Ten Rock CDs for Jazz Fans

Ten Rock CDs for Jazz Fans

Date Posted: July 25 2010

Written By: Paul Abella

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Maybe it’s because I grew up during a time when jazz was not the popular of the day, or maybe it’s simply because I listen to jazz for a living, but sometimes I just need to hear something else. Sometimes––heck, a lot of the time––that itch is scratched with the great old school funk of Stax or Atlantic’s heyday. And sometimes, it’s all about hip-hop, especially the socially conscious, jazz sampling East Coast hip-hop of the early and mid-nineties. But most of the time, if I want to hear something that really is going to move me, it’s all about the rock music that I grew up with.

Having been a certifiable jazz geek since the age of fourteen, my tastes in rock music have definitely skewed towards the improvisatory, towards cool chord progressions and towards lyrics that might be a little headier than what might be heard on the average rock radio station. And as you’re reading Chicago Jazz Magazine, you might be in the same boat with me, so I figured that a list like this might just be a fun thing to write.

First off, I had to give myself some ground rules. If it’s going to be a list of rock albums that every jazz fan should own, then they should be rock albums. So, even though every jazz fan should own Music In The Key Of Life, Let’s Get It On, Paul’s Boutique, Why Can’t We Be Friends, Melting Pot and everything by Earth Wind and Fire, they’re not to be found here.

Those are all excellent albums, but they’re not rock discs. In that same vein, while it would have been easy to do a list consisting of jazz discs by rock artists (Frank Zappa, Jerry Garcia, Carlos Santana and Trey Anastasio have all put out excellent discs that definitely fall in the jazz arena), that’s not the point. So while three of these four musicians mentioned are on the list, they’re on it within the context of work that is clearly rock, no matter how masterful it may be.

10) The Black Crowes — Amorica: This disc is an anomaly in the Black Crowes catalog. Their first album sounds like five guys that listened to practically nothing but the Rolling Stones. Their second disc sounds like the guys on the first disc had discovered the rest of their parents’ record collection. Everything else that they’ve done after Amorica has sounded like re-treading, to varying degrees, of those first two discs. But on their third disc, Amorica, they momentarily changed their game––at least for the next year while they were touring behind it. The disc, on its best moments, is loose like your favorite Coleman Hawkins blowing session, sexy like some seventies Donald Byrd and sounding, on more than one occasion, more than a little bit like War.

Sure, there’s still blues rock to be found on Amorica, but half the disc consists of tracks that turn the band into a loose, rock-meets-blues-meets-Latin juggernaut, too mellow to be compared to Santana (thus, the War comparison) and too good to be compared to any of their contemporaries. Also, it features one of my favorite all-time lyrics on the tune “Nonfiction”: “I don’t know my telephone number/but you kiss good and I’d like to see you tomorrow.” Yeah.

9) Cynic — Focus: Okay, this is the one disc on the list that maybe not everyone should own. But if you’re truly open-minded about music, or you’re already a metal-head, this is, at the very least, a must-hear. Cynic is essentially a supergroup made up of some of the best players from the amazing pool of talent in the South Florida Death Metal scene. Like the considerably less heavy Metallica, they were adept improvisers, and knew a thing or two about music theory.

This is by far the least jazzy album on the list, but it’s also the single most interesting, if you can get past the tempos and the death metal growls (which are actually kept to a refreshing minimum). It’s on the list because it is one of the few truly metal albums that so clearly is influenced by Return to Forever, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra and their ilk. Start with “Textures” and repeat after me: “Oh my God, that’s awesome!” Beavis and Butthead chuckle optional.

8) The Beatles — Revolver: There are so many arguments that could be made for all of the Beatles’ work, post-Rubber Soul. But there’s a reason I chose Revolver––it’s simply the most consistently brilliant album that they did. Sure Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band might be more popular, but if Sergeant Pepper is the Beatles’ Kind of Blue, then Revolver is their Giant Steps. Just as impressive, maybe even more so, but infinitely less played out, and definitely more exciting. For jazz fans, there are plenty of great jazz renditions of a few of these gems: “Eleanor Rigby,” “I’m Only Sleeping,” “Tomorrow Never Knows,” “For No One” and “She Said, She Said” have all gotten pretty stellar treatments throughout the years.

