The great thing about being a Jazz newbie today is all the free resources on the Net for the taking. No need to scour the libraries for books and records. Here's a tip - check out the NPR podcast "Jazz profiles" for free hour-long audio programs on jazz legends. I download these through an iTunes RSS subscription, but you can also get them straight from NPR:
http://www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofilesThese 45min-60min shows are narrated by singer Nancy Wilson, and are on par with the Ken Burns jazz docus. But since there are audio programs you can listen on your iPod or on your car stereo as a replacement to dull radio programming on the way to work (you can burn them to CD or plug your iPod into your car). Great for your continuing jazz education!
Here what I have on my iPod so far:
Art Tatum: The Musician's Musician
Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady of Song
Johnny Hartman: Romantic Baladeer
Louis Armstrong: The Man and his Music (part 1 and 2)
Louis Armstrong: The Trumpeter
Mary Lou Williams: Perpetually Contemporary
Miles Davis: Miles' Styles
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
My favorite program is the one that features "Kind of Blue" - it has interviews with all the musicians on this recording (Miles, Bill Evans, Canonball, Coltrane, Jimmy Cobb, Paul Chambers), plus a track by track analysis. This also allowed me to finally understand what modal improvisation was really all about. And for free
