Getting Into Jazz

You'd like to listen to jazz but you're not sure where to start. With all those artists, all those albums, all those sounds, jazz is like a big, mysterious swimming pool. How do you decide where to dip your toe? That's where "Getting into Jazz" comes in. Every month, I'll post a detailed guide to an outstanding jazz CD. The guide will give you some background on the artist, and then point out exactly what to listen for on the CD, minute by minute.

Marlene VerPlanck Loves Johnny Mercer

by Mark Barnett
February 10, 2019

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. Capsule An outstanding sampler of Mercer's lyrics, served up by a first-class singer who deserved to be better known. Background How many song lyrics did this man write? Are you ready? 1,200, according to the Johnny Mercer Foundation. They weren't all hits, of course, but each of the 54 Mercer songs listed in Wikipedia is ...

Jam Session Coast To Coast/Jammin' at Condon's

by Mark Barnett
October 15, 2018

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD Capsule 1950's straight-ahead jazz, spiced with ad lib commentary by impressario/guitarist Condon. The musicians are laid back and having fun. Kick off your shoes and join them. Background In the 1940's and '50s, Eddie Condon was a legendary presence in the world of jazz. A tireless promoter, proselytizer and spokesman, he presided over his ...

Ella Fitzgerald sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book

by Mark Barnett
July 16, 2018

Getting StartedIf you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. Background The Great American Songbook--songs written from the 1920's to the 1950's by giants such as Cole Porter, Rogers & Hart, Duke Ellington and the Gershwin brothers--has inspired jazz musicians and singers for generations, supplying the raw material for endless improvisation. In listening to jazz, a good rule of thumb is “Know the song and you're halfway there." ...

Runnin' Wild

by Mark Barnett
March 27, 2018

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD Capsule Two hot jazz legends melt the thermometer, pushing each other to produce the most inspired work of their careers. As the sportscasters say, “They came to play." Background “So these two alpha-male jazz musicians walk into a bar..." No, in this case they walked into a studio and made some outstanding (and oddly ...

Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Cole Porter Song Book

by Mark Barnett
December 15, 2017

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. Background The Great American Songbook--songs written from the 1920's to the 1950's by giants such as Cole Porter, Rogers & Hart, Duke Ellington and the Gershwin brothers--has inspired jazz musicians and singers for generations, supplying the raw material for endless improvisation. In listening to jazz, a good rule of thumb is “Know the ...

Chet Baker Sings

by Mark Barnett
September 11, 2017

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD capsule Trumpeter Chet Baker's singing still provokes debate. Some love it, others wish he'd saved his singing for the shower. Here's a chance to make up your own mind by sampling some of the best singing of Baker's early career, when the voice was fresh, the ideas new. Background We live in ...

Jazz/Concord

by Mark Barnett
July 17, 2017

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD capsule Two masters of the jazz guitar in a wonderful give-and-take session, listening to each other as they play and playing as one. The emotion is contagious, the songs well chosen, the sound pristine. A perfect union. Background Guitarist Herb Ellis had a remarkable talent for connecting musically ...

Together (Maxine Sullivan Sings The Music Of Jule Styne)

by Mark Barnett
May 7, 2017

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD capsule What do you get if you take a 76 year old jazz singer who's seen a lot of life, surround her with a small group of premier jazz musicians and give her a bunch of vintage Jule Styne songs to sing? You get something you really ought to hear, a disc ...

The Essential Vic Dickenson

by Mark Barnett
March 15, 2017

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD Capsule Timeless, straight-ahead 1950's jazz, played with passion and elegance by seasoned musicians at the top of their game. Don't look for bebop or coolness here. These guys weren't interested in revolutions. Background Although the 1950's are generally viewed as a period of Father-Knows-Best comfort and conformity, that ...

Suddenly It's Spring

by Mark Barnett
November 28, 2016

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD capsule Beautiful yet largely forgotten ballads unearthed and given a stunning jazz make-over by tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims and pianist Jimmy Rowles. Tag this one as buried treasure. Background For more about Sims and Rowles, go to the If I'm Lucky in the “Getting Into Jazz" series.