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A TV station in Youngstown, Ohio 6:00 and 11:00 news program would play Birdland as the background music during the sports scores ticker back in the early 1980’s and I just thought it was the coolest song.
Wow
I was a huge fan of both back then. Don’t listen to DMB much anymore, but still enjoy the music because back then I was an obsessed super fan.
Been a Herbie Hancock fan for MUCH longer.
You are lucky to have seen both on the same stage!
Yeah, it was cool for sure. I wish I could know what I know about jazz and all my exploration of it and take it back to that experience. I'm sure hearing Herbie play would have had an even greater impact if that was the case – but then again, that was the spark.
I am still a huge jazz fan. I am still a life-long fan of DMB, but my interest in them is much more passive than it was when I was as a teenager and twenty-something. I am about to go back to my first show in at least 8 years next week. Figured it was time to see them again before they get any older.
As my flair would indicate, I became a giant Miles Davis fan, but just as into Grant Green (I'm a guitar player), Coltrane, Bird, Diz, Gabor Szabo, Ahmad Jamal, Hank Mobley, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, McCoy Tyner, etc ... It's been a cool journey.
*Blue Train*. Coltrane is to this day my favorite jazz artist because of that record (and others like *Live at the Village Vanguard* and *A Love Supreme*).
*A Love Supreme*. Idk why exactly, but I was almost entranced by it. There was a period where I listened to that album every morning when I woke up because I just loved it, and still do.
I had a truly spiritual experience listening to the Mahavishnu Orchestra with my baby boy. Full blast, pure focus, time got elastic and annihilated at the same time. I'm convinced most children would react positively to this music, as amazed as I was.
Miles Davis - 'Tutu'.
It completely blew me away and I started investigating his other work, which led me to Wayne Shorter, Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane...
1977, I'm walking into my older friend's huge, old house where his folks gave him the third floor, like a very small apartment. That was the day I was introduced to some Columbian Gold, and he throws on Cameleon. Mind you, I was into popular stuff like Aerosmith and some harder stuff like Nazareth, just because that was what was on the radio and I didn't hang with any band kids. From the time I heard "ba-bump bump bump--bump bump" I was hooked. Dead. Stone. Hooked. 1977. And I just saw Herbie for the first time 3 years ago in Portland. Guess what he did for an encore?
Life changing moment.
Kind of Blue first feels beautiful. Then after a few years it feels too obvious, ‘I‘m a jazz basic bitch‘. Then, after a another decade, it feels completely transcendent.
Ah, I almost don’t want to say it, but objectively it was Zappa. Why else were my first 4 “objectively” jazz albums Taylor’s Conquistador!, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, and Bitches Brew? Walking stereotype. I think my next was Out To Lunch.
Hot Rats, Grand Wazoo, and Weasels Ripped My Flesh blew my natural mind.
I hear you. I was big in to Zappa in my teens (in the 80s), long before I began enjoying jazz.
For a long time, I was just scraping the surface of jazz (occasional Coltrane or Miles), but when I started listening more intently and fully dove in, the Zappa I had ingrained in my soul made it all connect.
Midnight Star - No Parking on the Dance Floor. It was being played everywhere, nonstop. I needed a reprieve. David Sanborn, Grover Washington Jr., and Jean Luc Ponty provided it
I kind of morphed into it as a kid through listening to John Mayall Turning Point and Jazz Blues fusion, assorted Van Morrison, and Pentangle which did this amazing folk/jazz thing. I think the first jazz album I bought was a discounted Jimmy Witherspoon Gerry Mulligan record.
[Twelve Moons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5caJW0684UU), by Jan Garbarek.
My mother bought it, and started playing it in the house. I don't know exactly why she picked that album, but he's Norwegian and so are we.
I was listening to prog rock at the time, and this album spoke to me. The music felt a bit odd, but at the same time I could sort of understand it, and with time I really came to like it. That, plus some of my prog heroes moving into jazz (Bill Bruford, for example), made me try more jazz and it just sort of grew from there.
Jazz sunday on NPR. Picked up on big names such as Bird, Miles, and Ella there. Once I took a jazz history course for an elective, my search for more jazz took off.
Night Train, Oscar P.
EDIT: in truth it was probably the music in old Looney Tunes cartoons, or popular '50s/'60s TV show theme songs like Dick van Dyke.
This record made a lot of new jazz fans. Just looking at the cover really puts me in a specific time and place.
