Sgt Dunbar and the Hobo Banned - Charles Mingus' Garbage Pile

http://www.mediafire.com/?4kkbv2s0e6p12je

I remember finding this when i attempted the incredibly daunting task of exploring an entire SXSW torrent. (2010 maybe?). Anyway that was ultimately way too much to digest. But i did find a song from this EP in there and it is a super catchy song.

This band has a sort of folk-jazz (New Orleans-y jazz mixed with Neutral Milk Hotel?) thing going on. It is pretty neat!

http://sgtdunbar.bandcamp.com/

C.W. Stoneking - Jungle Blues

http://www.mediafire.com/?fsvt4lo97s3cqzk

C.W. Stoneking is a fellow from Australia. He plays a neat revival of old-timey musics. This particular one is a New Orleans jazz type of theme. Another album he made is very Mississippi blues-y. Talented guy.

http://cwstoneking.com/

Thelonious Monk - Solo Monk (1964)

http://www.mediafire.com/?nzemzzg3y2m

So i've been listening to a lot of Thelonious Monk recently. Honestly, a lot of jazz really puts me off cause a lot of it tends to be really overproduced or just dull. Also, i FUCKING HATE SAXOPHONES. No offense to anyone who likes or plays saxophone, but they are my least favourite instrument of all time. They just suck and sound awful. And lots of jazz is loaded with saxophones.

Jazz piano is where it's at. As soon as i listened to this album i could immediately see the tremendous influence it had on Tom Waits' (my favourite musician of all time) piano playing. Particularly that of Nighthawks at the Diner, The Heart of Saturday Night, and Small Change. In fact, i just discovered now that this album is Tom Waits' second favourite album of all time. I was also pleased to see Murderous Home on that list.

Monk said 'There is no wrong note, it has to do with how you resolve it'. He almost sounded like a kid taking piano lessons. I could relate to that when I first started playing the piano, because he was decomposing the music while he was playing it. It was like demystifying the sound, because there is a certain veneer to jazz and to any music, after a while it gets traffic rules, and the music takes a backseat to the rules. It's like aerial photography, telling you that this is how we do it. That happens in folk music too. Try playing with a bluegrass group and introducing new ideas. Forget about it. They look at you like you're a communist. On Solo Monk, he appears to be composing as he plays, extending intervals, voicing chords with impossible clusters of notes. 'I Should Care' kills me, a communion wine with a twist. Stride, church, jump rope, Bartok, melodies scratched into the plaster with a knife. A bold iconoclast. Solo Monk lets you not only see these melodies without clothes, but without skin. This is astronaut music from Bedlam.

- Tom Waits

The Bill Murray Experience - T'Aint No Sin

http://www.mediafire.com/?vnndq3zm32g
 

Much like their namesake, The Bill Murray Experience are pretty fucking cool. Old-timey jazz, ragtime,  and roots music, but new!

I'm really not in a write-y mood tonight, sorry.

www.myspace.com/billmurrayexperience

Jack Kerouac & Steve Allen - Poetry for the Beat Generation

http://www.mediafire.com/?205xwtwnqez

Debut album from novelist Jack Kerouac. Here his spoken word poetry is accompanied by jazz pianist Steve Allen. If you like Jack Kerouac, spoken word music, poetry, or jazz piano you will enjoy this. It just... takes you places. Even if you don't know if you'll like it, give it a shot. It is absolutely tremendous.

For those who are more familiar with Tom Waits' Nighthawks at the Diner, this album is a fair bit like that. Although this came first so it is probably more accurate to say Nighthawks is like this. I LOVE Nighthawks (and indeed every single thing Tom Waits has ever done) so it makes sense I would enjoy this.

Al Bowlly - Al Bowlly

http://www.mediafire.com/?dhgwbnzttmt

Al Bowlly was a singer from the 1930's, born in Mozambique, raised in South Africa, and popular in Britain. He was killed by a parachute mine exploding outside his apartment in London during the Blitz.

Great example of that old '30s style of jazz-pop that isn't even really attempted much these days. I don't know if anyone reading this likes the style of music enough to download it but fuck you this is my intertube i will post whatever i like. And i like this. That's all the endorsement you should need. Plus, it has that fantastic old gritty vinyl record static.

Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli - Souvenirs

http://www.mediafire.com/?tmtzavtyz2j

I love gypsy jazz. Particularly Django Reinhardt. He is likely my favourite guitarist ever, and has had a tremendous influence on my guitar playing (almost 10 years).

He was a genuine French gypsy, and had his left hand badly burnt in a caravan fire. He played guitar using only two fingers of his left hand due to the damage caused by the burns, and still managed to be better at guitar than practically everyone. He pretty much single-handedly invented the genre of gypsy jazz, also.