Reddit mentions: The best jazz

The Black Saint/Soul Note box is a very good suggestion, as it covers quite a range of Braxton's style(s): the second 'great quartet' (and variations) with Marliyn Crispell, the improv encounter (w Max Roach), the quirky approach to standards (in this case Monk), the larger ensemble and through-composed works (Eugene & No.173)...

For an in-depth look at his '70's work, The Complete Arista Recordings is great, if pricey. Dortmund covers a bit of that territory.

From the mid-'90's to mid-2000's his focus was on what he calls Ghost Trance Musics - maybe a tougher nut to crack, but extremely rewarding. Repetitive, meditative, hypnotic, addictive. It starts out pretty austere but ends up quite expansive, to over-simplify. The Firehouse 12 box, the one on Rastascan and many single and double sets on Braxton House are good examples.

The best place for more recent releases is Braxton House, Braxton's own label. Scroll through and sample these, a huge resource of great music. If you care to join the umbrella organization, the Tri-Centric Foundation, you get free access to a bunch of great bootlegs, as well as discounts on the official stuff.

My tastes run all over the map, so there's some chance these will be antithetical to your interests, but just in case...

I absolutely love the Estonian Philharmonic Choir, but especially this to begin relaxing you.

Next i would probably throw in some Mark Kozelek/Sun Kil Moon/Red House Painters, either [this](http://www.amazon.com/Bedtime-Lullaby/dp/B002QEPKPI/ "Bedtime Lullaby") or [this](http://www.amazon.com/Love-At-First-Feel/dp/B0010Q9O0U/ "Love At First Feel") are recommended.

I like Leonard Cohen as a contrast to Kozelek, specifically [this](http://www.amazon.com/So-Long-Marianne/dp/B00137ZFRC/ "So Long Marianne")

Next some Esperana Spalding, probably [this one](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019BTJWY/ "Fall In") because I'm a hopeless romantic.

This flows nicely into Donnie Hathaway's A Song For You.

And depending on whether you can take more uptempo, soulful stuff, Taj Mahal's got [all](http://www.amazon.com/Lovin-In-My-Babys-Eyes/dp/B0013832GM/ "Lovin In My Baby's Eyes") [kinds](http://www.amazon.com/Farther-On-Down-The-Road/dp/B0013AEZZM/ "Further On Down The Road") of good.

Next something like [this](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012QHRCU/ "Jolie Holland - Wandering Angus")

Then maybe [Fink](http://www.amazon.com/Walking-In-The-Sun/dp/B0028EX7CO/ "Walking In The Sun"), this is highly recommended.

Which I'd follow with [this Boozoo Bajou track](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002N8YA0I/ "Treat me feat. Willie Hutch")

And if you get too stimulated from all that, maybe a [Debussy track](http://www.amazon.com/Debussy-Prélude-laprès-midi-dun-faune/dp/B00122PFF0/ "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune") to space it out a bit.

And of course I'd have to throw in one of my all time favorite songs, Andy Bey's Cosmic Blues.

These are just off the top of my head, I could probably spend hours listing more. Without knowing your tastes, it's kinda hard.

Looks like you're going to the U of Iowa next year. There are some great jazz trombone people in the state - I recommend looking up Dr. Anthony Williams. He's the trombone professor up at UNI and he is a great Classical/Jazz trombone player. More importantly, he's a great teacher. I graduated the year before he started working at UNI, but I've taken a couple lessons with him and found them well worth the money.

In the meantime, transcribe, transcribe, transcribe! The first solo I have all of my students transcribe is Chris Buckholz's Fat Back. It's a medium swing tune in F minor, the solo remains mostly diatonic and it swings its ass off. Chris has a fantastic time feel, especially for a trombone player.

Finally, start digging into jazz theory. Knowing how to read chord symbols is ESSENTIAL. I recommend learning some basic jazz piano skills, as well as composing your own tunes. Improvisation is nothing more than spontaneous composition. Once I started writing tunes, I became much better at recognizing the sounds I was hearing inside my own head.

Good luck! Have fun in Iowa City! It has a great jazz scene, you will not be hurting for things to see or do in that town.

| | |
|-:|:-|
|name|Austin Wintory|
|about artist|Austin has scored over twenty five feature films, most notably the 2009 Sundance hit GRACE, as well as the 2008 Sundance Audience Award winner CAPTAIN ABU RAED. His score for the former garnered many horror film genre accolades, including a nomination at the 2010 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for 'Best Original Score,' and Vision in Sound's Top Ten Scores for 2009. The latter was listed by the LA Times as a contender for the 2009 Academy Awards for 'Best Original Score' and also won Austin the Hollywood Music Award for "Best New Composer. ([more on last.fm](http://www.last.fm/music/Austin Wintory))|
|track|Tiers of Joy|
|images|artist image|
|links|bandcamp, official homepage, vgmdb, youtube, soundcloud, twitter, mp3 on amazon|
|tags|soundtrack, gamemusic, ambient, neoclassical, instrumental, swing|
|similar|Ben Prunty, Vincent Diamante, Disasterpeace, Darren Korb, Jim Guthrie|
|metrics|lastfm listeners: 19,440, lastfm plays: 1,045,163, youtube plays: 621, radd.it score: 21.33|


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.

