]

ANNETTE HANSHAW!! She is my all-time favourite jazz singer, I made a whole shrine to her on my website. Her voice is very soft but also quite deep at times, it's a very soothing kind.

Lee Morse is also wonderful, she's got a very rich alto-type voice with a yodeling style woven in.

[virtue]

I'm a Jazz piano improv player myself, and I'm especially into the more experimental kinds of jazz! Its a genre that's been around for many years now and has always been evolving. I absolutely have some recommendations for super unique jazz you can listen to!

Pat Metheny is probably the single most prolific jazz-fusion artist in the world. He's the only person to ever have won a Grammy in 10 separate categories! I highly recommend trying his extremely unique and super simultaneously relaxing and exciting take on jazz. If you like this particular song, listen to his album "Still Life (Talking)", it is undoubtedly the greatest jazz record ever recorded!

A Place in the World by Pat Metheny Group

If you'd like a way more fused, digestible (by modern standards) sound, I definitely recommend the jazz & rock fusion band Thank You Scientist who produce some of the most unique rock and jazz all at once! Their vocalist recently left the band which is tragic because I find his voice absolutely captivating and a huge part of my interest in the band, but I'm very curious to see where they go next!

Mr. Invisible by Thank You Scientist

If you want something SUUUPER out there, you can check out Tigran Hamasyan, probably the only jazz artist with a style that warrants touring with METAL BANDS! People call his work "Jazz Meshuggah" and I could hardly think of a more apt description. It is truly boundary pushing stuff, probably not the kind your dad listens to, but definitely extremely interesting to anyone who enjoys the culture and experimentation of jazz!

Levitation 21 by Tigran Hamasyan (EPILEPSY WARNING FOR THIS MUSIC VIDEO!)

And lastly, if you want some far more traditional but still excellently crafted and wonderfully enjoyable Normal Jazz™, much like every other jazz fan in the entire universe, I obviously recommend the ever-famous Ryo Fukui. His work is most certainly pretty traditional as far as jazz goes, but I (and most people seem to agree) believe it to be the height of traditional jazz, absolutely representing the best it can sound!

Sonora by Ryo Fukui

Honorable mentions to Fearofdark, a Chiptune-Jazz composer that has ever increasing renown and absolutely deserves it but, and Nujabes, who makes jazz hip-hop remixes, sometimes featuring guest rappers.

Enjoy!

[purelyconstructive]

Some really tasty recommendations here so far!

There is some classic-sounding modern stuff, especially out of Japan (e.g.: Takuya Kuroda)...Perhaps that is too smooth though...I guess I have a strong tendency to listen to mellow stuff like Robert Glasper...

I am also partial to Ahmad Jamal and John Coltrane...When Coltrane goes on his wild scale runs in A Love Supreme I feel like I'm downloading an infinite stream of data directly from the cosmos through a 56k modem and my brain struggles to complete the handshake procedure with God.

If you want to acquire a taste in "advanced jazz", a taste that some never seem to acquire (LOL!), then might I humbly suggest Sun Ra & The Arkestra. Another really interesting listen is Tisziji Munoz, a guitarist that does meditational Jazz improvisations...That sounds like it would be tranquil, but they can be wild sometimes.

Some stuff is hard to classify as "Jazz" because it is so genre-bending, but is filled with Jazz-like musical ideas (e.g.: Snarky Puppy, Hiatus Kaiyote, Louis Cole, Sungazer, etc.).

I will think more on what you said you are looking for and will report back here if I find anything.

[Snow]

I like a little jazz every now and then. I can recommend a couple of jazz songs I like to listen to every once in a while. Each will be a different flavour of jazz.

