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From the May 15, 2006 issue of TIME Magazine

7 GREATEST JAZZ CDs

A fearless pick of the hippest and coolest ever. Let the arguments begin

By CHRISTOPHER PORTERFIELD

Posted Sunday, May. 07, 2006

BILLIE HOLIDAY LADY DAY: THE BEST OF BILLIE HOLIDAY

Many other singers had better pipes or more agile techniques. But nobody transformed a song into something as deeply personal and affecting--and swinging--as Holiday. In these two discs, her reedy, frayed-at-the-edges voice, teasingly lagging the beat, instinctively breathes the bittersweet essence of the jazz life. What's more, she is surrounded by the finest sidemen of the era (1935-42), including pianist Teddy Wilson and her musical and emotional soul mate, tenor saxophonist Lester Young.

MILES DAVIS THE COMPLETE BIRTH OF THE COOL

In the late 1940s, Davis teamed up for the first of his epochal collaborations with arranger Gil Evans. They assembled an unusual nonet, including a tuba and French horn, and began experimenting with a new kind of writing. The goals: dense, rich sonorities, a "cool," vibrato-free style of playing and a tight meshing of the charts and soloists (among them baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and trombonist J.J. Johnson). Result: a reshaping of the modern jazz aesthetic.

JOHN COLTRANE A LOVE SUPREME

John Updike once said Vladimir Nabokov wrote prose the only way it should be written: ecstatically. That's the way the Coltrane quartet plays here. The four-part suite, composed to celebrate Coltrane's spiritual triumph over drug addiction, ranges hypnotically from a meditative murmur to fierce shrieks, with Coltrane's tenor sax surging to astonishing inventiveness and intensity. The 1964 album staked out frontiers of harmony, rhythm and structure that musicians are still exploring today.

CHARLIE CHRISTIAN THE GENIUS OF THE ELECTRIC GUITAR

In the years B.C. (before Christian), the jazz guitar was mostly a rhythm instrument. In his hands, it emerged as a brilliantly lyrical solo voice, one that echoes in virtually every electric guitarist who has followed. Christian's death from tuberculosis at 25 made him one of jazz's greatest might-have-beens. This four-disc package--largely his 1939-41 appearances as a precocious star of Benny Goodman's combos--proves that he was one of jazz's greatest, period.

CHARLIE PARKER COMPLETE JAZZ AT MASSEY HALL

Pianist Bud Powell was drunk. Parker was playing a plastic saxophone borrowed from a local music store. At one point, bassist Charles Mingus got so angry at trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's antics that he stomped offstage. Yet on this night of May 15, 1953, at Toronto's Massey Hall, the musicians, along with drummer Max Roach, somehow pulled together to give an incandescent, unforgettable performance. Captured in a low-fi taping by Mingus and Roach, the concert showed what bebop--and live jazz--was all about.

DUKE ELLINGTON NEVER NO LAMENT: THE BLANTON-WEBSTER BAND

It was already a superb band, featuring such Ellington stalwarts as Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams and Juan Tizol. But after bassist Jimmie Blanton and tenor-sax man Ben Webster signed on in 1939 and '40, it became the leader's best ever. The compelling evidence is on these three discs, on tracks like Cotton Tail, Ko-Ko, Jack the Bear and Harlem Air-Shaft. Individual glories abound, but the band's chief glory remains the nonpareil jazz composer whose instrument it was: the Duke himself.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG HOT FIVES AND SEVENS

Forget the Satchmo who sang and mugged his way through his later decades, wonderfully entertaining as he was. This is Armstrong the force of nature--exuberant, inspired, irresistible. His ringing, soaring trumpet improvisations in the 1920s not only established him as jazz's first pre-eminent and pervasively influential soloist but also propelled jazz from a shambling, collective folk music into an art form. Many versions of these indispensable sides are available; the four-disc set from London-based JSP offers the best remastered sound.

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His seven wouldn't be my seven - though a couple would be on mine - but if some non-jazz listeners pick up a few of the sides he recommended, they'll have some great music to listen to and, who knows, perhaps some new jazz fans will come into existence. To me, that's the positive side of something like this.

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IMO, this list strikes me as more "Most Influential" than it does "Greatest".

An interesting comment. Just wondering what the difference is when it comes to history & historical evaluation, which is what this is, and will become even more of as time passes.

Is there really a difference, in historical terms (informed historical terms, that is), between "greatest" & "most influential"? How "great" is something going to be considered 250 years from now if it ends up being little more than a blip on the evolutionary radar?

It's a serious question, and frankly, I don't know the answer.

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A list that's hard to argue with, though I would choose "Kind of Blue" over "Birth of the Cool." Paul's right; if someone picked up these 7, they would have a truckload of great music.

