One of the underrated joys of jazz is listening to artists or bands that have a regional sound. If you’re lucky, you live in a town or city that has its own distinct vibe, and it should be reflected in the music that comes out of the local clubs. What’s great about jazz is that you can listen to albums from artists not only from other regions, but from other regions and other eras. This is important because you could argue that music a generation or so ago had a more “regional” sound as opposed to the mass culture that has homogenized it to some extent.
With that in mind, here is a list of “regional” sounds and bands that every self respecting jazz lover should delve into and explore.
New Orleans-OK, it’s a no brainer, but do you really have anything in your home? Mosaic and Storyville Records respectively have some excellent box sets on artists like Armstrong, Teagarden, Kid Ory, Sidney Bechet and George Lewis. Wonderfully celebrative stuff- Kansas City-The steady four beat to the bar is one of the great contributions to
civilization. Count Basie’s 36-39 Band perfected it, but anything by Jimmy Rushing or Big Joe Turner will get you there and back as well. - Chicago-A big tighter than New Orleans, the small group ensembles lead by Eddie Condon are a thrill, but the swing era orchestra by Earl “Fatha” Hines had
a similar snap to it as well. - Scandinavia-ECM records has created a catalogue of artists like Bobo Stenson, Nils Okland, Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal and Tord Gustavson who have
created a crystalline sound that hints at sparkling stars at night or the Aurora Borealis. - Western Swing-Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys created a genre that mixed jazz with Texas, and the world is a better place for it. Ah Ha!
- Texas Tenors-speaking of Texas, they also created a style of playing the tenor sax. While they all didn’t exactly come from the Lone Star State, the sound definitely did. Big, macho and breathy, it’s the true comfort food of jazz. Get anything by
Illinois Jacquet, King Curtis, Gene Ammons, Arnett Cobb, Buddy Tate or David “Fathead” Newman and you’ll never want to hear anything by Coltrane again. - West Coast Cool-The musical version of driving along PCH in a convertible. Breezy, cheerful and sunny. Chet Baker on the trumpet or singing, Mary Paich arranging anything, Bob Cooper, Bud Shank, early Art
Pepper and Shorty Rogers. Believe it or not, Pete Rugulo actually wrote music for the “Leave It To Beaver” TV show, so there you go! - Brazil!!!-speaking of Bud Shank, he’s the one (and not Stan Getz) that initially introduced the seductive sounds to American ears. Having said that, the Getz sessions on Verve are unbeatable, as are anything on the same label by Tom
Jobim while Joao Gilberto runs a neck and neck second place. - Cuba-Dizzy Gillespie gets credit for bringing Chano Pozo into the jazz circles, and “Manteca” is the obvious place to start with the Afro-Cuban mix. In spite of (or maybe because of) the political situation with Cuba, you can get some fantastic sounds from either Jane Bunnett’s Spirits of Havana band or the more traditional Buena Vista Social
Club - Central Avenue, Los Angeles. New York always gets the press, but during the Swing Era and post WWII, downtown LA was one of the progenitors of clean sounding bebop. Wardell Grey, Teddy Edwards, Buddy Collette, Charles Mingus and even Charlie Parker created a unique scene in the City of Angels,
- Memphis, Tennessee-the swampy sound of a B3 or keyboards along with smoky horns has been perfected by Ray Charles and Stax Records, but you can hear it in just about
anything that comes from the land of dry rub BBQ