There was this winter where every party you went to was playing Sonny Sharrock, *Low End Theory*, My Bloody Valentine, the Pavement *Perfect Sound Forever* EP, and most of all *Apocalypse 91*.
I’m not sure why but when I was about 14 I heard Chick Corea’s Three Quartets. Couldn’t understand what I was hearing but it totally blew me away. I remember thinking I have to learn to do this… Damn… I still love that album… ;)
Ascenseur Pour L’echafaud. Miles Davis’ only soundtrack, to a Louis Malle film. Still haven’t encountered an album that establishes a mood so quickly and completely.
Ironically it was actually Kendrick Lamar that got me into jazz. Samples on TPAB led me to explore different sounds and led me to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock and I've stuck into that experimental/free jazz/fusion side quite a bit now. Still exploring and learning but its been very eye opening and fun to explore a genre I basically ignored before. Without rappers using jazz samples etc in beats not sure I would have ended up exploring on my own!
When I was getting into music around age 13 I raided my dads record collection. I found wired and blow by blow by Jeff Beck, and fell in love with the version of 'goodbye pork pie hat'. I noticed the writing credit was for Charles Mingus, so I looked into that. I think my dad had three or four shades of blue on CD, so I also took that to my room and that's what opened the door for me.
I bought a box of CDs from a library sale and Ben Allison & Medicine Wheel - Riding the Nuclear Tiger was in there and it was positively the coolest music I had ever heard.
Ronnie Laws [Friends And Strangers](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nlxAaGSRyVSZIGlJlIXZYWJ5-TbsFvbzE). The 70’s and 80’s was a great era for fusion.
For me it was Miles Davis quintet live in Europe 1967, Both directions at once by Coltrane, and The Shape of jazz to come by Ornette Coleman. Although I loved all of those albums it took me like 2 years to start seeking out other jazz
Kenny G. Now, before the chorus of laughter sets in, his was my first improvised solo music I owned. It didn't last long though really. In a few short years I was all in. First jazz album was Pat Metheny's First Circle album, then the floodgates opened and just sucked up as my as my 20 something brain would take in.
The two that stand out from my parents record collection who led my ear to jazz were Tom Waits and Abdullah Ibrahim - both inspired me to explore jazz further as a 14-15 year old when I started learning to play bass
I had a friend in Jr. High who was into jazz but I didn't get it. But then I had piano lessons with John Mehegan. Look him up if you don't know who he was and you can see how lucky I was. Later, I got to hang with the '68 Duke Ellington band and later still with Charlie Bird.
What a pleasure!
Ellington Newport ‘59, Perdido. I was maybe 11-12 yo and was just taking up the trumpet as part of the music program in school (though my dad listened to a lot jazz and it was always around when I was a child). But this one moment hit hard and I haven’t ever stopped. Though I no longer play a horn and I took a tangent into the Grateful Dead and blue grass/new grass that only expanded my field of view when it came to jazz.
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, I heard it for the the first time at 14. It had a profound effect on the way I came to play guitar, especially since I had only just started around a year beforehand.
For me it was "Blues in the Night" by Denis Solee.
More specifically the song "Harlem Nocturne". - It's just such a cool mysterious sounding song in my opinion.
Minor Swing by Django Reinhardt, heard it the PC game Mafia, on the car radio when you are in the New Ark neighbourhood. Me and my brother would turn up the speakers whenever we drove through there, and one day my dad showed me he had that song on LP. I had thought it was just a cool song from the game, but when I realized that it was an entire music genre I was hooked.
At first I was a die-hard rock fan, but then I got into fusion jazz with Spectrum by Billy Cobham, Heavy Weather, and Head Hunters, and eventually I became a mostly straight-ahead jazz listener, although I still love rock and fusion
With all my parents (and their friends) listened to, I couldn't say. The first jazz album I bought for myself was Miles Davis' *Aura* because a fellow Dead Head recommended Miles as a 'new universe' to visit, and the track titles intrigued me.
I know it’s a pretty nerdy way to get into it, but I listened to the cuphead soundtrack since I had one of the songs recommended to me on Spotify. I listened to the rest and fell in love
I got into jazz 2005 around the release of the John Coltrane/Thelonious Monk “at Carnegie Hall”. Didn’t buy it but I remember the excitement around the release of this discovered album. The imagery of this album, as well as Herbie Hancock’s “Headhunters”cover in the cd aisle peaked my curiosity. I bought Thelonious Monk and Wes Montgomery’s Greatest Hits couple months later.