Here's some very old-timey jazz from Bill Evans, about as classic as it gets:

Bill Evans - Someday My Prince Will Come

Here's some jazz with a fusion twist:

Medeski, Martin & Wood - Is There Anybody Here That Love My Jesus

And here's something really upbeat, by a lesser-known group from Japan called JABBERLOOP:

JABBERLOOP - Sore Sore

Hope these are to your liking. I like collecting physical releases as well but lately that has been near-to-impossible for me due to living expenses. I've always wanted to amass a large collection of physical CDs and vinyls. One can still dream.

[virtue]

Some stuff is hard to classify as "Jazz" because it is so genre-bending, but is filled with Jazz-like musical ideas (e.g.: Snarky Puppy, Hiatus Kaiyote, Louis Cole, Sungazer, etc.).

Aah I quite like sungazer and absolutely ADORE louis cole, fucking GENIUSES, I just figured recommending them would be a bit much for OPs purposes, lol. Great great great music though! Louis cole's latest album was absolutely phenomenal!

[purelyconstructive]

Aah I quite like sungazer and absolutely ADORE louis cole, fucking GENIUSES, I just figured recommending them would be a bit much for OPs purposes, lol. Great great great music though! Louis cole's latest album was absolutely phenomenal!

To be honest, I have somewhat of a "love/hate relationship" with Louis Cole (and by extension, KNOWER). Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love 'em. The musical virtuosity is incredible, but other than a few songs like Money [Explicit Lyrics], I do not get much more out of the lyrics than a good laugh. I know that is probably the point and I can dig it sometimes, yet lyric writing is also something sacred to me. I feel similarly with a lot of other artist's songs though (e.g.: Beck). It bops too freakin' hard for me not to listen to it, so I will sometimes look for an instrumental version. Although, it is a shame for me to limit it like that because both Louis and Genevieve sing beautifully.

Personally, I've always had trouble with classifying things into genres. Sometimes people get into these very subtle nuances and subgenre distinctions, whereas my brain might just lump it all into something general. For example, I could totally see why you mentioned Thank You Scientist, but I wouldn't have thought of mentioning them here because I'm so used to thinking of them as "Prog" instead of "Jazz". I know that one can look for the repetition of certain motifs (e.g.: it is probably "Jazz" if it has a swing rhythm, uses bebop scales to emphasize downbeats, makes heavy use of 2-5-1s and tritone subs, etc.). But at what point are those kinds of decisions simply part of a composer's style? It is difficult for me to determine sometimes. Some artists (e.g.: Bjork) completely defy categorization in my opinion, even though it might be given the slippery label of "Pop".

Anyway, sorry to ramble on. I enjoy geeking out about things and appreciate your input. Some more Jazz recs for everyone...

A good selection of more "traditional jazz" artists have already been mentioned, like Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Ryo Fukui, et al. Here are a few more, although some of it is a bit mellow:

- Charlie Parker
- Oscar Peterson
- McCoy Tyner
- Pharoah Sanders

A couple of classic fusion things:

- Head Hunters (the Herbie Hancock band)
- Return to Forever (the Chick Corea band)

I will seek out some more modern artists...I would throw Jacob Collier in here because he's trained as a Jazz pianist, but that might be stretching it a bit depending on the song choice. Haha!

Thanks for listening.

[purelyconstructive]

Baguettes Ensemble has some really good ones, like their covers of Meltdown and Double Lariat. They've also done some touhou covers, but they're all on the slower side of things.

Oh yeah, I also meant to say that these are fire! They make me think of flap+frog.

Thank you all for sharing your musical selections!

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

I am also partial to Ahmad Jamal and John Coltrane...When Coltrane goes on his wild scale runs in A Love Supreme I feel like I'm downloading an infinite stream of data directly from the cosmos through a 56k modem and my brain struggles to complete the handshake procedure with God.

+1 for Coltrane. If you want the classics, I recommend to check also out Sun Ra, Miles Davis (who somewhat pioneered fusion), and Ornette Coleman; all of them were giants. Charlie Parker. But does he need to be recommended?

Also, there are some "oddballs": Peter Brötzmann, Moondog, John Zorn, to name a few.

