Take Five: A Jazz Sampler
Get to know jazz, five songs at a time.
Hear five songs from the audacious, prolific and controversial "progressive jazz" bandleader.
Get To Know Jazz...
By Style
- Facing The East: Indo-Jazz Fusion
- Post-War Rhythm And Blues: Bridging Jazz, Rock
- Five New Orleans Brass-Band Jams
- Stride Piano: Bottom-End Jazz
- Kind Of Bluegrass: Lightning-Fast Jazz
- Blast Beat Improv: Metallic Free Jazz
- Fusion Is Not A Four-Letter Word
- A Hard Look At Hard Bop
- Soul-Jazz: Where Jazz, Blues And Gospel Meet
- Django's World: Hot Club Jazz
- West Coast Cool: The Jazz Sound Of '50s California
- Mambo! Afro-Cuban Takes On Jazz Classics
- Jazz Covers Rock: The New Standards
- The Birth of Bossa Nova
By Artist
- The Many Moods Of James Moody
- 5 Expansive Wadada Leo Smith Recordings, Picked By Vijay Iyer
- Phil Woods: Bebop's New Bird
- Dizzy Gillespie: Trumpet Pyrotechnician
- All You Need Is Love (And Peace): The Beatles In Jazz
- Ideal Bread: Josh Sinton On Steve Lacy
- Shelly Manne: The Well-Toned Drummer
- Get To Know Clarinetist Artie Shaw
- Nat King Cole: Original Five-Tool Jazz Player
- Jim Hall: Guitar As Miniature Orchestra
- Art Blakey: Jazz Messenger, Jazz Mentor
- All Their Loving: Jazz Covers The Beatles
- Charlie Haden: From 'Ramblin'' To 'Ramblin' Boy'
- Get To Know: The Cole Porter Songbook
- Act Like You Know: Ornette Coleman
- Monk Tribute Albums That Aren't Terrible
- The Cocktail Party Guide To John Coltrane
- Duke Ellington: Master Of The Jazz Song
- Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady Of Song
- Gene Ammons: Boss Tenor Sax
- Billie Holiday: A Lady Day Primer
- Stanley Turrentine: Sax With A Touch Of Blues
- A McCoy Tyner Primer
By Instrument
- Soprano Sax: The Story Of A Skinny Horn
- Miles Beyond: The New Sounds Of Trumpet
- Five Pioneers Of Electric Jazz Guitar
- Tame The Devil Horn: Steve Wilson's Intro To Alto Sax
- Swing Strings: Five Jazz Violinists
- Five Songs, Ten Classic Tenor Titans
- Latina Jazz: Spanish-Speaking Vocalists
- What The Heck Is That? Odd Instruments In Jazz
- Give The Drummer Some: Conga/Timbal Duos
- Beyond The Blues: The Blues Harmonica In Jazz
- Greasing Strings: Slide Guitar, Past And Present
- The Bottom Line: Bass On Top
- Celebrate Mardi Gras With New Orleans Piano
- Flaunt It With Jazz Flute
- Feeling The Vibes: The Short History Of A Long Instrument
- Free Your Guitar, Free Your Mind
- A Quintet Of Great Modern Piano Trios
By Region
By New Releases
By Theme
- Coffee Talk: Java-Inspired Jazz
- Pomp, Stomp And Circumstance: Graduation Songs
- Inside Wolfgang's Jazz Vault: Newport 1959
- Singers In The Rain: Jazz Amid The Deluge
- Shoot The Piano Players: New Jazz Trios
- Blue Note Classics In Black And White
- 30 Years Of Jazz In The Motor City
- Highlights From The 2009 Newport Jazz Festival
- Evolution Of A Song: 'Strange Fruit'
- Contractual Obligation: Pseudonyms In Jazz
- Hard Up: Jazz From Empty Pockets
- The First Five: One Man's Introduction To Jazz
- Jazz Centennials: Legends At 100
- Wake To Sleep: Jazz Vocalists Interpret Poetry
- It's A Woman's World: Six Jazz Trailblazers
- Songs Of The Civil Rights Movement
- Take Five's Top 5 Jazz CDs Of 2008
- Make Peace, Make Jazz
- Songs For The Gas-Guzzling Blues
- Jazz For A Summer Rental Car
- Downshift On The Downbeat: A Jazz Road Trip
- Play Ball And Play Bop
- Peak Performances From The Village Vanguard
By Season
- Autumn
- Singers In The Rain: Jazz Amid The Deluge
- Big Apple Jazz: Five Picks From The Orchard
- A Leaf Falls On Loneliness (For E.E. Cummings)
