TOP 100 Jazz Albums

**nu_mike** · 12-04-2009, 04:11 PM

The Benny Goodman band which surprisingly includes Charlie Christian.
Anything from the Swing Era before Jazz got so pretentious it forgot its audience.
Gerry Mulligan - anything. However "I Want To Live" and the various big bands are higly reccomended.
Nothing by Parker, Coltrane or any other "faster than a speeding bullet" saxophonist.

Last words of wisdom:- "For God's sake don't listen to guitar players! Listen to the horn players who moved people"
Coleman Hawkins unsurpassed 78 of Body & Soul for example.

Your old reactionary,

Nu_mike

**nado64** · 12-06-2009, 06:58 AM

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Paul Desmond - Glad to be unhappy
Cannonball Adderley - Somethin Else
Keith Jarrett - Koln Concert
Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto -
Yuseef Lateef - Eastern Sounds
The Weather Report
Lee Morgan - Sidewinter
Wes Montgomery - Smokin at the half note
Ella fitzerald & Louis Armstrong
Thelonious monk - Piano Solo

**GrooveKing** · 12-06-2009, 07:01 AM

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius (1976)
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Dave Weckl - Hard Wired
Herbie Hancock - Man Child
David Sanborn - Time Again
Marcus Miller - The Ozell Tapes
Randy and David Brecker - Return Of Brecker Brothers
Louis Arnstrong - Antology

**Metal Fingers** · 12-06-2009, 05:18 PM

Am I the only one who loves Coltrane-Stellar regions?That might be my favorite J.C release.And I just got Pat metheny-Question and answer and I got to say me likey...however the jury is still out on that one.wait is this list sans guitar...who knows anymore

**coltranejazz** · 12-07-2009, 01:11 AM

Some favorites:
Bill Evans ~ You Must Believe in Spring
Cannonball Adderley ~ Something Else
Charlie Parker ~ Charlie Parker with Strings: The Master Takes
Dexter Gordon ~ Go!
Jimmy Smith ~ Back At The Chicken Shack
John Coltrane ~ Blue Train, Coltranes Sound, The Complete Africa/Brass Sessions, A Love Supreme, Soultrane
Larry Young ~ Into Somethin, Unity
Lee Morgan ~ Candy, Lee-Way
Miles Davis ~ In A Silent Way, Kind Of Blue, Someday My Prince Will Come
Oscar Peterson ~ Canadiana Suite, The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson/Affinity, The Trio, The Sound Of The Trio
Red Garland ~ A Garland of Red
Sam Rivers ~ Fuchsia Swing Song
Sonny Stitt ~ Kaleidoscope, Sonny Stitt Plays, Stitt Plays Bird
Tina Brooks ~ Back To The Tracks, Minor Move, True Blue, The Waiting Game
Tony Williams ~ Life Time
Yusef Lateef ~ Eastern Sounds, Live At Peps Vol 1 & 2, Prayer to the East, Psychicemotus

**nandinho** · 12-07-2009, 02:04 PM

Köln Concert Keith Jarret
Kind of Blue Miles Davis
The Essential Thelonious Monk
Double Rainbow Joe Henderson
Freedom in the Groove Joshua Redman
Getz/Gilberto S. Getz, J+A Gilberto,ACJ
Love Supreme John Coltrane
Italian Session Chet Baker
Elektric Band The Chick Corea Elektric Band
Bela fleck and the Flecktones B.Fleck & Flecktones

**bbcoz** · 12-07-2009, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by Johnny b

Dear Jazzers,

I know this is for fun only but I am absolutely gobsmacked that no one has mentioned: Duke Ellington Orchestra live at Newport 1956. Maybe folks are not aware of the gig but please check it out as many jazz historians and jazzers alike cite the music on this album as close as to jazz perfection as you can get (whatever that is?). Just listen to the Newport Suite and Jeep's Blues and Crescendo and Diminuendo in Blue. Wow, oh wow, oh wow!

Managed to get a listen to this on your recommendation. Really tasty stuff.