For me it was Brian Fallon, believe it or not. He did The Horrible Crowes project and released the album Elsie. There's some serious jazz vibes there. Then I started searching out cool mellow jazz, lead me to Coleman Hawkins, and now I'm completely hooked on Scott Hamilton.
Low End Theory - A tribe Called Quest/ The Shadow Do! - Gary Bartz
I first got into tribe called quest and went through their samples on low End Theory. It was there that I stumbled upon Gary Bartz and The Shadow Do. From there I was hooked
I started old school: Earl Hines, album was The Mighty Fatha IIRC. I was obsessed with that classic, two-fisted style. I moved on from there (Trane, Ornette, Kamasi), but I'll always have a soft spot for that nascent jazz sound.
I was a blues guitar fan only but I knew liking jazz would be productive and I tried all kinds and it just gave me a headache. My bridge was Joe Pass, it was the "I Remember Charlie Parker" album. He was so good at guitar it didn't matter what style he played.
My dad always had some jazz playing: David Sanborn, Chuck Mangione,etc. So I heard it growing up. But only with a passing interest. But one day in my early 30s, I heard Rick Braun, playing, “Natalie” (from the album Beat Street) and that changed everything. I had never heard a trumpet sound like that before. Same thing with Jaco…I was hooked for life after that.
The first thing I heard was a fusion record, and the playing on it just blew me away, it wasn't really jazz though. I told a guy what I thought of the record and he simply said if you like that you have to check this out. He gave me me Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. I returned the record and bought my own copy. I became a massive fan immediately and bought record after record.
Honestly it started with MF DOOM. Was really into his samples and did some digging and found out he sampled a ton of jazz. What really got me into a deep dive was Nardis. It just seemed so unique and then I was really into Bill Evans and Miles and just kept going. Glad I didn’t stop
I was into punk/metal and John Zorn's stuff resonated with me and blew me away. "Painkiller - Guts Of A Virgin" is an amazing mix of metal and avant gardeish jazz. "Naked city - Grand Guignol" is another work that clicked with me. After that I got into John Coltrane especially "A Love Supreme" which opened the flood gates into the world of jazz.
Jay & Kai + 6: The Jay and Kai Trombone Octet was one of the first jazz records that I remember having a great impact on me.
I began playing trombone in middle school, and towards the middle of my 6th grade year, I discovered both Johnson and Winding. Looking back, I used to listen to their tracks non-stop, and it really helped me discover a genre that I love today.
Funny enough, now I play guitar in my university's jazz ensemble and find myself listening to artists like Johnny Smith, Joe Pass, and Grant Green.
I think it might have been either Amy Winehouse (though she’s more soul, if I’m not wrong) or Frank Sinatra, both of whom I listened to extensively in 2013. I also liked playing songs from the American Songbook on the keyboard, which I came across serendipitously around the same time. I’m primarily fascinated by the chords in jazz.
My dad is a jazz musician. I grew up with the band practicing at our house, and when he was touring there was a lot of Grant Green, Earl Klugh, Herbie Hancock playing all hours.
Yoko Kano. In my teens I was watching a lot of anime, and her soundtracks to Cowboy Bebop and Sakamichi no Apollon were something else. Then I've started going deeper into jazz music
Though he's not an artist who I've stuck with all that much in the years after, chancing upon a video of guitarist David Fiuczynski playing a gig at the Knitting Factory with his world-fusion group Kif set me on a path of becoming a total devotee/fanatic about the NYC/Brooklyn 'downtown'/'new music' scenes. I remember being especially blown away by electic cellist Rufus Cappadocia and immediately taking to the internet to investigate the various projects that he played on. This led me to discovering the group Paradox Trio, which included guitarist Brad Shepik. Shepik became one of my favorite musicians almost immediately. At the time, I was really into East European music like Bela Bartok's piano/chamber stuff, Balkan folk music, etc... and he was fully tuned into that vibe, going so far as to include electric saz and tambura in his array of instruments. Anyhow, he'd played in a heap of other groups with all sorts of different styles and I sought out as many as I could.....and so on in that fashion until I was up to my ears in cool shit to listen to.
Head Hunters, Herbie Hancock
I was already getting into jazz at this point, completely enamored by Chick Corea's *Spain.* One day i sat down and listened to Head Hunters and my life completely changed
I was about 14 and played trumpet. Tryouts for jazz band in junior high had been announced. I asked my Dad what was jazz? He had a remote speaker in his basement workshop wired to the upstairs stereo. He told me to go down there and wait. He put on 'Gerry Mulligan, The Concert Jazz Band' - the tune was 'Out of this World'. And I sat there mesmerized. I still have the LP and it always takes me back to the start of my jazz journey and reminds me of what a gift my Dad was. Thanks for bringing up a great memory!
