Amazon has published their take on the 100 greatest jazz albums of all time. I had a great time going through this list, remembering music that I hadn’t heard in a long, long time and I also discovered a few albums (and musicians) that I still hadn’t been turned on to.
Here is the list below – check it out, and leave your comments on whether or not you think any album was missed (don’t forget, this is albums , not musicians ) and if there is anything in the list that you don’t agree with, let us know.
Personally, I think the Jaco Pastorius album should have been higher on the list, but hey, I’m a bass player!
You can click on any of the links to hear previews of the songs on the album.
1. Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
2. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
3. Charlie Parker / Dizzie Gillespie - Bird & Diz
4. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
5. Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis
6. Getz/Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto
7. Erroll Garner - Concert by the Sea
8. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
9. Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
10. Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser
11. Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert
12. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin’
13. Chet Baker - Chet Baker Sings
14. John Coltrane - Blue Train
15. Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
16. Art Tatum - Piano Starts Here
17. Dexter Gordon - Go!
18. Count Basie - Count Basie at Newport
19. Alice Coltrane - Journey In Satchidananda
20. Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
21. Bill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans
22. Duke Ellington - Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
23. Naked City - Naked City
24. Louis Armstrong - Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy
25. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall
26. Clifford Brown & Max Roach - Clifford Brown & Max Roach
27. Dizzy Gillespie - Afro
28. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
29. Pharoah Sanders - Karma
30. Abbey Lincoln - Staright Ahead
31. Charlie Parker - Charlie Parker With Strings
32. Cannonball Adderley Quintet - Somethin’ Else
33. Billie Holiday - Lady in Satin
34. Coleman Hawkins - Body & Soul
35. Art Blakey - A Night in Tunisia
36. Stephane Grappelli - Afternoon in Paris
37. Andrew Hill - Compulsion
38. Thelonius Monk - Monk’s Dream
39. The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity?
40. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
41. Herbie Hancock - Takin’ Off
42. Benny Goodman - The Famous Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert 1938
43. Oscar Peterson - The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival
44. Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
45. Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington - The Great Summit
46. George Gershwin - Gershwin Plays Rhapsody in Blue
47. Grant Green - Idle Moments
48. Sun Ra - Secrets of the Sun
49. Patricia Barber - Mythologies
50. Charles Mingus - Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus
51. Duke Ellington - Such Sweet Thunder
52. Carmen McRae - The Great American Songbook
53. Blossom Dearie - Once Upon a Summertime
54. Cecil Taylor - Unit Structures
55. Lionel Hampton & Stan Getz - Hamp & Getz
56. Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley - Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley
57. David Axelrod - Song Of Innocence
58. Weather Report - Heavy Weather
59. Albert Ayler - Slugs’ Saloon
60. Branford Marsalis - Trio Jeepy
61. Roland Kirk - We Free Kings
62. Shirley Horn - Travelin’ Light
63. Sonny Rollins - A Night at the Village Vanguard
64. Diana Krall - Live In Paris
65. Clifford Brown - Clifford Brown with Strings
66. Milt Jackson - Bags & Trane
67. Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue
68. Etta Jones - Don’t Go To Strangers
69. Herb Ellis - Ellis in Wonderland
70. Vince Guaraldi Trio - Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus
71. Rosemary Clooney - Blue Rose
72. Art Pepper - Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section
73. Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill
74. Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth
75. Stanley Clarke - School Days
76. Brad Mehldau - Elegiac Cycle
77. Joshua Redman - Wish
78. Jason Moran - Artist in Residence
79. Ahmad Jamal - Ahmad’s Blues
80. Moondog - Sax Pax for a Sax
81. Wynton Marsalis - Black Codes (From The Underground)
82. Duke Pearson - The Right Touch
83. Astrud Gilberto - The Astrud Gilberto Album
84. Chick Corea - Return To Forever
85. Bill Frisell - Blues Dream
86. Sarah Vaughn / Lester Young - One Night Stand – The Town Hall Concert 1947
87. Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream & Other Delights
88. Art Ensemble of Chicago - Full Force
89. Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
90. Jimmy Scott - Mood Indigo
91. Elis Regina - Elis & Tom
92. Pat Metheny Group - Offramp
93. Stan Getz - Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio
94. Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet - Husky
95. Cuong Vu - Come Play with Me
96. Anthony Braxton - Five Compositions (quartet)
97. Madeline Peyroux - Careless Love
98. Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius
99. Max Roach - M’Boom
100. Robert Glasper - In My Element
19 Comments Received
May 3rd, 2009 @10:46 pm
The Great Summit is probably my favorite album
May 4th, 2009 @2:56 am
wow, nice list!