**key-figure** · 12-07-2009, 02:20 PM

Karrin Allyson - In Blue
Ben Allison & Man Size Safe - Little Things Run The World
Susie Arioli Swing Band - Pennies For Heaven
Bill Evans - Waltz For Debby
Stan Getz / Joao Gilberto
Chris Barber -Who's Blues
Diana Krall - All For You
Bert Joris - Magone
Paris Washboard - "Super"
Abdullah Ibrahim - A Celebration
Nat King Cole Trio - The Best Of
Louis Armstrong - Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
Brad Mehldau Trio -Day Is Done
Cesar Camargo Mariano - Duo
Cannonball Adderley - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!

**Jazzguitarfan** · 12-07-2009, 02:22 PM

Here's a few more, beside the obvious Miles and Coltrane selections:

Charlie Parker with Strings - Charlie Parker
Sketches of Spain - Miles Davis
In a Silent Way- Miles Davis
Giant Steps - Woody Herman
Gil Evans Plays Jimi Hendrix - Gil Evans
Light as a Feather - Chick Corea and Return to Forever
East Coast/West Coast - Toots Thielmans
Push Push- Herbie Mann
Blossom Dearie - Blossom Dearie
E.H. in the U.K - Eddie Harris
Chameleon - Maynard Ferguson
Time Out - Dave Brubeck

**GhostDog** · 12-08-2009, 11:44 PM

In no particular order

John Coltrane- Contrane's Sound
John Coltrane- A Love Supreme
John Coltrane- Blue Train
Max Roach/ Clifford Brown- Study in Brown
Max Roach/ Clifford Brown- At Basin St
Max Roach/ Clifford Brown- More Study in Brown
Miles Davis- Kind of Blue
Miles Davis-Cooking at the Plugged Nickel
Miles Davis-Sketches of Spain
Miles Davis-Round Midnight
Thelonious Monk- Brillant Corners
Thelonious Monk- Plays Ellington
Thelonious Monk- Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Monk?
Bill Evans- Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Bill Evans- Waltz for Debby
Bill Evans- Live at the Village Vangaurd
McCoy Tyner- The Real McCoy
Sonny Rollins- Saxophone Colossus
Jimmy Smith- Home Cookin
Jimmy Smith- Back at the Chicken Shack
Louis Armstrong With Oscar Peterson
Duke Ellington- Money Jungle
Duke Ellington with John Coltrane
Duke Ellington- Live at Newport
Art Blakey- Live at the Blue Note

Compilations of the Orginal Basey Band (with Lester Young), Louis's Hot Five and Bird deserve mention as well, but since those were not concieved as albums and I'm not the best person to point people to the most complete/best quality ones, I'll leave it at that for now

**ussr** · 12-11-2009, 11:05 PM

Stephane Grappelli/Iehudi Menuhin "Fascinating Rhythm"
Miles Davis "Tutu"
The Artistry Of Modern Jazz Quartet
Mysterious Traveller "Black Market"
and many others

**Johnny b** · 12-15-2009, 11:17 AM

Dear Jazzers,

Please get yourselves a copy of Duke Ellington 'Live at Newport, 1956'. Really exciting jazz from the greatest jazz composer/arranger of them all.

Johnny B.

**syllerud** · 12-17-2009, 10:54 AM

The Bill Evans Trio - Sunday At The Village Vanguard
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

**Harry** · 12-29-2009, 03:51 PM

Hello, here's my top-10 of jazz-albums:

1 Dave Brubeck - Time out
2 Miles Davis - Kind of blue
3 Chet Baker - Round midnight
4 Chick Corea - Friends
5 Herbie Hancock - Quartet
6 Oscar Peterson - Live Japan '82
7 Branford Marsalis - Eternal
8 Keith Jarret - Live at the Blue Note
9 Diana Krall - Live in Paris
10 Wynton Marsalis -Standard Time # 1

So far, cheers
3 Keith Jarret -

**deadman** · 01-02-2010, 12:34 AM

In no particular order...

