Straight jazz is too pure for me. I like the corrupted jazz-rock that is more commercial. In the old days this meant Tom Scott and the L.A. Express and The Crusaders (after they changed from The Jazz Crusaders and added Larry Carlton on guitar) and The Brecker Brothers. Then later it became Spyro Gyra and Fattburger and The Rippingtons and The Jeff Lorber Fusion. I have lots of favorite artists, but let's start with Tom Scott and David Sanborn and Jay Beckenstein on sax (in that order) with honorable mention to Candy Dulfer and Eric Marienthal. Miscellaneous instrument without question would have to be Jean-Luc Ponty on electric violin. While I appreciate powerful drummers like Billy Cobham (and others), my three favorites are Steve Gadd and Harvey Mason and the late John Guerin.

I'll save my favorite guitarists and bassists and keyboardists and percussionists for another time.

I started a High School Jazz Band this year and have successfully introduced my students to Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Buddy Rich, etc.. They have had such a blast and played some great music this year.

Personal favorite styles are Dixieland, Swing, Post Bop, and Latin. I love it all though.

My favorite jazz-rock fusion CD is GARY'S SONGS. Most of the fusion musicians started out as jazz musicians but also played studio sessions backing up pop singers like Linda Ronstadt. Seeing the pop singers' albums outsell their own 100 to 1 influenced them to mix jazz with rock and make their own music more accessible. But Gary came to jazz-rock fusion from the other side after playing rock and roll cover songs in bands in high school and college, so his songs may sound a bit more pop than jazz.
CD cover (resized).jpgsongs list (resized).jpg

For me, (as a saxophonist) I've always enjoyed "Bossa Nova" Stan Getz jazz. I'm also a big fan of Big Band's.

I got into jazz because my dad is a sax player and was always playing jazz. My parent's city has a community jazz band that he still plays with. He jokes that he's the least talented guy in the group. It includes a bunch of former Cleveland Jazz Orchestra guys and others who teach at Interlochen, etc. The town is pretty spoiled to have such a great group.

I've played trumpet for most of my life, although I've taken up guitar lately. I played in jazz bands through college but not much since then. Being a lead trumpet player my favorite jazz musician is Maynard Ferguson . I was lucky enough to see him live twice. I generally like all eras and genres except for smooth jazz. Other than Maynard, I listen to Chet Baker, Clark Terry, Parker, Miles Davis, and Duke Ellington regularly.

As far as new stuff (other than Snarky Puppy) a co-worker of mine told me about an NYC subway trio called Too Many Zooz that's pretty good. Ignore their first release (Fanimals) and listen to Subway Gawdz.