Jazz artists for late starter.

I would second the peter erskine suggestion,a new favorite is a cd called the triangle(arlid anderson).nice stuff.Bobo stensons war orphans or goodbye.All these are great recordings.

Gawdbless,

I really appreciate where you are. I was at the same place about three or four years ago. My jazz collection has grown substantially since. Good luck on your quest. I got a lot of good advice on this forum on artists. Lots of great suggestions here, Jazzbird and others have covered many great artists. I would add a few in no particular order; Tord Gustavsen, Gene Ammons is not to be missed. Also, I really like Concord Jazz artists Scott Hamilton, Ray Brown, Toshiko Akiyoshi (is dynamite) et.al. Paul Desmond, LA 4, Gerry Mulliagan. Red Garland is great. If you like drums, Art Blakey-Drum Suite. Also, Andre Previn is known for classical but he did some great jazz. Don't forget Charlie Haden and Kenny Barron. A hearty second on often over looked Hank Jones also. There is a lot of great drumming on the Blue Note bop recordings of many of the artists mentioned above. To me one of the great things about the genre is not just the individual artists but all the great collaberations between them.

Gawdbless said:
"I just like the music, being a piano player, I really
like and appreciate the way Bill Evans plays and the cd 'Trio 65' is excellent! a minor down side is the brushes, I love the snap of a stick hitting a snare drum. Brushes should be only used for painting walls,lol."

Almost any jazz album with a drummer will have brushes occasionally. I'm sorry you don't like that, but I'm afraid it's unavoidable, in general.

As for great pinaist, put Bill Mays Trio at the top of your list to find. He's a great player, well recorded on Concord. Concord has a Duo album with Bill Mays and Ed Bickert on guitar, where I can guarantee no brushes.

Keith Jarrett is an incredible interpreter of ballads. I think you'll like Keith's "The Melody At Night, With You". On this album Keith stays very close to the melody and relies on dynamics, rubato and very careful note selection to put together one of the best piano albums of all time, IMHO.

Benny Green is another great pianist. Look for his stuff with Russel Malone on guitar.

Dave

Gawdbless,

Load up on Duke Ellington. From the standards to the most exotic extended compositions the music is astounding. For the latter type, consider Far East Suite, Queen's Suite, and Intimacy of the Blues. BTW, Duke is also a wonderful, understated pianist.

For sheer tonal beuaty, horn guys like Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and Gene Ammons are worth owning.

Good Luck,

Marty

Gawdbless: suggest you go to www.allaboutjazz.com

Do some browsing and you will find some "best jazz of all time lists". Also suggest that you buy a copy of the All Music Guide for jazz. LOTS of info in both places (as well as many other places, so I suggest you Google "best jazz of all time"). Just be "careful"; you may be starting a ride that will be both fun and expensive (i.e., merely because you may get excited and want more and more music). What a thrill it was for me to discover jazz later in life.

Have fun!