First Jazz artist you heard?

[steam-powered]

Since not many folks I know, other than folks at the clubs, listen to jazz, I'm always curious what the first album and/or artist introduced an affectation for this music.

For me, it was around 1977 (age six or seven) when I found Wes' Road Song on vinyl. I played it over and over ever since. Of course, as a teen I discovered his Riverside and Verve recordings, but none-the-less, it was Road Song that introduced me to jazz. The start of a life-long appreciation.

How about you?

[RonD]

First jazz epiphany was in 1973. I just turned 19 (legal drinking age) and walked in to a club in Toronto. The sign out front said Oscar Peterson Trio.
I had no idea who he was but went in anyhow. After a set of solo piano by Oscar, a short mustachioed gentleman took the stage. Oscar left. For the next 45 minutes, I was mesmerized by the most phenomenal guitar playing I had ever seen! It changed my life!
Thank you Joe Pass.
p.s. N.H.O.P. was no slouch either!

[wizard3739]

I grew up in Tucson , Az Listening mostly on the radio to Chet Atkins (in the 50's). Then I heard "Mellow Guitar" by George Van Eps and my musical life changed forever. I joined the RCA jazz record club and was listening to Brubeck and some of the great horns available in the record stores. I heard a great guitar player who had it all! It was Howard Roberts and it started me listening to Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney, Tal Farlow, Jim Hall and many other fantastic players.

wiz

[franco6719]

Ingwe Malmsteen.

[jeffstritt]

The first jazz record I ever got was Full House by Wes. I was playing mostly stuff like Cream, SRV, Jimi Hendrix, and an older guy that I knew said, "Listen to this if you want to hear a REAL guitar player!" I was sold!

[Tom Karol]

The first 'Jazz' album I remember listening to extensively was from my parents' collection: "Muted Jazz," by Jonah Jones (trumpet). This was before I started playing guitar. I thought his improvisations were so melodically natural and well-crafted! Then I subsequently saw him on a TV show playing one of the songs from that album, and he played the exact same solo! LOL!

[saponsky]

Paul Desmond Quartet Live. It turned my musical world upside down. I was into progressive rock and stuff and I thought it was mind blowing but then jazz really blew my mind in terms of musical boundaries.

[Jazzaluk]

When I was quite young I used to watch a short-lived variety show on CBC called "Let's Go". The house band was a trio that had a guitar player called Lennie Breau!! I didn't know what I was listening to but I new I liked it. Later, in my college days I decided to seek out this style of music (after getting bored with pop music band I played in). I took one jazz lesson in the 70's and the teacher pointed me to an upcoming concert by Ed Bickert, Don Thomson and Terry Clark. It struck me how Ed seemed to have a limitless number of ideas that were framed in such a relaxed and fluid style... I had to understand how this worked... I'm still trying to figure it out 40 years later.

[frogeye]

My experience was similar to what some of you already shared here. I was about 16 years old, totally into Rock music, and considered Jazz as being grocery store background music. However, I was starting to develop a taste for, mostly British, Jazz Rock Bands and Musicians like Brand X, Bill Bruford, Allan Holdsworth. One afternoon I went to a friends house in order to play guitar. He happened to be into Jazz from his early childhood and he was well aware of my sentiments towards that musical style. I can still hear him say "Hey I found this record here and I believe you need to listen to this and tell me if it's grocery store music." The next thing is that I found myself listening to this laid back, mellow, sweet as molasses Latin tune played by an ensemble of 2 guitars, upright bass, and drums. I immediately liked the sound of this setup and the tone of the lead guitar playing the melody. After playing through the head once the guitar player switched to octaves and that was about the moment when my jaw dropped to the lowest possible position and realized that this was likely the most beautiful tune I had ever listened to in my young live so far. The following guitar solo is what 30+ years later I still consider being one of my favorite all time guitar solo ever recorded. That same day about 60-70% of my existing music collection turned into obsolescence as my musical preferences had been put upside down. The name of tune was "How Insensitive" and I had been listening to the version played by Pat Martino, Bobby Rose, Richard Davis, and the incredible Billy Higgins on Pat's "Footprints" album. It became the first true Jazz Record that I ever purchased. I guess that I have to listen to it now. Cheers.

