Your top five Jazz albums of all time.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

A Slice of the Top, Bird at Cafe Society '50, Charisma, Weather Report Procession, Dippin'

[paul secor]

I can't narrow things down to 5 all time records, but here are 5 tracks of early jazz that were important in the first years of my listening to the music:

Louis Armstrong's Hot Five: "Skid-Dat-De-Dat"; Sidney Bechet: "Summertime"; Duke Ellington: "Ko-Ko"; Pres on Billie's "I Must Have That Man"; Jelly Roll: "Mamie's Blues"

I listened to all of these on albums, not on 78s.

[JohnS]

I can't narrow it down to five either but these have influenced my listening significantly at various times

Archie Shepp; Four For Trane

Sun Ra; The Heliocentric Worlds vol 1

Sonny  Rollins Plus 4

Donald Byrd; Byrd's Eye View

Miles Davis; In A Silent Way and Milestones

Cecil Taylor; Looking Ahead

 

 

Edited October 28, 2016 by JohnS

[soulpope]

3 hours ago, paul secor said:

I can't narrow things down to 5 all time records, but here are 5 tracks of early jazz that were important in the first years of my listening to the music:

Louis Armstrong's Hot Five: "Skid-Dat-De-Dat"; Sidney Bechet: "Summertime"; Duke Ellington: "Ko-Ko"; Pres on Billie's "I Must Have That Man"; Jelly Roll: "Mamie's Blues"

I listened to all of these on albums, not on 78s.

No top 5 jazz albums - but 5+ of the jazz albums I'm returning to recurringly over the last decades : 

 

John Coltrane "Ole" (Atlantic)

Charlie Haden + Hampton Hawes "As Long As There`s Music" (AH)

Pete La Roca "Basra" (Blue Note)

Milcho Leviev + Art Pepper Quartet "Blues For The Fisherman"/"True Blues" (Mole)

Mal Waldron "Plays The Blues" (Polydor Japan)

Booker Ervín "Freedom + Space Book(s)" (Prestige)

Randy Weston + Vishnu Wood "Perspective" (Denon)

Andrew Hill "Black Fire" (Blue Note)

Miles Davis "Miles Smiles" (Columbia)

Steve Lacy Four "Morning Joy" (hat ART)

....

Failed miserably to limit myself even in the "most listened to" category .... nuff said ....

Edited October 28, 2016 by soulpope

[Scott Dolan]

On 10/15/2016 at 6:50 AM, Larry Kart said:

Could have added the Vanguard date. To me, that and "Saxophone Colossus" and "Way Out West" are close to all of a piece. What richness, power, and wisdom!  At that point, for me and some of my friends, Rollins was the most important living human being.

In that vein, and FWIW,  several months ago I was reading a nice coffee table book about the painter Alex Katz, and in it Katz mentioned that listening obsessively  to "Way Out West" at the time it came out had a huge effect on his thinking, his painting, his whole orientation toward the world. IIRC, Katz mentioned not only the sheer glory of the music but also how it took off from tunes like "I'm an Old Cowhand" and "Wagon Wheels."

Larry, just wanted to mention that I have spent some quality headphone time with Way Out West finally, and have to say I completely understand why you hold it in such high regard. I now do as well. It's really startling that those three had never played together before that date. It also wasn't until this album that I truly realized what monsters Manne and Brown were. Brown, in particular, plays some bad, bad shit on this one! 

[Mark Stryker]

The first two are non-negotiable. The others are a little more arbitrary based on my feelings today. The Ellington and Powell sides are each two-LP sets, but they qualify because those were organic packages during the peak of the LP era and were the records through which I assimilated this music. Besides, I said so. 

1. Sonny Rollins, "A Night at the Village Vanguard" (Blue Note)

2. Miles Davis, "Milestones" (Columbia)

3. McCoy Tyner, "The Real McCoy" (Blue Note)

4. Duke Ellington, "Indispensable Duke Ellington Vol 5-6" (French RCA) 

5. "The Genius of Bud Powell" (Verve)

 

 

[Scott Dolan]

You nailed with your last sentence. Because you said so! It was semi-annoying when people were trying to parse the definition of album earlier in the thread. I really don't care if it's a bargin bin best of, if it's one of your favorites, it's one of your favorites! 

Great list, BTW. 

[Larry Kart]

23 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

Larry, just wanted to mention that I have spent some quality headphone time with Way Out West finally, and have to say I completely understand why you hold it in such high regard. I now do as well. It's really startling that those three had never played together before that date. It also wasn't until this album that I truly realized what monsters Manne and Brown were. Brown, in particular, plays some bad, bad shit on this one! 

Glad that you connected with it.

[Scott Dolan]

I'm thankful for you giving me a nudge! Actually have it paying right now. It's amazing how advanced Rollins sounded for 1957 while Coltrane still rolling through "sheets of sound". I can't think of anything Coltrane did in '57 that was even close to this. And possibly nothing as a leader until...what? 1959, maybe? And not Giants Steps, but rather Coltrane Jazz which is far superior, IMO. 

[JSngry]

Way Out West is also one of the best-recorded jazz lps to, imo. The balance, presence, and breath in that record is just awesome, you hear the trio in such intimate detail that every movement gets answered back and it just keep going. No excessive reverb, no tweaking errors on any of the instruments, just a very "you are there" (and "there" was apparently a space in the Contemporary stock room) sense to it all. I'd kinda go out on a limb and say that the next time a saxophone trio would be recorded this intimately playing this intimately would be Air Time.

And lord knows, I love Elvin like the lifeforce he is (yes, is, still), but Shelley Manne could bring the quiet noise and the varied detail, and the swing to keep it all happening that allowed for this trio to all have their sound spaces complimented without being occupied. Elvin would give you the waves you needed to ride on in the stormy waters, Shelley was more like they guy who's in still water with you and is making the gentle waves that relax you.

It really is one helluva record.

[Scott Dolan]

Yes, the sonic quality of the recording is a revelation, especially for 1957. Brown's bass is very "present" in the mix. Something not exactly common during that era. 

I've only listened to it through my cans and can report that sonically the digital transfer is absolutely flawless. At the middling/loud but comfortable volumn I keep my headphone amp set to, I hear zero tape hiss. And while there is reverb present, you are right that it isn't excessive. They simply added a little to Rollins on the left channel to denote space. 

Definitely an expert recording, and an audiopile showcase. 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Scott Dolan

[Scott Dolan]

And as a quick aside, I just went from Way Out West to Painter's Spring from William Parker's trio with Daniel Carter and Hamid Drake. Recorded in 2000, and sonically sounds laughable to Way Out West. 

Lesser labels, and all those excuses, but c'mon. 43 years of technological advances says hello.