Your opinions needed

[Dharris]

I appreciate all kinds of music, ranging from Classical, blues to jazz.
I especially love greatly recorded stuff.

What would you recommend me for a good ear tickle in the genres?

Jazz
Blues
Spanish guitar
Classical guitar

Thank you all!

Don

[Ex Lion Tamer]

What would you recommend me for a good ear tickle in the genres?

Jazz - Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus, Bill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debbie
Blues - dunno
Spanish guitar - uhhh....Jesse Cook - Vertigo
Classical guitar - dunno

[DarrenH]

I won't mention Miles Davis's electric jazz of the late 60's and early 70's except to say that In A Silent Way is very good and should not be overlooked. If you should want any suggestions from this period (or the jazz fusion movement of the 70's) then by all means, let me know

Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Dave Brubeck - Jazz At Oberlin
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Thelonius Monk - Monk's Dream
Thelonius Monk - Monk's Blues
Larry Carlton - Sapphire Blue
John Coltrane - Blue Train
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
Eddie Harris - Exodus To Jazz (maybe a little hard to find but worth it)

Miles Davis - Tons of stuff. Extensive catalog and nearly all of it has been remastered. Lots of folks recommend Kind Of Blue which is also available on SACD. I like the Cookin', Relaxin', Steamin' and Workin' sets as well. Released as four separate CD's and recently remastered. Other Miles Davis releases to consider:

Birth Of The Cool
'Round About Midnight
Sketches Of Spain. w/Gil Evans
E.S.P
Miles Smiles

Verve released an excellent Charlie Parker box set entitled "The Complete Verve Master Takes 1947-1954"

Darren

[mad rhetorik]

Well, I dunno about the others, but jazz I can definitely help ya with. Along with Darren's excellent suggestions (I can vouch for about 3/4's of them) I reccommend the following:

Ornette Coleman: The Shape Of Jazz To Come
Don't be put off by Coleman's reputation as a noisy free improvisor and the unwieldy title. This 1959 album is classic and contains some of the finest melodies ever consigned to wax. "Lonely Woman," "Chronology," "Peace," "Focus On Sanity".... get this, for sure.

Horace Silver: Song For My Father
Funky, playful, spontaneous blues-based jazz with awesome chemistry and playing. The title track later inspired some Steely Dan tune, but don't hold that against it. ; P

Thelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners
Monk strikes out on his own for this one, and starts getting adventurous. His style behind the piano is idiosyncratic and unique. Sonny Rollins is blowing on this one, and drum giant Max Roach is here too. "Pannonica" and the title track are classics.

Lee Morgan: Sidewinder
Awesome hard bop by a real master behind the trumpet. The title track has a HUGE groove that'll have you humming for days.

Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane:
It's all right there in the title, isn't it? Must-buy. About the only complaint I can lodge against it is its short length.

Cannonball Adderly: Somethin' Else
Buy this right after Kind Of Blue--the two albums are almost separated at birth. Miles Davis is blowing on this one--he knows exactly how to complement Adderly. "Autumn Leaves" done by this lineup is amazing, as is "Love For Sale."

Wes Montogomery: The Incredible Jazz Guitar Of...
Classic jazz guitar, very laid-back and chilled though not "muzak" by any stretch. Wes is truly one of jazz's guitar deities, his gorgeous melodic runs and choice of chords unrivalled. "Airegin" and "Polka Dots & Moonbeams" are sublime.

If you think you might like fusion, I reccommend: Weather Report's Heavy Weather, The Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds Of Fire, Pat Methany's Bright Size Life, and Jaco Pastorious' debut.

I won't mention Miles Davis's electric jazz of the late 60's and early 70's except to say that In A Silent Way is very good and should not be overlooked.

Miles Davis - Tons of stuff. Extensive catalog and nearly all of it has been remastered. Lots of folks recommend Kind Of Blue which is also available on SACD. I like the Cookin', Relaxin', Steamin' and Workin' sets as well. Released as four separate CD's and recently remastered. Other Miles Davis releases to consider:

Birth Of The Cool
'Round About Midnight
Sketches Of Spain. w/Gil Evans
E.S.P
Miles Smiles

I second the In A Silent Way reccommendation. It's my fave Miles album, even over Kind Of Blue. I would also add Milestones to that list.

