The first Jazz LP you ever bought?

[mikeweil]

At the time, and I've heard this said quite recently, I didn't even realise this was regarded as a demanding record.

[GA Russell]

It was 1966, my sophomore year in high school. I had already owned Al Hirt and Tijuana Brass records. In January I bought a 45 of a local jazz trio, the Ronnie Kole Trio - Batman's Theme b/w Narum's Blues.

In March I bought a 45 of Dave Brubeck's Take Five b/w Blue Rondo a la Turk.

In June I bought my first jazz album, the Ramsey Lewis Trio's Hang On Ramsey, which included both Hang On Sloopy and A Hard Day's Night.

The next month I got Ray Bryant's Gotta Travel On, like Lewis on Cadet. Apparently my local jazz station had a good supply of Cadet records.

It was in October that I got my first hard core jazz album, Richard "Groove" Holmes' Soul Message. I had to go downtown (New Orleans) to buy that, because the distributor of my local shop didn't handle Prestige. I got it because I wanted Misty, which had been a hit that summer.

[rockefeller center]

November 1991 (age 17), found a cassette labeled "Weather Report - Mysterious Traveler/Cannonball Adderley - Country Preacher" in my father's car, listened to it, liked it immediately and bought WR's "Heavy Weather" and that Cannonball Adderley Quintet album the next day.

[Jazzmoose]

Pat Metheny's As Falls Witchita, So Falls Witchita Falls. But the first one I bought actually knowing it was jazz was an unknown Dizzy cassette that I lost while in Japan. First vinyl was Kind of Blue in 1986.

[JohnS]

It was a long time ago now but I can remember a 10" by Humphrey Lyttleton That was probably the first lp. In the effort to discover more, other early purchases were Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall concert and Dave Brubeck's "Jazz Goes To Junior College".

[medjuck]

Dave Brubeck Quartet on Crown.

Right on, Crown Records. My first jazz LP was a Crown. It was presumably, Stan Getz, whom, as a kid sax-player, I had at least heard of. Alas, I never found another Getz record that I liked as much.

Then, revelation.

Turns out it was actually Wardell Gray on that record. And I have ever since been a Gray-hound.

Great story. Which Wardell record was it?

[Chuck Nessa]

I think the first jazz lp I bought was Louis's Hot 5 on Columbia. First lp was Fats Domino.

[medjuck]

I think I got that same Fats Domino as 3 Eps (Remember them?)

[undergroundagent]

I'm still a young guy, but the first jazz LP that I bought when I was collecting records was "Love Supreme" by Coltrane. He was actually the first jazz artist I went full out to find his various albums, at least on Impulse anyways.

[paul secor]

The first jazz LP I bought was a budget LP (on Design, possibly - it's been so long ago that I can't remember) with Bird and Dizzy, among others, listed on the cover. A lot of it was the Clyde Hart sides from the mid-40's, and I remember being disappointed because it wasn't what I expected. Sounded like 1940ish pop music, and I expected something else.

The second jazz LP I bought was Brubeck's Time Out - I had just seen a television documentary on the Brubeck Quartet. Then came a Riverside compilation, The Soul of Jazz -1961, with Cannonball, Blue Mitchell, Monk, Bobby Timmons, Johnny Griffin, etc., and another Riverside, Clark Terry's Duke with a Difference - both purchased for about a buck and a half at a record store that was going out of business.

By then, I was hooked.

[Tjazz]

Can I remember?

Probably got a Blue Note cut-out LP for $2.99

[BFrank]

If not the first.......at least one of the first. Different cover, though. (this one's ugly!)

[kh1958]

It was either The Best of Cannonball Adderley on Capitol, or a Columbia Miles Davis Anthology called Basic Miles, purchased around 1973.

