Jazz education

PQleyR

Platinum Member
For my next trick, I shall open a can of worms.

There are many people on this forum who know a great deal about jazz. What would you suggest for someone who wishes to gain a greater understanding of jazz, particularly its history and how it fits into the wider world of music? Are there any absolutely-must-listen-to recordings, or must-watch documentaries that you would recommend?
 
Oh my, where to begin. That's one enormous can.

So many important people to listen to. Understanding their life may help to understand some of the history of Jazz as well.

To me, you can't begin to cover Jazz History without putting Louis Armstrong near the top of the list.

Here's the really hard part... Put the quality of the recordings in context to the time it was done and the equipment available. Listen to what is happening in the music of The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens.

Want to go back a little farther? Bessie Smith (blues) & King Oliver are two names.

It's the music my Dad raised me on (I'm 45 today). He was into the music from Bessie Smith up to Charlie Parker. His interest stopped there. New Orleans, Big Band, Swing Bands, Chicago Jazz (Krupa & Tough) was all I grew up with.

Read Duke Ellington - Music Is My Mistress, and countless other books by the giants.

You'll see so many names that continue to come up and how this person began by playing in this other band with these other people that became giants, etc.... It's a big ball to unwind for sure.

Want to go to a place where so many people disagree on the quality, accuracy and depth of it? Look at Ken Burn's series. While I disagree with the people who say it's terrible, I also know his angle was not to cover "it all" - only skim it and was to stop slightly at Post-Bop times.

With any historical piece, it's almost impossible to get it all right and included. It at least would provide a launching point then you can get more facts and details by branching off in your interests.
 
The can is too big for me. I've been listening to jazz since the early 1950's. I'm still learning
about what was recorded and what is out there. It is vast. There are significant milestone recordings too....and they are numerous. I would suggest that to make things more manageable you focus on a decade at a time, or by "eras" in jazz. These smaller cans
will be plenty big. Good Luck!
 
I took a jazz history class in college, and combined that with some 20+ years of reading Modern Drummer magazine.
 
I started watching the Ken Burn's documentary, saw the first disc tonight. What is really striking, and I am not surprised, is how much race, slavery, and New Orleans are all at the center.

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/

That's what the video thing said anyway. Does anybody else have an opinion on this documentary?
 
You can check out "the Jazz Pioneers" on the "Choose your drummer" page on DrummerWorld, you'll find a biography of these marvellous players as well as audio samples and videos...

It's worth a look.
 
I started watching the Ken Burn's documentary, saw the first disc tonight. What is really striking, and I am not surprised, is how much race, slavery, and New Orleans are all at the center.

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/

That's what the video thing said anyway. Does anybody else have an opinion on this documentary?

Jazz music does in part, develop as a result of what else was happening at the same time within the country so though it may dwell a little much in the beginning on civil rights, the music at that time does reflect that. Additionally, the beginning roots of the music itself comes from the blues, spirituals and slavery songs so it is somewhat relevant to knowing the history.

Civil rights issues impacted all the players and who they could perform with, who they couldn't, where they could play, how they were treated and ultimately the music they created. Louis Armstrong, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and others music reflect this.

Studying Jazz Drumming alone will be a little different. If you are interested in Jazz Drumming History, then you check out The Evolution of Jazz Drumming (Book CD & DVD) by Danny Gottlieb.
 
Ben, you already have so many good things going, cool things. Why mess it all up by getting into jazz?
 
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