As far as Charlie Parker is concerned, having some 'Bird in your collection is highly recommended. Sound quality on some of these releases, however, is very inconsistent and often poor (and if I'm commenting on it you know it has to be pretty bad). Pick up 1950's Bird & Diz as a starter; it's also got Monk and Buddy Rich on it. Parker and Gillespie are the best trumpet/sax duo ever conceived. Even better is Jazz At Massey Hall with Parker, Gillespie, Mingus, Bud Powell, and Roach--with those names how could it dissappoint?

Oh, and my knowledge of blues is limited, but you can't go wrong with: B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Son House, Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Albert King, and Peter Green.

[paper warrior]

Not a jazz fan but I would recommend Verve Jazz Masters No 9: Astrud Gilberto. The contributor on Amazon criticized her singing ability though that might be missing the point. Not sure you have to be Ella Fitzgerald to sing samba.
Fave blues artist is Louisiana Red with material like "Whose Ol Funky Drawers Is These?"- Oh lawdy mama/ Whose ol' funky drawers is these/ Must be my brothuh who gambles/ They got holes down by the knees.

[nobody]

I'll toss out a couple suggestions.

Jazz:
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue If you don't have this, grab it right away. It's an obvious classic, and one of the biggest jazz albums of all time. The place to start with one of the biggest names in jazz.

I'll also concur with a couple other suggestions, namely Monk's Dream and Horace Silver: Song for my Father. They're both very listenable, nicely recorded and excellent works.

Blues
Muddy Waters: Folk Singer Fantastic acoustic blues, very well recorded. A classic of the genre with just Muddy and a guitar. Personally, If I had to live with just one old time acoustic blues disc, this would be it.

I'll also recommend John Lee Hooker: The Real Folk Blues another record in a similar style, and for something different either of David Johansen's recordings on Chesky where he has an excellent acoustic backing band doing covers of old blues tunes from the 30-. The musicianshiop and recording is fantastic and Johansen really does a great job with the vocals.

Spanish Guitar I know little about, but I do have a couple friends that play guitar in Latin bands around town and they are both huge Strunz & Farah fans, so they would probably be worth checking out.

I know nothing at all about classical guitar.

I should also mention to pick up a collection by Django Reinhardt, generally acknoweledged as one of the greatest if not the greatest jazz guitar player.

[dean_martin]

Horace Silver: Song For My Father
Funky, playful, spontaneous blues-based jazz with awesome chemistry and playing. The title track later inspired some Steely Dan tune, but don't hold that against it. ; P

.

By golly, Mad, you're right! I've suspected all along that Steely Dan copped that intro from Song for My Father (it is rather obvious), but had never seen anything in writing confirming this until now. Thanks!

[DarrenH]

By golly, Mad, you're right! I've suspected all along that Steely Dan copped that intro from Song for My Father (it is rather obvious), but had never seen anything in writing confirming this until now. Thanks!

Which Steely Dan tune was that?

[dean_martin]

I appreciate all kinds of music, ranging from Classical, blues to jazz.
I especially love greatly recorded stuff.

What would you recommend me for a good ear tickle in the genres?

Jazz
Blues
Spanish guitar
Classical guitar

Thank you all!

Don

Just wanted to comment some on the Jazz category. I don't have a lot to add as far as artists go because most of my favorites have been covered with these exceptions:

Once you pick up Kind of Blue, you're probably going to want to know who that piano player is and what else has he done. Except for one track, it's Bill Evans. He's already been mentioned, but I would add Sunday at the Village Vanguard. It's a live set. The recording is excellent. The added ambience of glasses tinkling and conversation gives it a real you are there feel. Plus, you'll learn the backstory of The Bill Evans Trio's excellent bassist.

Ike Quebec - Soul Samba. A laid back take on the jazz subgenre of bossanova/samba that really took off with Stan Getz's Jazz Samba and Getz/Gilberto (best known for Girl from Ipanema).

Grant Green - Idle Moments. Boy, this one will put you under a spell. I hang on every note.