A FLAT G FLAT & C / Yusef Lateef
SEVERAL SHADES OF JADE / Cal Tjader
SOUL MESSAGE / Richard Groove Holmes
BRASAMBA / Bud Shank
DUSTER / Gary Burton Quartet
SOLID GROUND / Rod Levitt Orchestra
MILES SMILES / Miles Davis
WE AND THE SEA / Tamba 4
ESSENCE / Don Ellis
SOUL SAUCE / Cal Tjader
SPEAK NO EVIL / Wayne Shorter
KIND OF BLUE / Miles Davis
INTO THE HOT / Gil Evans
THE NEWEST SOUND AROUND / Jeanne Lee & Ran Blake
PORTRAIT IN JAZZ / Bill Evans
E.S.P. / Miles Davis
LARRY NOVAK PLAYS / Larry Novak Trio
SWEET RAIN / Stan Getz
GETZ / GILBERTO #1 / Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto
T.V. ACTION JAZZ / Mundell Lowe
BLACK CODES FROM THE UNDERGROUND / Wynton Marsalis
GETZ A GO GO / Stan Getz
MOVIES / Carla Bley
QUIET KENNY / Kenny Dorham
THE QUARTET & THE QUINTET / Jack Sheldon
JAZZ SAMBA / Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd
THE FOX / Harold Land
MEMPHIS UNDERGROUND / Herbie Mann
GOT MY MOJO WORKING / Jimmy Smith
DESIRE DEVELOPS AN EDGE / Kip Hanrahan
EL SONIDO NUEVO / Cal Tjader & Eddie Palmieri
SWEEDEN NONSTOP / Jan Johansson Trio
THE HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHTS / Eddie Costa

**zonedout245** · 01-04-2010, 11:37 PM

From the ones I've had a chance to listen to so far, my favorites are:
Miles Davis - Milestones
Miles Davis - Blue Haze
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Hank Mobley - Workout
Wynton Marsalis - Standard Time, Vol. 3: The Resolution of Romance

There are some others with guitarists leading I left them out.

**gtrhead** · 01-22-2010, 07:47 PM

Okay, it looks like all the major ones have been mentioned, so I'll just add my 2 bits here.

Traditional:

The Köln Concert (Keith Jarrett)
Still Live (Keith Jarrett Trio)
My Favorite Things (John Coltrane)
Birth of the Cool (Miles Davis)
Charlie Brown Christmas (Vince Guiraldi)

Fusion:

Elektric Band (Chick Corea)
Eye of the Beholder (Chick Corea Elektric Band)
Earthworks (Bill Bruford)
Mystical Adventures (Jean-Luc Ponty)
Music for Piano & Drums (Bill Bruford & Patrick Moraz)

"Modern" Jazz:

Morning Dance (Spyro Gyra)
Feels So Good (Chuck Mangione)

**Kasperovich** · 02-12-2010, 02:24 PM

John Coltrane / Johnny Hartman
Chet Baker - Let's Get Lost

**James Gino Reza** · 02-12-2010, 02:43 PM

When I was a young man (1950s) here in Fort Worth, Texas, Blacks as well as Hispanics were denied entrance to many white clubs. But, I, being fair skin and speaking English well, thanks to the nuns who taught me I would go in to white clubs (or lounges as they were called then). The following week I would take a dark Hispanic girl and we were not allowed to go in. Wanting to show my date a good time I would take her to a Hispanic night club and guess what the Hispanics there wanted to beat the hell out of me. I at the time was working with some Hispanics who grew in the South East part of Fort Worth, a predominately black community. My Hispanic coworkers spoke and danced just like blacks. Telling them of my situation with white folks and Hispanics they invited me to go enjoy the music at the black clubs that abounded in South East Fort Worth. There, I fell in love with the black man's music and mode of dancing. I saw and got to meet guys like Lou Rawls, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Etta James, B. B. King, Lowell Fulson, T. Bone Walker, Bobby Blue Bland, Larry Williams, Arnette Coleman, plus many other great black artists that at the time their music was not allowed to air on white radio stations. Needless to say I bought a lot of these fine artist's music and still have it today. My favorite jazz artist bar none has to be Gene Ammons. A close second is Sonny Stitt. You guys can have the rest of them. Yes, I know they are great by Gene Ammons was so smooth and his selection of songs was awesome. Hey, I forgot to say that another group that ranks high with me is none other than Bill Doggett. Need I say more? Thanks for allowing me to vent my love for this great and now gone artists who not many knew about. Sad to say!

