for someone just getting into jazz.

Holly Cole, Norah Jones, Diana Krall to throw a few names out there....

I recently bought Meaghan Smith's Cricket Orchestra which seems well recorded.

Thanks Adrian.

Hey, if you hurry on up to Deerhurst Inn, just down the road from Axiom, you can catch Holly Cole live tonight, lol.

Deerhurst Resort/Holly Cole

Try Valerie Capers - Come On Home (1995). Piano, bass and drums with some sax, vocals, horns and extra percussion to make it a well rounded recording. But let us know what style interest you most.

Not much of a jazz fan but try The Beastie Boys "The In Sound from Way Out!"

Own that Beastie Boys cd I think I will put it in now.

Can't make it to Canada tonight. Would have had to start driving yesterday, or the day before, to get there in time for the show. Sounds like a hell of a road trip.

It's good one.

FWIW, my understanding is that the more recent the Norah Jones release, the worse it is. I'd go for her first release.

Thanks Chris will check it out. Not really sure what style. Maybe more instrumental but really open to a lot of forms of music. Just never really been into jazz and wanted to get a good start, so multiple styles are fine as long as they are good and sound great.

The newest Norah Jones is the only one of hers I have, but I like it. It's more R&B that it is jazz though.

"Come Away With Me" is the only Norah Jones cd I have, but it's very well recorded and has plenty of good music on it. I'm not quite sure if you'd call it 'jazz' in the truest sense, but enjoyable non-the-less.

Yes, I agree, one of the better recorded CDs. I have both the standard and SACD. Honestly, not a huge diff.

I also like Charlie Hunter's latest 'Gentlemen, I neglected to inform you.' It actually mono but when I had a listen w/ my Grados and a tubed CD player, I had to buy it.

I think most jazz recordings are put out by labels that care about the quality of sound.

Add Oscar Peterson, Chick Corea, Hiromi Uehara, Miles Davis...

Alan has recommended Jacques Loussier Trio's The Best of Play Bach, and I was just listening to it earlier today. While I usually don't have the patience to listen to the whole thing (can't seem to fully embrace jazz), I would agree that it's a great recording. Oh, I should note I have the SACD, so I can't vouch for the normal CD. Another SACD which I do enjoy listening to in its entirety on occasion is Marta Gómez's Cantos de Agua Dulce. I believe PeterChenoweth recommended that one, and it is certainly a recording I use to show off my system.

I like the classic jazz from the '50s and '60s. Try Miles Davis' Kind of Blue or any of his albums on the Prestige label. They are all excellently recorded. As a general rule, any release that had Rudy Van Gelder as the recording engineer will sound nice. Dave Brubeck Time Out is another easy to listen entry point into jazz. Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Collosus is a great album. John Coltrane is one of my favorites and his signature album A Love Supreme is a masterpiece but it is a little harder to appreciate for someone new to jazz. Some of my other favorite artists are Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Charlie Parker. For more recent artists, try Joshua Redman and the Rippingtons.

A lot of great recommendations. I will be doing some shopping over the next few days. Thanks.

Anything recorded by Rudy Van Gelder is about as well recorded as jazz gets. He had a very purist approach to audio.

I definitely favor the Blue Note late 50's and 1960's jazz era the best.

But great jazz is timeless. A lot of stuff still out there to discover.

Check out Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" or some of his 70's fusion output with Headhunters.

And anything by Wayne Shorter is always fabulous.

But I bet it comes as no surprise to those that tolerate my forum rants on here that I believe that classic jazz recordings are best enjoyed on 180 gram audiophile vinyl...

I suggest Hadrien Feraud with John McLaughlin. It has more of a modern fusion style than some of the other suggestions. If you are new to jazz it may appeal to you and Hadrien Feraud is on badass bass player. This CD will give the Axioms a good workout high to low.

Verve records - Getz/Gilberto [Original recording reissued][Original recording remastered] available from Amazon.com. A little chesty in places but if you have a pair of M3s, a good sub and a tube amp, welcome to audio heaven.

Chesky makes some jazz samplers.

Audio Fidelity's re-release of Groove Note recordings.

Eric Dolphy's 'Out to Lunch.'
'Monk's Dream,' 'Kind of Blue,' 'Sketches of Spain'

That ought to get you started.

Picked up Miles Davis "some Kinda Blue". Excellent. Really well recorded as well. Also picked up some Mark Knopler.

