[dB Cooper]

For me it was Two Generations of Brubeck at the Kennedy center in DC. This was the mid 70s and I won't say anything about how old I was at the time except to say I was younger than now  . Best thing was, Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan appeared with the Brubecks. Great start.

Other memorable jazz concerts I got to attend that come to mind were Dizzy Gillespie, Stephane Grappelli, Chick Corea, and Les Paul. Les was 89 and not what he once was but there was still a flash of the dazzling chops from time to time and I am glad I got to see a legend.

Missed? Well, i once passed on a chance to see Benny Goodman and regret that.

What was YOUR first and/or most memorable live jazz experience?

[ArthurDent]

Now that's a good question dB!  'Sherman, set the WayBack Machine to scan.'   I too saw the Two Generations of Brubeck, took my parents to the Spokane opera hall same period. Great show, sadly don't remember who else was with them, though I'm sure I'd remember if Mulligan had been. 

Saw Les McCann & Eddie Harris in Indy in the early '70s, a smokin' show, likely my first. Probably one of my most memorable was seeing Gil Scott-Heron in the mid '80s in a smallish club on the north side of Seattle. His blend of jazz/funk/rock has always been one of my favorites. 

[SlushPuppy]

Dizzy Gillespie at Blues Alley in D.C. Wish I could remember the exact date, but sometime between 89 and 91. I deployed a lot during that time (Navy), so it's hard to remember exactly when I saw him. He surrounded himself with some incredible musicians, but I remember the bass player being exceptional. I got to shake his hand after the concert and was gloating to my girlfriend (at the time) about it on the way home when she said she saw him after going to the bathroom and he gave her a kiss on the cheek. Clarissa, I still hate you for that 

[lonewolfny42]

Drove to Newport,Rhode Island...1969.

It was the draw of Jazz...and Rock.

Read it here.....Link... 

Line up....

What a weekend.... 

[Ronm1]

Not the concert per se....funny what sticks in your mind

Karen and I were in the Twin City area as I was attending CDC training

Roberta Flack concert... 73' Forum Bloomington
We went early and were let in... 10 rows from stage center
Band was warming up just going to town for almost an hour
K just says I know your enjoying this I'll be quite.  I could have listened to these musicians all day.  This was before she went pop, this group touring with her was stellar.

[rockadanny]

Most memorable: Weather Report at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, MI, back in '77. They just released "Heavy Weather" and I absolutely loved it! Joe, Wayne, and especially Jaco were on fire that night. Superb.

lonewolf - I checked out the lineup from that '69 show you saw. Amazing! ... I hate you

Side note: After the show my two friends and I waited outside the theatre to try and meet the band. While Wayne flew past us in a blur without eye contact, Joe and Jaco strolled out smiling and willing to talk to us. They invited us to join them at their hotel (Michigan Inn) for drinks and further discussion. Unfortunately, I had to leave to go home instead. ... I hate me 

[richidoo]

In 1972 my father took me to see the inaugural concert of the Duke Ellington Fellowship, at Yale's Sprague Hall in New Haven. I was 6yo. It was part of a 3 night concert series called "Conservatory without Walls" to honor Ellington, and establish the Fellowship, which continues to this day. One of the 3 nights was this jam session, where 40 jazz musicians were awarded the title of "Duke Ellington Fellow." There were even more big name jazz artists playing the jam that weren't awarded the Fellow.

Just about everyone who was anyone was there. Ellington's big band started the concert with a set. Ellington played some piano later in the jam. People that I personally remember were Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Cootie Williams, Jon Faddis (18yo, Dizzy introduced him as his son,) Max Roach, Roy Eldridge, Harry Edison, Charlie Mingus, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Slam Stewart, Ella Fitzgerald, Gerry Mulligan. Others performing were Stan Getz, Philly Jo Jones, Ray Brown, Eubie Blake, Mary Lou Williams, Lucky Thompson, Milt Hinton, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Marion Williams, Johnny Coles, etc... and Willie Ruff (Yale music professor founded the Fellowship, organized the concert and played bass.)

