The Best Jazz Masters to Study for Aspiring Jazz Musicians

Listen up

When aspiring jazz musicians are starting out, the advice most often given to them is "listen, listen, listen."  And indeed, this is exactly right.  That is, they are instructed to listen to the masters of jazz to get a feeling not only for the wide variety of jazz styles, but to develop an understanding of standards and a sense of good phrasing and the like.

Listening is absolutely key to developing one's own jazz instincts, which can only come from having an understanding of the many ways in which this dynamic art form has developed over time.  Yet, developing players often respond, "but who should I listen to?"  Well, the short answer is "everybody," but that's not especially practical advice.  Instead, I like to direct these musicians to the three jazz musicians I think are most essential for developing a good jazz vocabulary.  Here they are, in order to importance:

1. Miles Davis 

In many ways Miles Davis is the Pablo Picasso of twentieth-century jazz.  Like Picasso, he participated in several of the most foundational movements of his art form.  Not only that, like Picasso, he knew and interacted with many of the other most significant figures of his time—in many cases Miles was instrumental in helping them develop their own careers.  For my money, Miles Davis is the best place for aspiring jazz musicians to start, partly because he was a master of space and simplicity, even though he also created some of the richest and most complex music of his time.

By listening closely to Miles, and studying his development over the course of his career, one can really get a wide-ranging glimpse of the many facets of jazz.  The place to start, of course, is with the quintessential twentieth-century jazz recording, which is Kind of Blue.  This is a desert island recording, the zen master's choice, and an endless source of jazz knowledge.  With John Coltrane, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Bill Evans, and other key players, it is a recording that brings together several of the great geniuses of the form, and it functions as the foundational text for aspiring (and veteran) jazz musicians.

2. Thelonious Monk

After Miles Davis, the next most important genius of jazz to be thoroughly absorbed is Thelonious Monk.  Like Miles, Monk was able to do the impossible—that is, to make the most complex music seem simple and elegant.  Where Monk differs from Miles, however, is that his approach to jazz (both in terms of composition and improvisation) was playful while still being complex.  Where Miles, the prince of darkness, was able to give his musical statements a depth and profundity that is pure poetry, Monk gives us a bitter-sweet feeling of musical paradox, a sense of the way in which jazz can delight the mind with whimsical gestures while working in the context of rigorous abstraction.  If Miles Davis is the Picasso of Jazz, Theolonious Monk is the Paul Klee or Joan Miro of the form.

What a developing jazz musician can learn from Monk is endless.  The ways in which he expanded the vocabulary of jazz are a reminder of just how open this musical form actually is.  As with Miles, there are many Thelonious Monk recordings that every jazz musician should study, but among them there is one recently re-discovered masterpiece that is essential material: Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall.  This recording provides a concise survey of some of the best-known Monk compositions, and provides a pared-down glimpse of the way in which he was able to develop a musical dialogue, in a live setting, with one of his great collaborators, John Coltrane.  Thus, as with the previous recommendation, John Coltrane's hugely-influential musical voice is included in this essential text of modern jazz.

3. Wes Montgomery

While the guitar was not initially a primary jazz instrument, it has over time become one of the central voices in jazz, and this is very much the result of the profound influence of the great master, Wes Montgomery.  Montgomery was a pioneer not merely in bringing the guitar to modern jazz, but for his innovative technique as well—playing without a plectrum.  As the story goes, Wes was working in a club in Indianapolis when he was "discovered" by Nat and Julian "Canonball" Adderley, who were awestruck and quickly phoned a record producer to tell him what they were witnessing.  To paraphrase the conversation, it went something like, "No, seriously, you have got to hear this guy!"  After that auspicious day, Montgomery's career took off, and he became successful in playing a wide variety of jazz styles, including some more popular manifestations which had broader commercial appeal.  In doing this, Montgomery anticipated the expansive direction many other jazz musicians would later follow.

Like Miles and Monk, Wes Montgomery's approach to jazz is multi-faceted but accessible, and it is therefore a fantastic place for aspiring jazz players to start.  His signature style, which included deftly improvising with octaves, has become an essential voice of jazz guitar, and it is part of what every developing jazz guitarist learns.  For these and other reasons, Montgomery's work, like Smokin' at the Half Note, are essential texts for students of the form.


These are just three of the greats, but a great place to start for developing jazzers.  Please feel free to comment with essential recommendations of your own!