I'm not sure, though, that giving these 7 CD's to a novice listener would then turn into big jazz fans. One problem is the sound of some of them (even the CD versions). Sure we can listen to them and get past the sound and hear the fantastic music. But I'm not sure that someone new to jazz could do that. They may even be turned off of jazz (hard to imagine, but I think it could happen)

My experience is that most hard-core fans come into jazz from music that is more on the fringes of jazz or perhaps a bit more "popular." It was my exposure to some of the touring big bands of the '70's (Herman, Kenton, Rich, Ferguson) and some fusion bands (Weather Report, Chick Corea, Miles), that caught my listening ear and started me down the road of exploring the central jazz tradition. I was also lucky that my high school library had a copy of Martin Williams' "The Jazz Tradition" which gave me a good idea of what to explore and what records to look for.

edited for spelling

Edited by John Tapscott
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I can't argue with this list too much. I probably would have included the Complete Savoy Dial of Parker since they do have some box sets in that 7. Also, is it the view that the JSP version of the Hot Fives and Sevens sounds better than Columbia's. I don't have the JSP version so I have no idea.

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In terms of influence, I don't think you can argue the importance of "The Hot Fives & Sevens", "Birth of the Cool" or "A Love Supreme". Both changed the direction of music at the time and affected its course in a manner that is still being felt today. Having said that, I can still make the argument that from an aesthetic standpoint (the subjective factor by which greatness is measured) each of these artists may have made "greater" music. For sure Miles did with "KoB" and maybe Coltrane with "Giant Steps".

People can and should argue "greatness" as long as there's jazz, but I don't think you can argue influential.

Up over and out.

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A Love Supreme has never been one of my favorite Coltranes, let alone one of my favorite jazz albums.

On the other hand, I think that ever since jazz became listening music, as opposed to dance music, Birth of the Cool is one of the most listenable albums (listenable to the most people).

edit for typo

Edited by GA Russell
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A best of collection on a Top Seven of All Time list? No way. I also don't believe in ranking incomplete "Best of" anthologies for "Reissue of the Year" (Complete Collections are another story).

The vastly overrated A Love Supreme is also undeserving of such a ranking.

this list is an okay starting point for discussion, but trying to create a list so narrow is an object in frustration, much like trying to pick my favorite recording out of my sizable jazz collection.

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Pass it off to my own quirkiness, but I don't think any "Best Of" compilation belongs on this list.

That makes sense for the post-78 era. But any single disc collection of early Billie Holiday is going to be some sort of selected works. I don't know if the original LPs packaged this music in any more of a logical way than more recent "Best ofs."

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His seven wouldn't be my seven - though a couple would be on mine - but if some non-jazz listeners pick up a few of the sides he recommended, they'll have some great music to listen to and, who knows, perhaps some new jazz fans will come into existence. To me, that's the positive side of something like this.

Precisely, Paul. Well said.

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The Miles Davis, the Charlie Parker and the John Coltrane are the only individual CDs.

The others are multiple-disc sets!

Total number of CDs is 16 if I'm correct, and they cover the 1925-1965 period (aprox.)

I guess you cannot go wrong with seven titles, it'd be difficult not get great music in there, although I would have chosen the Parker Dials over the Massey Hall any time. The Christian CD-set is an interesting choice... excellent sound, great musicians (Basie, Lester Young, Jo Jones, Lionel Hampton, Cootie, Dave Tough...) and a fantastic 20-minute uninterrumpted jam session.

F

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Jim.

With regard to the issue of "great" versus "influential" and your thought that over time the two will merge and become one. There is some validity in that argument, but I think it depends, perhaps, on the passion one has for the music. For jazz geeks like us, and for those who will follow in our footsteps, I think there will always be a difference. For others not so steeped in knowledge or immersed and obsessed with understanding the music, perhaps less so or not at all. Take Miles as an example. Most of us on this board would acknowledge the importance of "Birth of the Cool" and the influence it had on what came after it, but at the same time would feel, I think unequivocally, that Davis made greater recordings. Over the course of time, maybe 50 or 100 years from now, I'm not sure that changes.

Up over and out.

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Pass it off to my own quirkiness, but I don't think any "Best Of" compilation belongs on this list.

Well, for pre-LP days, wouldn't one have to include a compilation of some sort? Only the Jefferson Airplane could get away with a "Worst of..." album. ;)

edit: nevermind: what John L said... :w

Edited by RDK
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I'd choose the complete master savoy and dial for Bird. Massey Hall is over hyped. There are better live Bird sets. The latest Bird & Diz released last year, is way better IMHO.

Arent some of these items in the list compilations from the Definitive label in Spain? I hope not, how could they promote them like this?

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