I remember there were several tunes where different instruments were featured. A line of saxophones played a song, then a line of trumpets.  I don't remember who the saxophonists were.

The concert started in the afternoon and lasted 4 or 5 hours. I was toast by the end, but I remember it was getting more exciting with each hour.

One highlight was sitting on my father's shoulders to watch Max Roach play a solo, standing ovation during his solo, he stopped, took a bow, left the stage to thunderous applause, came back out and played another couple minutes solo, with people screaming the faces off standing on the armchairs of the seats, finally the band walked back onstage to finish the tune. This was when jazz was still alive and the people knew what they were witnessing and how precious, and what a miracle this concert was.

I was jazz aware by that time, that's the only music that was played in my house, and I remember knowing who many of the players were, at least those who my father listened to regularly. I started playing trumpet 2 years later.

My father was active in the New Haven jazz scene at the time, and he remembers somebody telling him that the concert was indeed recorded, but has never been released.

Some pictures taken at the concert by Woody Ford. There is another separate photo exhibit at a Yale museum. My grandmother was secretary for the Dean of Admissions at Yale at the time and when I was in HS. She could have got me admitted, but I wanted to play jazz and their jazz program was nothing special.

Quoted from Harvey Cohen's book "Duke Ellington's America:"
"Two years before Ellington died, in 1972, Yale University held a gathering of leading black jazz musicians in order to raise money for a department of African-American music. Aside from Ellington, the musicians who came for three days of concerts, jam sessions, and workshops included Eubie Blake, Noble Sissle, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Mary Lou Williams, and Willie (the Lion) Smith. During a performance by a Gillespie-led sextet, someone evidently unhappy with this presence on campus called in a bomb threat. The police attempted to clear the building, but Mingus refused to leave, urging the officers to get all the others out but adamantly remaining onstage with his bass. “Racism planted that bomb, but racism ain’t strong enough to kill this music,” he was heard telling the police captain. (And very few people successfully argued with Mingus.) “If I’m going to die, I’m ready. But I’m going out playing ‘Sophisticated Lady.’ ” Once outside, Gillespie and his group set up again. But coming from inside was the sound of Mingus intently playing Ellington’s dreamy thirties hit, which, that day, became a protest song, as the performance just kept going on and on and getting hotter. In the street, Ellington stood in the waiting crowd just beyond the theatre’s open doors, smiling."

[saeyedoc]

Most memorable was a jazzfest at Atlantic Beach on Long Island in the late 80's. It was raining lightly, but I was able to convince one of my co-workers to go with me. Hardly anyone was there, so we just sat down in the best seats we could find.
Miles Davis came on shortly after we got there, just blew me away.
Other acts we saw included Spyrogyra and the Brecker brothers, but after hearing Miles, everyone else paled in comparison.

[medium jim]

I spent my teens living in Hermosa Beach and saw many a memorable performance at The Lighthouse, too hard to distinguish which was the one.   

Jim

[michaelhigh]

For me it was Two Generations of Brubeck at the Kennedy center in DC. This was the mid 70s and I won't say anything about how old I was at the time except to say I was younger than now  . Best thing was, Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan appeared with the Brubecks. Great start.

Other memorable jazz concerts I got to attend that come to mind were Dizzy Gillespie, Stephane Grappelli, Chick Corea, and Les Paul. Les was 89 and not what he once was but there was still a flash of the dazzling chops from time to time and I am glad I got to see a legend.

Missed? Well, i once passed on a chance to see Benny Goodman and regret that.

What was YOUR first and/or most memorable live jazz experience?

Return To Forever, 1976, at the American Theater in St. Louis, Missouri. Opening act - Jean-Luc Ponty. RTF played Romantic Warrior in its entirety for their portion of the show. On psychedelics that was a gamechanger!

