Reddit mentions: The best avant garde & free jazz music

I know it's a remix album, but Panthalassa has Bill Laswell tastefully remixing some relaxed IaSW-era Miles. Be wary of the Panthalassa Remix album, which is, albeit pretty good, much more EDM oriented.

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Beyond this, Mark Isham's Silent Way Project endeavoured to cop the sound of this band -- and, all discussions about whether they did aside, produced a pretty reasonable (yet a bit too polished) album. Blue Sun, although hard to find, is similarily good.

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Dave Douglas tends to lean that way a lot, but isn't anywhere near as as quiet or relaxed as IaSW is. Check out Strange Liberation or The Infinite.

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Hope this helps. I'm saving this thread to refer back and check out everyone else's suggestions. :)

As other people are saying, listening a lot is obviously really important. But here is a fantastic tool to help you in a slightly more concrete way:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002J6I8M/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This was the book of choice by my jazz professor, who I studied improv with. The most important part about the book is in the middle, where there are a series of increasingly complex chord progressions. It starts with 12 bar blues, and evolves into full charts. And it comes with a CD, which has drums and bass playing those changes. To me, this was the perfect way to practice improvising. Just spend an hour a day playing along with the changes, and you get rapidly better.

The rest of the book is full of common improv vocabulary, with exercises, scales, licks, etc. Study these a bit to get some of the important vocabulary under your belt. But the most important thing is just to listen to solos you like, use them as inspiration, and then practice playing to the changes. Good luck.

So many good pianists, where to begin? Have you checked out the Maybeck Recital series? The concert by Stanley Cowell is one of my favorite albums, Toshiko Akiyoshi really good as well..

Right now I'm listening a lot to Pastorale by Steve Kuhn, and a few albums by Enrico Pieranunzi (1685: Plays Bach, Handel and Scarlatti is superb. I'd say it's my favorite, but it is from 2011 so it hasn't yet stood the test of time. Trio: Dream Dance, Plays Morricone, Seaward and many more).. Eddie Higgins is good.. Ray Bryant's Somewhere in France is nice.. Fred Hersch plays Jobim is great. En Vivo piano solo by Ernán López-Nussa is also worth a listen.

Brad Mehldau as mentioned by someone else is of course the obvious recommendation for a modern jazz pianist, not obscure at all but brilliant. Live , Live in Marciac and Highway Rider would be my picks. One trio, one solo and one more ambitious undertaking (with his regular trio + Joshua Redman and a Chamber Orchestra)

I've built up a nice little jazz collection over the past few years and I really love slow, introspective piano stuff. Andrew Hill's Hommage is a great solo album, as is Mingus Plays Piano. Dave Brubeck's Jazz Impressions of Japan has a nice balance of fast/slow jazz and Thelonius by Himself is contemplative and cool. For a something a little different try Walt Dickerson's Impressions of a Patch of Blue or Sun Ra's The Night of the Purple Moon. Fun, funky stuff.

Something faster paced? Bitches Brew by Miles Davis or The Cry by Prince Lasha are two of my best purchases.

First of all, with Coltrane make sure you have the basics (Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, My Favorite Things, etc.), but also get Coltrane's Sound, Newport '63 and Transition. Coltrane's Sounds is just fucking awesome. The first three tracks on Newport '63 feature Roy Haynes on drums instead of Elvin which works REALLY well. Transition...crank up the volume on the first track and just get your mind blown.

In general though, one of the best ways to discover related music with these older albums is to read the liner notes (of course, this can be tough if you're buying through iTunes or something and they're not available). The liner notes will often mention who else the artist was playing with at the time, what their early influences were, etc. and that can guide your further explorations a bit.

Two keys to that equation right there...

the Bill Frisell factor -- almost anything he's on has that kind of sheen to it. Can't say I've got a lot of Frisell, but check out samples of anything he's on, and you've got at least a 50/50 chance you'll find what you're looking for. Here's one good example I can recommend: Angel Song

The ECM factor -- LOTS of titles on the ECM label probably fit exactly what you're looking for. There is definitely an "ECM" sound, and although I haven't heard the specific Paul Motian title you mention, I can tell pretty much what it sounds like, knowing the players and that it's on ECM. (You can search Amazon by typing ECM into their search engine, and just start bringing up titles and listen to samples.)

Blues In Orbit is another Ellington band album that's great and completely different. The Far East suite is also very cool..

"Monk on Monk" by T.S. Monk is pretty great too, one of the best big band albums to come out in the last 10 years.

