can second all of the above.

how's about some ornette? i fell for him long ago with "the shape of jazz to come"...might be a good place to start? i could listen to "lonely woman" & "peace" in the dark all night. never loses the mystery or edge all these years later.

for more recent stuff, most anything with william parker on bass is well worth checking out...same for hamid drake on drums. together on "raining on the moon" they turned out my favorite vocal jazz record of the last years (with leena conquest singing).

DM wrote:What about Art Blakey? Jazz Messengers? That springs to mind right away.

I like him on 'Sidewinder' and I have his record with Monk. I'm actually checking out 'Caravan' on Riverside right now, but is there one I should start with?

i believe billy higgins plays the drums on "sidewinder."

i think i used to have a blakey compiliation called "theory of art" that was killer. the live at birdland bluenote's are great too.

Oliver Nelson/ the Blues and the Abstract Truth - very cool record with an amazing band on it:Bill Evans, Roy Haynes, Paul Chambers, Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Oliver Nelson. Nice combination of arrangements and improvisation.

If you like Brotzmann then Albert Ayler is definitely worth a look. Spiritual Unity is a really cool record, super intense trio of bass/sax/drums.

I'll second Hamid Drake and William Parker as a rhythm section for just about anybody. I saw those guys with Peter Brotzmann and it was pretty fucking amazing. Hamid Drake also came across as a really nice guy, between sets I was standing next to him at the bar and said something about how I was enjoying the show. He shook my hand and introduced himself, totally unassuming, like I hadn't just been watching him tear the shit up for the past hour.

You list a wide range of styles/genres/personalities.

I will address your request in terms of the artists/instrumentation you listed.

Monk:
Herbie Nichols, Elmo Hope, and Cecil Taylor (especially Looking Ahead). Less 'modern' or 'progressive' but still tasty and highly enjoyable are The Three Sounds, Duke Pearson (Profile and Tenders' Feelings) and even the trio work of Sonny Clark, Art Taum, Oscar Peterson, and McCoy Tyner. More recently the work of Misha Mengelberg and Anthony Coleman should be ventured.

Mingus:
Ah Um, Mingus,Mingus,Mingus,Mingus,Mingus, and Pithecanthropus Erectus (in addition to the aforementioned BSatSL). Mingus, as a composer leading the way on bass, was something of anomaly, but you might try his solo piano works on Impulse or, on a contemporary note, some of free sessions led by William Parker (especially when he plays with Hamid Drake (Painter's Spring or O'Neal's Porch, for example)).

'Sheets of Sound':
You can go 'out' or 'free.'
Out: Dolphy is a must. Early Coleman, like This is Our Music, Somthing Else!!!, or The Shape of Jazz to Come are hard to beat (especially the latter). Jackie McLean's Destination Out is pretty grand, as are Grachan Moncur III and Andrew Hill (Judgement, Point of Departure). Sam Rivers (Contours), Larry Young (Unity), and Don Freidman (Metamorphosis) are also worthy.

Free: Ayler (Spiritual Unity, Spirits, Hilversum Sessions), Cecil Taylor (Conquistador, Unit Structures, his stuff on Candid), Coleman's Ornette! and Ornette Coleman, along with much of the ESP catalogue (Sonny Simmons, New York Art Quartet, Marion Brown, Burton Greene, Paul Bley, etc.). The free movement has staid very true to its 'form,' so there are a number of indie labels from days gone by (Strata East, Actual, etc) and the present (Eremite, Ayler, Hopscotch, AUM) that are worth investigating if the free thing grabs you.

Freddy Hubbard is a hard bop icon. So is Lee Morgan. Hard to go wrong hunting down their back catalogue. Also, players like Dizzy Reece (Blues in Trinity) should not be overlooked.

The Sidewinder was one of those 60's pop jazz attempts to counter the growing sway of rock. Other such attempts, though on different instruments, were Jimmy Smith's Walk on the Wild Side, Big John Patton's Let 'Em Roll, and Hank Mobley's The Turnaround.

A Hammond guy in the line of Jimmy Smith was Johnny 'Hammond' Smith. His record The Stinger is an all time fav.

Brotzmann can paired with the likes of Fred Anderson, Charles Gayle, and Ken Vandermark.

So many, really...Wayne Shorter, Lou Donaldson, Thad Jones, etc.

In no particular order:

Albert Ayler : Complete Greenwich Village Recordings

Miles Davis : Miles Smiles and/or Live at the Fillmore East (March 7, 1970)

John Coltrane : First Meditations and/or Sun Ship. Complete Live at the Village Vanguard, Crescent.

Duke Ellington : Far East Suite or ...and His Mother Called Him Bill.

Alice Coltrane : Journey in Sachidananda

Charles Mingus : Live at Antibes

Andrew Hill : Point of Departure

Art Ensemble of Chicago : Les Stanches a Sophie

Sun Ra : Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy

Don Cherry : Eternal Rhythm

Ornette Coleman : The Shape of Jazz to Come and/or Complete Science Fiction Sessions

Dave Holland : Conference of the Birds

Evan Parker / Cecil Taylor / Barry Guy / Tony Oxley : Nailed

Evan Parker / Barry Guy / Paul Lytton : At The Vortex

Ganelin Trio : Catalogue: Live in East Germany

cwiko wrote:

I goddamn love this album. All three of these legends are on their game on this one.

Absolutely. This album is ridiculously good. "Fleurette Africaine" is one of my favorite songs ever, with a bassline that's equally bizarre and beautiful.

Start with something accessable. Don't impale yourself with a free jazz record full of dense harmonic and rythmic information.

Seriously, try Giant Steps(Coltrane), Kind Of Blue(Davis), Blue Monk(Monk), or Saxophone Colossus(Rollins).

Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, a quartet album with Eric Dolphy, this is a pretend live recording and is top notch.

Also, groups led by Max Roach tend to be really good.

-Amos

oh yeah, here's one more that is a strong recommendation:

The Thing "Garage"

this group consists of Mats Gustafsson, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and Paal Nilssen Love. the album has tunes by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, White Stripes and Peter Brotzmann. One of my favorite newer jazz recordings.

-Amos