Jazz music introduction help

Lately I've been into calling up background music in the house and listening to various kinds of jazz. YouTube has some great selections (as far as I know).
I honestly don't even know exactly what I'm listening to, but it's relaxing.
Smooth jazz. Night jazz. New York jazz. Coffee Shop jazz. Cool jazz. Etc.
Could someone please explain differences so if I ever wanted to actually search for something specific, I'd know where to start?

Examples of what I'v been grooving on:

 

Well, there's jazz. Modern. Fusion. Improv.

We were once introduced to the same pieces, one played by Scott Joplin, the other by Jelly Roll Morton. The former was completely true to the notes on the page ... problem was that is sounded amazingly stilted. Morton's version sounded as if he had no music in front of him. Truly ragtime and it sounded as if Morton was having fun. Joplin's had all the joy of a medical procedure.

There are a bunch of versions of jazz. Took a "History of Jazz" class from my former marching band director, it lasted a semester and there was plenty to listen to, discuss and analyze.

The first piece in Driftwood's post sounds so Spyra Gyra-like that it's not even funny. Critics love to attack them, but they sound solid. I won't knock their ability, but much of has an elevator music kind of vibe for my tastes. The other windows above have a similar vibe ... better than listening the expresso machine explode again (or someone at the counter swearing it, which sounds like a desker unloading on a terminal or slow writer five minutes before deadline), but just ... there.

No Chuck Mangione? Dave Grusin? Bob James? Lee Ritenhour? Sadao Watanabe? Earl Klugh? None are heavy, but all of them are, IMO, more interesting. But to each his own.

 

OK, beyond Scott Joplin and Chuck Mangione ... I have no idea what you are talking about.
The things I linked are just examples of what I've come across that creates relaxing evening background music. Maybe it isn't even jazz.
Whatever it is, I like it.

 

Some old school favorites:

Dave Brubeck offered a combination of Be-Bop and coffee house cool. Some find his music to be too buttoned-down. I like it, but I make no claims to being particularly musically literate or possessed of refined tastes, so take that into consideration when it comes to my observations.

John Coltrane's A Love Supreme is one of those discs that merits fully engaged listening. It's as much a tone poem as an expression of spiritual and artistic transformation. 'trane and Ornette Coleman made improvisational jazz emotionally accessible.

If you love percussion, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers' cover of A Night In Tunisia is 100% ear candy.

 

There are some modern-day chantoozies who are worth a listen. I save discs by these ladies for rainy days in the studio:

Norah Jones' smoky, blues-tinged vocals seem like they come from another time. Also recommended: her unlikely collaboration with Billie Joe Armstrong and her performances in The Hottest State and Wong Kar Wei's My Blueberry Nights.

Holly Cole is one of those artists who has been around forever. Her original material is good and her covers always bring something new to tunes that are almost painfully familiar.

I'm blanking on the third singer I wanted to post here. I'll add some tracks that fall into jazz and jazz-inspired.

Ella and Louis. Seriously, any disc you pick up with either of these people will feed your head and heart.

Grayson Hugh:

Basia:

Break's over. More later unless I've bored you to tears. (Please let me know. It won't hurt my feelings.)

 

Brubeck's "Take Five" is one of the finest pieces of American music ever recorded.

 

Two iterations of the same song. What a difference a few decades make.

 

Miles Davis, anyone with the last name of Marsalis, and this...

Weird thing about jazz, while orchestral music tends to evoke "feeling" - I get the sense from jazz that it almost sets a scene and you are witnessing human interaction in a different language when you are listening.

 

Vince Guaraldi is known primarily for his work on the Charlie Brown specials. His music has a muscley quality that doesn't mess around with aural filigree. I'll post some other musicians' takes on Linus and Lucy to illustrate my point.

Guaraldi's original:

Winton and Ellis Marsalis:

George Winston (actually pretty close to Guaraldi's original):

continued on the next post...

 

The Piano Guys:

Trans-Siberian Orchestra:

FWIW, I like all of these, although I find most of T-S O's stuff to be a bit leaden at times.

 

Diana Krall’s ‘Live in Paris’ DVD is a must own piece of jazz presentation. Her rendition of Bacharach/David “The Look of Love” is pop jazz at its finest. She is remarkable as an interpreter of many standards with her stunning piano work and understated vocals. She helped revive the genre back into the public consciousness.
All Diana Krall is essential.