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All-Time Favorite Jazz Albums Since 1949

September 1, 2007 by A.S. Van Dorston

I’m hardly an expert on jazz. However, along with growing up listening to the typical rock, pop and soul canon of the 50s-80s, I did also have my grandparents’ big band records around to listen to. I played cornet/trumpet as a kid and listened to a fair amount of jazz on records from the school library and some concerts. My teenage years were pretty jazz-less until I got to college and resumed exploring, branching off from favorites Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.

  1. Charles Mingus – The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (Impulse!) 63 
  2. John Coltrane – A Love Supreme (Impulse) 65
  3. Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue (Columbia) 59
  4. Eric Dolphy – Out To Lunch! (Prestige) 64
  5. Miles Davis – In A Silent Way (Columbia) 69
  6. John Coltrane – My Favorite Things (Atlantic) 60
  7. Miles Davis – Bitches Brew (Columbia) 70
  8. Cecil Taylor – Unit Structures (Blue Note) 66
  9. Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah-Um (Columbia) 59
  10. Alice Coltrane – Journey In Satchidananda (Impulse) 70
  11. Ornette Coleman – The Shape Of Jazz To Come (Atlantic) 59
  12. George Russell – Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature (Soul Note) 67
  13. Albert Ayler – Spiritual Unity (ESP) 64
  14. Cecil Taylor – Nefertiti (Freedom) 62
  15. John Coltrane – Crescent (Impulse) 64
  16. Oliver Nelson – The Blues And The Abstract Truth (Impulse) 61
  17. John Coltrane – Giant Steps (Atlantic) 59
  18. John Coltrane – Ole Coltrane (Atlantic) 61
  19. Pharoah Sanders – Karma (Impulse!) 69
  20. Herbie Hancock – Sextant (Columbia) 73
  21. Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus (Prestige) 56
  22. Charles Mingus – New Tijuana Moods (Bluebird) 57
  23. John McLaughlin – Extrapolation (Polydor) 69
  24. John Coltrane – Meditations (Impulse) 65
  25. Charles Mingus – Pithecanthropus Erectus (Atlantic) 56
  26. Joáo Gilberto – Chega de Saudade (Capitol) 59
  27. John Coltrane – Coltrane Plays The Blues (Atlantic) 60
  28. Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners (Riverside) 56 
  29. Donald Byrd – A New Perspective (Blue Note) 63
  30. Ornette Coleman – Free Jazz (Atlantic) 60
  31. Charles Mingus – Mingus At Antibes (Atlantic) 60
  32. Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out (Columbia) 59 
  33. Charles Mingus – Let My Children Hear Music (Columbia) 72
  34. John Coltrane – Ascension (Impulse) 65 
  35. Sonny Sharrock – Black Woman (Vortex) 69
  36. Peter Brötzmann – Machine Gun (FMP/Unheard Music) 68 
  37. Pharoah Sanders – Jewels Of Thought (Impulse) 69
  38. Lonnie Liston Smith – Expansions (RCA) 74
  39. John Coltrane – Blue Train (Blue Note) 57
  40. Charles Mingus – Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Impulse) 63 
  41. Donald Byrd – Black Byrd (Blue Note) 73
  42. Pharoah Sanders – Black Unity (Impulse) 71
  43. Pharoah Sanders – Thembi (Impulse) 71
  44. Charles Mingus – Oh Yeah (Atlantic) 61 
  45. Dave Holland Quartet – Conference Of The Birds (ECM) 72
  46. Jackie McLean – Destination Out! (Blue Note) 63
  47. Charles Mingus – Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid) 60
  48. Charles Mingus – Town Hall Concert (Jazz Workshop/OJC) 64
  49. The Horace Silver Quintet – Song for My Father (Blue Note) 64
  50. Herbie Hancock – Crossings (WB) 72
  51. Herbie Hancock – Mwandishi (WB) 71 
  52. Pharoah Sanders – Tauhid (Impulse) 67
  53. Donald Byrd – Places And Spaces (Blue Note) 75
  54. Sonny Sharrock – Ask The Ages (Axiom) 91
  55. Grant Green – Idle Moments (Blue Note) 65
  56. Hank Mobley – Soul Station (Blue Note) 60
  57. Sarah Vaughan – Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown (Verve) 54
  58. Dizzy Gillespie – At Newport (Verve) 57 
  59. Sonny Clark – Cool Struttin’ (Blue Note) 58
  60. Lee Morgan – The Sidewinder (Blue Note) 63
  61. Andrew Hill – Point Of Departure (Blue Note) 64
