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.
- Charles Mingus – The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (Impulse!) 63
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme (Impulse) 65
- Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue (Columbia) 59
- Eric Dolphy – Out To Lunch! (Prestige) 64
- Miles Davis – In A Silent Way (Columbia) 69
- John Coltrane – My Favorite Things (Atlantic) 60
- Miles Davis – Bitches Brew (Columbia) 70
- Cecil Taylor – Unit Structures (Blue Note) 66
- Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah-Um (Columbia) 59
- Alice Coltrane – Journey In Satchidananda (Impulse) 70
- Ornette Coleman – The Shape Of Jazz To Come (Atlantic) 59
- George Russell – Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature (Soul Note) 67
- Albert Ayler – Spiritual Unity (ESP) 64
- Cecil Taylor – Nefertiti (Freedom) 62
- John Coltrane – Crescent (Impulse) 64
- Oliver Nelson – The Blues And The Abstract Truth (Impulse) 61
- John Coltrane – Giant Steps (Atlantic) 59
- John Coltrane – Ole Coltrane (Atlantic) 61
- Pharoah Sanders – Karma (Impulse!) 69
- Herbie Hancock – Sextant (Columbia) 73
- Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus (Prestige) 56
- Charles Mingus – New Tijuana Moods (Bluebird) 57
- John McLaughlin – Extrapolation (Polydor) 69
- John Coltrane – Meditations (Impulse) 65
- Charles Mingus – Pithecanthropus Erectus (Atlantic) 56
- Joáo Gilberto – Chega de Saudade (Capitol) 59
- John Coltrane – Coltrane Plays The Blues (Atlantic) 60
- Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners (Riverside) 56
- Donald Byrd – A New Perspective (Blue Note) 63
- Ornette Coleman – Free Jazz (Atlantic) 60
- Charles Mingus – Mingus At Antibes (Atlantic) 60
- Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out (Columbia) 59
- Charles Mingus – Let My Children Hear Music (Columbia) 72
- John Coltrane – Ascension (Impulse) 65
- Sonny Sharrock – Black Woman (Vortex) 69
- Peter Brötzmann – Machine Gun (FMP/Unheard Music) 68
- Pharoah Sanders – Jewels Of Thought (Impulse) 69
- Lonnie Liston Smith – Expansions (RCA) 74
- John Coltrane – Blue Train (Blue Note) 57
- Charles Mingus – Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Impulse) 63
- Donald Byrd – Black Byrd (Blue Note) 73
- Pharoah Sanders – Black Unity (Impulse) 71
- Pharoah Sanders – Thembi (Impulse) 71
- Charles Mingus – Oh Yeah (Atlantic) 61
- Dave Holland Quartet – Conference Of The Birds (ECM) 72
- Jackie McLean – Destination Out! (Blue Note) 63
- Charles Mingus – Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid) 60
- Charles Mingus – Town Hall Concert (Jazz Workshop/OJC) 64
- The Horace Silver Quintet – Song for My Father (Blue Note) 64
- Herbie Hancock – Crossings (WB) 72
- Herbie Hancock – Mwandishi (WB) 71
- Pharoah Sanders – Tauhid (Impulse) 67
- Donald Byrd – Places And Spaces (Blue Note) 75
- Sonny Sharrock – Ask The Ages (Axiom) 91
- Grant Green – Idle Moments (Blue Note) 65
- Hank Mobley – Soul Station (Blue Note) 60
- Sarah Vaughan – Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown (Verve) 54
- Dizzy Gillespie – At Newport (Verve) 57
- Sonny Clark – Cool Struttin’ (Blue Note) 58
- Lee Morgan – The Sidewinder (Blue Note) 63
- Andrew Hill – Point Of Departure (Blue Note) 64
- Herbie Hancock – Empyrean Isles (Blue Note) 64
- Joe Henderson – Page One (Blue Note) 63
- Miles Davis – Sketches Of Spain (Columbia) 60
- Miles Davis – Round About Midnight (Columbia) 56
- Stan Getz/Joáo Gilberto – Getz/Gilberto featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim (Verve) 63
