Recommended music - other than classical and pop



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I was digging around looking for more of Clifford Brown and Kenny Dorham, when I came across a somewhat unheralded Art Blakey/Jazz Messengers album - Like Someone in Love. This from the Lee Morgan/Wayne Shorter iteration of the Messengers, is a companion to their Night in Tunisia that is a better known album.
I found Morgan and Shorter to be more to my taste on the lesser known album, propelled forward by some robust drumming by Blakey. Great medium and slow tempo blowing on the trumpet and sax, and very well remastered, so crisp and clean sound.
I agree. Lovely album.

Another of my desert island tunes is Round Midnight. There are so many versions of it but the 1957 Miles Davis version from the album of that name still rules in my book. And is still as fresh as ever.

Where it comes to singing it, Karrin Allyson, on an album by the same name, with an excellent band supporting her.
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Their version of Strayhorn's Lush Life is definitive, IMO.
emphazise his number 4 on his list: 4. Jan Johannsen - Jazz pa Svenska. Fantastic intrumental jazz.
I agree. It is also surprisingly little known outside of Scandinavia. It is so good that I will endorse it again just now. Excellent recording of high clarity too and rarely heard tunes. I did not find any of his other work to be anywhere close to how good this one is.
Timeless music never sounds dated. ;)

By definition?!
I hadn't heard this one - very nice and I am in just my first listen. The singing style isn't modern of course, but making an allowance for that, it doesn't sound its age of 60 years.
Thank you.


Timeless music never sounds dated. ;)

Her Gil Evans collaboration is also a classic, as, of course, is Miles Davis' work with Gil.
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If the above is to your tastes, these three are brilliant, I have found:
1. Ragas and Sagas - Garbarek and Hussain
2. Making Music - Zakir Hussain
3. Song for Everyone - Garbarek, Hussain, Gurtu
Garabarek on his own can be hard to digest, I have found, but I like him on these.


I took up the runes by garbarek is hugely used as background music on snowy tv-documentaries here up north
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Just wanted to send kudos to threadstarter and emphazise his number 4 on his list: 4. Jan Johannsen - Jazz pa Svenska. Fantastic intrumental jazz. Just what you want to put on anytime to make an easy and feelgood mood. thanks
Clifford Brown and Helen Merrill
I hadn't heard this one - very nice and I am in just my first listen. The singing style isn't modern of course, but making an allowance for that, it doesn't sound its age of 60 years.
Thank you.
Any jazz addict that has seen Tom Hanks in the Terminal will remember the last few minutes to be the most memorable of an otherwise forgettable movie - when Benny Golson breaks out into his signature tune, Killer Joe.
I had not heard of Benny till I saw the movie and I then hunted down the album Art Farmer/Benny Golson meet the Jazztet that has this and other great tunes on it.
I have just discovered another great and recent Golson album - Terminal 1, performed/released along with the movie ten years ago, Golson and band in fine form.
Recommended music for sax and trumpet jazz fans.
I have to say that both my Connect Amp based set up as well as the play 1 pair+Sub main system render this and similar music brilliantly.
Sadly, nothing at home can capture the magic of being in a club where a top class jazz set is on.
Another good album that has vocals on about half the tracks - Melody Gardot, Cassandra Wilson, Norah Jones, Diana Krall and some others - is Sophisticated Ladies by the ever dependable Charlie Haden quartet.
Clifford Brown - The Singers Sessions is a compilation of his individual pairings with Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and Helen Merrill, all quite special, if you're into vocal jazz.

1. Clifford Brown - a recent discovery on my part. With Strings


What a phenomenal album. Just got back from running my errands and was able to listen to it completely through. His interpretations of the standards are incredible... especially 'What's New.' That staccato method he's using for some of the melody is brilliant, and fits so well. Awesome recommendation... thanks.
Chet Baker In Paris Barclay sessions is brilliant - only one track, the last, is where he breaks into unwelcome song!
Art Pepper also has a good strings album - Winter Moon.
If you liked Clifford with strings, you might want to try Quiet Kenny as well. Not strings, but his only single horn quartet session. Right up there with Brown and Diz where trumpet chops are concerned, this is Kenny for late nights.
The live album, Bird With Strings is one of those gems I found in a used CD shop years ago. Ben Webster, Chet Baker, Cannonball Adderley, and Lee Konitz all have great 'with strings' albums. Though I'm not that big a fan of Chet's vocals... His horn playing, though... man.

