Yr 10 'Essential' jazz albums
 

This thread seems to have mutated out of the one that began as a 2008 jazz thread.

10 jazz albums that you MUST own, go:

I don't believe that anyone needs to own anything.

*charles mingus - black saint and the sinner lady
*last exit - s/t
*icp - groupcomposing
*alice coltrane - journey in satchidananda
*sun ra - atlantis
*pharoah sanders - black unity
*albert ayler - spiritual unity
*sonny rollins - saxomophone colossus
*peter brötzmann - machine gun
*kaoru abe - last date
*cecil taylor - unit structures

(so i did 11, sue me, i still left tons outside)

John Coltrane - Blue Train
Miles Davis - Birth Of The Cool
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra - S/T
Charles Mingus - Oh Yeah
Sonny Rollins - Saxomophone Colossus
Thelonious Monk - Monk's Blues
Sun Ra - It's After The End Of The World
The Jazz Messengers - S/T

Not exactly 10, but I'm having trouble deciding what else should be put in the list.

john coltrane - ascension
john coltrane - interstellar space
john coltrane - the olatunji concert
there's a bud powell record i have that i can't remember the name of
sonny sharrock - black woman
this bill evans CD my ex had that i need to get a copy of
sun ra - space is the place OST
sun ra - astro black
sun ra - nubians of plutonia
the art ensemble of chicago - les stances a sophie

I really haven't heard enough to make a list but I'm sure I'd have Ornette Coleman's "science fiction", Eric Dolphy's "Out to Lunch", and Miles Davis's "Bitches Brew".

Thanks for the reminder. I add this to my list...

Ornette Coleman - Skies Of America

Cecil Taylor: Unit Structures
Anthony Braxton: 9 Compositions (Iridium) (12+1tet)
Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet: Signs
Sun Ra: Space Is The Place
Globe Unity Orchestra: Compositions
The Vandermark 5: Exercises In Surprise
Ex Orkest: Een Rondje Holland
ICP Tentet: In Berlin

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Sun Ra - Fate In A Pleasant Mood
Sun Ra - Live At The Village Vanguard
John Coltraine - My Favorite Things

more... I'll think of... something by Monk, etc.

John Coltrane - Live at Birdland
John Coltrane - Live at the Village Vanguard
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Sun Ra - The Magic City
Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Sonny Clark - Cool Steppin'
Tina Brooks - True Blue

my top 10 jazz albums ever:

sun ra-supersonic jazz
albert ayler-spritual unity
coltrane-a love supreme
cecil taylor-conquistador
charles mingus-black saint and the sinner lady
art ensemble of chicago-congliptious
sun ra-atlantis
ornette coleman-the shape of jazz to come
pharoh sanders/sonny sharrock-tauhid
miles davis-the jack johnson sessions

The first two are kind of obvious:

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream
Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane
Dexter Gordon - Ballads
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Cecil Taylor - Unit Structures
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Collosus
Billie Holiday - Some hits compilation or something.

And last but not least:

Miles Davis - Milestones

It has some of the best Coltrane solos ever. Sid's Ahead? Holy fuck. I don't know if it's a cover of something, but the riff at 6:16 is gold.

felt this way in April last year...
top 20 (w/ no artist "repeats")

1 My Favorite Things - John Coltrane
2 Out To Lunch - Eric Dolphy
3 Live At The Plugged Nickel - Miles Davis
4 The Best of the Pablo Solo Masterpieces - Art Tatum
5 The Scene Changes - Bud Powell
6 We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite - Max Roach
7 The Black Saint & Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus
8 A Descent into the Maelstrom - Lennie Tristano
9 Empyrean Isles - Herbie Hancock
10 The Real McCoy - McCoy Tyner
11 Monk's Music - Thelonius Monk
12 Spiritual Unity - Albert Ayler
13 Atlantis - Sun Ra & His Astro Infinity Arkestra
14 Moanin' - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
15 Release Record, Send Tape - Warne Marsh
16 The Shape of Jazz to Come - Ornette Coleman
17 The Avant-Garde - Don Cherry & John Coltrane
18 Hub-Tones - Freddie Hubbard
19 Unit Structures - Cecil Taylor
20 Art of the Trio, Vol. 3 - Brad Mehldau Trio

http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=12432

There's two recent books on Coltrane. I thumbed through each the other day at the bookstore.
In one, Coltrane remarked to an interviewer that "My Favorite Things" was the piece for which he was the most thoroughly satisfied. Heh heh, how did I know?