- Ornette Coleman – Science Fiction (Columbia) 71
- Carla Bley and Paul Haines – Escalator Over The Hill (ECM) 71
- Sun Ra – Other Planes of There (Evidence) 64
- Duke Ellington – Ellington at Newport (Columbia) 56
- Lee Morgan – Search For The New Land (Blue Note) 64
- Albert Ayler – Live In Greenwich Village (Impulse) 66
- Ahmad Jamal – The Awakening (Impulse) 70
- Sonny Rollins – Way Out West (Contemporary) 57
- Ornette Coleman – Change Of The Century (Atlantic) 59
- Anthony Braxton – For Alto (Delmark) 68
- John Coltrane – The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (Impulse) 65
- John Coltrane – Sun Ship (Impulse) 65
- Sun Ra & his Arkestra – The Magic City (Saturn) 65
- Charlie Haden – Liberation Music Orchestra (Impulse!) 69
- Lonnie Liston Smith – Astral Traveling (RCA) 73
- Don Cherry – Mu (Actuel/Charly) 69
- Sun Ra – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1 (ESP) 65
- John Coltrane – Ballads (Impulse) 61
- Herbie Hancock – Takin’ Off (Blue Note) 62
- The Tony Williams Lifetime – Emergency (Polydor) 69
- Miles Davis – Birth Of The Cool (Capitol) 50
- John Coltrane – Africa/Brass (Impulse) 61
- Sonny Sharrock – Guitar (Enemy) 86
- Charles Mingus – Mingus at Carnegie Hall (Atlantic) 74
- Charles Mingus – The Great Concert, 1964 (Musidisc) 64
- Duke Ellington with Max Roach and Charles Mingus – Money Jungle (Blue Note) 62
- Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars – Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy (Columbia) 54
- George Russell – New York, N.Y. (Decca) 59
- Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil (Blue Note) 64
- Thelonious Monk – Straight, No Chaser (Columbia) 67
- Sun Ra – Jazz In Silhouette (Evidence) 58
- Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers – Moanin’ (Blue Note) 58
- Ornette Coleman – This Is Our Music (Atlantic) 59
- Ornette Coleman – The Art Of The Improvisers (Atlantic) 60
- Bill Evans Trio – Waltz For Debby (Riverside/OJC) 61
- John Coltrane – Coltrane (Impulse) 62
- Don Cherry – Symphony For Improvisers (Blue Note) 66
- Duke Ellington – The Far East Suite (Bluebird) 66
- Archie Shepp – Attica Blues (Impulse) 72
- George Russell – Ezz-thetics (Riverside) 61
- Hank Mobley – Straight No Filter (Blue Note) 66
- Sonny Rollins – A Night At The Village Vanguard, Vol. 2 (Blue Note) 57
- Thelonious Monk – Misterioso (Riverside) 58
- The Gil Evans Orchestra – Out of the Cool (Impulse!) 60
- John Coltrane – Coltrane Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (Impulse) 66
- Alice Coltrane – Ptah the El Daoud (Impulse!) 70
- Freddie Hubbard – Open Sesame (Blue Note) 60
- Jackie McLean – Let Freedom Ring (Blue Note) 62
- Charlie Parker – Bird And Diz (Verve) 50
- Jimmy Smith – The Sermon! (Blue Note) 58
- The Mahavishnu Orchestra – The Inner Mounting Flame (Columbia) 72
- Sun Ra – Atlantis (Evidence) 67
- Wayne Shorter – Juju (Blue Note) 64
- Donald Byrd – Off To The Races (Blue Note) 58
- Hank Mobley – Roll Call (Blue Note) 60
- John Coltrane – Interstellar Space (Impulse) 67
- Albert Ayler Trio – Love Cry (Impulse) 67
- Archie Shepp – Magic Of Ju-Ju (Impulse) 67
- Alice Coltrane – Universal Consciousness (Impulse!) 71
- Alice Coltrane – World Galaxy (Impulse!) 71
- The Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds Of Fire (Columbia) 73
- Miles Davis – E.S.P. (Columbia) 65
- Archie Shepp – Fire Music (Impulse) 65
- Albert Ayler Trio – Spirits Rejoice (ESP) 65
- Dizzy Gillespie – The Champ (Savoy) 53
- Modern Jazz Quartet – Django (Prestige/OJC) 55
