I love jazz. I've been listening to it for 35 years but I'm always hearing something new. It could be a new player or an old player that I missed. An example of the last category is Jaco Pastorius. Friday I posted about some pieces by George Sessum. One of them was about Jaco Pastorius. What a treat to discover someone that was there all along. George's pieces are at All About Jazz, which I've just discovered. There is much to read here but today's link is to their pages on building a jazz library. If you don't know jazz and want to begin listening to it, this is an excellent place to start. If you've been listening to jazz for years, this is an excellent place to continue your journey.

Welcome to AAJ's Building a Jazz Library

There's more to jazz than Kenny G and Wynton Marsalis. [Ed. — No shit!]

That's why we created Building A Jazz Library. With this resource, you can home in on the players and styles essential to the past and future of jazz. Each section in this series features a brief introduction which provides some background and biographical information to shed light on each particular artist or style.

Then we list the discs. You'll find landmark material here, true high-water marks worthy of respect and attention. We recruited a special enthusiast to assemble each section in this series. These people have spent a lot of time with the subject (and probably bought way too many records to back it up). We assure you that the nuggets listed here are carefully considered and on-target.

If you're new to Jazz -- or new to an artist or style -- treat Building A Jazz Library as a primer of sorts. It will provide you with enough information to step confidently into the store (or the library) and find something tasty. Or if you're a serious collector, you might just find that a few of these recommendations may fill some gaping holes on your shelf.

Building A Jazz Library throws its doors wide open to all different kinds of Jazz fans and interests. Certain sounds may mesh with your particular tastes, and this series aims to bring you and the music together in perfect harmony. So dig in, and enjoy!
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