here's the deal: i want to get into jazz, but i don't know where to start. I have a few questions.

i've heard louis armstrong is the place to start, but where do i start in louis armstrong? what compilations and/or albums are absolutely essential?

This is my jazz collection:
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
John Coltrane - My favorite things

now that's a sad collection if you ask me...

I love the cool, laid back, mellow feeling of Kind of Blue. it's an instantly likeable album, and i love it.
ALS feels too choppy and fast for me... i'm an rookie muscian, so i know a bit about music, but i still can't get into it. i don't dig the fast and seemingly messy solos. is it natural to dislike this landmark album, or will i grow to love it after a bit more exposure?

what exactly is bop? i've read all about it, but i can't get it clear.

and lastly, where do i go from here?

one last thing... i'm not a huge fan of the radically avant-garde... maybe that's my problem right there...

thanks for any input, and sorry for my disjointed post.

If my Pops was around, he could go into great detail on Louis Armstrong, which would take you a couple of days to read.

Breaking it down, it would be Satchmo is Jazz, the first solo musician in modern music, the first Scat singer, the musician that affected all music afterwards. That, The Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings are the Rosetta stone of Jazz and beyond. Not only is the Satchmo family anthem, West End Blues, but my middle name is, Louis. It would have been my first if not for my Moms.

There are two versions of the complete set. I forget what is the difference between both of them.



Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven, JSP version.


Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven, Sony version



You're on your own with Pops, on the ALS is choppy, fast, and messy portion of your post.


ALS is considered one of the best Jazz recordings in it's history, with Kind of Blue being the best.

If they're #1 and #2, why do i only really enjoy one of them?

technically, what seperates them?

ALS sounds choppy to my untrained ears, but that's as technical as i can get.

I am not a musician, that's my younger twin sister, but I can tell you, that Kind of Blue is modal jazz and not cool jazz. ALS, I think is considered, avant jazz.


You can read what AMG says about both of them


Kind of Blue



A Love Supreme

I know there is supposed to be some other differences than what is mentioned in this review. I just don't remember the details, like Pops would.

A Love Supreme, deluxe version

You might want to listen to other earlier Coltrane, like Blue Train, before getting into his mid to later period, as you have done.


John Coltrane is considered one of the most influential, if not most influential jazz musicians of the last 40 years. Like Armstrong and some others, his influence crosses over into other styles of music beside jazz.

Just because those are considered the best jazz recordings doesn't mean that they are the best for you. My advice is not to give up, and start listening to a lot of different artists.
If you can't get into an album instantly, I would just advice you to listen to it again, but if you really really really can't get into it, then it would be better to put it away and listen to something else that you enjoy for a while. Then try again in a couple of months.

Also, remember that jazz is a music style that has been around for decades, and it has evolved a whole lot since it beginnings. You don't have to like everything instantly. In fact, you don't even need to like everything ever! There are lots of people out there that enjoy jazz that are huge fans of only one or two subgenres of it and don't like the rest as much. Nothing wrong with that.

Check out Giant Steps. It's a lot less lugubrious than ALS, Crescent...etc.

Duke Ellington is another "Godfather" of jazz.

i'm not going to be of much help here since i mostly listen to avant-garde jazz... but i'll just say that i was very surprised when i first heard a love supreme, because it's a pretty difficult album considering how popular it is. i wouldn't start there

First of all, you don't "suck" at listening to jazz. The notion that one can "suck" at listening to jazz has been fostered by legions of elitist geeks with alphabetized record collections whose self-worth is connected to the myth that jazz is some high holy intellectual pursuit only a chosen few can grasp...like trigonometry. You got two ears and a soul? That's all you need. Relax. Turn off your brain. You're not suppose to do anything...except float.

oh man! i don't feel that i suck at it at all, i was just trying to make this thread as informal as possible!

believe me, i feel the exact same way about music geeks as you do. i know exactly what you mean. by the way, that description was very well put!

i'm not lost on you, brotha!