I will be working my way through some of these selections soon.

Do you have any specific recordings to recommend? I enjoy his contributions to Davis' 60's quintet but I have not purchased any of his albums from his own band.

Here's some semi-relevant news: HDtracks Welcomes Verve Music Group In 96/24 Sound (AVguide.com)

Thanks CV. What is a clock master and what is clock degradation? If you or any others know this, I would love to know. I hear about clocks and jitter often, but I never knew exactly what was meant.

If you're in the mood for something less traditional but not quite "free", check out the Esbjorn Svensson Trio (e.s.t.). The founder of the group was sadly killed in a diving accident a couple of years ago, but the trio has left an amazing recorded legacy. My fave is "Good Morning Susie Soho", but it's terribly hard to find.
For an excellent mix of groove/jazz, check out MMW (Medeski Martin & Wood) or The Bad Plus. Both have done some very interesting covers, are a real blast to see live, and have uniformly excellent sounding recordings. In fact, I have been using MMW's "End of the World Party" as a reference disc for speaker design for years!

I'm going to have to check those out. I've heard of MMW and the Bad Plus, but I don't think I have any of their stuff.

davidsch, the clock determines each time when the recorded analog waveform is sampled, as well as the time at which each sample is played back to reproduce the original waveform. Any deviation from a regular period in either recording or playback is jitter and will result in distortion, but the distortion isn’t harmonic and the result can be more objectionable than harmonic distortion. Having a stable, quiet clock is important for recording and playback, but for playback we often have separate sources and DACs which each have their own clocks that have to remain synchronized through clock recovery.

4 Wayne Shorter recordings I highly recommend are:

The All Seeing Eye
Ju Ju
Speak No Evil
Et Cetera

Thank you for that explanation ChrisF and thank you Terry for the Wayne Shorter recommendations. So much to learn from this helpful group.

Here are a few that my M22's sing with such crisp perfection I just gaze at them in wonderment:

http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-Jazz-Qui...72062824&sr=1-5

(Someone has got to have this cheaper than Amazon.)

http://www.severnrecords.com/site/albumDetail.asp?RID=10

http://www.amazon.com/My-Spanish-Heart-C...72063739&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Love-Stanl...72064022&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Brasil-Project-Too...72064079&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/White-Rabbit-Georg...72063849&sr=1-1

The more I listen to the M22's the more I love them as well. Nothing makes them sing better than some of the selections on this thread. For a guy just getting into Jazz you guys have all been more than helpful. Keep'em coming. The library is growing and the speakers are making beautiful music.

I just picked up Coltrane's "Traneing in" CD Yesterday. It's a Rudy Van Gelder recording.
If you're a fan of Jazz I highly recommend it.

Oscar Peterson Trio "We Get Requests" is one of my favs.

Came across this interesting video of Emerson, Peterson and Palmer.

Cool find Adrian. I like the contrast in body language between the two pianists. Oscar looks so relaxed, like he is hardly working at all. It comes across in his playing, even in cmplicated passages. Hes got a smootheness like nobody else.

I don't think too many people realize how talented Keith Emerson is either. I've always thought I could hear a lot of Jazz influence in ELP's music.

I love it when you get musicians from different genres who get together and just enjoy each others musical talent. I'm still debating on what Oscar Peterson CD to start off with, he's got a lot of nice music out there.

Thats what I like about certain prog rock groups. They are willing to look beyond a particular style.

Kieth Emerson is classically trained. Several of the pieces on ELP's debut album are classical, though the interpretation disguises that somewhat.

Yes and Gentle Giant are two other groups like this.

I picked up Canadiana last year and am quite happy with it. Pick up anything by him. I don't think you can go wrong.

One that I purchased used, didn't like at first but is now a very often listened to cd is....
The Magic Hour by Winton Marselis.

Some really good songs and awesome recording. Great fun for stereo guys, especially 2 channel guys who like a 3d soundstage.

The list is getting huge.

I bought this one at Borders today for $7.19. Thanks for the recommendation.

Question: Anyone know what the definitive, best recorded versions of Caravan and Sing Sing Sing are?

I don't know about definitive, but I was really impressed with the sound of Louis Prima's "Sing, Sing, Sing" on the Capital Collectors Series CD.

Ken - I listened to a version of Caravan last night that is well recorded and a great performance as well. Monk Plays Ellington