Jazz music
 

Okay. I'm starting to get interested in jazz music, but I'm a total beginner. I'm wondering what artists and bands you guys would recommend to someone like me.

To give you an idea of what I'm looking for:

I'm really looking for slow to mid-tempo music. I like piano and guitar intrumentals, although I'm not going to limit myself to just that. Also, I think smooth jazz is a little cheesy.

I don't know if Tony Bennett or Sinatra can be considered jazz, but I'm just throwing their names out there to give you an idea of stuff I like.

Thanks!

Smooth jazz is very cheesy. Saxophone cover of Janet Jackson's "Doesn't Really Matter"...*shudder*

Some things to look into would be Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, John Scofield, John Abercrombie, MMW (Medeski, Martin and Wood), Jukka Eskola, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Yesterday's New Quintet, Jaga Jazzist, Mahavishnu Orchestra (and all its members), Sondre Lerche, and Chico Pinheiro. That should cover a fair bit of jazzy ground.

John Scofield might be what you're looking for for guitar driven jazz. It's a little too slow for my tastes but he's a fantastic musician.

I'm personally a fan of Larry Coryell, which seems like not many have heard of him. I also enjoy George Benson, Django Reinhardt and Al DiMeola. All fantastic guitarists and musicians.

Well, for that matter, you might as well mention Kevin Eubanks of the Tonight Show. And Bernie Williams! Great with a bat and a guitar.

I've never listened to Kevin Eubanks outside of the Tonight Show so I don't know how good his music is. I hear it's great, but I can't personally say.

While these are great artists, I don't think much of their recorded output is really what Stop Sign is looking for.

I know a lot about fast, crazy, experimental jazz, but know next to nothing about the kind of music inquired about here. If you ever get up the urge to listen to something a bit more out there, give me a shout and I'd be glad to help you out.

I realize that, but he said he was open, so I thought I'd give him a nice range of good jazz. If he's smart he'll write them all down somewhere and check them out when he's ready. ;)

An artist that I think you'd like is Avishai Cohen, cause it's very easy to listen. It's not really traditional jazz though, but I think you'll like it anyways. If you go to the GFF music exposure thread I've already posted an album with the guy for upload. It's awesome stuff. Then, you could try Hiromi Uehara, which is a jazz pianist that has some very regular stuff aswell as some crazy stuff even going into the fusion genre at times.

A vid of her: YouTube - Love and Laughter -Hiromi Uehara (Just can't get enough of this girl)

Then Michel Camilo is one great jazz pianist, although he may be a bit too much at times for those not familiar with the genre. And he's more latin-jazz, but oh well

A vid of him (the other musicians in the vid are equally great as him really):YouTube - Michel Camilo - "From Within"

I would post more, but I need to go to bed. Might add some more artists tomorrow. For now, check these guys out and tell me what you think.

I have an album By Gary Burton that's worth a listen for someone who's new to jazz. It's a compilation of standards played by Burton himself (on vibraphone) with John Scofield on guitar, Peter Erskine on drums, John Patitucci and Fred Hersch on Piano. They're all major players on the jazz scene today, so hearing them play together in this context is great for anyone really, but it's also very accessible. Give me a shout if you're interested.

Also, anything from the Gershwin brother's songbook would probably suit your taste if your into Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. Ella Fitzgerald is a pretty good listen as far as the Gershwin songs go.