Here are 3 interesting things I noticed in exploring jazz:

1) When I really discovered jazz about 4 years ago one of the first things that struck me was the cool album covers from the Blue Note label. One of its co-founders Francis Wolff was an excellent photographer and many of his photos of the Blue Note artists graced the album covers. You can get collections of his photographs and Blue Note's album covers in book form. I even have a Francis Wolff/Blue Note calendar hanging in my office.

2) Some jazz recordings sound "right" on vinyl, especially the smaller jazz combos. Snare and cymbal brushwork, instrument placement and imaging are amazing on some of these recordings. If you've ever thought about getting a turntable there are certain jazz recordings that will serve as confirmation. Blue Note, Riverside and Columbia are some of the labels that continue to release their back catalog of jazz on vinyl. Of course there are audiophile specialty companies that due 45rpm sets and heavy vinyl pressings for tons of money, but the regular ol' LPs (like Riverside's stuff for $10) do just as well in most cases. (For warm, smooth sounds on cd, Music for a Song had DCC gold discs of jazz titles dirt cheap. Most were cut-outs. The sound quality is excellent but there's not a lot of titles to choose from. I haven't checked their website in a while.)

3) The combinations of instruments used provide variety. The sax, trumpet, piano, drums, bass combo is not everything. Look for jazz guitarists, combos with marimbas, and other variations. For example, one thing I like about Coltrane's Blue Train is the trombone.

I'm not much into the blues, but you can track down some of the old-timers by checking out the Rolling Stones' blues covers from their early years. They did some recording at Chesky in Chicago to get that gritty American edge from '63 to maybe '65. Of course you would be working backwards. It might be easier to just go with the recommendations you get here.

[dean_martin]

Which Steely Dan tune was that?

My best guess without double checking: "Rikki Don't Lose that Number"

[3-LockBox]

Guitar virtuosos Al Dimeola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia all three accompany each other, takes turns at lead, and duke it out with one another on an album that most all guitarists I've ever known say is a desert island disc.

If you like good pickin, try Lindsay Buckingham's Out Of The Cradle and Dire Straits On Every Street, both CDs are now nearly 15 years old but still sound like sonic marvels even on mediocre equipment.

Dave Brubeck's Time Out is also a timeless jazz classic that is just as landmark as the more 'fashionable' Kinda Blue by Miles Davis.

[3-LockBox]

Craig Chaquico (formerly of Jefferson Starship in the '70s), if you like lite jazz

[paper warrior]

I like the obscure first Rolling Stones album-"England's Newest Hitmakers" when they were still blues disciples. NPR played it last year as part of the Year of the Blues celebration. Otherwise don't understand The 'Stones mystique especially that overrated Satisfaction song.

[Mr Peabody]

Blues: Joe Bonamassa, I have Blues Deluxe which is great electric blues.
Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, Lonnie Brooks
Blues/rock you may appreciate some lesser known or forgot about guitarists like Robin Trower or Alvin Lee/Ten Years After. Do you have Allman Brothers or Foghat? Oh, find some Rory Gallager.

Classical: I have only one and it's great. The Romeros performing Joaquin Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra on Mercury Living Presence.

Jazz: A must Al Dimeola. My favorite is Elegant Gypsy. Stanley Jordan. Brad Shepik Trio, I have the album drip which gets very high marks for sound quality. Some of the album is somewhat improv and may not be for everyone. Shepik is a jazz guitarist. The drummer in this trio stood out to me as well.

You didn't mention rock but if you don't have any already and feel adventurous check out Jeff Beck, who has done guitar from blues, rock, jazz and fusion. My favorite is Wired which features Jan Hammer on whatever that thing is he plays, the keyboard with a guitar neck. If you have or like Wired, check out Billy Cobham, I forgot the name of the album but it features Jan Hammer again and the late Tommy Bolin on guitar. Have any Joe Satriani? Engwie Malmsteen's first album is good, a real classical/rock mixture. I also enjoy Pat Travers and Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush but both are straight up r&r. Marino is heavily Hendrix influenced, in fact, he claimed to be taken over by Hendrix's spirit. My favorite album by Mahogany Rush is Somethings Comin' Our Way which isn't available on cd to my knowledge. Of course, mentioning rock guitarists opens a whole other can of worms, there are so many.

Hope you enjoy some these.