- September Songs: Classic Jazz, Born In The Fall
- Central Park Jazz: Autumn In New York
- Summer
- Too Darn Hot: Jazz For The Heat
- The Six Pack: Pairing Summer Jazz And Beer
- Jazz For Summer's End
- Songs For A Hot Summer Night
- Jazz For The Front Porch
- Jazz BBQ: Songs For A Summer Grill
- Spring
- Jazz Is For The Birds
- Jazz In Bloom: May Flowers
- Swing Into Spring
By Artist Recommedation
- Jim Hall: Guitar As Miniature Orchestra (By Rez Abassi)
- Gary Giddins: 101 Ways To Get Into 'Jazz'
- Blue Note Records Celebrates 70 Years Of Jazz (By Bill Charlap)
- Top Five Neglected Jazz Masterpieces (By Bob Belden)
- A Few Of Marian McPartland's Favorite Things
- Five Albums I Can't Do Without (By Arturo O'Farrill)
- Dear Bill: From Brazil, With Love, Eliane (By Eliane Elias)
By Holiday
- 5 Depressing Blues Songs For Christmas
- Travel Tunes For Thanksgiving Holidays
- Labor Day Blues And Grooves
- Dairy Products And Jazz? Odd June Holidays
- St. Patrick's Day Jazz: Going Green
- It's Over Now: Songs For Heartbreakers
- Ring In The New Year With Jazz
- Cajun Carols: New Orleans Christmas Jazz
- Trick Or Treat With A Beat: Halloween Jazz
- Songs For Dad: Father's Day Jazz
- Leftover Candy: Top 5 Jazz Halloween Songs
- A Lost Love Is Hard: Jazz Singers Understand
Recent Take Five: A Jazz Sampler
January 19, 2012 Baker helped make formal jazz education a growing part of the music's history and evolution.
January 10, 2012 The late jazz pioneer's mission was to make drumming a more musical, lyrical experience.
January 5, 2012 The annual event is a sensory overload, stacked with all-star lineups and wall-to-wall performances.
December 23, 2011 These tunes each exemplify how great singers and great songs fit together.
December 21, 2011 Hear five wholly-endorsed tracks from a few of the standout Christmas jazz records of this year.
December 6, 2011 In the age of rock, big bands offered musical power from non-electric sources. Hear five examples.
November 23, 2011 The life of Willie "The Lion" Smith was the stuff of legend, but his music backs up his boasts.
November 15, 2011 Sampled saxophones and cymbals have re-emerged in dance halls, in innovative forms of house music.
October 27, 2011 Dig the grave, gone sounds of some wickedly good music, including a brass-filled "Thriller."
October 20, 2011 Granz put artists like Ella Fitzgerald into concert halls while striking a blow for civil rights.
October 13, 2011 When these cross-continental art forms meet, the result is beautifully rhythmic and dramatic.
October 6, 2011 These saxophonists have a robust, sometimes raw sound that mixes swing, bebop, blues and soul.
September 27, 2011 The banning of alcohol and the subsequent rise of speakeasies played a role in jazz's evolution.
September 6, 2011 From '70s fusion on down, hear five electric bassists who turned the spotlight on the low end.
September 1, 2011 The controversial Gershwin opera has long been an inspiration to jazz musicians. Hear five songs.
August 10, 2011 Hear five versions of the popular W.C. Handy song, performed by five of America's top jazz artists.
August 3, 2011 Vaughan synthesized many influences, from Albert King to T-Bone Walker, to get his unique style.
July 27, 2011 Did you know that Sonny Rollins played on a Rolling Stones song? Hear that and other jazz cameos.
July 22, 2011 Hear five tango destroyers, each descended from the jazz innovations of Astor Piazzolla.
July 12, 2011 Let your mind sail through the Caribbean by listening to jazz artists who were born on the islands.