[wesbed]

I remember taking a flight from somewhere in New Jersey to London in 1976 when I was 10 years of age. The flight seemed neverending at that age. I remember listening to the airline's tape-loop of music through the headphones. I listened to every offered channel many times through, over and over, till the airplane landed in London. There was a country channel which I was familiar with since I'd grown up on country music. There was a classical channel which seemed too serious. There was a rock-n-roll channel that made no sense to me. I knew nothing about rock-n-roll when I was 10 years old. Finally, there was a jazz channel. I knew nothing about jazz but it seemed very cool to me. Almost too cool to touch.

I remember listening to several of the jazz tunes that were amazingly appealing to me. Sometime during the 1980s I discovered that the tunes I'd enjoyed on that flight, which I never forgot, were from George Benson's BREEZIN' record.

In the very late 1970s, before I discovered the mysterious tunes were from Benson's BREEZIN, I purchased my first jazz record. I liked the cover and I liked the tunes contained within. The music made me feel 'uptown' and 'jazzy' and really happy all over. I couldn't believe I'd discovered (and owned) such a treasure of music. If was nothing like the country music I'd been raised on. This music reminded me of the great songs I'd listened to during the flight across the Atlantic ocean, but a bit different, more modern. The first jazz record I purchased was Earl Klugh's HEART STRING. I remember spending many hours listening to the tunes and staring at Earl on the cover. The way he was dressed, the feel of the environment surrounding him. I imagined he was standing in the hallway of a jazz-based apartment or hotel or restaurant or studio.

Earl's music spoke to me and said my life and the world would be okay. I was 13 years old in 1979.

Edited December 1, 2004 by wesbed

[Daniel Andresen]

I was twelve when I got my first gramophone and bought my first lp's.

I bought a double album by Fats Waller (I think it was titled Ain't Misbehavin').

A record by Ella Fitzgerald (Don't remember the name but it included a version of Hey Jude which I liked very much).

A record by Benny Goodman (Don't remember which one it was).

Since I got my first gramophone for my birthday I guess that I bought these around September or October 1982.

[porcy62]

Actually I didn't buy the first record, I stolen a copy of Bitches Brew from my uncle, he didn't like it.

[BruceH]

It was either Kind of Blue, Nice Guys by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, or one of the Armstrong Hot Five LP's on Columbia (hi Chuck!) back in 1979. I honestly can't remember which was the first, though Kind of Blue definately got the most play over the next two or three years. Jazz remained a side interest until 1985, however.

[sonic1]

The first album I bought myself:

The first album given to me:

and my first jazz album (that I purchased):

[AfricaBrass]

Back in 1988 I purchased my first jazz recording. It was Africa/Brass, and things have never been the same...

[RDK]

It's a bit hard to remember after 25 years or so - it would have been around 1980 - but it was probably either this...

[RDK]

... or this...

(I was going through the 1st edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide and buying the 5-star albums that sounded interesting!)

[AfricaBrass]

Nice choices, RDK!

[Gary]

No surprises from me I'm afraid . In my late teens I saw 'Round Midnight on TV , I was working in a record shop so the next day I ordered the soundtrack and bought a few more around the same time (I cannnot remember the very first) ,

Giant Steps , KOB & the best of Dexter on Blue Note.

I bought a few more titles along the way until one afternoon about 5 or 6 years ago I thought 'I think I'll play some jazz CDs today' & havent really listened to or bought anything else since.

[garthsj]

I started playing clarinet when I was 11. My father played the drums in a strict-tempo dance band, and I was always surrounded by music, mostly pop stuff, which in those days featured lots of big band music. When I started playing clarinet I acquired some Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw 78's, and then a kindly record store owner played some Buddy DeFranco 78's on the MGM label for me ... I was hooked. So, even before I owned an LP record player, I used my pocket money to purchase this 10" DeFranco album in 1952. I used to play it at my friend Ralph's house, and even then his technique intimidated the hell out of me. It was a daunting experience for a young aspiring clarinet player. I still have this album, the only LP that I currently own ... it is in a special glass frame and hangs on the wall of my study ... a reminder of all of the years of joy that jazz has brought me.

Garth.

[minew]

Stanley Clarke, School Days