  62. Herbie Hancock – Empyrean Isles (Blue Note) 64 
  63. Joe Henderson – Page One (Blue Note) 63
  64. Miles Davis – Sketches Of Spain (Columbia) 60
  65. Miles Davis – Round About Midnight (Columbia) 56
  66. Stan Getz/Joáo Gilberto – Getz/Gilberto featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim (Verve) 63 
  67. Ornette Coleman – Science Fiction (Columbia) 71
  68. Carla Bley and Paul Haines – Escalator Over The Hill (ECM) 71
  69. Sun Ra – Other Planes of There (Evidence) 64
  70. Duke Ellington – Ellington at Newport (Columbia) 56 
  71. Lee Morgan – Search For The New Land (Blue Note) 64
  72. Albert Ayler – Live In Greenwich Village (Impulse) 66
  73. Ahmad Jamal – The Awakening (Impulse) 70
  74. Sonny Rollins – Way Out West (Contemporary) 57
  75. Ornette Coleman – Change Of The Century (Atlantic) 59 
  76. Anthony Braxton – For Alto (Delmark) 68
  77. John Coltrane – The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (Impulse) 65
  78. John Coltrane – Sun Ship (Impulse) 65
  79. Sun Ra & his Arkestra – The Magic City (Saturn) 65 
  80. Charlie Haden – Liberation Music Orchestra (Impulse!) 69
  81. Lonnie Liston Smith – Astral Traveling (RCA) 73
  82. Don Cherry – Mu (Actuel/Charly) 69
  83. Sun Ra – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1 (ESP) 65
  84. John Coltrane – Ballads (Impulse) 61 
  85. Herbie Hancock – Takin’ Off (Blue Note) 62
  86. The Tony Williams Lifetime – Emergency (Polydor) 69
  87. Miles Davis – Birth Of The Cool (Capitol) 50
  88. John Coltrane – Africa/Brass (Impulse) 61 
  89. Sonny Sharrock – Guitar (Enemy) 86
  90. Charles Mingus – Mingus at Carnegie Hall (Atlantic) 74
  91. Charles Mingus – The Great Concert, 1964 (Musidisc) 64
  92. Duke Ellington with Max Roach and Charles Mingus – Money Jungle (Blue Note) 62
  93. Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars – Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy (Columbia) 54
  94. George Russell – New York, N.Y. (Decca) 59
  95. Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil (Blue Note) 64 
  96. Thelonious Monk – Straight, No Chaser (Columbia) 67
  97. Sun Ra – Jazz In Silhouette (Evidence) 58
  98. Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers – Moanin’ (Blue Note) 58
  99. Ornette Coleman – This Is Our Music (Atlantic) 59
  100. Ornette Coleman – The Art Of The Improvisers (Atlantic) 60
  101. Bill Evans Trio – Waltz For Debby (Riverside/OJC) 61
  102. John Coltrane – Coltrane (Impulse) 62
  103. Don Cherry – Symphony For Improvisers (Blue Note) 66
  104. Duke Ellington – The Far East Suite (Bluebird) 66 
  105. Archie Shepp – Attica Blues (Impulse) 72
  106. George Russell – Ezz-thetics (Riverside) 61 
  107. Hank Mobley – Straight No Filter (Blue Note) 66
  108. Sonny Rollins – A Night At The Village Vanguard, Vol. 2 (Blue Note) 57
  109. Thelonious Monk – Misterioso (Riverside) 58
  110. The Gil Evans Orchestra – Out of the Cool (Impulse!) 60
  111. John Coltrane – Coltrane Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (Impulse) 66
  112. Alice Coltrane – Ptah the El Daoud (Impulse!) 70
  113. Freddie Hubbard – Open Sesame (Blue Note) 60
  114. Jackie McLean – Let Freedom Ring (Blue Note) 62
  115. Charlie Parker – Bird And Diz (Verve) 50
  116. Jimmy Smith – The Sermon! (Blue Note) 58
  117. The Mahavishnu Orchestra – The Inner Mounting Flame (Columbia) 72
  118. Sun Ra – Atlantis (Evidence) 67 
  119. Wayne Shorter – Juju (Blue Note) 64
  120. Donald Byrd – Off To The Races (Blue Note) 58
  121. Hank Mobley – Roll Call (Blue Note) 60
  122. John Coltrane – Interstellar Space (Impulse) 67
  123. Albert Ayler Trio – Love Cry (Impulse) 67
  124. Archie Shepp – Magic Of Ju-Ju (Impulse) 67
  125. Alice Coltrane – Universal Consciousness (Impulse!) 71
  126. Alice Coltrane – World Galaxy (Impulse!) 71
  127. The Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds Of Fire (Columbia) 73
  128. Miles Davis – E.S.P. (Columbia) 65
  129. Archie Shepp – Fire Music (Impulse) 65
  130. Albert Ayler Trio – Spirits Rejoice (ESP) 65
  131. Dizzy Gillespie – The Champ (Savoy) 53
