Frank Sinatra can’t crack the Top 50?? Jaco Pastorius…. The foundation of all that followed. The Robbie & Kylie, or Frank & Nancy, of the “nowtro” generation. And Dizzy Gillespie? Build your jazz vinyl collection with classic titles and under-the-radar favorites. What about ARCHI SHEPP? Head Hunters proved to be a hugely influential album, transforming Herbie Hancock into a fusion superstar. (loved and hated with equal passion but those who get it really get it) What about Steamin’, Workin’, Cookin’ Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet? No Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman? Billy Harper Can never have too many great jazz albums…. Ella and Satchmo, one of my greatest Jazz albums as well as Ella with Joe Pass, A daunting task . Minor quibbles from me. Best Jazz Albums: 50 Essentials You Need To Hear 1: Miles Davis: Kind Of Blue (Columbia) 2: John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Impulse!) i have 27 of these, a very fine list. Excellent list, don’t agree with them all. Great selections; however representation of female artists is blindingly small. Speak No Evil was the saxophonist’s third album for Alfred Lion’s iconic jazz label and was recorded three months after he had joined the Miles Davis Quintet. Check out this AMAZING new player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRcnbSV4004. It wasn’t his inaugural recording venture, but it was unequivocally his first significant album. I would have included Mingus’ New Tijuana Moods, Armstrong’s Plays WC Handy, perhaps an Abdullah Ibrahim album (Voices of Africa?). Personally I couldn’t deduce what the criteria were for inclusion – was it popularity, historical ‘significance’, musicianship, innovation? 42. This list does not include 'compilations', 'greatest hits', or 'live' albums... or albums by those artists who were primarily jazz vocalists. a nice list, BUT really focused on the 1950s thru 1970s – and lots of omissions even from that period (no Sun Ra, the Blakey band that had Shorter and Hubbard and Cedar Walton in it, Winning Best Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, the album is to-date one of the best selling jazz albums of all time. Check out their eponymous debut album (2011). I’ve got a fever and the only thing that will cure it is more Chet. Like the later work of James Joyce, the films of Tarkovsky and “tax harmonisation”, the fact that some things will always lie just beyond the common understanding is something jazz enthusiasts must learn to live with. For sure this is NOT the best ever 50 Jazz albums. Pitchfork's Best Jazz Albums of All Time. Strictly speaking a loungecore classic, this is so full of jazz it almost feels genuine. Indeed, their interplay reaches an almost telepathic level of communication. Afro-Eurasian Eclipse – Duke Ellington. Des outils sérieux existent : “JAZZ” d’André Francis (Solfèges_Editions du Seuil) , “Le Grand Livre Du Jazz” de Joachim Ernst Berendt , qui permettent de procéder par éliminations successives ; perso , j’ai du mal à accepter l’absence de Kenny Burrell “A Night at The Vanguard” et de Jimmy Smith “T The following are influenced by thrills only as imagined by the author, and it has no significant whatsoever to the work of the artists, 50. Clap hands, here comes Ramsey! No Billie Holiday? Only 1 Duke Ellington LP, 1 Louis Armstrong? Nothing relevant happened thereafter? And WEATHER REPORT trumps BITCHES BREW let alone an-nee-thing by Sinatra Tsk tsk. Perfect room temperature chill-out and one of the best albums of the noughties. Madeline – Ghost Rhythms. My nomination is “Live From Russia”. A good list with many outstanding classic albums BUT guitar players seriously under-represented! These days you can’t read a website or pick up a newspaper without being told that jazz has suddenly started to become popular among 18-25 year-olds. And Coltrane Ole Coltrane is a better example of his work than My Favorite Things. Duke Ellington has been mentioned in many comments, and I agree. Miles Davis/Gil Evans should be there somewhere, shouldn’t they? Thanks for this list and all the others. Tanjah and Spirit of our Ancestors – Randy Weston. Brubeck is number 3, and Charlie Parker number 20. What would be point of taking your favourite Aphex Twin, Coldplay and Earth Wind & Fire records if you’re going to hear them day in, day out for the rest of your life? And where’s Jim Hall? The