"Last Albums" or appearances you can recommend

[sidewinder]

Harold Land's 'A Lazy Afternoon' is one that comes to mind. Some beautiful playing on that one.

[Balladeer]

Chet Baker & NDR Big Band - Last Great Concert (Enja)

[paul secor]

Ike Quebec's Bossa Nova - Soul Samba was his last. It was outside of his usual sphere, but he was still playing well.

[paul secor]

Booker Little was still doing well it when he recorded Booker Little and Friend a few months before his death.

[colinmce]

Ike Quebec's Bossa Nova - Soul Samba was his last. It was outside of his usual sphere, but he was still playing well.

His late Blue Notes are his best work IMO. Very much a case of going out on a high note.

[B. Clugston]

Leo Parket's two Blue Note dates were mighty fine.

[BFrank]

[duaneiac]

This is a perfect example of going out on a high note:

I saw her in concert in San Francisco about a month before this concert was recorded. She was a wonderful performer right up to the end.

Another singer who was terrific until the final curtain dropped:

And there was no such thing as a bad Ruby Braff album, right up to the end, which was this concert recorded in Aug. of 2002:

I believe this was Marian McPartland's final recording and it demonstrates that she was still a creative and talented pianist even at the age of 90

[Big Beat Steve]

Leo Parker's two Blue Note dates were mighty fine.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Big Beat Steve

[duaneiac]

Since Mr. Allison announced his retirement, we will have to assume this was his final album and it was a good one

[BFrank]

Not jazz, but a great album and the last time these two recorded a full album together.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Funnily enough, Gator Tail got better and better. This was his last

Nothing butt, with Charles Earland, Pat Martino & Grady Tate. Some unexpected tunes in this really brought it on for me - 'Nuages' and 'Move' - well!

MG

[David Ayers]

This thread makes me think of Adorno on (Beethoven's) 'late style' in Moments musicaux.

[mjzee]

This is a fun album:

[Hardbopjazz]

One of Paul Motain's last recordings if not his last, "Live At Birdland" with Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden Brad Mehldau. I enjoy this one.

Recorded May 17, 2011. Paul Motain died in November 2011.

[mjzee]

This might have been later:

[Scott Dolan]

The last few recordings of Eric Dolphy - Out To Lunch, Last Date, Last Recordings - are quite a hodgepodge but of high caliber.

I remembering searching for Naima and Unrealized Tapes on CD for nearly a decade, my own personal holy grail at the time. It was very unsuccessful until I found this boutique record store overseas (England, IIRC) that had a combo album of those dates called Complete Last Recordings. I remember the day it arrived in the mail. I just sat and stared at it for several minutes before I opened it. What a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction!

And the music did not disappoint. Springtime is one of his finest compositions.

Last Date is a fine recording, but the true last dates are much better, IMO.

[mjzee]

Per Wikipedia, this was Basie's last album; haven't heard it, though:

Edited September 26, 2014 by mjzee

[mjzee]

Hmmm...jazzdisco.org says this was the final Basie recording:

[king ubu]

Per Wikipedia, this was Basie's last album; haven't heard it, though:

Some wonderful Snooky Young there! All too rare to really hear him, but here you do get the chance!

[duaneiac]

Carmen McRae's final studio album was top-notch

[John L]

Although there is a bootleg that is supposedly from a few days later in NYC, Bill Evans' The Last Waltz box captures one of the most magnificent good byes in jazz (IMO).

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this

Jug was as great in the seventies as in the forties, fifties and sixties.

MG

[l p]

Okay, I'm cheating a little bit on this one. Miles Davis' July 10, 1991 Paris concert was his next-to-last recorded appearance, not his last; a concert from six days later was included in the Montreux boxset. But that July 10 concert, which has been bootlegged under the title Black Devil, is kind of remarkable. The Man Who Never Looked Back, well, looked back. About half the tunes are by his then-current funk/fusion band, but the other tunes feature guests from his past: Jackie McLean, Wayne Shorter, Steve Grossman, Dave Holland, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, Al Foster. He does "Out of the Blue," "Dig," "All Blues," "Footprints," "In a Silent Way," and "It's About That Time." (Okay, he doesn't solo on "Dig.") Not everything is great, but there's something very moving about hearing Miles blow over changes in 1991. My favorite track is "Footprints" - Miles, Shorter, Corea, Holland, and Foster; Miles plays a wonderful, short, three-chorus solo.

recorded miles shows after montreux '91

July 8, 1991 Casino, Montreux, Switzerland

July 10, 1991 La Grande Halle, Villette, Paris, France

July 14, 1991 Statenhal, Congressgebouw, Den Haag, The Netherlands

July 16, 1991 Jardin des Arenes de Cimiez, Nice, France

July 17, 1991 Jardin des Arenes de Cimiez, Nice, France

July 19, 1991 Royal Festival Hall, London, UK

July 21, 1991 Chapiteau, Andernos, France

July 23, 1991 Stadio Olimpico, Rom, Italy

July 24, 1991 Piazza del Giorgione, Castelfranco Veneto, Italy

July 26, 1991 Wiltz Theatre, Chateau de Wiltz, Wiltz, Luxembourg

July 27, 1991 Uno City, Wien, Austria

August 22, 1991 Arvey Field, Chicago, USA

August 24, 1991 Concord Pavilion, Concord, USA

August 25, 1991 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, USA

http://www.kind-of-blue.de/seiten/sessions/1991.htm

i'll try to check this paris concert out. i'd like to see All Blues and It's About That Time.

[l p]

well with Dolphy, at least I assume that the gaggle of "last recordings" at the time was really just a diverse bunch of albums he was making...

these were all live recordings. his bcl solo on 'springtime' is one of my favorites.

i like miles 'doo-bop'. there are 2-3 tunes on there that i always enjoy. i can't say as much for any of the other miles 1980's-90's releases.