[CSI]

My most memorable was The Modern Jazz Quartet in LA in the Seventies. I loved the MJQ before and since and they were outstanding in concert. But the thing that made it memorable was their opening act, Diane Schuur. She was just starting out and even most jazz fans had never heard of her. She completely stole the show!

[medium jim]

After putting a brain on it, it was in the early 1970's at the Whiskey A Go Go, John McLaughlin and The Mahavishnu Orchestra...simply sublime and game changing.

Jim

[fredgarvin]

I don't recall the first one, but one very memorable concert was George Benson at the Paramount Theater in Portland. I don't even remember who opened for him, it was so good. 

[Lou62]

I was on vacation in the summer of 2010 and I was fortunate enough to see Ellis Marsalis perform with his four piece band which included his son Jason on the drums.  The had played at a local Jazz festival in a small town called Picton, located a couple hours drive east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Not having been in the area for 20 years and unaware they even had a local Jazz festival, that show was long sold out.  On the evening of their performance, my wife and I opted to attend a small local restaurant where a group of Toronto Jazz musicians were performing to a 'crowd' of no more than 30 people.  Having completed their scheduled performance, Ellis and company came in unaccounced around 11:30pm and one by one his muscians took their place on the tiny stage and replacing the current band members who had continued playing.  I was thoroughly enjoying the first group of musicians however as each member changed out it brought the music to an entirely different level that could only be described as, 'Wow!'

Ellis eventally shuffed up and sat down behind the Rhodes keyboard.  Having never seen him play before I was suprised at how old he appeared while getting to the stage. He adjusted his chair, looked over the room and tinkled a couple of the keys and then flashed a huge smile . He paused for a short time then looked at Jason who started the beat and a few seconds later Ellis and the band erupted into music that blew us away. He may have looked old but the music he created was anything but. Every member of that group played music that was nothing but incredible.

They played five or six songs and then thanked the crowd, had a drink and left.  That was one of the most magical music moments I've ever experienced.  Unbelievable.  Sometimes you experience the greatest music when you least expect it.

Chris
 

[thunderbrick]

In the early 70s I photographed a rehearsal of Towson (Md.) University's  Jazz Ensemble, which was more like Big Band.  The director was Hank(?) Levy, if I remember, who arranged for Stan Kenton.

The power!  The intensity!  The sound!  Un-friggin-believable!    I still have a few of their recordings.  Saw Maynard Ferguson outdoors in downtown Baltimore a few years later.  Awesome!

[jimdgoulding]

Aside from R&B revues that could be seen at The Dallas Sportatorium when I was growing up and Howlin Wolf at a BYOB joint in Fort Worth, Andres Segovia at The Geary in San Francisco.  I guess I was 18 by then.  Whoops!  That weren't jazz.  Ok, then, Albert Mangelsdorff Quintet stands out on one of many visits to the Jazz Workshop in SF.

[kevinh]

First Jazz concert, Mahavishnu Orch after Inner Mounting Flame was released in Boston.

Saw Pat Metheny a couple of times, most memorable was at the Plaza at Snowbird Ski Resort After Off Ramp was released

2nd with Pat was a Park West Ski resort after American Garage was released. As they played As Falls Wichita Falls, there was a Thunder Storm in a Canyou about 20 miles away the low freq reverb form the thunder was somehow melded with the music.

Not sure if it was Jazz exactly but Grapelli touring w David Grisman at the Utah Symphony Hall.

[jjc1]

     Guess I'll have to show my age but it was the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1960 at Georgetown U with Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello. It's what got me started on jazz and has lasted ever since. Another memorable concert was the MJQ at the  Brooklyn Academy of Music, around 1962. I had a weekend job there as an usher while in college so after seating  everyone, got into some choice seats with the love of my life and just thoroughly enjoyed the concert.

[soundbitten1]

Ray Charles and Diana Krall at the Syracuse Jazz Fest, 2000.

[minimus]

Lester Bowie in 1986.  Incredibly powerful, inventive trumpet player who loved to put on a show.