Korouva - Shipwrecks & Russian Roulette

Korouva is Miranda Lehman from Portland, OR. She writes simple lo-fi jazz/folk tunes and sings and it's all rather pretty. Shipwrecks is mostly known for being one of the albums that Velvet Cacoon plagiarized, but beyond that it's actually a pretty chill album. Good stuff.

blb

Krzysztof Komeda - Astigmatic

If I had to pick one jazz album to pretend to like, it would prob be this one.

wait what the fuck is this shit:

• jazz (14)
• black metal (4)

abysmill more like ajazzmill. only postin bm from now on

pols

Serge Gainsbourg - Confidentiel

Album mentioned in glerp's Elek post. Simple instrumentation consisting of an upright bass and Elek's siq guitarin coupled with Gainsbourg's signature prose and voice makes for one of the chillest albums ever.

ye-ye

Elek Bacsik - Nuages

I came across this album after hearing the mind blowing guitar work on Serge Gainsbourg's Confidentiel. This is an album of well-chosen jazz standards arranged and played to perfection. Listening makes me hungary (lol) for more. Also, this guy plays bebop violin, what the hell.

Django Reinhardt's his cousin who cares?

Jacques Brel - Brel (Les Marquises)

Jacques Brel's 1977 comeback and final album is an amazing one. His compositions are more varied here than any prior release, ranging from somber ballads to sarcastic psychedelic pop. His vocals are as incredible as ever, which is shocking considering he recorded this album with only one lung. His prose is still top notch, I just wish I knew the French language myself so I wouldn't have to rely on shaky English translations which probably are missing a lot lost in translation.

orly

Nomo - Invisible Cities

Fela Kuti inspired fusion. I'm turned off by most contemporary jazz but this one really keeps me listening.
http://www.mediafire.com/?mngdyvoyzzm

Alice Coltrane - Ptah, The El Daoud

Jazz album with harp.

Megaupload

Xhol Caravan - Electrip

Yes, that album name is retarded. Yes, that album art is doubly retarded. Who cares? This shit rules. Jazz with strong psychedelic and krautrock influences. My binge continues.

ja

Nara Leão - Dez Anos Depois

One of my favorite bossa nova albums. 24 trax of pure chill with excellent production and arrangements by Tuca. Normally I don't really care for tunes that draw heavily on the singer's vocal prowess, but in this case Leão's godly voice is too remarkable to not enjoy it.

baws

Zelienople - Pajama Avenue

The first and most accessible album from these drone/free jazz dudes. Highly recommended.

DL

The Lounge Lizards - No Pain For Cakes

A "fake jazz" combo featuring actor John Lurie (Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law) on Saxophone, Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello) on guitar, among other prominent jazz instrumentalists. No Pain for Cakes draws on influences from punk and no wave to create a listenable avant-garde jazz album.

DL

Jacques Brel - Ces gens-là

Jacques Brel is labeled "chanson," which, according to wikipedia, is a "lyric-driven French song," which sounds pretty fuckin vague to me, especially when anything from chanting a poem in a monotone voice to an opera suite can be considered "chanson." Whatever. This is a brilliant fusion of jazz and European pop arrangements with one of the best vocal performances I've ever heard. Brel ranges from angry shouts to stuttered phrases to operatic vibrato to slurping noises to idk what. Basically, Brel was doing Mike Patton before Mike Patton was born. I highly recommend hittin up his performance of the title track live. He's quite the performer. Also, Scott Walker is known to cover Brel tunes quite a bit.

oui

Chico Buarque - Construção

Dark, brooding, sinister, and sometimes hellish... Brazilian bossa nova/samba/stuff. Buarque's arrangements are complex to the point that some say it's overarranged, but I think the balance of discomforting disonnance with catchy underlying pop melodies is pretty damn near perfect. His lyrics match the mood, most being highly political in their condemnation of the then violent military dictatorship that presided over Brazil. I think in one song he wrote (that isn't on this album unfortunately) he references a man who was tortured to death by the government by having his mouth glued to the exhaust pipe of a running Jeep. Pretty cool. Just sayin.

Deus Lhe Pague

Dale Cooper Quartet & The Dictaphones - Parole de Navarre

For some reason I thought this was boring when I got this several months ago. I donno what I was thinking because this is so good. Beautiful jazz-influenced drone that sometimes sounds Bohren-esque but more relaxing and varied than brooding and sinister.

mmm

Joao Gilberto - Joao Gilberto

Joao Gilberto's "white album" is not only the best bossa nova album ever, but simply one of the best albums in any genre that music has to offer. In(un?)disputably the most relaxing album I've ever heard. I've seen someone describe it as sounding like Gilberto himself walked off the streets into your house to play a few songs for you in your living room, except he's playing so softly and calmly so as to not wake a sleeping baby in the next room. That's probably a more accurate description than anything I can come up with. If you're one of the zero people reading this blog, get this. You don't have to be a fan of bossa nova or even jazz to dig this. Seriously. It's worth the ludicrous rapidshare wait time (cuz that's the only link I could find).

aiaiai

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Here Be Dragons

Album's a pretty awes fusion of jazz, electronica, and dark ambient. That should be all you need to know because there's no way a fusion of those genres could not be fantastic.

jus chill bro