- Lee Konitz – Subconscious-Lee (Prestige/OJC) 50
- John Coltrane – John Coltrane With Johnny Hartman (Impulse) 63
- Thelonious Monk – Thelonious With John Coltrane (Riverside) 57
- Thelonious Monk – Monk’s Dreamm (Columbia) 63
- Dizzy Gillespie – New Wave (Philips) 62
- Dizzy Gillespie – Something Old, Something New (Philips) 63
- Duke Ellington – Ellington Uptown (Columbia) 53
- Sun Ra – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2 (ESP) 65
- Miles Davis – A Tribute To Jack Johnson (Columbia) 70
- The Art Ensemble Of Chicago – With Fontella Bass (America) 70
- Art Ensemble of Chicago – Bap-Tizum (Atlantic/Koch) 72
- John Coltrane – Impressions (Impulse) 63
- John Coltrane – Coltrane Live At Birdland (Impulse) 63
- John Coltrane – Stellar Regions (Impulse) 67
- Freddie Hubbard – The Artistry Of Freddie Hubbard (Impulse) 62
- Sonny Rollins – Tenor Madness (Prestige) 56
- Albert Ayler – Prophesy (ESP) 64
- Count Basie – Atomic Mr. Basie (Roulette) 57
- Dizzy Gillespie – Gillespiana (Verve) 61
- Stan Kenton – New Concepts Of Artistry In Rhythm (Capitol) 52
- Ornette Coleman – Tomorrow Is The Question! (Contemporary) 59
- Red Garland Trio – Groovy (Prestige/OJC) 57
- Sun Ra – Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy (Evidence) 63
- John Coltrane – Live At The Village Vanguard (Impulse) 61
- John Coltrane – Newport ’63 (Impulse!) 63
- John Coltrane & Don Cherry – The Avant-Garde (Atlantic) 60
- Pharoah Sanders – Izipho Zam (Sunspots) 69
- Sun Ra – Interstellar Low Ways (Evidence) 60
- Sun Ra – Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow (Evidence) 62
- Sun Ra – Visits Planet Earth (Evidence) 58
- Charles Mingus – Reincarnation of a Lovebird (Candid) 60
- Miles Davis – Miles & Coltrane (Columbia) 58
- Charles Mingus – Mingus (Candid) 60
- Miles Davis – Workin’ (Prestige) 56
- John Coltrane – Coltrane’s Sound (Atlantic) 60
- John Coltrane – Coltrane Jazz (Atlantic) 59
- Miles Davis – Steamin’ (Prestige) 56
- Miles Davis – Cookin’ (Prestige) 56
- Miles Davis – Relaxin’ (Prestige) 56
- Miles Davis – Miles Ahead (Columbia) 57
- Sun Ra – Angels And Demons At Play (Evidence) 60
- Sun Ra – Holiday For Soul Dance (Evidence) 60
- Charlie Parker (& Gillespie/Roach/Mingus/Powell) – Jazz At Massey Hall (Debut) 53
- Miles Davis – Milestones (Columbia) 58
- Charles Mingus – The Clown (Atlantic) 57
- Sun Ra – Super Sonic Jazz (Evidence) 56
- Sun Ra – The Nubians of Plutonia 58-59 (Evidence) 59
- Sonny Rollins – Freedom Suite (Contemporary) 58
- Sonny Rollins – A Night At The Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (Blue Note) 57
- Sonny Rollins – Newk’s Time (Blue Note) 58
- Ornette Coleman – Ornette! (Atlantic) 61
- Sonny Rollins – The Bridge (Bluebird/RCA) 62
- Thelonious Monk – Thelonious Monk (Prestige) 54
- Ornette Coleman – Ornette On Tenor (Atlantic) 61
- Miles Davis – Seven Steps To Heaven (Columbia) 63
- John Coltrane – Soultrane (OJC/Prestige) 58
- Dizzy Gillespie – Jambo Caribe (Verve) 64
- John Coltrane – Black Pearls (OJC/Fantasy) 58
- Thelonious Monk – Alone In San Francisco (Riverside) 59
- Cannonball Adderly Quartet – Somethin’ Else (Blue Note) 58
- Miles Davis – Porgy and Bess (Columbia) 58
- John Coltrane – Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (Impulse) 62
- Sun Ra – When Sun Comes Out (Saturn) 63
- Charles Mingus – Mingus Dynasty (Columbia) 59
- Charles Mingus – Blues and Roots (Atlantic) 59
- Sonny Rollins – Work Time (Prestige) 55
- Miles Davis – ’58 Sessions (Columbia) 58
- Ornette Coleman – Twins (Atlantic) 61
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