Your top five Jazz albums of all time.

[danasgoodstuff]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

I had red & green, but jumped on brown because it was both complete AND  grouped by session. Finally. And then, Mosaic, game over then, for me.

But yes, vinyl 2-fers, crazy mad skills in compiling most of those, occasionally/rarely still superior to later CD efforts, maybe?

Sometimes, and if it's what you're used to then more than sometimes.

[mjb]

The earlier years of my addiction:

 

Modern Jazz Quartet - Pyramid

Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch

Andrew Hill - Point of Departure

Bobby Hutcherson - Components

Grachan Moncur III - Evolution

[king ubu]

hard to pick just five ...

John Coltrane - Crescent
Charles Mingus - Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster
Cannonball Adderley – Somethin‘ Else

missing Monk and Dolphy, but Miles is in there (though I was debating to include Mobley's "Soul Station" instead of the Adderley) ... but I guess albumwise they're just not quite up there

[Scott Dolan]

Somethin' Else! Very pleasantly surprised to see that one show up.  

[danasgoodstuff]

6 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

Somethin' Else! Very pleasantly surprised to see that one show up.  

That's a great half album to me, play the Love For Sale/Autumn Leaves side way, way more than the other.

Edited October 25, 2016 by danasgoodstuff

[Scott Dolan]

I have it on CD. It came in the Miles Davis box The Blue Note and Capital Recordings. I was actually quite blown away by it when I heard it for the first time. I thought it was very Miles of Mr. Davis to simply refer to it as a "nice album" in his "autobiography". 

[RiRiIII]

Somethin' Else was my entrance to "modern" jazz 35 years ago. Autumn Leaves is often played for guests in our home and they love it. Also Blue Bossa from Henderson's "Page One".

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

On ‎25‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 1:32 PM, mjb said:

The earlier years of my addiction:

 

Modern Jazz Quartet - Pyramid

Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch

Andrew Hill - Point of Departure

Bobby Hutcherson - Components

Grachan Moncur III - Evolution

'Pyramid' was my third MJQ album and I still think it, and 'The sheriff' are their best.

MG

[Scott Dolan]

My first MJQ was a double live CD I can't recall the name of off the top of my head. Local record store had it for something like $9. I figured how could I go wrong getting a double CD for $9? 

Got it, really enjoyed it. But I will admit I'm not a huge MJQ fan. 

[Scott Dolan]

OK, just got home. The name of the 2CD set is Modern Jazz Quartet In Concert. It is on the Jazz Life label. There was no booklet with it, but on the back it says it was recorded in Ljubljana on May 27th, 1960. 

 

Edited October 26, 2016 by Scott Dolan

[soulpope]

On 25.10.2016 at 3:20 PM, king ubu said:

hard to pick just five ...

John Coltrane - Crescent
Charles Mingus - Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster
Cannonball Adderley – Somethin‘ Else

missing Monk and Dolphy, but Miles is in there (though I was debating to include Mobley's "Soul Station" instead of the Adderley) ... but I guess albumwise they're just not quite up there

Good choices .... although still not getting the value of this thread's concept ....

Edited October 26, 2016 by soulpope

[HutchFan]

Here are five of my all-time favorites:

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (Columbia)
It might be a cliche, but this record blew my mind on so many levels. Plus, on a list this short, you need to cover a lot of names with each record. This one covers Trane, Cannonball, Wynton Kelly and Bill Evans. 

Duke Ellington - The Best of Duke Ellington: 1932-1939 (Sony, 4 CDs)
This pick is a bit of a cheat; it's a four-disc set -- but if I'm going to cheat to get MORE of anyone, it's going to be for Ellington. On most days, I prefer the 30's band to the more popular 40's Blanton-Webster band. This compilation does a great job of rounding up many of the gems. Cootie. Rex. Hodges. Bigard. Carney. Enough said!

Bobby Hutcherson - Happenings (Blue Note)
I could have chosen Medina/Spiral with Harold Land & Stanley Cowell. But I went with Happenings because Bobby composed all of the tracks but one. Plus, the telepathy between Hutch & Herbie is something special.

Dave Liebman & Richie Beirach - Forgotten Fantasies (A&M Horizon)
An unrecognized masterpiece by two underappreciated masters. I've loved it from the first moment I heard it.

Charles Mingus - Live at Antibes (Atlantic)
So much vitality! Mingus is an impossible force. With Booker and Dolphy (and Bud -- tho' he's not at his best). Don't forget Curson. He plays his ass off.

Edited October 26, 2016 by HutchFan

[JSngry]

First MJQ record was a two-sided 45 of "England's Carol"...next one was the then-new Blues On Bach. Neither of them, nor any MJQ record, would probably make any "Top 5" list of mine (although Side 1 of Space might well make a Top 5 Get High And Listen To THIS list if I made it while I myself was high, but why dwell in the past?), but I find that they all keep getting played

[Scott Dolan]

Mingus At Antibes! 

Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting!

Perhaps Dolphy's best solo ever! 

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

First MJQ record was a two-sided 45 of "England's Carol"...next one was the then-new Blues On Bach. Neither of them, nor any MJQ record, would probably make any "Top 5" list of mine (although Side 1 of Space might well make a Top 5 Get High And Listen To THIS list if I made it while I myself was high, but why dwell in the past?), but I find that they all keep getting played

There's no denying the talent. They were just too...staid, for my tastes. 

[JSngry]

Yeah, I feel that way a lot of the time myself. But Side 1 of Space, their second album for Apple, it's a really, really stoned staidness!

This is, like, the missing link (or links) between bebop & George Crumb, or something. Not that that's a chain everybody wants to follow, but still...who knew?

And Space is, really, the only record they made like this. They'd get blurry a few times later (and a few time before), but not so overtly as on this one record.

[Scott Dolan]

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

Yeah, I feel that way a lot of the time myself. But Side 1 of Space, their second album for Apple, it's a really, really stoned staidness!

This is, like, the missing link (or links) between bebop & George Crumb, or something. Not that that's a chain everybody wants to follow, but still...who knew?

And Space is, really, the only record they made like this. They'd get blurry a few times later (and a few time before), but not so overtly as on this one record.

YEAH! 

Now THAT I can get behind! Not even stoned staid, that was just fantastic shit. Too bad they didn't explore that path a little more. They were onto something excellent there. 

Venus was far more outside their comfort zone, but both were quite surprising. 

Thanks for posting those tunes. Definitely gives me a different perspective of what MJQ was capablee of. 

[JSngry]

Yeah, Connie Kay and Percy Heath gave John Lewis a lot of options, a really big palate.  Sometimes he opened then up more than other times, Kay in particular. This guy played on R&B records and handled crotales with equal ease and aplomb. He was a true percussionist, not just a great time keeping drummer. But sometimes Lewis...you know...very controlled environment. It was what it was, right?

[Scott Dolan]

I thought Heath quietly stole the show on Venus. 

[JSngry]

Oh yeah, absolutely.

Somebody in some liner note somewhere made the wry observation that Percy Heath was Ron Carter before Ron Carter was. HA!

Truthfully, the early 70s MJQ records on Atlantic can make for some interesting listening in terms of both Heath & Kay. Can't say that I would recommend buying them if you're not really "there" with the band already, but an hour or two of casual browsing might be more fun than you might think. Nothing is as...radical as that one Apple record, but the things hit on there by no means vanish.

Sorry for the digression, but I do think that the real evolutionary interest of the MJQ came after their image had become essentially fixed. They kept the quiet surface, but the tempos and pockets got pretty damn funky. Yeah, funky! Not, like, Funk, just a really deep pocket.  Same band, same basic concepts, really, just more dug in, whole body brain music, if tthat makes any sense.

Anyway, back to the lists!

[Al in NYC]

I check in here just to catch up, get away from this bad boring horror movie of an election, and what do I find but a Scott Dolan (!!) thread at the top of the list. So, out of respect for our one fleeting, but warmly remembered, evening together, I will give this essentially impossible task a shot.  There are so many records and cuts I love, but my thinking here is to list albums of music I've listened to over and over again, but still take deep pleasure from and still grapple with every time I hear them.  Of course, this list changes on any given day with any given mood.  So, here's where I'm at today (in no particular order):

A Love Supreme - Coltrane

Thelonious Monk (Trio) - Monk

Nefertiti - Miles

Unity - Larry Young

Blues and Roots - Mingus

 

Honorable mention, since there were no albums in 78 era: Basie/Young Mosaic (Lester Young perhaps my most favorite musician ever, as he was for my father, except dad actually got to see him.)

A trio of favorites out of left field:

Soul Liberation - Rusty Bryant

Impressions of A Patch of Blue - Walt Dickerson

Spanish Bitch - Mal Waldron

 

Oh, and James Brown. Always always always James Brown.

 

 

 

[soulpope]

3 hours ago, Al in NYC said:

I check in here just to catch up, get away from this bad boring horror movie of an election, and what do I find but a Scott Dolan (!!) thread at the top of the list. So, out of respect for our one fleeting, but warmly remembered, evening together, I will give this essentially impossible task a shot.  There are so many records and cuts I love, but my thinking here is to list albums of music I've listened to over and over again, but still take deep pleasure from and still grapple with every time I hear them.  Of course, this list changes on any given day with any given mood.  So, here's where I'm at today (in no particular order):

A Love Supreme - Coltrane

Thelonious Monk (Trio) - Monk

Nefertiti - Miles

Unity - Larry Young

Blues and Roots - Mingus

 

Honorable mention, since there were no albums in 78 era: Basie/Young Mosaic (Lester Young perhaps my most favorite musician ever, as he was for my father, except dad actually got to see him.)