It's not ragtime, it's New Orleans Style. The original jazz was a fusion of ragtime, blues, and parade music.

"Ten Feet Off the Ground" was recorded very late in his life, in 1968 (he died in 1971).

Do you have spotify? I could make you mix real quick.

Check out these songs: Cheek to Cheek (w/ Ella), Willow Weep for Me (w/ Oscar Peterson), Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans (live Chicago 1956), Basin Street Blues (Chicago 1956), Mack the Knife, La Vie En Rose, Cabaret, Hellzapoppin', When the Saints Go Marching In (1966 - my favorite version), Blueberry Hill, What a Wonderful World, St Louis Blues (great version from Louis Armstrong Plays WC Handy), Just a Closer Walk with Thee (with the Dukes of Dixieland).

Great albums from his later years:

• What a Wonderful World
  
  
• Louis Armstrong Plays WC Handy
  
  
• Great Chicago Concert 1956
  
  
• Satch Plays Fats
  
  
• Satchmo Plays King Oliver
  
  
• Ella & Louis
  
  
• Ambassador Satch
  
  
• Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson
  
  If you want to check out his heyday from the 1920s, I recommend The Best of the Hot Fives and Sevens. Or check out these songs: West End Blues, Muggles, Tight Like This, St James Infirmary, Basin Street Blues, St Louis Blues, Black & Blue.
  
  Enjoy! Pops is the greatest!

timetot

This is not a necessity, but pretty fun and nerdy :-) (I added it to my WL because we are nerds too and have a 15 week old)

This is expensive, but was the best gift we ever got! I sleep much better knowing he's wearing it. Plus, it's portable!

I would love this if chosen by raffle :-)

Thanks for the contest!

Check out Tom Harrell -- a genius with some truly beautiful and creative albums. The Art of Rhythm is one of my favorites. Dave Douglas is one of the greats ATM, a nicely cerebral and artistic player. These aren't exactly lesser known, but they're not the icons that Wynton is.

Nick Payton, Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove being the three other big names out there leading bands. Wallace Roney does an astonishing late-Miles impression. Ryan Kisor is hot stuff, too.

And between them and the bop guys like Dizzy are quite a few treasures. Freddie Hubbard is a crucial stylist... Straight Life and Free For All and The Body and the Soul are must-listens. Lee Morgan and Kenny Dorham are big too, but I find'm unremarkable. Clifford Brown was great -- check out Study in Brown. Woody Shaw writes and plays some weirder tunes, harmonically, and Don Ellis leads wacky big bands playing wacky mixed-meter stuff.

I've been partial to this "Disney Jazz" compilation - "Everybody Wants to be a Cat" (http://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Wants-Be-Cat-Disney/dp/B0045CBKN0)
Top jazz performers reinvent Disney classics. Most are quite good. The music never falls into that vast wasteland known as "smooth jazz" - instead, it stays firmly rooted in true jazz. Good stuff.

Louis Armstrong's "Disney Songs the Sachmo Way" is another fun compilation of tunes. This time done only as Sachmo could do them. His version of "Bibbidi Bobbidy Boo" is my kids' favorite. (http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Songs-The-Satchmo-Way/dp/B0013JZJ2Q)

Dave Brubeck also swung Disney songs in a jazzy way. His "Dave Digs Disney" is a classic jazz album, and fun for the Disney fan. (http://www.amazon.com/Dave-Digs-Disney/dp/B0018PZ80I)

There's also the Sherman & Sherman Songbook, which is quite a treasure. (http://www.amazon.com/Sherman-Brothers-Songbook-digital-booklet/dp/B0039F4P18) It features stuff from the Mickey Mouse Club, many original Magic Kingdom rides (Small World, Tiki Room) and a ton of other great stuff. It's a must-have for any Disney aficionado.

I already blues dance, and I am learning to DJ for dancers. I've already learned how to edit music, and been slowly learning a mixing board program. Now I really need to build up my music collection. This album is by a musician I really enjoy, but I'm not sure I could use all the songs, or I loaded the top of my wish-list with some awesome and solid singles, mp3 style.


This is a pretty awesome contest.

Edit: I want to try something new.

I love Pat Metheny's advice about learning about jazz. Because Pat is god. Here he is discussing jazz and Kenny G.

If you like gorgeous chill out music for a sunny afternoon or romantic drinks at sunset, check Shirley Horn.

'Return to Paradise' from that album is my wife and I's song. We danced to it early in our relationship, and it's magical.

For something more modern and edgy, I recommend The Bad Plus.

When i was 17, i bought my first Pat Metheny Group album. Eventually I would be exposed to Spyro Gyra and then to Gene Ammons, Bill Evans (this song makes me cry every time i hear it), Cannonball Adderly, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, etc... and a couple of albums by Wynton Marsalis that burrowed deeply into my noodle Black Codes (From the Underground) and Levee Low Moan, Soul Gestures in Southern Blue, Vol 3.

