Comments on: Alan’s Essential Jazz Recordings Part 1

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 05:13:35 +0000

I definitely have a very biased list here–Obviously this is a very limited view of what Jazz is. I am missing people like Ellington, Armstrong, Mingus, Monk, Parker, Gillespie, and many others. Maybe it’s time for me to do a part 2!

By: Ralph

Ralph — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:33:58 +0000

I also just realize we have 3 artists here – was it really that much of a quasi-monopoly between 1949 (earliest MD) and “Bitches Brew” (latest MD and youngest recording listed here, i guess) ?
Wouldn’t we have some pre-1949 stuff qualify as “top-10 Jazz” and would there be nothing after the early 70′s ?
After initial applause to this list, i begin to scratch my head. Surely, the period covered could with some justification be called a golden age of Jazz but … ?

By: Ralph

Ralph — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:21:27 +0000

I just realize i may offend some with the “(and one African)” bit. Hmmm, sorry, given 100% of the artists featured have an African-american background, we may find that Africa is well-represented, but here’s the rub, here’s maybe inadvertantly a definition that influenced this list (and maybe lsitener expectation when looking for “Jazz” .
Just to clarify, by African i do not refer to people that grew up in Chicago or Salvador de Bahia, but rather to people that grew up and are located on the African continent.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:04:28 +0000

This is so much my taste, i will be looking for installment2 next. I mean, the only disagreement i have in top (>5) locations is #1 to #3 (the others up) and the only album i don’t have on vinyl in these 10 is #8. What is perhaps neglected, being a non-American contribution, is what happened in Warsaw, Paris, London and Copenhagen. I am not kidding, there should be a one European (and one African) recording in this top 10. Yes, it is that good!

By: Alan

Alan — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:19:36 +0000

Thanks Rob! Nice list.

By: Rob J

Rob J — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:17:13 +0000

Having over a thousand albums on vinyl, this was a very interesting attempt to bring to the attention of music buffs some of the most essential music of the last hundred years.

So, here is my list of jazz classics :-

Sonny Rollins – Live At The Village Vanguard
Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue
Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil
Tubby Hayes – Down In The Village
Joe Harriott – Freeform
Sun Ra – Jazz In Silhoutte
Joe Lovano – From The Soul
Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um
Charlie Parker – The Savoy Sessions
James Blood Ulmer – Are You Glad To Be In America ?

Of course, there is far more but you won’t be sorry with that lot in your collection….

By: Album Review: A Love Supreme | Vinyl Revinyl

Album Review: A Love Supreme | Vinyl Revinyl — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:19:04 +0000

[...] fans have The Beatles’ White Album. Jazz fans have A Love Supreme. If you’ve read my post about essential jazz recordings, you know that I ranked this album as #1. John Coltrane’s masterpiece is a winner on so many [...]