The Essential Jazz Recordings 101 CDs

The twentieth century's greatest musical innovation, jazz is quickly growing in popularity. But with the plethora of new recordings, and the phenomenon of standards being reinterpreted by numerous artists, it's hard to know where to start or how best to enhance a jazz collection. Now you can rely on The Essential Jazz Recordings, Ross Porter's guide to his top 101 CDs. Porter covers recordings from jazz's early days, after Louis Armstrong introduced a regional dance music to the world, through the swing era and the prolific 1950s, when bebop ruled and young bloods like Miles Davis took jazz way beyond its known limits, to modern classics by Wynton Marsalis and Diana Krall. Read cover to cover, The Essential Jazz Recordings is a concise history of the development of jazz from its roots in blues and ragtime to its many flourishing branches: bebop, hard bop, cool, fusion, vocalese, free, modal, soul, Latin.

Ross Porter, the man with the distinctive voice, is president and CEO of JAZZ.FM91, “Canada’s premier jazz
station,” which has undergone a renaissance since his arrival in 2004. Previously, he was the host and producer of CBC Radio Two’s Afterhours and later headed up the specialty TV channel Cool TV. Recently he was presented with the CanWest Global Award for outstanding contribution to jazz, and in February 2002 he was voted the top broadcaster at the first National Jazz Awards. Ross Porter lives in Toronto.