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I really enjoy listening to jazz/classical music while studying. What are some of the best from either genre that you would reccomend? Any ideas would be great.

Not technically classical, but close enough for most people: I would recommend Tchaikovsky. Mussorgsky is also quite good; his "Pictures at an Exhibition" is one I particularly like. The orchestrated version of it performed by the Slovak Philharmonic is....mmm...perfect!

If you're looking for artists, I can name you a good bunch from Jazz.

Miles Davis
John Coletrane
Wes Montgomery
Sonny Stitt
Stan Getz
Chic Corea
Dianne Reeves
Ella Fitzgerald
Bob Mintzer
Lou Donaldson
Sonny Rollins
Denzil Best
Dizzy Gillespie
Sarrah Vaughan

Favorite songs...
"Move" - Denzil Best
"Giant Steps" - John Coletrane
"Night in Tunisia" - Dizzy Gillesepie

Don't forget Glenn Miller, and Billie Haliday for jazz stuff

Infidel7 wrote:I really enjoy listening to jazz/classical music while studying. What are some of the best from either genre that you would reccomend? Any ideas would be great.

For classical, it can be a bit intimidating starting off, with the plethora of composers, pieces and performers available. I would suggest starting with one of the many 'Best of Classical' albums that are available, and getting a feel for the different composers from there.

Beethoven; symphonies three, five, and nine, especially. Oh, and anything by Bach. (I'm taking "classical" in the idiomatic sense, not the technical sense).

My albums list for those getting into jazz:
Miles Davis - Cooking With the Miles Davis Quintet
Miles Davis - Steaming with the Miles Davis Quintet
Miles Davis - Miles Smiles
Miles Davis - ESP
Cannonball Adderley - Live at the Village Vangard
Cannonball Adderley - Somethin Else
John Coltrane - Live at Birdland
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Michael Brecker - Two Blocks from the Edge
Joe Henderson with the Wynton Kelly Trio - Four!
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messangers - Mosaic
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messangers - Buhina's Delight
Chick Corea - Tones For Joan's Bones
Chick Corea - Now He Sings, Now He Sobs
Clifford Brown and Max Roach - A Study in Brown
Clifford Brown and Max Roach - Brown and Roach, Inc.
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colosus
Sonny Rollins - Tenor Madness
Mike Stern - Standards
Oscar Peterson - Night Train

Also, if you're looking for something a little more fun, swingy, and vocal, try Cab Calloway. He's a great jazz singer.

Try the Suite in E flat by Holst, and the New World Symphony, by Dvorak. That's what I'm listening to now anyways...

As for jazz... Anything by Maynard Ferguson may not facilitate studying, but it sure is fun to listen to!

"I don't know, I haven't tried today."
-Maynard Ferguson, when asked how high he could play

Ahh yes, Holst. His "Second Suite in F" is a good one. Also, "The Planets" (which clearly had a major hand in inspiring John Williams--listen to "Mars" and tell me you can't see the Death Star). In the same vein, Ralph Vaughan Williams (pronounced "rafe von"), has some excellent arrangements of folk music (try "A Lincolnshire Posy"). Finally, Aaron Copland is the quintessential American composer; "Applachian Spring," El Salon Mexico, and of course the short (but essential) "Fanfare for the Common Man."

Hawkwings wrote:Try the Suite in E flat by Holst, and the New World Symphony, by Dvorak. That's what I'm listening to now anyways...

As for jazz... Anything by Maynard Ferguson may not facilitate studying, but it sure is fun to listen to!

"I don't know, I haven't tried today."
-Maynard Ferguson, when asked how high he could play

I think Arturo Sandoval has him beat for range.

Here are a few good CDs:

"Birth of the Cool" - Miles Davis
"Ken Burns Jazz" - Charlie Parker
Any of the "Jazz Biography" series
Everything else mentioned above looks good


For classical:
- Definitely look up The Planets by Holst. It's 7 movements of awesomeness.
- I wholeheartedly urge you to find "Festive Overture" by Shostakovich.
- Also, try finding traditional British Brass Band music. We have a local one and they're really good.

Thanks so much for the suggestions.

Ack! How could I forget Aaron Copland?!?!? Appalachian Spring wins, and Fanfare for the Common Man is so famous that you hear it everywhere. Not to emntion all Copland's other stuff.

Anyone got any good recommendations for 60s European jazz? Like the stuff on the Ocean's Twelve and Pink Panther soundtracks.

Practically all good European Jazz involves artists from America playing in Europe. My distant, hazy memory of the Pink Panther suggests that you are looking for swing, which is pre-WWII era Jazz. Try Glen Miller, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington.

The right version of the Soviet Anthem works well for a classical, orchestral type feel. Red Army Chorus, IMO, works quite well for that, but it depends on the feeling you want from it.

I would be very hesitant to call anything on the Ocean's Twelve soundtrack jazz. Much of it is also composed by David Holmes specifically for the movie.

Visit classiccat.net and start downloading classical pieces from virtually every prominent composer. Can't give you a free site for jazz though, unless you want very early jazz. For early popular music (1900 through the 1930s) I can refer you to dismuke.org and the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project. They have thousands of free downloads of light classical, early jazz, and popular music in general from the early 20th century. Great stuff, I think.

My personal favorite from dismuke.org is "R-Ro-Rolling Along." That's a great tune that a lot of people like even if they don't like music from the 1920s. I know because I obnoxiously play music over the microphone in various Half-Life mods using HLSS.

Get Blow by Blow and Wired by Jeff Beck. It's not really jazz - it's strictly jazz fusion - but both are fantastic records.