Pennsylvanian pianist, then 29, was suffering from excruciating back pain as well as fatigue after a long drive to the gig, only to find that the piano wasn’t to his satisfaction. I am a senior, and compile bibliography as a avocation. It was also one of the first jazz records to use overdubs. This collection of his best work, from 1925-29, includes some of the earliest recorded jazz and “West End Blues”, once called “the most perfect three minutes of music” ever created. Here you have it, Mr. DAVIS have traveled several MILES, yet, here we are still felling – KIND OF BLUE, Moses, that’s a great analytic presentation in a very witty and entertaining fashion. as well. 8. Major oversight. 4 out of the top 5 in this list were released in 1959. Rollins references his family’s Caribbean roots in the jaunty, self-penned calypso-esque ‘St Thomas’ (which became one of his signature tunes) and contributes two more original songs in the shape of ‘Strode Rode’ and ‘Blue 7’. What! Not sure In a Silent Way would be on my top 50, but your comment did give me a craving to listen to it since I haven’t for a long time. Nuits de la Foundation Maeght. Key song: ‘Spirits’, A prodigiously gifted multi-reed player who excelled on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Los Angeles-born Eric Dolphy was also a virtuoso flute player. As We Speak – Mark Egan/John Abercrombie. No Ella Fitzgerald?? John Scofield – This Meets That. If I were on Desert Island Discs, I thought to myself rather conceitedly, what would be the point of bringing your eight favourite records with you? His Question & Answer would be a good choice. List of 100 Greatest Jazz Albums at DigitalDreamDoor.com. So where are all the great recordings? He was the hipster it was OK to like, the jazzer who wouldn’t frighten the Stepford Wives when they popped round for cocktails on a Saturday night. Considered by some as the greatest jazz concert of all time, Jazz At Massey Hall was officially recognised as one of the best jazz albums in history when it was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1996. Bessi S. Sara V. Where is Oscar Peterson?? This is the only Bud that’s truly amazing. ALL THIS DOES IS CONTINUALLY LEAVE OTHER TITLES OBSCURED THAT ARE AS EQUALLY GREAT AS MANY OF THESE. RAY CHARLES — IN PERSON, GENIUS PLUS SOUL EQUALS JAZZ, ANY CHARLIE PARKER. If you’ve ever made lists of your favourite rock songs about California, your favourite punk singles, disco 12 inches, songs with the name of your girlfriend or wife in them; if you read High Fidelity and thought Nick Hornby’s lists were rather pedestrian (didn’t you think he’d be more eclectic? I myself could not be happy living without this chunk of music in the world. Yet despite this, none of his earlier recordings make the list?!! Change – Chick Corea. The song can still fill dancefloors today, and has an enduring R&B groove that never dates. thank you , Wow what a great list! 36. Compiling a list of the best jazz albums of all time is a nigh-on impossible task. Includes “Round Midnight”, the most recorded jazz song of all times. I guess not every album here is a big “gamechanger”, Que hay de Chick Corea?.No dudo que los discos que figuran en la lista lo merezcan,pero no incluir en ella al musico más importante del jazz contenporáneo me hace dudar de los criterios que se han seguido para confeccionar dicha lista. LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE or ELLA AND OSCAR (now THERE’S killing two birds with one stone!) Kind of Blue will be hard to beat – ever. Her first classic. I am a Miles man, but with miles to spare…….74yrs with young ears Its a disgrace to menchen a word like that in this context with these geniouses.But SHEPP was anything than that!!! The ignorance expressed on this list is representative of our time. Such a list would take years to compile, and would take the combined efforts of many jazz buffs, but could be extraordinary, and a great gift to prosperity. ‘Coltrain Plays the Blues’ or ‘Blue Train’ Now that’s some heavy shit. Strange City – Herbie Nichols Project. What about pre-1950 jazz? FURTHER PROOF THAT THE INTERNET IS LAZY. Still fresh and exciting today. Well, for me Out To Lunch can’t be outside the top 10. I knew that a Waltz for Debby could be great if played by Bill Evans Trio The best time to play it is straight after the Norah Jones albums, if only to hear your guests ask if this is