Guy Berger Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 This comes from rateyourmusic.com's highest-rated jazz albums. Probably a bit of a popularity contest, but I was surprised by how reasonable the results came out. Vox populi, vox dei! 1. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme 2. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue 3. Charles Mingus, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady 4. Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um 5. Miles Davis, In a Silent Way 6. Eric Dolphy, Out to Lunch 7. John Coltrane, Giant Steps 8. Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus 9. John Coltrane, My Favorite Things 10. Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come 11. Vince Guaraldi, A Charlie Brown Christmas 12. Charles Mingus, Blues and Roots 13. Miles Davis, Bitches Brew 14. Frank Zappa, Hot Rats 15. Frank Sinatra, Songs for Swinging Lovers 16. Art Blakey, Moanin' 17. Miles Davis, Miles Smiles 18. Frank Sinatra, In the Wee Small Hours 19. Getz/Gilberto 20. Wayne Shorter, Speak no Evil 21. Bill Evans, Sunday at the Village Vanguard 22. Thelonious Monk, Brilliant Corners 23. Bill Evans, Waltz for Debby 24. Duke Ellington, Far East Suite 25. Dave Brubeck, Time Out 26. Miles Davis, A Tribute to Jack Johnson 27. Herbie Hancock, Headhunters 28. Andrew Hill, Point of Departure 29. Louis Armstrong, Plays W.C. Handy 30. Frank Sinatra, Sings for Only the Lonely 31. Cannonball Adderley, Somethin' Else 32. Pharoah Sanders, Karma 33. Grant Green, Idle Moments 34. Antonio Carlos Jobim, Wave 35. Elis Regina and Tom Jobim, Elis and Tom 36. John Coltrane, Blue Train 37. Horace Silver, Song for My Father 38. Oliver Nelson, The Blues and the Abstract Truth 39. Andrew Hill, Black Fire 40. Duke Ellington, Money Jungle 41. Thelonious Monk, Monk's Dream 42. Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin 43. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Antibes 44. Albert Ayler, Spiritual Unity 45. Herbie Hancock, Empyrean Isles 46. Miles Davis, 'Round About Midnight 47. Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Inner Mounting Flame 48. Charles Mingus, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus 49. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong 50. John Coltrane, Ole 51. Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage 52. Art Ensemble of Chicago, Les Stances a Sophie 53. Thelonious Monk, Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane 54. The Quintet, Jazz at Massey Hall 55. Peter Brotzmann, Machine Gun 56. Lee Morgan, the Sidewinder 57. McCoy Tyner, The Real McCoy 58. Keith Jarrett, The Koln Concert 59. Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain 60. John Coltrane, Ascension 61. Miles Davis, Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet 62. John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman 63. Sonny Sharrock, Ask the Ages 64. Wes Montgomery, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery 65. Charles Mingus, Pithecanthropus Erectus 66. Miles Davis, Nefertiti 67. Ella Fitzgerald, Sings the Cole Porter Songbook 68. Kenny Burrell, Midnight Blue 69. John Coltrane, Live at Birdland 70. Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidananda 71. Cecil Taylor, Unit Structures 72. John Coltrane, Live at the Village Vanguard 73. Thelonious Monk, Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall 74. Ornette Coleman, Free Jazz 75. Sam Rivers, Contours 76. Miles Davis, Milestones 77. Miles Davis, Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet 78. Miles Davis, ESP 79. Miles Davis, Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet 80. Thelonious Monk, Monk's Music 81. Miles Davis, On the Corner 82. Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim 83. Cannonball Adderley, Mercy Mercy Mercy 84. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, The Inflated Tear 85. Sun Ra, Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 1 86. Mahavishnu Orchestra, Birds of Fire 87. Hank Mobley, Soul Station 88. Miles Davis, Filles de Kilimanjaro 89. Wes Montgomery, Full House 90. John Coltrane, Meditations 91. Yusef Lateef, Eastern Sounds 92. Miles Davis, Agharta 93. Alexander von Schlippenbach, Pakistani Pomade 94. Dexter Gordon, Go! 95. Bobby Hutcherson, Dialogue 96. John Zorn, Naked City 97. Charles Mingus, Tijuana Moods 98. Jackie McLean, Destination Out 99. Duke Ellington, Ellington at Newport 100. Sun Ra, Jazz in Silhouette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 As a popularity contest, the Lee Morgan album isn't surprising but I'd replace it with Search For The New Land. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Interesting that "A Charlie Brown's Christmas" beats out everything by Ellington, Armstrong, Basie, Monk, Parker, Gillespie, etc. Good Grief! Then again, so does Hot Rats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Lester Young is nowhere in sight Vince Guaraldi is there but where is Bud Powell??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 (edited) Lester Young is nowhere in sight Vince Guaraldi is there but where is Bud Powell??? He is probably in the 300s somewhere, along with Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, and company. Should we interpret the Brotzmann, Schlippenbach, Art Ensemble, Sharrock, Zorn, Ayler, and Sun Ra entries as evidence that Penguin Guide crowns really do shape listerners' opinions about jazz? In that case, where is Evan Parker? Edited August 21, 2006 by John L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted August 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Lester Young is nowhere in sight Vince Guaraldi is there but where is Bud Powell??? He is probably in the 300s somewhere, along with Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, and company. Keep in mind that this is a list of "albums", which unfortunately omits recordings from the pre-album era. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjobbe Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Interesting that "A Charlie Brown's Christmas" beats out everything by Ellington, Armstrong, Basie, Monk, Parker, Gillespie, etc. Good Grief! Then again, so does Hot Rats. I signed in with about 1000+ accounts in one go and did the voting than.... so no surprise Cheers, Tjobbe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Obviously any Top 100 list will omit at least a handful of one's personal favorites, but that's not a shabby list of jazz albums. I have (or at least heard) about 90 of the 100. As someone else noted, this is a list of LP-era albums, so don't let the elimination of so much "early" jazz bother you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulstation1 Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 i guess JOS was a bum....... where's the MF greazzzzeeee??