You'll find that it's hard to find stuff like TANK! that's not too shrill or repetitive. These recommendations will have a different color but you'll really enjoy them if you give them a chance.

Oh, and a more specific extrapolation on someone's recommendation below:
Mingus Ah Um, a smaller ensemble than the Seatbelts but no less kick-ass.

And for raw kick-ass you gotta check out Free For All by Art Blakey and co.

Oh shoot and don't forget this Oliver Nelson classic, "Blues and the Abstract Truth". <3 Hoe Down's bridge. Pretty cool ensemble writing!

Ok, I'll stop now. It's notable that all the guys I mentioned have 5-50 more albums which sound completely different, and each song on each album is very different! Imagine, music before pop...

Some Cecil Taylor - Unit Structures or Conquistador would be good.

Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity is a total masterpiece, blueprint for all abstract expressionist wailing to follow.

Coltrane/Shepp - New Thing at Newport captures great sets by two giants.

Sun Ra, definitely - but where to start? Maybe Heliocentric Worlds, or Night of the Purple Moon, or even Disco 3000.

Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Anthony Braxton.

| | |
|-:|:-|
|name|Art Ensemble of Chicago|
|about artist|The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz ensemble closely identified with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in the mid 1960s. The group continues to tour and record through 2006, despite the deaths of two of the founding members. The original lineup was founder Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman on reeds, Lester Bowie on trumpet, and Malachi Favors on bass. They worked with a succession of drummers recruited from Chicago and St. ([more on last.fm](http://www.last.fm/music/Art Ensemble Of Chicago))|
|album|Les Stances à Sophie, released |
|track|Theme De Yoyo|
|about track|According to other websites, the original music is by the Art Ensemble of Chicago (Lester Bowie mainly) and the original lyrics were written by Noreen Beasley. The music inspires golden, spikey images and rocks and pebbles tumbling joyfully down a stream. Bowie's trumpet is sharp and langorous. The lyrics are strangely unlike the music, evocative of oozing and dislike and insult. But funny.|
|images|album image, artist image|
|links|wikipedia, official homepage, discogs, discography, CD on amazon|
|tags|avantgardejazz, freejazz, jazz, experimental, funk|
|similar|Don Cherry, Albert Ayler, Roscoe Mitchell, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton|
|metrics|lastfm listeners: 63,104, lastfm plays: 569,603, youtube plays: 6,907, radd.it score: 8.25|


Please downvote this comment if this data is incorrect!
I am a bot by radd.it data services. I have been requested to post these reports.

"Money Jungle" is a great record. One of the first that inspired me to start playing. You might enjoy Paul Bley with Mingus and Blakey.

If you're looking for music to set ambiance, I'd like to suggest Sex Mob Does Bond. In addition to being a great Jazz album, you get a free icebreaker if she asks what's playing.

Mingus Ah Um has always been one of my favorites. Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane is a good album too. If you are looking for some amazing vocals check out some Nina Simone.

Candle freak! I've been itching to try making candles. What a fun craft.

[The National- Alligator] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007LCNKC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=10X534LY5RR5K&coliid=I2JB8FVMZCZT2J)

[Local Natives- Gorilla Manor] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0032IABC4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=10X534LY5RR5K&coliid=I20Y4XLNVVMKQI)

[John Coltrane- A Love Supreme] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000003N7F/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=10X534LY5RR5K&coliid=I2495W5953KG4W)

Thanks for the contest!

By far my favorite:
The Classic Quartet - Coltrane

Another of my favorites:
Exclusively for My Friends - Oscar Peterson

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A good book recommended to me by a jazz trumpeter: How to play jazz and improvise.

I really enjoy me some Miles Davis, I like to drive by his "Spanish Key".

I was in the same position as you a couple of months ago. I went through this book https://www.amazon.com/Mitchell-Trumpet-Book-1-DVD/dp/1585607193/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511531038&sr=8-1&keywords=mitchell+on+trumpet. I found it really good as it starts from the very beginning and it took me time to reacquire the fundamentals. I then went on to Arbans and used this book as a guide https://bolvinmusic.com/product/arban-manual/. I'm also trying to learn jazz properly and have been using this as a guide https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32146 which requires this book to start https://www.amazon.com/Vol-Play-Jazz-Improvise-Book/dp/B0002J6I8M. Any other questions let me know.

This is the original recording remastered. Does that mean it's not by Teo Macero?

Don't forget this.

Candle Freak

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