Broadening My Musical Horizons

[Bigal]

Yeah, so I want to get in to blues, jazz and funk, but I have no idea where to start. Help me!

[Evil Chase K]

Robert Randolph and the Family Band

[METALMAN]

I trademarked that thread title. >_>

Anyway...

BLUES: If you want proper old 30s blues try Robert Johnson or Leadbelly. Neither recorded a great deal of songs so a compilation would do the job perfectly. Alternatively you could try the likes of Muddy Waters. If you want the more polished Blues sound of the 60s I would recommend Cream, The Yardbirds or John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, though I must admit I'm no great fan of these, with the exception of Cream and a couple of songs by the Bluesbreakers.

JAZZ: There's so many types. I know this is clichéd as fuck but the best introduction to Jazz is Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", so I'd recommend that in a heartbeat. His "Bitches Brew" album is also really good as it has a lot of electronic instrumentation which is cool. Also consider John Coltrane's "Giant Steps", his "Olé" album cause it's really cool and Spanish and above all, "A Love Supreme". I also really like Weather Report, you may know them for the song "Birdland". Try their album "Heavy Weather" if you're more into a jazz-funk fusion kind of thing. Also worth a look is Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett(sometime pianist for Miles Davis. His Live In Cologne album is outstanding. Clifford Davies is likewise fantastic. As far as earlier Jazz is concerned, Duke Ellington is my runaway favourite.

FUNK: Prince of course. "Purple Rain", "Sign O' The Times" and "1999" are must-have albums. For proper funk I'd recommend Sly & The Family Stone, particularly my favourite of their albums - "There's A Riot Goin' On"

Edited April 16, 2009 by metalman

[GRIFT]

BLUES:

JAZZ: CHET BAKER aka THE PRICE OF COOL.

FUNK: BOOTSY COLLINS

[NobBe Nobbs]

A little Stevie Ray Vaughan never hurt anybody either. Start with Texas Flood and go from there.

[GoGo Yubari]

For jazz, Miles Davis is definitely a great gateway artist. I agree with metalman's suggestion of Kind of Blue, and I'd also mention The Birth of the Cool as a great starting point. You can always start with Davis and then branch out to stuff by his notable collaborators; Blue Train by John Coltrane is excellent for that, as is Somethin' Else by Cannonball Adderley, and metalman mentioned Weather Report, which was co-founded by another Davis saxophonist in Wayne Shorter. In terms of earlier jazz, my favorite artists are Count Basie, Roy Eldridge, Django Reinhardt, Coleman Hawkins, and Louis Armstrong, though there's no denying Duke Ellington's talent.

So in general, my best suggestion would be to start with cool jazz (Davis, Stan Getz), modal jazz (Davis, Coltrane), and big band-era stuff (Basie, Hawkins, Eldridge) with some of the other earlier styles and hard bop (Adderley) mixed in before listening to stuff like bop (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie) and jazz/rock fusion (Davis after the mid-sixties) or more avant garde stuff/free jazz (Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor). I hope that helps and the post was generally coherent and readable.

[METALMAN]

I can't believe I forgot Stan Getz. Excellent suggestion. I'd recommend the Getz/Gilberto album especially. It has a lot of latin american influence in the music.

[JStarr]

Herbie Hancock's "Headhunters" album kind of bridged the jazz-funk gap quite nicely.

But no discussion of funk can ever be complete without Parliament and/or Funkadelic.

Parliament: Chocolate City, Mothership Connection, The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, and Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome are all must-listen albums.

Funkadelic: Maggot Brain, Cosmic Slop, Standing on the Verge of Getting It On, Let's Take It To the Stage, One Nation Under a Groove, Uncle Jam Wants You, and The Electric Spanking of War Babies are all excellent.

Bolded ones are the ones to start with. Hell, George Clinton's first solo album "Computer Games" is also worth a listen.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Will echo Parliament and Funkadelic. Especially Mothership Connection, fanfuckingtastic album.

[wrathofcarnage]

B.B. King is also a good choice for blues. He's a bit poppier version of Stevie Ray, I'd say.