With the rising costs of cd's name 5 artists whos new music you would purchase without hearing any samples or written reviews of.
This is probably too easy and, of course, relative to everyones budget.

Rippingtons
Spyro Gyra
Steve Reid
Keiko Matsui
Warren Hill
Brian Bromberg (sorry that's 6)

OK, here's my list.

The Rippingtons
Spyro Gyra
Victor Wooten
Metro
Fourplay
There's so so many more to choose from. As a bassist, I love Brian Bromberg. Nice choice

DW

I am going to throw out a few names of not well known artists and their cd's. All I ask is to give me a yea or nay
Greg Karukas
Marcus Miller
Vital Information
Brian Culbertson
Bobby Lyle
Peter Horvath
Ricky Peterson
Dean James
Dave Weckl
Ed Calle
Dirk Richter
Mitchel Forman
Sam Riney
Kim Pensyl
Urban Knights
Dotsero
Five after Four
Doky Brothers
Shakatak
Ray Obiedo
I will post some more at a later date Have fun!!

1)Dylan
2)Led Zeppelin/Page&Plant
3)Spyro Gyra
4)Ronnie Montrose
5)Pat Metheny Group
6)Rob Mullins
7)Rippingtons
8)Joe Satriani
9)Brian Hughes
10)Danny Donnelly(one of my best friends who just recently won first prize at a songwriters convention, and who co-hosted the after hours all star jazz jam at the Maui Jazz Fest in May...featured some Spyro Gyra members, Towere of Power, and Jeff Kashiwa and Steve Reid).

Peace!
Paul

1)Dylan
2)Led Zeppelin/Page&Plant
3)Spyro Gyra
4)Ronnie Montrose
5)Pat Metheny Group
6)Rob Mullins
7)Rippingtons
8)Joe Satriani
9)Brian Hughes
10)Danny Donnelly(one of my best friends who just recently won first prize at a songwriters convention, and who co-hosted the after hours all star jazz jam at the Maui Jazz Fest in May...featured some Spyro Gyra members, Tower of Power, and Jeff Kashiwa and Steve Reid).

Peace!
Paul

Impossible to pick only five, but I've pruned my list to these:
1)Lee Ritenour
2)Mike Stern
3)Leni Stern
4)Robben Ford
5)Eric Marienthal
6)Al Jarreau
7)Nancy Wilson (the vocalist, not the "Heart" sister)
8)Cecilia Bartoli
9)Steely Dan
10)Sting
This is too hard!!!

Here are a few more.

Larry Coryell
Flim & the BB's
Tom Coster
Frank Gambale
Tim Eyermann
Alphonse Mouzon
Bob Berg
Marc Russo
Charles Blenzig
Steve Khan
Mann Brothers
Dave Valentine
Tom Ranier
Jim Beard
Akira Jimbo
Michael Paulo
Jeff Linsky
Oyate
Alex Acuna

Let's keep it going.

David,

Some of the artists you named are among my favorites.

Dave Weckl(He is very popular in Japan.)
Marcus Miller(Not my favorite, but he is the most selling bassist here now.)
Boby Lyle(I love the song 'Jubilee'!)
Mitchel Forman & Alex Acuna remind me of Lee Ritenour's old album. When you talk about Lee, 'Gentle Thoughts' is a must.
Eric Marienthal and Franc Ganbale (of course Dave Weckl also) were well known especially when they played as Chick Corea Elektric Band, right? Eric is my favorite saxophonist.
Bob Berg(Do you know the songs 'Chromazone' and 'After All' performed with Mike Stern? They are amazing! So cool!)
Sam Riney(He often joined the recording with Eric Marienthal and David Benoit. Very soft sound...)
Urban Knights(I like the first album, but are they still performing as a group?)

And here are some I want to put into the list of my favorites;

Rippingtons
Nelson Rangell
Joe Sample
Yutaka Yokokura(I don't know which record company he made a contract with after GRP...)
Steve Laury(once in Fattburger.)
Dimension(Japanese fusion band, pretty cool! I recommend their recent albums.)

It is so fun to talk this kind of things. Yes, I like this topic!

Mayumi

Many of you have very diverse tastes (and large budgets) Ha! Ha! Good feedback. Posts such as this is where we expand our horizons.

------------------

let's see if I can crank out a few more.

Norman Brown
Hiroshima
Avenue Blue
Tom Grant
Chris Botti
Boy Katindig
Bob Mamet
John Pattitucci
Jason Miles
Kilauea
Tribal Tech
Ricardo Silveira
Billy Cobham
Pocket Change
Porcupine
Jeff Richman
David Murray
Phillipe Saisse
Ed Hamilton
Freddie Ravel
East Bounce
T-Square
Man, I could go on and on and on and....................