“I’m Only Sleeping” genuinely swings, “Got To Get You Into My Life” grooves so hard that the Earth Wind and Fire cover of it a decade later is actually a disappointment in comparison, and George Harrison proves why he’s my favorite Beatle on “Taxman,” “If I Needed Someone” and even “Love You To,” where he turns the sitar into an implement of rock.

7) King Crimson — Red: How does one describe King Crimson? I guess one way would be to say, “Take your favorite non-jazz band (unless it’s Frank Zappa, and he’s on the way), and make them more talented, more creative and more challenging in every conceivable way” and you might have a start. Robert Fripp is a monster of a guitarist, and the best of the Crimson line-ups featured more monsters at every post––Bill Bruford (Earthworks for the jazz fans; Yes’s original drummer for the rock fans) on drums, John Wetton on bass, David Cross on violin and mellotron and Jamie Muir on percussion.

While most King Crimson fans would rate this album the least of this incarnation’s three discs (Larks’ Tongues in Aspic and Starless and Bible Black being the others) this is a favorite of mine, because it shows this band fully matured (and they’d pretty much splintered by the time this disc was released) and at the top of its game. There’s lots of dynamic control, an immediately recognizable sound and great songs to be found on this disc, and it’s well worth a listen by any jazz fan that values chops, drive and individuality. If I haven’t picked any individual songs off of Red it’s because this album, more than any other on this list, is a beginning-to-end kind of a disc. So, go out and buy it, turn it on late at night and let it work its magic.

6) Jimi Hendrix — Axis: Bold As Love: I could have very well just written “everything” and been equally reasonable here. What it really comes down to here is that Axis is the best single collection of Hendrix songs outside of a greatest hits collection, and while it doesn’t contain any of his “hits,” it does have “Little Wing,” “One Rainy Wish,” “Up From The Skies,” “Castles Made of Sand” and “Axis: Bold as Love.” Who needs the popular tunes when you have all of those tunes collected on one disc?

5) Phish — A Picture of Nectar: Phish fans reading this (and trust me, there will be more than a few) are likely going to throw up their arms and scream, “What about JUNTA?!” (If you’re reading this at Andy’s and just heard a thirty-something look up from his copy of this magazine and scream that at the top of his lungs, now you know why.) And they’d have a good enough point––Junta was the two-disc set with epically long tunes and tons of jamming. But where as Junta clearly tips its hat to progressive rock, A Picture of Nectar is as close to jazz as Phish ever got.

The tunes are shorter, but those tunes include “The Landlady” (a groove worthy of Cal Tjader, and proof that Trey and Fish definitely listened to a fair amount of Joe Cuba and Tito Puente while at school): “Magilla,” a quick jam on rhythm changes; and songs like “Stash” and “Guelah Papyrus,” Which are genuine proof that these four rock musicians had absorbed a good dose of jazz. Their later songwriting at its best equaled some of the writing here, but they have yet to best it.

4) The Grateful Dead — Wake of the Flood and Blues for Allah (tie): As a huge Deadhead, and I couldn’t choose one over the other. Frankly, though, it’s a necessary choice. While Blues For Allah has some of the Dead’s most challenging material and about a half an album’s worth of absolutely essentially and interesting music, it also contains the song “Blues For Allah,” which is twenty minutes of the most awful and self-indulgent sound to have ever been purposely been placed on a record. That first side, though, is magnificent. The opening “Help Is On The Way/Slipknot/Franklin’s Tower” sequence is not only funky and engaging, but it’s also a jaw-dropping example of just how good the Grateful Dead could be in the studio when they chose to be.

A telling critique of this disc is that many fans (me included) consider this disc to be the Dead’s attempt to sound like Steely Dan. On the other hand, Wake of the Flood is one of their most endearing albums, but in classic Dead fashion, it is all over the place, jumping from the country-jazz-rock of “Mississippi Half Step Toodeloo” to the steamrolling rock of “Let It Grow.” But it also contains two tunes that have become staples in the songbooks of jazz playing Deadheads everywhere: “China Doll” and “Eyes of the World.” I highly suggest them both, but as stated a few sentences ago, I’m biased.