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb Posted August 21, 2006 Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Two quick thoughts 1 Someone was a big mingus fan. 2 On the Corner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted August 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 Two quick thoughts 1 Someone was a big mingus fan. A lot of someones -- this is an agglomeration of hundreds of music fans' tastes. FWIW, the Mingus albums in question are fully worthy of their placement. 2 On the Corner? A very popular album. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted August 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 As a popularity contest, the Lee Morgan album isn't surprising but I'd replace it with Search For The New Land. I would too. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted August 22, 2006 Report Share Posted August 22, 2006 What, no Tina Brooks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kh1958 Posted August 22, 2006 Report Share Posted August 22, 2006 John Zorn? Now that's ludicrous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Clugston Posted August 22, 2006 Report Share Posted August 22, 2006 Not bad list. I'd certainly agree with the first three. The rest is a bit heavy on the adventurous, but usually these lists are so predictable or banal. Hot Rats is an oddity. It's not a bad album, but I could name 100 jazz records that are better. Sam Rivers' Contours wouldn't be my first pick. I wouldn't replace Sidewinder with Search For the New Land. They both should be on there. No problems seeing Zorn and Naked City. Fun album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted August 24, 2006 Report Share Posted August 24, 2006 I'm psyched that the Schlippenbach sneaked its way on there (and yeah, this is a substantially more balanced list than we usually see--though it's got it's share of flaws. I mean, Zappa? Really?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montg Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 I have 'Somethin' Else' spinning at this very moment--for me, this may be the jazz album closest to perfection. It's well above #31 on my list. A lot of jazz greats from the 20s & 30s made albums in the 50s. I think the absence of early jazz stars on this list just reflects a contemporary indifference toward pre-Bird jazz. Too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 (edited) This top 100 list represents a rather myopic view of jazz history, with far too many listings by the same artists and non-jazz artists like Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa (yes, I've owned a copy of Hot Rats for over 3 decades, but it doesn't crack the top 100, even if it is a memorable jazz-rock disc). Edited August 25, 2006 by Ken Dryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 (edited) Another reason (not the reason, mind you) I've always maintained for the dearth of pre-50's jazz on lists of this type regards the inception of the LP (and, on a similar level, close-to-album-length EPs)--which, however you look at it, changed the game for the proliferation of recorded jazz. It's both a matter of ethos (i.e., your average Classics album--or any sheer compilation, for that matter--is of a different aesthetic than your set of Blue Notes, Impulses, etc.--any record initially conceived of as an 'album') and accessibility (the lack of 'definitive,' unduplicated albums for important pre-LP artists) as well as generational disconnect and ignorance. My two cents, anyway. Edited August 26, 2006 by ep1str0phy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted August 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 with far too many listings by the same artists and non-jazz artists like Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa (yes, I've owned a copy of Hot Rats for over 3 decades, but it doesn't crack the top 100, even if it is a memorable jazz-rock disc). (1) The Sinatra and Zappa are there because I picked the 100 highest-rated jazz recordings from a more generic highest-rated recordings list on rateyourmusic. I could have omitted them, making space for a few more recordings. Nevertheless, I felt they were close enough to jazz to merit inclusion. (2) I don't understand the "too many listings by the same artists" argument. Some artists recorded a lot of classic albums. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 with far too many listings by the same artists and non-jazz artists like Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa (yes, I've owned a copy of Hot Rats for over 3 decades, but it doesn't crack the top 100, even if it is a memorable jazz-rock disc). (1) The Sinatra and Zappa are there because I picked the 100 highest-rated jazz recordings from a more generic highest-rated recordings list on rateyourmusic. I could have omitted them, making space for a few more recordings. Nevertheless, I felt they were close enough to jazz to merit inclusion. (2) I don't understand the "too many listings by the same artists" argument. Some artists recorded a lot of classic albums. Guy Sorry, I don't think any well thought out top 100 jazz list is going to have so many recordings by any one artist as this one does. My two cents... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spontooneous Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 I guess everything recorded before 1955 sucks too much to be on the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 I guess everything recorded before 1955 sucks too much to be on the list. Obviously Ken Burns had nothing to do with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 If you list ten Miles Davis albums in a list of top one hundred albums, then obviously you haven't listened to the amount of jazz that many of us have (my jazz collection is well over 12,000 and I know of several people with larger collections). I tend to avoid creating this type of list as I consider it an exercise in futility, as it is hard enough to pick top tens by favorite artists who record (or did record) prolifically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted August 7, 2007 Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 I guess everything recorded before 1955 sucks too much to be on the list. Lard knows if I had posted this, I'd have gotten it with both barrels from you-know-who. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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