A trio of favorites out of left field:

Soul Liberation - Rusty Bryant

Impressions of A Patch of Blue - Walt Dickerson

Spanish Bitch - Mal Waldron

 

Oh, and James Brown. Always always always James Brown.

 

 

 

Mal Waldron's "Spanish Bitch" (only released in Japan) .... interesting indeed ....

[Scott Dolan]

Al! Great to see you drop by!

[Al in NYC]

Nice to "see" you again too Scott.  A little piece of nostalgia for the fractious Jazz Corner crew of old.

 

21 hours ago, soulpope said:

Mal Waldron's "Spanish Bitch" (only released in Japan) .... interesting indeed ....

When I lived in Japan the guy who rant the jazz coffee shop in my neighborhood, who was a Mal fanatic, hipped me to that record.  Mal was extremely popular in Japan, where he spent a lot of time in the early '70s after his personal demons got the better of him, and there are actually several recordings of his that were put out there that were never released here.  One that's extremely popular in Japan, and considered a central part of his discography, is the never issued in the U.S. solo album "All Alone" on the Italian Globe label.

Spanish Bitch is extremely Mal-esque, in much the same vein as the better known Blood and Guts from the same year, or his earlier ECM recording Free at Last.  Like those albums it was recorded during his time in Europe. It features the same high velocity trio playing as those albums, but with a bit more lucidity, tightness, and edge to my ears than either of those albums. The record is really helped along by the work of the overlooked Detroit-raised drummer Fred Braceful, who spent his entire career in Germany playing with many European greats and visiting Americans, and in a few experimental art rock bands. To me it is the most 'Mal' of of Waldron's sui generis work of that era (and I realize that the tolerance of some for this playing may vary, but I find it transcendent and often thrilling).  Mal really digs into the 4 tunes here, and plays his Mal-lines inhabiting the tunes (if you know what I mean), with some variation in his approach, rather than skipping like a stone across their surfaces as he sometimes seemed to do. This includes a shape-shifting deconstruction/reconstruction of Eleanor Rigby that has to go in the pantheon of jazz interpretations of Beatles tunes.  I listen to this album more than any other piano recording of the early '70s, and always end up excited every time I hear it.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Al in NYC

[Homefromtheforest]

Al I love "Spanish bitch"!  I've had it for nearly 20 years now and it's a big favorite too.  "Tokyo bound" is also strong with Takeshi Inomata on drums.  Oh and "meditations", "first encounter", "journey without end", etc...some great late 70s/early 80s Japanese only titles too.  

 

[soulpope]

6 hours ago, Al in NYC said:

Nice to "see" you again too Scott.  A little piece of nostalgia for the fractious Jazz Corner crew of old.

 

When I lived in Japan the guy who rant the jazz coffee shop in my neighborhood, who was a Mal fanatic, hipped me to that record.  Mal was extremely popular in Japan, where he spent a lot of time in the early '70s after his personal demons got the better of him, and there are actually several recordings of his that were put out there that were never released here.  One that's extremely popular in Japan, and considered a central part of his discography, is the never issued in the U.S. solo album "All Alone" on the Italian Globe label.

Spanish Bitch is extremely Mal-esque, in much the same vein as the better known Blood and Guts from the same year, or his earlier ECM recording Free at Last.  Like those albums it was recorded during his time in Europe. It features the same high velocity trio playing as those albums, but with a bit more lucidity, tightness, and edge to my ears than either of those albums. The record is really helped along by the work of the overlooked Detroit-raised drummer Fred Braceful, who spent his entire career in Germany playing with many European greats and visiting Americans, and in a few experimental art rock bands. To me it is the most 'Mal' of of Waldron's sui generis work of that era (and I realize that the tolerance of some for this playing may vary, but I find it transcendent and often thrilling).  Mal really digs into the 4 tunes here, and plays his Mal-lines inhabiting the tunes (if you know what I mean), with some variation in his approach, rather than skipping like a stone across their surfaces as he sometimes seemed to do. This includes a shape-shifting deconstruction/reconstruction of Eleanor Rigby that has to go in the pantheon of jazz interpretations of Beatles tunes.  I listen to this album more than any other piano recording of the early '70s, and always end up excited every time I hear it.

Thnx for the indepth feedback - also do own "Spanish Bitch" but living in Europe it took a little more effort to acquiere it  .... being a dedicated Mal Waldron follower - and the fact that he was very prolific in the early to mid 70`s - it proves nearly impossible to award top albums from that era .... but a t a first glance my clever money would go to "Tokyo Bound" (rightly so nominated by "homefromtheforest") and "Plays The Blues: Live At The Domicile" - both released in Japan and only the latermentioned seeing a rather unsympathetic German relase more then a decade later .... but looking at the forementioned it leaves me wondering how I could leave out "Free At Last" or "Number 19" or (again japanese only) Mal Waldron/Terumasa Hino "Reminiscent Suite" .... the consistency of Mal Waldron`s work within this timeframe is astonishing indeed ....

Edited October 28, 2016 by soulpope