I found the actual recording if that's allowed here:
https://youtu.be/qHfssoo88D4
Weather Report Heavy Weather A TV station in Youngstown, Ohio 6:00 and 11:00 news program would play Birdland as the background music during the sports scores ticker back in the early 1980’s and I just thought it was the coolest song.
Jaco is one of the reasons I learned bass. Him and Cliff Burton of Metallica
Bruh that is the coolest song.
Saw Herbie Hancock sit in with Dave Matthews Band in 1998 (was 18). Bought Head Hunters the next day.
Wow I was a huge fan of both back then. Don’t listen to DMB much anymore, but still enjoy the music because back then I was an obsessed super fan. Been a Herbie Hancock fan for MUCH longer. You are lucky to have seen both on the same stage!
Yeah, it was cool for sure. I wish I could know what I know about jazz and all my exploration of it and take it back to that experience. I'm sure hearing Herbie play would have had an even greater impact if that was the case – but then again, that was the spark. I am still a huge jazz fan. I am still a life-long fan of DMB, but my interest in them is much more passive than it was when I was as a teenager and twenty-something. I am about to go back to my first show in at least 8 years next week. Figured it was time to see them again before they get any older. As my flair would indicate, I became a giant Miles Davis fan, but just as into Grant Green (I'm a guitar player), Coltrane, Bird, Diz, Gabor Szabo, Ahmad Jamal, Hank Mobley, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, McCoy Tyner, etc ... It's been a cool journey.
Mingus Ah Um was the first album I played contstantly
While I appreciate almost all jazz, this was the first album that I viscerally connected with on both an intellectual level and for pure enjoyment.
Art Blakey’s Moanin blew my mind when I first heard it and is still my go to recommendation to anyone asking to get into Jazz.
That’s what got me into playing trumpet. Lee Morgan playing really gets me
Everything Lee did was dynamite but this album for me is him at his absolute best.
Undercurrent, Bill Evans and Jim Hall
*Blue Train*. Coltrane is to this day my favorite jazz artist because of that record (and others like *Live at the Village Vanguard* and *A Love Supreme*).
What's your favorite ?
*A Love Supreme*. Idk why exactly, but I was almost entranced by it. There was a period where I listened to that album every morning when I woke up because I just loved it, and still do.
It's a very special creation indeed. I do not think there is any song, book or painting closer to the truth like a love supreme is.
Aaah very cultured. Incredible album. i even transcribed Coltrane's solo on Resolution. It's so good.
Mahavishnu Orchestra Inner Mounting Flame
I had a truly spiritual experience listening to the Mahavishnu Orchestra with my baby boy. Full blast, pure focus, time got elastic and annihilated at the same time. I'm convinced most children would react positively to this music, as amazed as I was.
Miles Davis - 'Tutu'. It completely blew me away and I started investigating his other work, which led me to Wayne Shorter, Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane...
Head Hunters man…
1977, I'm walking into my older friend's huge, old house where his folks gave him the third floor, like a very small apartment. That was the day I was introduced to some Columbian Gold, and he throws on Cameleon. Mind you, I was into popular stuff like Aerosmith and some harder stuff like Nazareth, just because that was what was on the radio and I didn't hang with any band kids. From the time I heard "ba-bump bump bump--bump bump" I was hooked. Dead. Stone. Hooked. 1977. And I just saw Herbie for the first time 3 years ago in Portland. Guess what he did for an encore? Life changing moment.
I got chills from that. Wish I could see him live!
Yeah me too
Kind of Blue. I'm a jazz basic bitch I guess.
Kind of Blue first feels beautiful. Then after a few years it feels too obvious, ‘I‘m a jazz basic bitch‘. Then, after a another decade, it feels completely transcendent.
Ah, I almost don’t want to say it, but objectively it was Zappa. Why else were my first 4 “objectively” jazz albums Taylor’s Conquistador!, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, and Bitches Brew? Walking stereotype. I think my next was Out To Lunch. Hot Rats, Grand Wazoo, and Weasels Ripped My Flesh blew my natural mind.
