Your One Album For Deep Study

[jamiehenderson1993]

Just for fun!

If you could only listen to 1 album for a full year - one to study really deeply and learn everything you can from it ... what would it be?

I'd have to say Undercurrent by Bill Evans & Jim Hall.

But I could easily have said Soul Station by Hank Mobley!

[AllanAllen]

Easily, A Night at the Vaguard - Kenny Burrell Trio

With a new contender entering the scene ‘Out of the Past’ by the Ed Bickert Trio.

[jameslovestal]

[Bob_Ross]

Either

- Igor Stravinsky, Symphonies & Concertos on the Philips Classics label, featuring performances by the London Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra of Moscow, & others

...or

- Igor Stravinsky, Boulez Conducts Stravinsky on the RCA Red Seal label, featuring performances by the Intercontemporain Quartet, the Chorus of Radio France, the Orchestre National de France, and Rex Lawson's pianola, all (save for that last one) under the baton of Pierre Boulez.

[mr. beaumont]

Its cheating because its a compilation, but Charlie Christian's "Genius of the electric guitar"

[Rodney Gene]

That's not a humane request...

For this year for Jazz maybe: Benson The Cookbook or Kessel, Brown and Manne The Poll Winners.

[jamiehenderson1993]

These are all fantastic selections - some I've never heard of so looking forward to checking them out - keep 'em coming!

[GuyBoden]

At the moment, It would have to be this Paul Blakemore remastered Charlie Parker recordings, because the sound clarity on the CD has impressed me.

This YouTube video (below) is nowhere near as good sound quality as the actual CD I have. Are we constantly being fooled into listening to low quality sound, because of it's convenience?

I have had the old savoy recordings for many years, but this newer CD is so much better for listening.

[darkwaters]

Excellent suggestions!

Off the top of my head, I would choose Grant Green’s Idle Moments.

[Sam Sherry]

[Bill C]

May I also suggest Stan Getz at Storyville for more of maestro Raney!

[wolflen]

Kind of Blue

[jameslovestal]

May I also suggest Stan Getz at Storyville for more of maestro Raney!

I have many of the live Getz and Raney recordings. The playing is great, but Raney sometimes gets "lost" in the mix (due to how it was recorded and not his playing).

[denitronik]

I would say Miles Davis "Birth Of The Cool".

[Bob_Ross]

I would say Miles Davis "Birth Of The Cool".

Ironically, I bought Birth Of The Cool >35 years ago with that exact intention -- well, not to listen to it exclusively for a year, but to do a deep dive into it, to study it for all of its depth and significance -- and after one listening I realized "There is no way I will have the patience or interest to immerse myself in this music." It just has none of the qualities of Miles' music that I admire.

I still have the disc... but haven't yet listened to it for a second time. Maybe I'll spin it up now, give it another chance.

[denitronik]

"Birth of the Cool" was recorded in 1949 (released in 1957); it was a collaboration between Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan and Gil Evans. That was way before Miles recorded "Kind Of Blue". I can see why the album has none of the qualities you admire.

But it still is a great "orchestral" album for the time.

[grahambop]

Birth of the Cool is not really that much a Miles Davis album in the normal sense, it’s a collaborative effort with the emphasis on the arrangements by Gil Evans, John Lewis and Gerry Mulligan etc.

At the time (1949) large jazz ensembles tended to be loud and brassy, whereas the Birth of the Cool group was only nine instruments and included things like french horn and tuba, so it had a kind of softer sound, at times the arrangements were quite ‘impressionistic’, which eventually became quite influential.

E.g. check out ‘Moondreams’, which looks forward to the later collaborations between Miles and Gil Evans:

When I got this album soon after getting into jazz and buying quite a few Miles records, I wasn’t that keen on it either, but later I started to appreciate it properly. Nowadays I love those arrangements and I even bought the complete original scores (Hal Leonard published a book of them) so I could find out how they did it!

[AllanAllen]

Birth Of The Cool has always been one of my favorites.

[John Owen]

The first thing that comes to mind for me is the first jazz guitar album I ever listened to over 50 years ago. There is still so much on there I could benefit from - Kenny Burrell Soul Call

[wolflen]

The tone on Kenny's guitar is wonderful. I searched to see if I could find what guitar he used (L5 ?) and how it was recorded..sounds
like it was miked..but could be plugged into the board.