If you follow up on all the suggestions you`re getting, you`re going to overdose so completely you`ll never listen to another jazz record again, TH.
inb4 that happens, I`d x2 Anteater`s recommendation:-
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anteater
Lots of great suggestions all around guys. And TH, when your ready to jump into 70's-to-modern jazz fusion, you know who to call. 
A few early recommendations though:
Return To Forever - Where Have I Known You Before
Ain Soph - A Story Of Mysterious Forest
Soft Machine - Third
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Apocalypse
Dimension - Fourth Dimension |
Anything labelled jazz-fusion should be half-way to rock anyway, which you might find more palatable. I`m afraid that includes Hot Rats, btw - but also albums like this, which I discovered through MB:-
http://www.musicbanter.com/jazz-blue...-1976-a-3.html
Jazz-funk is also very accessible because all the noodley bits are built up on top of difficult-to-lose rhythms. Herbie Hancock`s
Thrust and
Headhunters albums are good examples of the style.
And here`s a little taste of a personal favourite. Who knew that for all these millenia birds have been singing jazz to us?