3) Chicago — Chicago Transit Authority: This one actually came to me as a suggestion from a couple of different folks who knew I was writing this article. What was originally a spot being held open for Peace Sells by Megadeth (a speed metal band whose original incarnation included two amazing jazz musicians in Gar Samuelson and Chris Poland). I had forgotten what an amazing band Chicago was before they decided that they should write songs designed to be used as background music for love scenes in soap operas.

This is a disc with tons of bravado, inventive writing and some great soloing. Sure, the lyrics are painfully hippie-esque (the lyrics to “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is” make me want to find a dude with a perm and a tie-dye and punch him in the face). This first disc has plenty of the classics Chicago is known for: “Beginnings,” the aforementioned “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is,” “Questions 67 & 68” and a version of “I’m a Man” for the ages.

2) Santana — Abraxas: Yes, Santana has done jazzier discs, including full-on real jazz CDs (Illuminations with Alice Coltrane, Love Devotion Surrender with John McLaughlin and The Swing of Delight with Wayne, Herbie, Ron and Tony).

But of his classic albums where he fused rock, salsa and jazz in equal amounts effortlessly, Abraxas stands as the crowning achievement (unless you like Santana III better, and frankly, I couldn’t blame you if you did). Two of Santana’s biggest hits are here: “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va,” but it’s some of the lesser-known tracks that’ll make you a believer if you’re not already.

“Incident at Neshabur” is a fire-breathing classic, “Se A Cabo” boasts a monster of an arrangement and “Samba Pa Ti” proves why Carlos got the call to play with Wayne Shorter, Weather Report, George Benson and plenty of other fantastic musicians. And if you want to hear Santana’s band rock out like a real sixties rock band, you could do a lot worse than “Hope You’re Feeling Better.”

1) Steely Dan — Pretzel Logic: Much like the previous two albums on the list, Pretzel Logic opens with atmospheric sound rather than the usual first-track wallop. And, also like those two albums, that atmospheric sound launches into one of the biggest hits of their careers. In this case, it’s the Dan’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” a song that steals its hook directly from Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father.” Things on Pretzel Logic only get better from there. “Night By Night’s” groove could easily have been lifted from any seventies’ Bobbi Humphrey, Herbie Mann or Donald Byrd album, and of course, no jazz fan could forget about the quirky-as-can-be cover of Ellington’s “East St. Louis Toodeloo.” Add to that great tunes like “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” and “Parker’s Band,” and you’ve got an instant classic. Since I know you’ll love this, just skip this single disc and buy Citizen Steely Dan instead––all of their seventies’ material on four CDs packed to the brim with rock’s most cynical duo and all of their friends.

Honorable Mentions

Start with Van Morrison’s entire early seventies’ output (this list was already way too classic rock-heavy), continue with Disraeli Gears by Cream, and don’t forget local heroes, Umphrey’s McGee, and their 2004 gem Anchor Drops. On the modern front, Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion is a mess in all of the best ways. The biggest honorable mention has to go to the eleventh entry on this list…


Frank Zappa — Hot Rats: I axed Hot Rats from the Top Ten once I realized it is much more of a jazz disc than a rock disc. Frank Zappa was an outstanding musician of absurd proportions. Especially when you consider that he was self-taught. Musically, he had a bit of a Midas’ Touch to him. From doo-wop music (Cruisin’ With Ruben and the Jets) to classical (The Yellow Shark), Zappa could reach heights of brilliance in any genre he decided to take on. In 1969, he tried his hand at jazz-fusion and made one of the finest fusion discs ever released. If you’re a fan of fusion, Hot Rats deserves a place next to Bitches Brew, Duster, Hymn To The Seventh Galaxy and The Inner Mounting Flame. Zappa’s guitar and his writing both shine on this disc, whether it’s on the short and effective “Peaches en Regalia,” or on the longer and absolutely devastating “Willie the Pimp.” This disc also featured early performances from George Duke and Jean-Luc Ponty, so from both an historic and musical standpoint, this disc needs to be in every serious jazz collection.

If a jazz fan has a genuine interest in checking out the music on this list, Hot Rats would be a logical and fairly comfortable place to start.

That’s my list. Let the debate begin!

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