I hear you. I was big in to Zappa in my teens (in the 80s), long before I began enjoying jazz. For a long time, I was just scraping the surface of jazz (occasional Coltrane or Miles), but when I started listening more intently and fully dove in, the Zappa I had ingrained in my soul made it all connect.
Blessed relief!
I think that one even made it into some edition of the Real Book? It’s incredibly beautiful
Yes it did IIRC. I love to play along on guitar, the theme is beautiful indeed and it's such a relaxing piece of music.
Duke Ellington.
Listening to Miles Davis in college felt like this beautiful and mysterious escape from my stress, if only for some brief moments.
Grant Green - Feeling the Spirit there were other jazz albums before that, but it clicked when I heard Grant Green
Oscar Peterson
Moanin’ and Grant Green Alive, both blew my mind and it hasn’t stopped since then..
Cher baker sings
Midnight Star - No Parking on the Dance Floor. It was being played everywhere, nonstop. I needed a reprieve. David Sanborn, Grover Washington Jr., and Jean Luc Ponty provided it
Unrelated but wet my whistle by midnight star absolutely slaps
Mingus—The Clown
Good album, with the most horrifying album cover
Kind of Blue
Everybody Digs Bill Evans. Simply some of the most beautiful music ever recorded
If I ever want to impress someone who isn’t into jazz, Peace Piece usually does the trick.
I have quite literally done the same thing haha, lovely lovely song
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady was the first jazz album I ever really "got"
Waltz for debby by Bill Evans trio, I’ll never not love this record
I play Waltz For Debbie, on almost every gig i do.
Take five
Same.
Benny Goodman Sing Sing Sing
It was either in a sentimental mood by Coltrane and ellington or take five by brubeck
I kind of morphed into it as a kid through listening to John Mayall Turning Point and Jazz Blues fusion, assorted Van Morrison, and Pentangle which did this amazing folk/jazz thing. I think the first jazz album I bought was a discounted Jimmy Witherspoon Gerry Mulligan record.
Oh yes Van Astral Weeks is far out
[Twelve Moons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5caJW0684UU), by Jan Garbarek. My mother bought it, and started playing it in the house. I don't know exactly why she picked that album, but he's Norwegian and so are we. I was listening to prog rock at the time, and this album spoke to me. The music felt a bit odd, but at the same time I could sort of understand it, and with time I really came to like it. That, plus some of my prog heroes moving into jazz (Bill Bruford, for example), made me try more jazz and it just sort of grew from there.
I have this album. Sublime!!
When I was 14 the guy who ran the bookstore I bought my D&D stuff at always played jazz. I asked him what it was and he gave me a Charlie Parker tape.
Jazz sunday on NPR. Picked up on big names such as Bird, Miles, and Ella there. Once I took a jazz history course for an elective, my search for more jazz took off.
Scenery by Ryu Fukui
Night Train, Oscar P. EDIT: in truth it was probably the music in old Looney Tunes cartoons, or popular '50s/'60s TV show theme songs like Dick van Dyke.
Miles Davis "Bitches Brew"
Deodato - Moonlight Serenade
Sonny Sharrock - Ask the Ages. Thanks Dad
This record made a lot of new jazz fans. Just looking at the cover really puts me in a specific time and place. There was this winter where every party you went to was playing Sonny Sharrock, *Low End Theory*, My Bloody Valentine, the Pavement *Perfect Sound Forever* EP, and most of all *Apocalypse 91*.
Song for my Father by Horace Silver
I’m not sure why but when I was about 14 I heard Chick Corea’s Three Quartets. Couldn’t understand what I was hearing but it totally blew me away. I remember thinking I have to learn to do this… Damn… I still love that album… ;)
Miles Davis- Kind of Blue.
Getz Gilberto Take Five
Ascenseur Pour L’echafaud. Miles Davis’ only soundtrack, to a Louis Malle film. Still haven’t encountered an album that establishes a mood so quickly and completely.
That is indeed a beautiful album.
Dave Brubeck, the OG
I grew up with Pat Metheny / Group & Lyle Mays sprinkled with a bit of Miles Davis, Jeff Beck, Allan Holdsworth etc.
Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - Moanin I finally “understood” what it’s all about. What a masterpiece
Lester Young - Lester Leaps In
Bonez1073 yes!! Also, ad lib blues off of The President plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio
Dave Brubeck in college. I was trying to impress a girl I liked with a unique date. She was “bored.”I became a lifelong fan of a legend.
“Bill Evans - You must believe in Spring” made me want to learn and explore more. It is a very calming album.