the follow-up. Capping the list at 50 forces a fun debate of what’s the best music of the last 100 years. Joe Henderson is on Song For My Father from Horace Silver. The first album or Black Codes? Don Cherry Eternal Rhythm My gripe tho would be the non inclusion of something by the great Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Well, just listen to this. The influence of Duke Ellington is almost palpable, but such was the force of Mingus’ individuality as a composer that his personality dominates the album. Jazz is a good barometer of freedom…In its beginnings, the United States of America spawned certain ideals of freedom and independence through which, eventually, jazz was evolved, and the music is so free that many people say it is the only unhapmpered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country.”–Duke Ellington, ? I play in a latin jazz band. You also are bebop centric. This is more if the 50 most popular than 50 greatest. No Ahmad Jamal, no Crusaders, no Metheny, no Tom Scott… What a shame. The growth of Coltrane’s popularity in the early 60s was undoubtedly aided by Atlantic releasing a shorter version of ‘My Favorite Things’ as a single to promote the album. Key song: ‘The Girl From Ipanema’, The long-playing 33 1/3rpm record didn’t exist when New Orleans trumpet sensation and scat singer Louis Armstrong (aka “Satchmo”) helped to define what US writer F Scott Fitzgerald described as the “Jazz Age” in the late 20s. But i Miss Nefertiti, i think is the best of his quintet albums (whatever quintet he played in). as rock moreso than jazz, but 1) It’s jazz in structure, 2) they were & are hugely influential, & 3) they continued on where Miles Davis began in ’69 & expanded the possibilities of electric jazz much to the chagrin of jazz snobs like Wynton Marsalis whose music I also like. Required fields are marked *. Ella? Donald Fagen and Walter Becker has already become the American Beatles by the time they released Aja, and albums such as Can’t Buy A Thrill, Countdown To Ecstasy and Pretzel Logic had confirmed them as the most important band of the early Seventies. Jan Garbarek – Twelve Moons? Guess not Michael Kroll. Like Thelonious Monk before him – who exerted a strong influence on Hill – the Chicago pianist/composer ploughed a lone furrow, expressing himself in a unique and idiosyncratic style defined by asymmetrical melodies and unorthodox meters. YOU MISSED THE GREATEST, COUNT BASIE, DUKE,AND LOUIS ARMSTRONG. No matter who you list in the top 50, you’ll get 10,000 comments questioning your suggestions. Right. How very jazz. I’d also consider one or two of his later albums in there, despite critics always focusing on the Blanton/Webster era. “Peel Me A Grape” is worth the price of entry alone. Key song: ‘Kid From The Red Bank’, Damned by the faint praise of one jazz critic, who described him as the “middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone”, Georgia-born Mobley was often eclipsed by the work and reputation of fellow tenor players John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Getz/Gilberto, the defenders of the Jazz Realm. Thank you. There are no trombonists listed! Song Artist 1. There are some great albums and I have got a lot of them, but everybody seems to have been listening in the other direction. Too light on the earlier stuff for my liking…and no vocalists. In fact, just put McCoy Tyner’s album Infinity on there, it is a great album an kills two birds with one stone. Ehh. What a great comments section. Are Roy Elridge an Dizzy G. forgotten? It’s a joke !!! A Bird Called Parker can truly FLY like CHARLIE. ? None of his albums belong on this list, in my opinion. This was a breakthrough album for Coltrane, in particular its title track, and in the words of one critic, “was thick with constant chords changes (moving at the rate of a new chord every other beat) and a melody whose endlessly unfolding odd intervals – giant steps – appeared to be designed to make life difficult for its soloist.” Coltrane also experimented with modal jazz this album, which isn’t too surprising: at the time he was working with Miles Davis on Kind of Blue. Thanks. Easy Living – Enrico Rava. IMO there are thousands of albums with music just as “great” as on these. What about “Crescent” ? And there were some things I just didn’t get. Where’s Milestones by Miles? And so, after six long months I arrived at my final