KPLU School of Jazz

Jazz on CD

In addition to the five volumes in the KPLU School of Jazz series, of course, KCLS’ collection includes many other great music titles, in many formats. For starters, we have a number of music CDs which feature many of the artists ‘guest starring’ with the high school bands in the School of Jazz series, including:

Bill Anschell - More to the ear than meets the eye

Greta Matassa - Favorites from a long walk 

Jay Thomas - 360 degrees 

Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra - SRJO live 

In addition to local artists, we have a wide variety of jazz music, including:

Miles Davis All-Stars, featuring John Coltrane – Broadcast Sessions
A very new compilation of rare recordings with the coolest trumpeter and a bunch of true all-stars.

Bill Frisell – History, Mystery
A new Northwest legend twisting his guitar into magic sounds.

Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis – Two men with the blues
Two suave gentlemen, from the worlds of country and jazz, collaborating quite smoothly!

Hadley Caliman – Gratitude
One of our local giants, still going strong on tenor saxophone, now in his 80s!

Sam Yahel, Ari Hoenig, Mike Moreno, Seamus Blake – Jazz side of the moon CD PJ JAZ J38
Pink Floyd’s classic album done up with swinging jazz flavors!

John Coltrane – A Love Supreme 
Perhaps the most iconic and significant single recording by a modern jazz saxophonist. Coltrane’s styles have influenced nearly everyone playing jazz today and you can hear hosts of imitators anywhere jazz is playing.  This newer edition includes never-before-heard alternate takes with fellow firebrand Archie Shepp!

Bobby McFerrin – Bang!Zoom
A whole choir of voices improvising along with Bobby’s amazingly fluid, and kaleidoscopic voice!

Benny Goodman Sextet featuring Charlie Christian, 1939-41  
The king of swing shrinks his big band down to this small group which played perhaps the most complicated jazz before Charlie “Bird” Parker came along.

Best of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Satchmo’s growl and Ella’s bright and wide-ranging scat-singing should NOT work together, but they certainly do, on plenty of the classic standards of Gershwin, Porter and Mercer. Plus, great dollops of Armstrong’s wonderful trumpet, to boot!

Blue Note Perfect takes
Some of the finest examples of post-bop from the label that practically invented this strain of jazz. Includes single classics from the likes of Monk, Miles, Mobley, Shorter, Blakey and more.

Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra (SWOJO)  – Dream Catcher      
All women playing all jazz! And all from right here in the Great Northwest!

Weather Report – Forecast: Tomorrow     
Probably the most creative offshoot from Miles’ electric period; Wayne Shorter’s saxes and Joseph Zawinul’s keyboards combined with many more dazzling wunderkinds including electric bassist Jaco Pastorius and percussionist Alphonse Mouzon.

Getz/Gilberto  
Stan Getz’ tenor sax was the sweet perfect foil to the samba of South America – think “A Girl from Ipanema.”

Preservation Hall Jazz Band – Made in New Orleans: the hurricane sessions   
The classic old time band of New Orleans’ original Dixieland jazz live, as always, in their hometown.

James Carter – Out of Nowhere   
Carter’s way with nearly all the saxophones is practically exhausting – but no one today swings harder either!

The best of Art Tatum  
You will think there is more than one pianist when you hear Tatum’s fingers fly. And the variations he could find in all the tin pan alley classics is astounding. This recording also features many other of the music’s torchbearers such as Ben Webster, Harry “Sweets” Edison and Buddy Rich.

Sun Ra – Reflections in Blue   
All his life Ra claimed to be from the planet Saturn (this was long before the era of psychedelic rock) and after hearing a few of his cosmic big band numbers, plus his own wild electric keyboards, you just might be convinced he was!

Thelonious Monk – The classic quartet
Monk’s piano playing could be so simple and seemingly full of ‘mistakes’ -- but there was never an error: he was just finding new sounds within the 88 keys of his instrument.

Art Ensemble of Chicago – Third Decade  
“Great Black Music – Ancient to the Future” was this Chicago group’s rallying cry and the two-reed & trumpet front line band exemplified this by covering every era of jazz (and beyond), including pioneering the use of miscellaneous ‘little instruments.’

Charles Mingus – Cornell 1964  
A newly discovered recording from the gargantuan bassist, composer and overall titan, Mingus, leading perhaps his greatest group, featuring mercurial pianist Jaki Byard and most especially, the incomparable saxman, flautist and bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, through Mingus’ all-encompassing compositions.

Charlie Parker – Yardbird suite
Alto saxist Charlie “Yardbird” Parker was one of the founders of modern bop, and his style permeates nearly every jazz performance you’ll hear today!

Billie Holiday – The Ultimate collection
Poignant, heartbreaking and yet tough as they come, “Lady Day” avoided the usual fast scat singing of many jazz vocalists but is often called the music’s greatest vocalist.

Satch plays Fats 
Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong is practically the granddaddy of all jazz, and an amazingly inventive trumpet player, as well. Here, along with his “All-stars,” he interprets many gems from mischievous cohort and pianist Thomas “Fats” Waller.

Smithsonian collection of classic jazz
Nearly the whole history of the music on 5 CDs, chosen by experts to cover the broad range of this ‘sound of surprise.’

Return to top

Last Updated: April 23, 2009