# Interested in jazz - where to begin?



## octatoan (Jun 17, 2014)

I've always been interested in jazz, but I've never known where to start. 
I like progressive metal (mad about AAL and Ne Obliviscaris!), a lot of other metal and also classical music.

Could someone recommend me something? Instrumentals are equally as cool as (if not _more_ than) songs with vocals.

I've heard of a certain Thelonious Monk, to begin with.


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## celticelk (Jun 17, 2014)

Starting out, it's hard to go wrong with anyone's "Top 10/20/50/100 Jazz Albums of All Time" list - you'll find there's a lot of overlap. If I have to recommend *one* place to start, it's usually *Kind of Blue* by Miles Davis, but opinions vary.


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## stevexc (Jun 17, 2014)

Pretty much what celticelk said. Pick any album off of someone's Top X list and listen to some other albums by that artist, but also listen for the other musicians. Say you pop in Kind of Blue and really dig the bass playing - that's John Chambers, he also played on a lot Coltrane's albums, so check some of that out, for instance.

I'm a bassist myself, so I'm a biiiig fan of Ron Carter's All Blues, Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew.


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## twizza (Jun 17, 2014)

Here's a few recommendations:


Dave Brubeck - Time Out

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Miles Smiles


John Coltrane - My Favorite Things


As stevexc said, Ron Carter is pretty awesome. (and he's on like half my jazz LPs). I just scored a nice thrift store copy of Jim Hall - Commitment. A great album, and yep - Carter on the bass mon.


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## lhoffl (Jun 18, 2014)

For some more modern jazz:

Tigran Hamasyan "Shadow Theater" - The Court Jester (Official) - YouTube

Avishai Cohen - Smash - YouTube

https://play.spotify.com/album/40hNiRNaSRYfvAHWTDM0BV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18HPVYj_HnY //severely jazz inspired prog rock


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## BEADGBE7 (Jun 18, 2014)

+1 Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters
+1Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

and then any john coltrane
specifically Giant steps and sax impressions


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## BEADGBE7 (Jun 18, 2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ99OMlI5cg

And snarky Puppy-- much more modern


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## Rizzo (Jun 19, 2014)

Guitar-wise, i find Wes Montgomery pretty pleasing to begin with.
To have a rock-ish first approach to Jazz, you could start with some fusion as well!


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## Solodini (Jun 20, 2014)

All the gypsy jazz stuff is fun, too: Django + Stephan Grappelli, et c..


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## MeriTone Music (Jul 1, 2014)

Awesoham said:


> I've always been interested in jazz, but I've never known where to start.
> I like progressive metal (mad about AAL and Ne Obliviscaris!), a lot of other metal and also classical music.
> 
> Could someone recommend me something? Instrumentals are equally as cool as (if not _more_ than) songs with vocals.
> ...




Learning to play a few standards would be great... like Autumn leaves for example... although you might want to break it down a little more at first and learn some of the essential building blocks, like 2-5-1s for example... 

Here's a jam track for playing on a classic (major) 2-5-1 progression in C... 


Chord progression: 

II: Dm7 I G7 I Cmaj7 I Cmaj7 :II 

and keeping it simple, here's one for a MINOR 2-5-1


Chord progression: 

II: Bmin7b5 I E7 I Amin7 I Amin7 :II 

On the tracks, you will hear extensions of these chords - as is common in jazz of course  

(Check each video description for additional info and tips....) 


Learning some theory is kinda essential also when approaching jazz..... learning your modes for example. Perhaps a modal tune like So What (Miles Davis) would be a good start.....


Here's a groove version you can jam on and have some fun with... it's D Dorian and Eb dorian mode, respectively... (again, there's more info on the video)... 



Oh and the BLUES is a great bridge into jazz too... 

HERE is a playlist of free jazz blues backing tracks you might find handy 


I hope that helps....! Happy jazz shredding


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## Rojne (Jul 8, 2014)

Check out Ben Monder, Nicolas Masson, Kristjan Randalu and Jan Johansson.. you might find them interesting!


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## Velokki (Aug 13, 2014)

Ne Obliviscaris! You've got taste, man! Can't wait for their new album.

I'm just too lazy to learn jazz :/


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## brycegoertzen (Aug 13, 2014)

The album that got me fired up about jazz was "Rest of the Story" by Chris Tarry (bassist)
It's has more of a fusion feel, but it turned me on to Mike Moreno, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jonathan Kreisberg, etc.

Listening to Allan Holdsworth and especially Esbjorn Svensson Trio really fires me up as well. (those are also more "fusion" oriented bands)


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## Vince Marrone (Nov 11, 2014)

You can start with the Django stuff. I have been playing that stuff for years and it really is like shredding on acoustic guitars, with simple chord changes (for jazz anyway). Super fun (and challenging!!) to play and listen to. Don't neglect the great 70's fusion stuff. Billy Cobham's 'Spectrum' album is awesome. Miles Davis 'Bitches's Brew', what a band! 60's Wes Montgomery is as funky and lyrical as anyone needs to be. If I could play as well as he did every day, I would never be nervous to play with anyone again.