The closest I have to jazz is the Laughing Clowns, who were a jazz influenced post-punk band.
Laughing Clowns - Golden Days: When Giants Walked the Earth

I haven't heard enough but here's what I remember liking the most :

Roland Kirk : Rip, Rig & Panic
Miles Davis : Kind of Blue
John Coltrane : Giant Steps
Pharoah Sanders : Jewels of Thought
Ornette Coleman & Prime Time : Tone Dialing
Albert Ayler : can't remember the title but it was good good good
Lee Morgan : The Sidewinder

And probably something by EST (whose leader passed away a couple weeks ago) and Chet Baker. Never heard an entire album by those, only bits on the radio, enough to grab my attention.

This was meant to be 10, so I cut it back to 'mainstream'

Wayne Shorter- Footprints Live
- Adam's Apple
Eric Dolphy- Out to Lunch
Bill Evans- Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Bobby Hutcherson- Dialogue
Charles Mingus- Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Dave Holland Quintet- Extended Play (live at Birdland)
- Conference of the Birds
Herbie Hancock- Maiden Voyage
Jacky Terrasson- Alive
John Coltrane- A Love Supreme
-Afro Blue Impressions
John Scofield- Hand Jive
Larry Young- Unity
Miles Davis- Anything by the 60's band
- Live-Evil
Sonny Rollins- Saxophone Colossus
Stephen Scott- Renaissance
Thelonious Monk- Brilliant Corners
- w/Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
- Genius of Modern Music 2

a few of mine

I liked SKETCHES OF SPAIN quite a bit... I've never heard that MONK ALONE, but just the title makes me think it's excellent!

it is beautiful. oh plus a raymond scott collection and polar bear's first one

so underrated! don't know if it would make my top albums, but it's definitely in my most frequently played albums

I want Live-Evil so bad. I have a 3 minute clip of Sivad and it's fucking amazing.

just put it on myself :) the blackwell solo on cherryco never gets old

I was lucky enough that they have a copy in my university library!
It's definitely my favourite fusion Miles album, funkier and heavier than most other stuff. McLaughlin is amazing on that album.

live evil rules. a lot of people are surprised when i declare my love of 70s miles, but i think all those records, bitches brew, on the corner, and especially live evil, are phenomenal pieces of music.

If you're into Live/Evil then I can't stress enough how much you need to get your hands on The Cellar Door Sessions 1970. Trust me, it's worth it. Six CDs and a lovely 100 page or so booklet, containing the full recordings of the band’s Cellar Door residency, from which all of the "Live" side of Live/Evil was taken. Arguably one of the very best Miles sets. I’ve listened to the various takes of “What I say” on that just a crazy number of times.

Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
Charles Mingus - Town Hall Concert (1964)
Albert Ayler - In Greenwich Village
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
John Coltrane - Blue Train
John Coltrane - Concert for Olatunji
Don Cherry - Eternal Rhythm
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Bap-Tizum
Dollar Brand - Anatomy of a South African Village
Sun Ra - Magic City

Charles Mingus - Revenge!
Ellington/Mingus/Roach - Money Jungle
Last Exit - Iron Path
Charles Mingus - Presents Charles Mingus
Alice Coltrane - Ptah, the El Daoud
The Grassy Knoll - III
Miles Davis - Filles de Kilimanjaro
John Coltrane - Live at the Half Note: One Up, One Down
Sex Mob - Sex Mob Does Bond
Charlie Hunter Trio - Bing, Bing, Bing!

you got my top 2!

also

john coltrane-a love supreme
herbie hancock-empyrean isles
don cherry-symphony for improvisers
sam rivers-fuschia swing song
billy hart-enchance

can't think of any others that are too definite

I have to throw out the "have to own" qualifier since I own some albums that aren't necessarily my favorites, and I have some favorites that I don't necessarily own.

Sun Ra - Atlantis (though it's extremely hard to pick just one album of his, if I didn't he'd fill half of my top ten!)
Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (the same as above confounded by the fact he is actually essentially a different person at different points in his career!)
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
John Coltrane - Om (though it's such a huge commitment to listen to that I only ever rarely do so)
Alice Coltrane - Lord of Lords
Art Ensemble of Chicago - A Jackson in Your House
Ken Nordine - Word Jazz
Thelonious Monk - Straight No Chaser
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
Albert Ayler - Spirtitual Unity