And also remember:
There is great contemporary Jazz:

(Angel Bat Dawid/Phil Cohran - African Look)

(Matthew Shipp Trio - Root of Things)

(Archie Shepp & Jason Moran - Motherless Child)

[virtue]

I do not get much more out of the lyrics than a good laugh. I know that is probably the point and I can dig it sometimes, yet lyric writing is also something sacred to me. I feel similarly with a lot of other artist's songs though

That's wild, that's the polar opposite to me! I could not give less of a shit about lyrics, to the extent that they aren't taken into consideration whatsoever when I review an album. That's why I have such a strange relationship with hip-hop/rap. I have audio processing issues so I am mentally unable to listen to the lyrics and music at the same time; if I care about the lyrics, its purely secondary and I ready it as poetry instead. There are only a couple songs I can think of where I care about them, namely Realize & Rebuild by Boundaries and High Water by Sleep Token. In general, I just think of vocals as nothing more than another instrument. I'm curious, is there a particular reason you care so deeply about lyrics? I'm even a poet and lyricist myself which makes it more confusing personally.

[purelyconstructive]

That's wild, that's the polar opposite to me! I could not give less of a shit about lyrics, to the extent that they aren't taken into consideration whatsoever when I review an album. That's why I have such a strange relationship with hip-hop/rap. I have audio processing issues so I am mentally unable to listen to the lyrics and music at the same time; if I care about the lyrics, its purely secondary and I ready it as poetry instead. There are only a couple songs I can think of where I care about them, namely Realize & Rebuild by Boundaries and High Water by Sleep Token. In general, I just think of vocals as nothing more than another instrument. I'm curious, is there a particular reason you care so deeply about lyrics? I'm even a poet and lyricist myself which makes it more confusing personally.

Haha! That is interesting. I have a tendency to hyperfocus on meanings, so couple that to a groove that acts like an earworm, and it might start to affect my mood and behavior as it gets stuck in my head with repetition. I totally get what you mean about thinking of the vocals as just another instrument though, and I try to approach it like that whenever I am transcribing something. Sometimes it can be a lot to absorb at once, so analysis of lyrics is almost always separate from appreciating the overall musicality of it for me, especially when it comes to hip-hop.

Funnily enough, I listened to a lot of hip-hop when I was growing up and was enthralled with more "underground" artists. Some, like Myka Nyne from Freestyle Fellowship, were directly inspired by jazz improvisation to the point that they literally use their voices to convey melodic content in a similar fashion. A really good example is the song Mary. Of course, not all rappers do this. However, nearly all of them create interesting rhythmic patterns, making complex polyrhythms as their voice interacts with the underlying beat. Sometimes, their cadences are carefully and intentionally crafted with a deep understanding of rhythm too. Harry Mack gives an absolutely incredible freestyle demonstration of this.

Another cool aspect of hip-hop is seeing how different DJs/producers flip samples, like J Dilla does with this Gary Burton piece. While a lot of the samples used within hip-hop come from jazz, some artists have such eclectic musical tastes that it can be challenging finding out where some obscure fragment came from. It is satisfying when you figure it out though, like solving a musical puzzle. The level of musicianship blows my mind sometimes, to the point that I get a little sad when people say things like "rap isn't music". Lol!

How do y'all feel about hip-hop that uses live instrumentation, such as August Greene, Othello & The Hipknotics, etc.? Many of these are actually pretty jazzy.

[virtue]

However, nearly all of them create interesting rhythmic patterns, making complex polyrhythms as their voice interacts with the underlying beat. Sometimes, their cadences are carefully and intentionally crafted with a deep understanding of rhythm too.

I may have little appreciation for lyrics in music but I have very deep appreciation for rhythm! I really like math music, especially mathcore. Odd time signatures, polyrhythms, polymeter, you name it, I love incorporating it into the music I listen to. My favorite metal band is car bomb, they're absolutely on the frontiers of structured rhythm in music!