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## FrankDeets (Nov 14, 2014)

I recommend grabbing a real book, practicing that, and watching the youtube videos of the songs. You will get info on a lot of standards.


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## shadowlife (Nov 19, 2014)

Miles Davis- Kind Of Blue

John Coltrane- Coltrane's Sound and Giant Steps

Try some Allan Holdsworth- i'd suggest starting with Road Games- here's one of my favorite tracks:


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## CircuitalPlacidity (Nov 27, 2014)

I spent many years trying to get into jazz by looking up and learning stuff from great jazz guitarists. While this gave some fine results I felt my creativity really opened up when I started really listening to, dissecting, and learning lines from other instruments (piano, sax, etc...). That I what really got me sounding jazzy. Its all about building vocabulary and expanding on it. Whatever you do dont neglect the other instruments. There are things that can translate from almost any instrument that can teach you a ton. I know my theory didn't take off until I read theory books aimed at sax players. That's the best advice I can give you. Good luck man.


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## musicaldeath (Nov 27, 2014)

+1 on learning other instruments. Particularly sax stuff. Not necessarily jazz related, but learning all the sax lines in Us and Them launched my playing up light years. I have only just started seriously studying jazz... the 2-5-1 is very important. From there, I like learning chord melodies/solos for the most part. I haven't worked much on the lead lines yet.


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## ImNotAhab (Dec 2, 2014)

Very helpful everyone, i have also liked jazz for a while but would have no idea how to approach it from a guitar based perspective.


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## SeditiousDissent (Dec 3, 2014)

No love for Les Paul, George Benson or Pat Metheny? For shame, SSO, for shame, indeed. 

To the OP, I was always a fan of jazz music as a kid. In fact, I would fall asleep listening to 107.5 _The Oasis_ on the radio every night. It wasn't until college that I actually became a "student" of jazz guitar. I took a couple of semesters of Jazz Guitar Ensemble. I would definitely try to focus on learning the ii-v-i chords for different keys, but don't stop there. Work on your comp and improv chops over some of the backing tracks that are available. Practice your chart reading until you see notations in your sleep. 

Also, try to get your hands on some jazz guitar books. IMO, the best one for an _intermediate_ player coming from a rock background is Patterns, Scales and Modes for Jazz Guitar by Arnie Berle. 







Another good one by Arnie Berle is Chord Progressions for Jazz and Popular Guitar. 






I will be the first to admit that I am a poor excuse for a jazz guitarist, but I have been able to take the ideas and lessons I learned and translate them into my own style of playing. Branching out of your comfort zone might get frustrating, but it will be worth it in the end when you're busting out a Bm9/E13/Amaj7 chord progression like it's your job.


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## Ataraxia2320 (Dec 6, 2014)

Was literally about to post the same thread. 

Sorry to highjack this a bit, but does anyone have a recommendation for a good all around jazz guitar book to learn from a really basic level of understanding?


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## guitarfan85 (Dec 7, 2014)

Frank gambale


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## jonajon91 (Dec 8, 2014)

You got to find out what Jazz you want to listen to first. Early, modal, smooth, lounge, bebop, free, avant garde, fusion, classical jazz. So many choices. Massive plus one to Tigran Hamasyan hough, seriously fantastic piano jazz, better rhythms than meshuggah.


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## AugmentedFourth (Dec 8, 2014)

I'm going to once again recommend Tigran Hamasyan, and if it helps, I started out jazz listening to Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil.

EDIT:


jonajon91 said:


> You got to find out what Jazz you want to listen to first. Early, modal, smooth, lounge, bebop, free, avant garde, fusion, *classical jazz*. So many choices. Massive plus one to Tigran Hamasyan hough, seriously fantastic piano jazz, better rhythms than meshuggah.



I'm curious what you mean by that. Maybe this?


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## Dusty Chalk (Dec 8, 2014)

Stravinsky? Gershwin? Shostakovich?
List of jazz-influenced classical compositions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## octatoan (Dec 14, 2014)

I do listen to Stravinsky (and a little Shostakovich, whose music I discovered recently from the London Philharmonic's "collection" albums).

I never knew this thread got so many replies  I'll work through these in the meantime, but please keep up the posting so that this thread can be nice for people looking to start.


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## danresn (Dec 22, 2014)

BEADGBE7 said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ99OMlI5cg
> 
> And snarky Puppy-- much more modern



I came here to share that song. Snarky Puppy are fantastic and it's always good to hear different styles of a new genre, they definitely have a modern sound.


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## TonyGD (Dec 24, 2014)

The people in this thread have provided you with great names. Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Holdsworth, Snarky Puppy, Pat Metheny, Django, all great. 
Jazz Fusion, but if you enjoy Holdsworth, perhaps you'll enjoy Wishful Thinking. The band Chaka Khan had in the studio for this song was pretty sweet. It's essentially a fusion cover of a Dizzy Gillespie song with her singing over it. It's been covered a lot, so its pretty popular. Read something about that version of the song featuring Dizzy, not actually sure how true that is, but that synth solo!!!!


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