[brian329]

Harry James big band on my Dad's 78s when I was in the single digits. He also had many "race records" on the Okeh label. Ray Charles, Count Basie etc.

It was a wonderful beginning.

The first jazz guitarist I heard featured was Johnny Smith. He floored me and still does.

[frogeye]

Wow, that brought back memories of me listening to some of my grandfather's 78s when I was in the single digits myself. While they didn't immediately make me a jazz fan I'm sure they had an influence on my musical development. I recall listening to Sidney Bechet playing September Song and Gene Krupa's Drum Boogie.

[0zoro]

This is a rather interesting, nostalgic thread. I grew up outside of Chicago and there was still jazz on the tube and at parties from the late 50´s and pre British rock revolution.My first recollection of a singular jazz artist was in the early 60´s when I listened to my parents record by Benny Goodman and heard Gene Krupa play drums on Swing, Swing, Swing. It floored me to hear a drummer play the drums, giving them an individual voice, as apposed to the shaking of the ingrediences of the garbage can approach, which was prevalent then.

My first meeting with a big artist was also around 63-4, when I went to a outdoor concert at Ravinia, outside Chicago, to hear a guy whose name I at the time found odd, Thelonious Monk. At one point TM got up, while the rest on the quartet played, and danced around seeminly putting different body parts into different rythms symotainously, which was quite a feat as there was alot of body to keep rythmized. Charlie Rouse played his head off while TM danced, and TM made his way way slowly back to the piano, sat, and hit the tangents at the exact moment he should. The hair stood up on my neck, and I have been facinated since then.

It is only now (2 yrs ago) that I purchased a guitar, began practicing and taking lessons from a teacher that I really appreciate immensely. Better late than never!

[Tbirdjazzguitar]

id have to say take five was the first jazz tune i genuinly enjoyed before i played guitar. Then like 6 months ago my teacher gave me wes montgomerys live album, and from then on i was hooked to jazz. Shortly after pat metheny became a huge influence

[Jazzyteach65]

Woah, I'm way late on this. Asides from my surrogate grandfather playing big band and standard charts when I was a young kid (I lstened to him practice every day when he got home from work, showed me what work ethic really was) Then I was about 17, and I was already well into blues. My friend was a bassist and would listen to Mingus, Coltrane ect. He gave me copies of every disc he had (the best music collection I ever had, unfortunately lost it in Galveston Island) By the time I was 18, I was heavily into Charlie Christian, Django, Dizzy ect. I moved to Paris to study at jazz and decided that was the route of my life.

[pierre richard]

Midnight Blue...Kenny Burrell

then the rest...

time on the instrument..pierre

[Markyboy]

Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa....

[Jazz301]

For a lot of folks in the 1970s it was George Benson's "Breezin'" album and his pop radio songs "This Masquerade" and "On Broadway".

For me , the neighborhood guitar guru recommended George Benson's "Cookbook" album, and I am glad he did. Much different than Breezin.

[Banksia]

My parent's had very little jazz in their 78s collection but I remember "St Louis Blues" by Bessie Smith.

[brad4d8]

When I was a kid, I had a 78 rpm record player and access to my mother's big band records. Fell in love with Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman, at least their uptempo stuff. Still listen to a lot of big band stuff.
Brad

[Pining for the Fjords]

I had been reading the British Trade Journals back in the 70's - Melody Maker and NME - and had come across this article by Richard Williams which was titled "Terje Rypdal - the thinking man's Mike Oldfield". I had heard jazz before but it had had never really connected - the album he was talking about was by Michael Mantler entitled the "The Sinking Spell and other Stories" adapted from a Victorian writer by called Edward Gorey - it featured the vocals of Robert Wyatt and the guitar by Terje Rypdal. I was lucky enough to come across a copy, which in Australia was a real miracle, and have been sold on jazz ever since.

