Put a Pin on the Map View my Forum Guestmap
Free Guestmaps by Bravenet.com

The Old Acclaimed Music Forum

Go to the NEW FORUM

Music, music, music...
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: AM's Top 200 Jazz Albums

Thought I'd bump this thread after listening to Portico Quartet's Isla for the 2009 poll. Highly recommended.

Re: AM's Top 200 Jazz Albums

Since I've been listening to a ton of jazz records lately I thought I'd post a little list of my favorite jazz records. In general I think I enjoy jazz fusion and hard bop most, as you can probably see, and I don't really enjoy free jazz or the weirder avant-garde stuff.

1. Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
2. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
3. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
4. John Coltrane - Giant Steps
5. Charlie Parker- Jazz At Massey Hall, Vol. 3
6. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
7. Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert
8. John Coltrane - Blue Train
9. Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson
10. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music
11. John Coltrane - Olé Coltrane
12. Mahmoud Ahmed - Ere Mela Mela (RYM classifies it as jazz, albeit Ethio-Jazz)
13. Mahavishnu Orchestra- The Inner Mounting Flame
14. Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
15. Wayne Shorter - Juju
16. Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard
17. Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk Trio
18. Freddie Hubbard - Straight Life
19. Oscar Brown Jr. - Sin & Soul
20. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
21. Stan Getz/João Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto
22. Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
23. Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
24. Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
25. Art Blakey - Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers [Moanin']

If Fela Kuti classifies as jazz he can be inserted at #1 (Zombie), #9 (Confusion), #14 (Roforofo Fight), and, #21 (Expensive Shit).

Favorite artists, in order: (Fela Kuti,) John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Wayne Shorter.

Maybe we could have a jazz poll! (like we don't already have enough polls coming up)

Re: AM's Top 200 Jazz Albums

For the more rock oriented jazz records, try "On the corner", "Get Up with it" and all the live albums Miles recorded in that period, "Black Beauty", "Dark Magus", "Agartha" and "Pangea". Heavy stuff!

What is it that makes "Kind of Blue" such a beautiful record? Bill Evans' piano playing. He is at his peak in the last recordings he made, "You must believe in spring", and the concerts he gave with the same trio, "The Paris conert" (1 and 2). Highly recommended

Also, talking about more classical jazz, we have Duke Ellington, who recorded some of his best works in the 70's, the "Far East Suite", and the "Afro-Eurasian Eclipse". The sound is that of a big band, but the arrangements sound more like "world" music avant-la-lettre.

Another big band leader is Sun Ra, whose oevre mostly consists of free jazz. However, he made a couple of more acessible records, "Sleeping Beauty" and "Lanquidity"