James Gino Reza

**palocchino** · 02-12-2010, 04:46 PM

I love guitar, so I can give you my opinion about what I consider really music of great quality played by some of my favourite guitarists. Here a list of my preferite ones: (there're many others, obviously)

- Al DiMeola - 1990 - The Grande Passion (music from Piazzolla; I think Piazzolla was really a genious in composition, while Di Meola is one of the best music arrangers that I know)

- Trio da Paz - Partido Out (I love this album! Romero Lubambo is the guitarist; listen "Song for Kaya" composed by him!)

- Al DiMeola, Paco De Lucia, John McLaughlin - The Guitar Trio 1996 (do not miss this album)

- Bireli Lagrene-Acoustic Moments (people tell that Bireli was a talent since he was a child; listening to his solos I've begun to believe in these voices...)

- Bireli Lagrene-Foreign Affairs
- Bireli Lagrene - Standards

- Pat Metheny - One Quiet Night (it's only guitar, really quiete music, I think it's not easy to understand it, you've to be very relaxed and let you follow the notes, the sounds, without any thoughts...than you start to appreciate it)

- Pat Metheny all the music! (too many albums to mention, forgive me)

- Frank Gambale - The Great Explorers (maybe it's more fusion than Jazz, but I can't not mention the album that I've been listening for months and months, dreaming with the marvellous solos of Frank)

PS: forgive me, but I've to admit that I feel bored when I listen old music and standards from Joe Pass, Charlie Parker, George Benson, and all the big of the past...I don't know why...maybe I'm not able to understand them

**hotgoalie11565** · 02-12-2010, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by randalljazz

okay, i'll play:

stan getz---serenity
manhattan transfer---vocalese
herbie hancock---maiden voyage
wayne shorter---speak no evil
curtis counce---landslide
count basie---complete atomic basie
zoot sims---if i'm lucky
horace silver---horacescope
bill evans---intuition
adderley brothers---summer of '55

(uhhh...joao is a guitarist...)

Randall, I'm with you 100% on Serenity. But you have to add Anniversary in there too. Both CD's are from the same show he did in Copenhagen.

**sr sopha** · 02-12-2010, 05:39 PM

This list seems to say Jazz is a dead art form! I'm not buying it...MMW, Alex Skolnik, Nik Bartsch's Ronin...

**Stein4** · 02-12-2010, 06:00 PM

Hi, looking for the list of the 100 best jazz guitarists list - can someone send a link?

When it comes to best jazz albums the contemporary and relativly recent jazz albums are a bit underrepresented:

The albums by John McLaughlin and The Mahavishnu Orchestra, "Belonging" with Jarret, Garbarek etc. and lo-o-o-ng row of the excellent albums on the ECM label produced by Manfred Eicher revitalized jazz - and is a huge treasure box of music.

Stringbean · 02-12-2010, 06:25 PM

Jaco - Invitation
Morgan - Sidewinder
Phil Schaap - Birdflight

**casterod** · 02-12-2010, 07:32 PM

Hello Everyone:
this is my first post, so I'll be quick.
Lists are always imperfect and always tendencious - they tend to show more about those who make it than about what is listed. But who can resist them?
Anyway, I would include in the top 100 the Getz/Gilberto featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim album; and also the Sinatra/Jobim album (well, my favorite Jobim jazz album is WAVE; Jobim and bossa-nova renewed jazz music in a way (Sinatra and Getz got their careers again after they met Jobim - they were practically forgotten to museums and alcohol when they recorded bossa-nova) that maybe only Miles ever did - and very curiously, Miles was a big fan of Brazilian Music (for instance, Milton Nascimento, Hermeto Pascoal, Airto Moreira, Egberto Gismonti were his idols and fans and friends) but never was a good recorder of brazilian music (his recordings of Jobim's compositions are very below the average, a pity...); João Gilberto's Amoroso album is also beautiful, Claus Oggerman is the arranger, but not his best (Diana Krall openly copied the same arrangements recently).
And I would also include one Eumir Deodato album (anyone, pick it up).
As to the musicians, as a tremendous performer I suggest Jobim himself: impossible to be more cool on the piano (cool, concise, precise and his harmonies, oh my, his harmonies... Listen to The Composer of Desafinado Plays and you'll get a glimpse of what I'm saying... too bad his USA lyricists were not as good as he himself was when originally composing in Portuguese...)
thanks for this wonderful list to you all!
all the best.
casterod.