selection, the 100 best jazz CDs money can buy. Brazilians are Americans too since Brazil is also part of America. This list is not nearly as bad as some of the other lists of its kind floating around the internet, but some items should be disqualified because they were not conceived and/or recorded as “albums.” If you take the term album in its strictest sense, that would disqualify everything made before roughly 1948. Also Big Fun by Miles Davis needs to be on there. Just for starters: where is Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday? Combining squelchy clavinet parts with astral synth lines – both underpinned by Paul Jackson’s anchoring bass and Harvey Mason’s taut but elastic grooves – Hancock and his cohorts found themselves opening for rock acts like Santana. Years before Elton John, he persisted with the funny glasses, wore ecclesiastical robes and played some of the strangest piano you’ll ever be lucky enough to hear. Tenor saxophonist Rollins laid out his claim to be considered one of the most inventive improvisers in music across a selection of the best jazz albums of the mid-late 1950s – The Sound of Sonny, Way Out West, Tenor Madness, Newk’s Time and Freedom Suite are all brilliant – but this, from 1956, is probably his most famous. I agree with you, any list without these is a joke. 16. More Beautiful Than Death – Either Orchestra. A list of neglected jazz gems would be good. The biggest crossover star to emerge for years – this album stayed in the American Top Ten for 37 weeks. Should have expanded to the top 100 !!! If you include them, there should be Billie Holiday’s Complete Columbia, Duke’s Blanton-Webster Band. The incomparable Blue Hour by Stanley Turrentine and the Three Sounds should definitely be on here. The Art of Rhythm – Tom Harrell. Though the saxophonist was contracted to Prestige at the time, he was allowed to record a one-off session for Alfred Lion’s Blue Note label, and it turned out to be an absolute gem. How can you not have a single album of Sun-Ra’s on the list? Bitches Brew was also much more successful the Heavy weather. Only a Supreme Being named John Coltrane could treat us to A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme. Its popularity was helped enormously by the cover: Coltrane in close-up, his eyes looking down, deep in thought, his right hand raised to his lips. 21. Sinatra and nat king cole and aren’t really Jazz, what they played was more or less just swing because it lacked much of the harmonic sophistication and improvisation that is associated with much of Jazz music. Morgan’s foil is tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, whose tone is robust and earthy in comparison with the trumpeter’s soaring, gilded sound. Oceanic Suite – Atlantis Jazz Ensemble. Albert Ayer – Village Vanguard Recordings Like many people commented before me, where’s Billie, Ella, Dinah, Carmen McRae, Hartman/Coltrane? The San Francisco Jazz Collective comes to mind. “It was, ‘I am now going out here with this piano, and the hell with everything else.’” This improvised set not only turned Jarrett into a jazz superstar, it turned the tiny ECM label into a major force, selling three million copies in the process. I might be wrong. This is one genre that has benefitted immensely from the CD format, and reissues and compilation come thick and fast. la blague du siècle, révisez vos classiques. Who could sing like a dream. He never did; they were full of sand cause of a dog………….its a long story. As I came to realize later, underneath all those lists there is a certain intention. Includes the monumental “Venceremos” with guest vocals by Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn. You list is invalid. Please try it all. Billie Holiday : Stange Fruit, What, no Ella? Time Out. And that should not be understood as a mistake. I suppose subjectivity is inevitable when it comes to taste and naming the best 50 albums is impossible. The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time. Very Tall – Oscar Peterson with Milt Jackson Totally agree about “The Trio” recording on Pablo. Since he’s regarded as America’s greatest composer in any genre, it’s difficult to pick individual albums to sum Ellington up. In Four years later, in 1951, Lion issued Monk’s first album, Genius Of Modern Music, which was followed by a second volume in 1956 (by which time Monk was recording for Riverside).