I finished Mafia a couple days ago and didn't realize how much I enjoyed the music until its not there. My question is, can anybody recommend some jazz or swing that is representitive of the 30s?

Ken Burns' Jazz series for PBS has an accompanying set of soundtracks, a five-disc survey, a one-disc survey, and a bunch of individual artist discs. While not all of this is from the 30s, it's a pretty good collection in general, and you could get specific to around the 30s if you grabbed a few of the artist CDs from that period, but there's no reason to limit yourself.

Thanks! I'll take a look at that box set.

That's a good start. It would be better if you knew a style of jazz that interests you. Is it swing in particular?

Here's some people who were big in the 30's:

Sidney Bechet
Jelly Roll Morton
Fletcher Henderson
Duke Ellington
Benny Goodman

To name just a few.

My favorite genres in jazz are bop and "cool" jazz. I could listen to Gerry Mulligan for hours (my Mulligan records have been on my turntable non-stop recently ), and I've got a poster of Charlie Parker on my wall. As a sax player, these guys are my idols

Also check out Django Reinhardt.

jazz or swing

40 years ago, I shared with a guy who was mad on Miles Davis, and I it did nothing for me at all. Just recently I thought that I would give it another try and got a cut price triple CD of Kinda Blue/Porgy & Bess/Sketches of Spain and I just can't stop playing them! - but you are asking about the 30's:

I agree on the Ken Burns series, it was a great series, and I imagine the CD's do as well. If you can get the videos/DVD's or it's repeated on TV, it's an excellent introduction to jazz.

If it's really swing you're after, it's mass taste and largely out of copyright. If you go for the mainstream of Goodman, Elllington, Herman, Miller etc., you'll find that you'll be overwhelmed by the variety of packages, good and bad, at silly prices both in CD stores and TV/press advertised.

I'm not even going to try to get into all the different kinds of jazz, but if you like 'swing', both old and new, then there's a whole community of swing DJs out there who have recommended listening and CD reviews online. Here are some well-known DJ's sites:

Jesse Miner
Ron Bloom
Reuben Brown
Paul Overton & Sharon Ashe

All of these DJs cater primarily to the Lindy Hop community, which mostly means the music they recommend is "danceable". That means you're not going to get recommendations on any bebop or free jazz, but plenty of recommendations on both older big band and more recent small combo / groove jazz.

Also, as a side note, almost all of this music comes under the Sony Bono Copyright Extension. It's not going to be public domain for a long, long time in the U.S., but it's already public domain in Europe. I have some cheap compilations I bought while I was in Germany (including a Polish compilation of Django Reinhardt). Probably your best bet for sheer volume of good stuff is, believe it or not, eMusic.com. They've got tons of old jazz music, and you can surf around and find the artists you like without blowing a ton of money.

Those are some great sites. Allmusicguide would be a good place to start as well which gives you a feel for how the Artist ended up doing what they did and a feel for where it went from there.

Once you decide on what you like, I recommend All Music Guide to Jazz: The Experts' Guide to the Best Jazz Recordings (a book). It has lots of artists in it with their works rated. So many CDs out there are reissue material. As an example I think Charlie Parker (although bop) has more "albums" to his credit than actual songs due to the infinite repackaging of the same songs.

The latest trend is for Greatest Hits for an artist. Unlike rock groups today, most jazz musicians of that time period jumped from label to label so a Greatest Hits compilation probably won't mean much.

Why are all you guys replying to me? I'm not the one asking

Second on the allmusic. If you want swing, just punch in Benny Goodman or something, and check out all the artists in the swing genre.

I heartily suggest going beyone swing and the 30's, as there's a lot of good jazz out there. Of course, according to Wynton Marsalis, nothing after bop is really jazz, but it's best not to listen to what he has to say

The latest trend is for Greatest Hits for an artist. Unlike rock groups today, most jazz musicians of that time period jumped from label to label so a Greatest Hits compilation probably won't mean much.

Not quite. Often, as record companies have merged and gobbled up each others rights, you end up with some companies owning parts of an artist's recordings, while some other company owns the remainder.

Example: let's say you like "old testament" Count Basie (that is, recordings before WWII). You can get the complete Decca recordings (a 3CD set for a pleasant $35) which encompases three years worth of 78's, or you can get something like Volume 4 - 1937 with live radio recordings. And, of course, after Basie got out of his evil Decca contract (record companies have been outnegotiating quality artists since the beginning) and signed with Columbia, you get different compilations like The Essential Count Basie with material from 1939-1940.

As a general rule for post-war music, I try to stay away from "best of" collections and focus on original albums. If you want pre-war music, you have to remember that it was all issued on 78's -- two three-minute cuts per disc. If they were lucky, they did the remastering from the original metal parts. If you're unlucky, they did the remastering from a record that hopefully hadn't been overplayed. Plus, back in the day, radio stations would broadcast live shows most every night, and some enterprising people thankfully taped those shows. For example, I highly recommend Benny Goodman On the Air (1937-1938), which is restored entirely from old radio bootlegs. Radio shows may or may not have better fidelity than 78's, but they often have more energy, plus they're not limited to 3 minutes per side.

One label I've been particularly happy with is JSP, a British firm which makes nice box sets and is known for the quality of its digital remastering. I have their Cab Calloway, Jell Roll Morton, and Louis Armstrong Hot Fives & Sevens. All quality work. For contrast, the Chronological Classics label has the most stuff in print from the 1930's, but they don't even attempt to remaster the music. You get all the original album popping and hiss.

Of course, according to Wynton Marsalis, nothing after bop is really jazz, but it's best not to listen to what he has to say

Umm, yeah.

The swing dancing community argues about this sort of thing all the time. I'm not going to attempt to speak on behalf of all the other DJs out there (some linked above), but there's plenty of "new" material done in older styles and "current" artists playing classic material. It's hard to beat the 1950's output from people like Louis Armstrong and Count Basie. Does that count as "after bop"? Whatever. In terms of current bands, there are hundreds of small combo jazz bands out there that try to play "old skool" swinging jazz. Some example include The Blue Saracens, The Yallopin' Hounds, The Swing Session, and Peter Davis's Lindy Hop Heaven. And, there are several active big bands, including George Gee's Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra, Mora's Modern Rhythmists, Bill Elliot's Swing Orchestra, or heck, even Wynton's Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. That last one (LCJO playing Ellington) is a particularly hot recording -- fantastic for auditioning expensive stereo speakers.

I just want to say how much you guys rock. Its been said before, it'll be said again. There is nothing that somebody on this board doesn't know. Thanks for the suggestions, I really appreciate it!

Since you seem to like Armstrong, have you listened Satchmo - A Musical Autobiography? Fun listening to him talk about each track. What a happy man he was. Incredible person.

Hmm... I don't have that one, so I guess I'll have to go dig it up. One of his CDs (maybe it's "Satch Plays W.C. Handy"?) has a great outtake that came out during a mike check which they resurrected for the CD release. Paraphrasing from memory...

Engineer: Could you say something into the mike?

Satch: Umm.. hello? You know, when I was a kid, there was this alligator that lived out in the swamp, and my momma told me to go and fill up a pail with some water. And I said, no way am I gonna do that, that big alligator's gonna eat me up! And she said, no, he's more scared of you than you are of him. And I said, momma, if that alligator's as scared of me as I am of him, then that water's not fit to drink.