Pat Metheny/ Lyle Mays were a staple of my music for many, many years- especially Secret Story (sans one particular track), As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls and eventually The Way Up.

By the time i was 30, i had all but abandoned lyrics in my music.

After a particularly brutal breakup in 98, I found my fear of dancing evaporated and I would eventually fall in love with House music, then i would fall in love with the bass nectar stylings of Jungle (particularly LTJ Bukem) and then i got to the point where i finally understood Drum n Bass.

shoutcast.com and winamp were my go-to tools for exploring music for many years. I still look for stuff on shoutcast- but it's not the same anymore. I use Winamp every day for streaming music. From those came my exposure to stations like sleepbot, proton radio and then somafm.com. somafm.com has changed my life- and that's not hyperbole.

With Somafm, my favorite streams are:

Groove Salad, Beat Blender, Secret Agent and for when i need to relax, Space Station Soma, Drone Zone and sometimes, just for fucks sake, Illinois Street Lounge.

Lately, i've been exploring what Sonic Universe has to offer.

But the most interesting stream they have, in my opinion, is Mission Control. MC is ambient music that's layered with conversations between NASA and the space missions over the decades.

A couple of years ago, i came across Dragon's Eye Recordings. Some of their stuff i just don't get but sometimes, just sometimes, they produce something like An Occupied Space and it fits in my noodle like a warm glove.

So there. =)

edited for linky links.

Ha. I'm neither particularly proud nor particular ashamed to say that my first was Digital Duke, a Duke Ellington tribute album.

It was in 7th grade; I was a bassoonist but I had a huge crush on a girl who played clarinet. I hadn't planned on joining jazz band the following year because I'd need to learn a new instrument and didn't much care for jazz, but I saw she had signed up to play alto sax. So I did the same. And I got this album so I could 'study up' in case there was a chance for me to show my knowledge in front of her.

She didn't end up playing in jazz, and nothing ever happened between us. But I fell in love with sax, ditched bassoon, and seven years later was touring internationally in a big band. All's well that ends well.

> When you have so many young people swing dancing, why not throw in some younger music every now and then?

You're right! Let's!

Here's some standard music played by modern bands with great sound quality:

• Michael Gamble & The Rhythm Gamblers: https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Gamble-Rhythm-Serenaders/dp/B01GQZD5SG
  
  
• Jonathan Stout & His Campus Five: https://www.amazon.com/Rhythm-Jonathan-Campus-featuring-Alexander/dp/B0006A4KNM/ref=ntt_mus_dp_dpt_1
  
  
• Gordon Webster: https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gordonwebster22
  
  
• The Rhythm Gamblers: https://therhythmgamblers.bandcamp.com/album/the-rhythm-gamblers
  
  You might say: Those are modern bands, but they're still playing all the songs I knew! What I really want is new songs altogether. Okay!
  
  
• Glenn Crytzer's Savoy Seven: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/glenncrytzerssavoyseven3
  
  
• Jonathan Doyle Quintet: https://jonathandoyle.bandcamp.com/album/the-fed-hop
  
  
• Joe Smith & The Spicy Pickles: https://joesmithandthespicypickles.bandcamp.com/album/high-fidelity
  
  
• Jeremy Mohney: https://jeremymohneymusic.bandcamp.com/album/smile-a-while
  
  No you still don't understand /u/AFistfulOfAww, what I really really want to do is dance to music that doesn't swing, but with the same-ish shapes that I learned in Lindy Hop classes!
  
  
• You'll fit right in at /r/westcoastswing! The dance shares our origin, and it is danced to all kinds of different music. Last I heard they even have some Zouk influence these days!

Reddit comments? Is that your measure of quality? I'm pretty sure you can do better than that.

https://live.stanford.edu/calendar/november-2019/jon-batiste

https://www.steinway.com/artists/jonathan-batiste

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/stephen-colbert-bandleader-jon-batiste-talks-hollywood-africans-album-728661/

Hey, at least over at Amazon they have better taste than you do.

https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Africans-Jon-Batiste/dp/B07FP6KQK2

Edit: oh and don't knock it till you try it. The new album is so good.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3F3hHNnXDrnGwv2hEpjzfJ?si=azDyrITeS-yQs_NORgoOYA

It isn't recorded in low quality similar to actual 40's songs, but Seth Macfarlane's album is all 40's-50's music, and he's actually a great singer.

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Is-Better-Than-Words/dp/B005MW602S/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334151472&sr=301-1

• Sinnerman, from Verve Remixed (dammit, amazon could've clipped a better sample)
  
  lol.
  

Wow! I had no idea that he released an album. Definitely looking into buying it now.

Link for people interested

I really liked Michael Gamble & The Rhythm Serenaders

He really likes Green Hill Zone. He even added a cover of it on his new album.

Diapers: $34.77, marked highest priority

K-Cups: $13.31, also highest priority

MP3: $1.29

Total: $49.37