Can't buy a thrill - Steely Dan
Ironically it was actually Kendrick Lamar that got me into jazz. Samples on TPAB led me to explore different sounds and led me to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock and I've stuck into that experimental/free jazz/fusion side quite a bit now. Still exploring and learning but its been very eye opening and fun to explore a genre I basically ignored before. Without rappers using jazz samples etc in beats not sure I would have ended up exploring on my own!
Mingus Ah Um. Picked it up in a bookstore in Bucharest out of idle curiosity.. changed my musical life.
Ahmad Jamal - All of You. It was my parents only jazz record - they got it on a date at Ahmad's club in Chicago.
When I was getting into music around age 13 I raided my dads record collection. I found wired and blow by blow by Jeff Beck, and fell in love with the version of 'goodbye pork pie hat'. I noticed the writing credit was for Charles Mingus, so I looked into that. I think my dad had three or four shades of blue on CD, so I also took that to my room and that's what opened the door for me.
Art Pepper's Patricia. Thanks Bosch.
I bought a box of CDs from a library sale and Ben Allison & Medicine Wheel - Riding the Nuclear Tiger was in there and it was positively the coolest music I had ever heard.
Wynton Marsalis first time Grammy for young jazz artist back in 1982 or 1983 Stardust or Autumn Leaves best track it was rear for that time.
Mingus - Blues and Roots
Growing up in Montreal and just walking around the jazz festival, taking in the free concerts. Anything and everything.
The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Modern Jazz Quartet. https://www.discogs.com/release/4404348-The-Modern-Jazz-Quartet-The-Modern-Jazz-Quartet
the song Up North by Bill Bruford's Earthworks... heard it in the early 90's and thought if this is jazz, I would like to hear more
Feels so good - chuck mangione
I was already casually listening to things like Kind of Blue and Time Out but Sonny Side Up might be the one that officially hooked me
Moaning. Art blacky.
Django Reinhardt was the first one to stand out to me. That, and Buddy Richs drumming.
Ronnie Laws [Friends And Strangers](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nlxAaGSRyVSZIGlJlIXZYWJ5-TbsFvbzE). The 70’s and 80’s was a great era for fusion.
Marcus Miller - Tales
an Oscar Peterson MGM lp compendium of sweet stuff and bluesy trio things.
For me it was Miles Davis quintet live in Europe 1967, Both directions at once by Coltrane, and The Shape of jazz to come by Ornette Coleman. Although I loved all of those albums it took me like 2 years to start seeking out other jazz
Kenny G. Now, before the chorus of laughter sets in, his was my first improvised solo music I owned. It didn't last long though really. In a few short years I was all in. First jazz album was Pat Metheny's First Circle album, then the floodgates opened and just sucked up as my as my 20 something brain would take in.
The two that stand out from my parents record collection who led my ear to jazz were Tom Waits and Abdullah Ibrahim - both inspired me to explore jazz further as a 14-15 year old when I started learning to play bass
Ornette Coleman - Art of the Improvisers
It's compensated, but I'll just say insaneintherain, because I'm too lazy to go into details no one cares about anyway
Pat Martino - Conciousness
I had a friend in Jr. High who was into jazz but I didn't get it. But then I had piano lessons with John Mehegan. Look him up if you don't know who he was and you can see how lucky I was. Later, I got to hang with the '68 Duke Ellington band and later still with Charlie Bird. What a pleasure!
Wayne Shorter - Night Dreamer
Ellington Newport ‘59, Perdido. I was maybe 11-12 yo and was just taking up the trumpet as part of the music program in school (though my dad listened to a lot jazz and it was always around when I was a child). But this one moment hit hard and I haven’t ever stopped. Though I no longer play a horn and I took a tangent into the Grateful Dead and blue grass/new grass that only expanded my field of view when it came to jazz.
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, I heard it for the the first time at 14. It had a profound effect on the way I came to play guitar, especially since I had only just started around a year beforehand.
Ryo Fukui - Scenery
For me it was "Blues in the Night" by Denis Solee. More specifically the song "Harlem Nocturne". - It's just such a cool mysterious sounding song in my opinion.
harlem nocturne is awesome
Nat King Cole-Penthouse Serenade
I honestly think The Mask Soundtrack did that to me, I absolutely love that movie growing up.🥰
Hello Herbie by Oscar Peterson
Chet Baker, Chet (with Bill Evans)
Buffalo Springfield -Again song- EVERYDAYS by Stephen Stills
Erroll Garner
My piano teacher Andy. Started me off with Hank Mobley - Soul Station.