[msr13]

As a kid, my neighbor played these Spyro Gyra albums and this young guy Chet Catallo was the guitarist. As a kid, I saw them, and responded to Catallo's sound. He left the band and the great Julio Fernandez took over. Blew me away as a kid. They were the ones that made we want to take guitar. Later in Rochester, I had the ability to take a few lessons with Chet. I was no where at the level i should have been, but it was cool nonetheless. finally settled in with my teach that i still have thirty years later. He introduced me to Jim Hall, Grant Green, Mr. Pass,etc. An amateurish hobby was born.

[jayx123]

It was George Benson's "Little Train" from the album "White Rabbit".

The first Jazzer I was aware of was watching the great Dizzy Gillespie on late 1960's TV with my Dad ,making Dizzy type runs through our tightened lips and puffed out cheek.Not forgetting Miles too.I can also remember see Wes on Humphrey Littleton show,was it Jazz 625 in 1965 ? I think the standard was better then (particularly Jazz 'phrasing'/'language' but the technology to 'capture' these important days had not been the same standard. Interestingly.........THANK GOD WES CAME TO EUROPE in 1965,all those wonderful videos England,Belgium,Holland etc just imagine if the whole of the Champs Elysee concert was on film OMG !.....what were the Americans doing not filming(Image Tsubo's being on film too !.There should be more footage from ~ 1960 to 1965,the golden age of Wes in his prime.

[Baltar Hornbeek]

Lionel Hampton, my brother was in his big band for a while.

[ECross]

I bought Joe Pass Virtuoso and a hits package of Wes Montgomery's a couple years ago, but at the time I wasn't really into jazz, it was just an impulse buy. I just recently found them again when I started playing jazz guitar 2 weeks ago.

[cosmic gumbo]

I remember hearing Morris "Misfit" Beaulois playing Monk on his tuba outside of Skeeter's barbershop when I was young. It changed my life.

[docbop]

Hard to say what my first was as a kid my parents played big band records all the time. Then I heard some stuff associated with Beatniks on TV. I got into playing surf guitar and my friend at school played me a Gary Burton record with Larry Coryell and I dug that.

Then a couple of the school's hard core Jazzer's played me some Free Jazz and I hated it. I said if that's Jazz I'll go back to Blues. Then a bunch of us were hanging out at the music store on a Friday night and one of the horn players from the school dance band came by. We started talking about Jazz and how we didn't like it. He convinced us if we go to that club with him he would change our minds. So we went to the club and hear Jimmy Smith Trio (Phil Upchurch on guitar) we were all Jazz fans from then on.

[Recurve?]

Louie Prima! Joni Mitchel What a Voice. Django,

I Listen to standards, and they sound funny cause I've heard Louie PRima's versions first! lol

[patskywriter]

i was surrounded by jazz from day one and we were never formally introduced. i cannot imagine life without jazz.

[dixiehwy25]

I was born in 1961. For the half dozen or so years in my life, jazz was a staple on American variety shows. It was always around, so I never had an epiphany. It was part of the fabric of popular culture at the time- if a bit niched.

The best I can offer are guesses. The three most likely are:

Stan Getz and the Gilbertos- "The Girl From Ipanema" was a huge hit in 1962, starting the Bossa Nova craze. So for the next television season or two, one got a chance to watch them.

Dave Brubeck- US radio stations have a long tradition of playing instrumentals into the news at the hour and half hour. "Take Five" was big favorite in that slot.

The Modern Jazz Quartet- Back in the days of Hugh Downs, Barbara Walters and Frank Blair The MJQ did the "Today" show theme- so they made regular, if not frequent appearances there. How about that with your morning coffee?

Jazz was still pervasive in the '60's and was still capable of getting on the charts. For me, it's always been around- but today I have to put it on myself.

Dennis