May 4th, 2009 @1:54 pm
I totally agree about Jaco… but I play bass as well (poorly), so I’m biased.
May 4th, 2009 @3:20 pm
Whaaaaaaat.
No love for Don Ellis?
May 4th, 2009 @4:19 pm
I totally disagree with number 1. WTF
May 4th, 2009 @4:46 pm
Awesome list!
You of course missed Johnny Griffin – A Blowin’ Session…
May 4th, 2009 @5:56 pm
Guess I died for nothing.
May 5th, 2009 @6:39 am
Gotta agree with Ball there. WTF for #1? IMO there is really no way you could hash that list and not have Kind of Blue or Love Supreme as #1.
May 5th, 2009 @7:29 am
Yeah, I really like _The Shape of Jazz to Come_, but it’s really bizarre to me that it’s given first place over _Kind of Blue_ or _A Love Supreme._
May 5th, 2009 @6:19 pm
The first guitarist-lead session recording is not Wes Montgomery but Grant Green’s Idle Moments? And at #47 no less?
Ask any jazz historian or accomplished jazz guitarist and they will firmly disagree with this.
That said, it’s one of my all time favorite jazz guitar records and I spun it yesterday (I swear)…
And any jazz list that omits the Nat King Cole Trio, places Billie Holiday at 33, etc. is amateur hour.
-Thomas
May 5th, 2009 @8:52 pm
(ready….aim….)
What? No Kenny G “Breathless”??? Hell, that outsold everything on the list combined!!! Wouldn’t that mean it’s the greatest? Does the artistry of ‘ciruclar breathing’ mean nothing to you people???
(fire!!!)
May 6th, 2009 @7:46 am
Um, hello? Money Jungle — Ellington, Max Roach and Charlie Mingus. And not even a mention of Ellington at Newport in 56? These two records are top 10, if not top 5 and they’re completely missing from your list.
May 6th, 2009 @9:48 am
I miss Hoagy Carmichael, “Hoagy Sings Carmichael”
May 6th, 2009 @11:08 am
The fact that Diana Krall is on there at all is bizarre. Decent musician but nothing of lasting significance. And she’s #64 while Blues and The Abstract Truth is #74? Odd
Also Clarke’s School Days was ok but not listworth IMO.
What gives?
May 6th, 2009 @12:59 pm
The Bad Plus at #39!?!? The fact that they are on the list negates the whole thing. We are all dumber for having viewed it because they are listed. Why don’t you list Kenny G?
This is a joke, right?
May 12th, 2009 @8:12 am
Totally agree with number 1. Would have liked to have seen Mingus Ah Um included, but it’s a great list regardless.
October 26th, 2009 @10:41 pm
I really like Stan Getz! But Wayne Shorter’s SPEAK NO EVIL should post higher than GETZ/GILBERTO!
February 19th, 2010 @10:13 am
School Days Huh ? not even the best Stanley Clarke record so how its on this list god only knows.
Heavy Weather ???? BOrrrrrrrrrrrrrrinnnnnnnnngggggggggggg
March 14th, 2010 @10:22 pm
ornette coleman #1 WTF???
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