Before 1994 (the Smooth Revolution) there were quite a few artists I would buy without sampling first..now you never know when someone is going to undergo a drastic change of style or bring some annoying little Smooth cliches (like an overabundance of "chant vocals" or dark slow songs) into their latest project that have not appeared in their previous work. Usually the name "Paul Brown" will be the flag thrown up that says "careful before you spend 18 bucks" but imitations show up in some unlikely places: Got Magic, anyone

This is how I make my decision on a cd purchase. I am a bassist. I am very musician oriented. I know who I like. When I get wind of a new cd that a particular musician is putting out, I head to the store or website and purchase it. Very rarely will I buy something I heard on the radio. I am nearing 400 in my collection which I am very proud of. I am going to have to take out insurance on them. I love cable radio because there you may hear something that will never be played on commercial radio. Press a button on the remote and you get the artist, song title and cd title.
Okay, I'm ramblin' now. Until the next post.

[This message has been edited by david_walmsley (edited 08-20-99).]

[This message has been edited by david_walmsley (edited 08-21-99).]

Okay, this is my last list. Really

Down to the bone
Mark Portmann
Bob James
Rick Braun
Byron Miller
Pieces of a dream
Four 80 East
Trammel Starks
Harvey Mason
Bryan Savage
Paul Hardcastle?
Gerald Veasley
Wayman Tisdale?
Alphonso Blackwell
Farzin
L.A. Jazz Syndicate
Eric Marienthal
Braxton Brothers
Nelson Rangell
Joe Sample
Steps Ahead
Mike Mainieri
Mezzoforte
Fantasy Band
Acoustic Alchemy
Tom Kennedy
David Blamires Group
Patrice Rushen
Andy Snitzer
Sergio Salvatore
Dr. Bombay
Carib. Jazz Project
George Duke
Tower of Power?
Jeff Lorber
JK
Vail Johnson [Kenny G's bassist]
That's it. No more!! My wife has just put me on a budget. Only 1 cd a month

Poor David...1 cd a month??? You going to CBA (CD Buyer Anonymous) meetings for support? As for me, I average about a CD every other day.
Any of you guys know how to count to 5? Sheesh. Let me see if I can do this:

1) Rippingtons ***definately
2) Keiko Matsui ***for sure
3) Acoustic Alchemy ***love 'em
4) Craig Chaquico ***he's great
5) Soul Ballet ***impressive

I'm sure there are many others that I would buy without sampling, but the above are my top 5.

A cd every other day?? What's your collection total so far? If you have any discards, I will surely take them off your hands!! I did post my 5 at the top of this thread. Just wanted to throw my diverse collection out there for all to see. I just love music
Later.

OK..Dave...you caught me. I exaggerate a little, but it's coming close to that. My collection is vast, but I could never part with any from it. Although, I see a lot of names I don't recognize. It seems I am a bit of rookie Jazz lover, compared to many of you.

I would have to say that a 1/3 of my cd's I found in a bargain bin all over the country. Many of them are from the 80's and early 90's. No way would I have been able to afford them all at full price. Many I bought for a dollar or two. Never the less, I am proud of my collection.

I hear ya, David. I haunt the used CD stores and am a member of both BMG and Columbia House CD clubs. I really grit my teeth when I have to pay "full price" for a CD. I'm sure this point has been brought up before, but is $15.99 really a fair market price CD...or even $10? What is the actual cost of one...less than $3? On the average, I probably pay about $10. Any ideas on the best place to buy CDs?

Well I live in N.Y. The best places for me are 'The Wiz' and 'Circuit City' And we're talking $11.99 or $12.99
No way will I pay more unless it's a must have and cannot find anywhere else. I did, however, pay $17.99 for Victor Wooten's new double cd!! Very rare though.

Here in Chicago, Blockbuster Music has converted all stores to Wherehouse Music. They have quite an extensive "Used CD" section ($6.99) including Jazz. One day a week they will let you bring in 5 of your used cd's and exchange for any one new one. Not a bad way to weed out the lame cd's you may have collected over time.

We have Wherehouse Music here in Houston, also. They have a fair selection of used Jazz CDs. We also have CD Warehouses (which have been around for over a year) and they have a pretty good used Jazz section. My favorite store is Sound Waves. I think they have the best used Jazz collection. But, I think $5.99 - $7.99 is pretty high for used CDs. I have never traded any of my CDs. I don't like to consider that I made a bad purchase. I sample most of them before I buy.

I forgot to mention that around here none of the places allow pre-listening anymore so you can get burned. I don't have many friends into jazz so you're on your own except for websites like this. Like Shannon said, in the last few years it has become more of a gamble.

Someone mentioned pianist Kim Pensyl earlier in this thread.
I feel lucky to have recently picked up two of his cd's, one from 1992, another from 1993...at the low low price of $3.99 a piece.
I've only heard five or six tracks off of one, but it is very good so far. A cut or two remind me of a cut off of Tom Schuman's solo release, "Extremities", and you can't have a better influence than that!

I also feel lucky, in that at Tower Records in Anaheim, on Beach Blvd, they have about 8 to 10 listening stations set up...it's only used for releases that are 2 or 3 months old or newer, though.

Peace!
Paul