  132. Modern Jazz Quartet – Django (Prestige/OJC) 55
  133. Lee Konitz – Subconscious-Lee (Prestige/OJC) 50
  134. John Coltrane – John Coltrane With Johnny Hartman (Impulse) 63
  135. Thelonious Monk – Thelonious With John Coltrane (Riverside) 57 
  136. Thelonious Monk – Monk’s Dreamm (Columbia) 63
  137. Dizzy Gillespie – New Wave (Philips) 62
  138. Dizzy Gillespie – Something Old, Something New (Philips) 63
  139. Duke Ellington – Ellington Uptown (Columbia) 53
  140. Sun Ra – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2 (ESP) 65
  141. Miles Davis – A Tribute To Jack Johnson (Columbia) 70
  142. The Art Ensemble Of Chicago – With Fontella Bass (America) 70
  143. Art Ensemble of Chicago – Bap-Tizum (Atlantic/Koch) 72
  144. John Coltrane – Impressions (Impulse) 63
  145. John Coltrane – Coltrane Live At Birdland (Impulse) 63
  146. John Coltrane – Stellar Regions (Impulse) 67
  147. Freddie Hubbard – The Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard (Impulse) 62
  148. Sonny Rollins – Tenor Madness (Prestige) 56 
  149. Albert Ayler – Prophesy (ESP) 64
  150. Count Basie – Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette) 57
  151. Dizzy Gillespie – Gillespiana (Verve) 61
  152. Stan Kenton – New Concepts Of Artistry In Rhythm (Capitol) 52
  153. Ornette Coleman – Tomorrow Is The Question! (Contemporary) 59
  154. Red Garland Trio – Groovy (Prestige/OJC) 57
  155. Sun Ra – Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy (Evidence) 63
  156. John Coltrane – Live At The Village Vanguard (Impulse) 61
  157. John Coltrane – Newport ’63 (Impulse!) 63
  158. John Coltrane & Don Cherry – The Avant-Garde (Atlantic) 60 
  159. Pharoah Sanders – Izipho Zam (Sunspots) 69
  160. Sun Ra – Interstellar Low Ways (Evidence) 60
  161. Sun Ra – Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow (Evidence) 62
  162. Sun Ra – Visits Planet Earth (Evidence) 58
  163. Charles Mingus – Reincarnation of a Lovebird (Candid) 60
  164. Miles Davis – Miles & Coltrane (Columbia) 58
  165. Charles Mingus – Mingus (Candid) 60
  166. Miles Davis – Workin’ (Prestige) 56
  167. John Coltrane – Coltrane’s Sound (Atlantic) 60
  168. John Coltrane – Coltrane Jazz (Atlantic) 59
  169. Miles Davis – Steamin’ (Prestige) 56
  170. Miles Davis – Cookin’ (Prestige) 56
  171. Miles Davis – Relaxin’ (Prestige) 56
  172. Miles Davis – Miles Ahead (Columbia) 57
  173. Sun Ra – Angels And Demons At Play (Evidence) 60
  174. Sun Ra – Holiday For Soul Dance (Evidence) 60
  175. Charlie Parker (& Gillespie/Roach/Mingus/Powell) – Jazz At Massey Hall (Debut) 53
  176. Miles Davis – Milestones (Columbia) 58
  177. Charles Mingus – The Clown (Atlantic) 57
  178. Sun Ra – Super Sonic Jazz (Evidence) 56
  179. Sun Ra – The Nubians of Plutonia 58-59 (Evidence) 59
  180. Sonny Rollins – Freedom Suite (Contemporary) 58
  181. Sonny Rollins – A Night At The Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (Blue Note) 57
  182. Sonny Rollins – Newk’s Time (Blue Note) 58
  183. Ornette Coleman – Ornette! (Atlantic) 61
  184. Sonny Rollins – The Bridge (Bluebird/RCA) 62
  185. Thelonious Monk – Thelonious Monk (Prestige) 54
  186. Ornette Coleman – Ornette On Tenor (Atlantic) 61
  187. Miles Davis – Seven Steps To Heaven (Columbia) 63
  188. John Coltrane – Soultrane (OJC/Prestige) 58
  189. Dizzy Gillespie – Jambo Caribe (Verve) 64
  190. John Coltrane – Black Pearls (OJC/Fantasy) 58
  191. Thelonious Monk – Alone In San Francisco (Riverside) 59
  192. Cannonball Adderly Quartet – Somethin’ Else (Blue Note) 58
  193. Miles Davis – Porgy and Bess (Columbia) 58
  194. John Coltrane – Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (Impulse) 62
  195. Sun Ra – When Sun Comes Out (Saturn) 63
  196. Charles Mingus – Mingus Dynasty (Columbia) 59
  197. Charles Mingus – Blues and Roots (Atlantic) 59
  198. Sonny Rollins – Work Time (Prestige) 55
  199. Miles Davis – ’58 Sessions (Columbia) 58
  200. Ornette Coleman – Twins (Atlantic) 61
Posted in: Listicles
Tagged: jazz

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