I just downloaded Clifford Brown's album from Amazon. Really liking it...
Charlie Parker with Strings is also very good. As with the Clifford Brown album, the strings do not drown everything in sugar coating on this one as well.
Number 1 is intriguing to me because of the 'with strings' part. Thanks, K. Looking forward to sampling these for acquisition.
Great music, mostly from the jazz genre, that I discovered recently:
1. Clifford Brown - a recent discovery on my part. With Strings, A Study in Brown and Clifford Brown and Max Roach are all superb albums. The sound of his trumpet is still fresh and eminently listenable even now.
2. Lynne Arriale piano trio - Come Together, Inspiration are excellent. Nuance has more of Randy Brecker's trumpet on it, but also very good.
3. Another great sound on the trumpet is from Kenny Dorham. Afro Cuban for a party groove and Quiet Kenny for less noisy occasions.
4. More party grooves on Funky Abba, by the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. Abba music is of one flavour, so this album also ends up like that and is best used in a shuffled playlist.
5. I was looking for a good version of Harlem Nocturne and that turned up the Sonny Stitt version on his 37 minutes and 48 seconds album. Perhaps the best version of the tune, but the rest of the eighteen tracks are also very good.
What's it with the Scandinavian jazz scene that keeps turning up new approaches to jazz, particularly trio sets?
I just found a new one to me, that ticks all the boxes - Norwegian this time, Hello Troll by the Helge Lien Trio. Piano/bass/drums, very well recorded/mastered too.
Excellent recent release led by drummer Wolfgang Haffner - Kind of Cool. Modern take on jazz standards like So What, Autumn Leaves, Summertime and some others and some original music. Clean fresh sound for a new spin to some classic jazz. I liked this one.

Tord Gustavsen - "Being There", "Changing Places", "The Ground"


Those are probably the best of Tord.
Another great piano trio is the Marcin Wasilewksi led one. January, Faithful and Trio are excellent. Spark of Life is good too, as is their early music on Habanera, when they called themselves the Simple Acoustic Trio.
They play in some Tomasz Stanko quartets as well, many of which are excellent.
An excellent new release in jazz - mostly trumpet, bass and drums - is Dark Nights/Avishai Cohen. He has earlier albums as well, but I preferred the mood on this one.
Lots of wonderful suggestions for which thanks!. I have recently come across Cassandra Wilson who blew me away (like Chantal Chamberland, mentioned earlier).

I am not huge fan anymore of Jan Garbarek but do like other Scandinavian jazz:

Lars Danielson - "Pasodoble" and "The time"

Bobo Stenson - "Serenity", "Indicum"

Esbjørn Svensson - "Viaticum"

Tord Gustavsen - "Being There", "Changing Places", "The Ground"

If you like the clarinet try Gianluigi Trovesi - "In Cerca Di Cibo"

Bordering on pop but very spirited and uplifting: Melissa Laveaux.

For those who don't shy away from an interesting mixture of baroque and jazz you might want to try L'arpeggiata - "All'Improvviso" (esp. the tracks with Gianluigi Trovesi).
I suspect it might be too close to pop for some of you, but I've recently come across First Aid Kit - kind of folk-ish.

You guys should check out the NPR Tiny Desk Concerts available on Youtube. Lots of new artists I hadn't heard of before. A little bit of everything! Here's a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1B627337ED6F55F0
What a wonderful voyage of discovery this is. I'd forgotten about Song for Everyone (including the fabulous Trilok Gurtu).
In looking for the CD under "S", I rediscovered John Scofield's "Hand Jive".

Indeed, and there is so much excellent undiscovered music!
Another excellent east west album is Making Music/Zakir Hussain. Garbarek being too loud in the mix in some places apart, all tracks are brilliant.

Looking up Scofield, I found his tribute to Ray Charles - That's what I say. Very good, as is a Lee Ritenour led A Twist of Marley.
What a wonderful voyage of discovery this is. I'd forgotten about Song for Everyone (including the fabulous Trilok Gurtu). I must have the record but not the CD. Deezer to the rescue!

In looking for the CD under "S", I rediscovered John Scofield's "Hand Jive". A happy and energetic album. Available on Deezer and GPMAA.