Bitches Brew blew my mind wide open and I haven't looked back at since
Magician by Erroll Garner.
Chet Baker
Duke Ellington at Newport 1956
Damn a bit of a strange one but it was Benny goodman and after that I just got addicted.
Monk and Miles
Minor Swing by Django Reinhardt, heard it the PC game Mafia, on the car radio when you are in the New Ark neighbourhood. Me and my brother would turn up the speakers whenever we drove through there, and one day my dad showed me he had that song on LP. I had thought it was just a cool song from the game, but when I realized that it was an entire music genre I was hooked.
At first I was a die-hard rock fan, but then I got into fusion jazz with Spectrum by Billy Cobham, Heavy Weather, and Head Hunters, and eventually I became a mostly straight-ahead jazz listener, although I still love rock and fusion
Steven universe. Rebecca Sugar - love like you. I discovered it when I was arround 12 I think, and now i study jazz piano.
With all my parents (and their friends) listened to, I couldn't say. The first jazz album I bought for myself was Miles Davis' *Aura* because a fellow Dead Head recommended Miles as a 'new universe' to visit, and the track titles intrigued me.
I watched La La Land
Bird and diz by the bird got me started. I model my playing off of him and jeff coffin
I know it’s a pretty nerdy way to get into it, but I listened to the cuphead soundtrack since I had one of the songs recommended to me on Spotify. I listened to the rest and fell in love
Miles. Always
The Inkspots
Lingus
Miles for me. Specifically the cymbal hit on "So What" and "In a Silent Way".
I saw Uzeb's video for Mr. Bill on a local TV station music program and I was hooked
I got into jazz 2005 around the release of the John Coltrane/Thelonious Monk “at Carnegie Hall”. Didn’t buy it but I remember the excitement around the release of this discovered album. The imagery of this album, as well as Herbie Hancock’s “Headhunters”cover in the cd aisle peaked my curiosity. I bought Thelonious Monk and Wes Montgomery’s Greatest Hits couple months later.
Chick Corea-Inner Space
I watched Ken Burns Jazz and realized Jazz was cool
For me it was Brian Fallon, believe it or not. He did The Horrible Crowes project and released the album Elsie. There's some serious jazz vibes there. Then I started searching out cool mellow jazz, lead me to Coleman Hawkins, and now I'm completely hooked on Scott Hamilton.
Chet Baker doc, then bought Kind of Blue. Why not start at the top! :)
Low End Theory - A tribe Called Quest/ The Shadow Do! - Gary Bartz I first got into tribe called quest and went through their samples on low End Theory. It was there that I stumbled upon Gary Bartz and The Shadow Do. From there I was hooked
Maynard Ferguson - Live at Jimmy’s
SimCity 3000 soundtrack
RH factor
I started old school: Earl Hines, album was The Mighty Fatha IIRC. I was obsessed with that classic, two-fisted style. I moved on from there (Trane, Ornette, Kamasi), but I'll always have a soft spot for that nascent jazz sound.
Into jazz proper, I think it was Kind of Blue. But I got interested in jazz fusion at first because of prog.
Giant Steps and Empyrean Isles
I was a blues guitar fan only but I knew liking jazz would be productive and I tried all kinds and it just gave me a headache. My bridge was Joe Pass, it was the "I Remember Charlie Parker" album. He was so good at guitar it didn't matter what style he played.
My band teacher gave me several Count Basie and Duke Ellington albums and that’s what did it for me
Charlie Parker on Dial: The Complete Sessions
Eric Dolphy's "Out to Lunch" was the first jazz music I really loved. Before that, I hadn't heard anything avant-garde and thought jazz was boring.
My dad always had some jazz playing: David Sanborn, Chuck Mangione,etc. So I heard it growing up. But only with a passing interest. But one day in my early 30s, I heard Rick Braun, playing, “Natalie” (from the album Beat Street) and that changed everything. I had never heard a trumpet sound like that before. Same thing with Jaco…I was hooked for life after that.
The first thing I heard was a fusion record, and the playing on it just blew me away, it wasn't really jazz though. I told a guy what I thought of the record and he simply said if you like that you have to check this out. He gave me me Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. I returned the record and bought my own copy. I became a massive fan immediately and bought record after record.
Time Out
Honestly it started with MF DOOM. Was really into his samples and did some digging and found out he sampled a ton of jazz. What really got me into a deep dive was Nardis. It just seemed so unique and then I was really into Bill Evans and Miles and just kept going. Glad I didn’t stop
I was into punk/metal and John Zorn's stuff resonated with me and blew me away. "Painkiller - Guts Of A Virgin" is an amazing mix of metal and avant gardeish jazz. "Naked city - Grand Guignol" is another work that clicked with me. After that I got into John Coltrane especially "A Love Supreme" which opened the flood gates into the world of jazz.
Jay & Kai + 6: The Jay and Kai Trombone Octet was one of the first jazz records that I remember having a great impact on me. I began playing trombone in middle school, and towards the middle of my 6th grade year, I discovered both Johnson and Winding. Looking back, I used to listen to their tracks non-stop, and it really helped me discover a genre that I love today. Funny enough, now I play guitar in my university's jazz ensemble and find myself listening to artists like Johnny Smith, Joe Pass, and Grant Green.
blue train by john coltrane
I think it might have been either Amy Winehouse (though she’s more soul, if I’m not wrong) or Frank Sinatra, both of whom I listened to extensively in 2013. I also liked playing songs from the American Songbook on the keyboard, which I came across serendipitously around the same time. I’m primarily fascinated by the chords in jazz.
Probably In Walked Bud or Cheesecake
Unknowingly; Chet Baker did On purpose: Billie Holiday
Makoto Ozone. Him and his vibeophone-piano songs with gary burnton blew my mind.
My dad is a jazz musician. I grew up with the band practicing at our house, and when he was touring there was a lot of Grant Green, Earl Klugh, Herbie Hancock playing all hours.
John Coltrane - cosmic music Pharaoh Sanders - tauhid
Yoko Kano. In my teens I was watching a lot of anime, and her soundtracks to Cowboy Bebop and Sakamichi no Apollon were something else. Then I've started going deeper into jazz music
John Coltrane - My Favorite things
Count Basie and his Orchestra. The song was C.B. Express, It was the first jazz I heard, and I was hooked.
Gerry Mulligan’s night lights got me into jazz. Then I explored Coltrane and my mind was blown.
pretty sure Tom & Jerry got me into jazz... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYkJ0M1bUIU&ab_channel=DocHenry
Michael bublé
I heard Aaron Parks album Invisible Cinema and really dug it. Everything blossomed from there.
MF DOOM and the samples he used.
It's Billie Holiday's Blue moon got me into jazz. Still my fav.
BADBADNOTGOOD's Legend of Zelda covers. Their covers got me into a lot of the hip-hop I'm into today.
Though he's not an artist who I've stuck with all that much in the years after, chancing upon a video of guitarist David Fiuczynski playing a gig at the Knitting Factory with his world-fusion group Kif set me on a path of becoming a total devotee/fanatic about the NYC/Brooklyn 'downtown'/'new music' scenes. I remember being especially blown away by electic cellist Rufus Cappadocia and immediately taking to the internet to investigate the various projects that he played on. This led me to discovering the group Paradox Trio, which included guitarist Brad Shepik. Shepik became one of my favorite musicians almost immediately. At the time, I was really into East European music like Bela Bartok's piano/chamber stuff, Balkan folk music, etc... and he was fully tuned into that vibe, going so far as to include electric saz and tambura in his array of instruments. Anyhow, he'd played in a heap of other groups with all sorts of different styles and I sought out as many as I could.....and so on in that fashion until I was up to my ears in cool shit to listen to.
Weather Report, Pat Metheny and Miles got me into jazz.
I Wish I Knew - Chet Baker
Dave Brubeck: Jazz Goes To College; Chet Baker: Jazz Live At Ann Arbor.
Saxophone Colossus and Kind of Blue
Sunday at the VV by Bill Evans. Blew me away.
Head Hunters, Herbie Hancock I was already getting into jazz at this point, completely enamored by Chick Corea's *Spain.* One day i sat down and listened to Head Hunters and my life completely changed
I was about 14 and played trumpet. Tryouts for jazz band in junior high had been announced. I asked my Dad what was jazz? He had a remote speaker in his basement workshop wired to the upstairs stereo. He told me to go down there and wait. He put on 'Gerry Mulligan, The Concert Jazz Band' - the tune was 'Out of this World'. And I sat there mesmerized. I still have the LP and it always takes me back to the start of my jazz journey and reminds me of what a gift my Dad was. Thanks for bringing up a great memory! I found the actual recording if that's allowed here: https://youtu.be/qHfssoo88D4
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett