Three for starters:

Bakida Carroll's solo on the first movement of John Carter's "Castles of Ghana".
Tony Williams' solo on "One Finger Snap" from "Empyrean Isles".
Henry Threadgill on "Last of the Hipmen" from David Murray's "Home".

Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine - Jazz at the Plaza , a really extrodinary solo of a song that he recorded and played many times; you should hear this. Also this appears on Bill Evans - Piano Player

Wayne Shorter's solo on "Directions" (Miles Davis, Live at the Fillmore East Disc 2)
Keith Jarrett's solos (both introduction & main) on "Inflight" (Backhand)

Jodie Christian plays a hip solo on "Nicky's Tune #2" on The Ira Sullivan Quintet: Nicky's Tune (Delmark). I've listened to it several times recently.

I've got another.... George Coleman - Soul Eyes from Live at Yoshi's.
One of the best tenor solos on record; right up there with......

George Adams - Duke Ellington's Sounds of Love from Changes One.... a classic, genre shifting solo.

Eric Dolphy, Stormy Weather solo with Mingus on Candid - a life-changing event for me-

Clifford Jordan on "Chilly Mac," on Andrew Hill's "Shades." This is funnier than she-it, without resorting to quotes.

And Fats Navarro on ... just about anything.

Fun thread.

Keep em coming, folks. I'm going to relisten to some of these tunes.

Yes, great solo. I love Coleman's work on "My Horns of Plenty" as well.

Gergory Herbert - Greetings and Salutations on Thad & Mel's New Life:

A great, great solo on tenor; I can still here it!

Booker Ervin's on "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" (is it just me or did Mingus bring out the best in Ervin)

Roscoe Mitchell's solo on the "Nick the Greek's" 45 Whole Lotta Soul. Julian Priester ain't bad either.

Joe Castro on "Sunset Eyes" w/Teddy Edwards.
Fred Atwood's smoking bass solo on "I've Got A Good One For You" from the Warne Marsh date "All Music".

Yes! For me, too - opened up my ears for a whole lot of interesting music!

A couple of others:
Coleman Hawkins on "Driva Man" (even though he almost gets lost and Max has to hit the "one" real hard all the time, he is magisterial!) on Roach's "Freedom Now Suite".
Johnny Griffin on the first tune on his "Congregation" Blue Note LP
Eddie Harris on "Funkorama", the opening cut of his "Listen Here!" disc on Enja.
Sonny Rollins - virtually all his solos on "Saxophone Colossus" (another ear-opener for me)

"Blue Lester" (from the '44 Savoy date) - never fails to almost make my heart stop beating, the sheer beauty, and the melancholy...

One that immediately comes to mind is Wynton Kelly's choruses on 'Stars fell on Alabama' from Cannonball and Coltrane. Small and perfectly formed.

Ok ... so I guess I gotta come up with some stuff that maybe some people haven't heard yet ?

So ... no Messengers "Free For All" ... no Lee "The Gigolo"... no Larry Young "Softly" ... no Miles .... oh man ! ... ouch ... ok, well, here goes:


John Scofield on "Teo" from Joe Henderson's "So Near, So Far".

John Scofield on "So Sue Me" from his "Time On My Hands" ... and the comping counts too ! Wait, and Lovano self-immolates ! What's a humble listener to do ? And then you see Sco live and it can be ten times that good.

Josh Roseman on "Meera" from "Treats for the Nightwalker" (especially near the end of track, plunger, then open).

Anthony Coleman on "Nature Abhors A Vacuum Cleaner" from Marc Ribot "Rootless Cosmopolitans".

Skerik on "Gat Swamba" from Garage A Trois "Emphathizer" ... and apparently nobody knows the soul this guy has got !

Any Pete Cosey with Miles (ok, I snuck some Miles in, but only because Cosey beats McLaughlin, Stern, Sco, WHOMEVER, hands-down as Miles most innovative man on six-strings).

Herbie Hancock on "Mr. Clean" from Freddie Hubbard's "Straight Life" ... this might be some of the baddest m/f s*** ever played on electric piano. And I didn't figure it out for years and years and years. Helps here if you're flying on something.


And, of course, Woody Shaw on the alternate take of "Tapscott's Blues" from "The Moontrane" ... actually everyone on both of these tracks is melting down right through the floor.

... actually, I could add another 20 Woody improvs that go to the front of this list ... heh heh ... but some here are aware of my addiction ... so I won't.

Great thread.

One that I love that I've never heard anyone talk about nor seen anyone write about is Django's amazing turn on "I'se a Muggin'."

A bit far afield, (though she did record with Lucky Millender), one of my favorite solos of all time is Sister Rosetta Tharpe's guitar solo on her "Don't Take Everybody To Be Your Friend." It kills me every time. That gospel gal invented rockabilly!

Another one that knocks me out is Ocar Pettiford's bass solo on "Caravan" from Monk's Plays Duke Ellington. He sounds like he's grabbing handfuls of chords -- perfect complement to Monk's style. And on the same album's "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart," Pettiford's solo is the epitome of melodic poise. He's great all over this joint. With Kenny Clarke is on drums it's one of the greatest trios ever and a very under-rated album, IMHO.

How about the great solo by Oliver Nelson on "Stolen Moments" on the "Blues and the Abstract Truth" album .... Nelson's solos are so beautifully constructed that I wonder if he worked on them ahead of time.

Of course, I am VERY partial to Buddy DeFranco's incredible bop clarinet tour de force on "The Bright One" with Sonny Clark ... a must for all clarinet fans...

There are also several John Lewis solos that just blow me away, and I never tire of listening to.

Oscar Peterson's version of "Sax No End" is not exactly chopped liver either ... chorus after rolling chorus of amazing piano (not everyone's cup of tea, I know.. but it certainly gets to me!)

Dizzy Reece's playing on "Ghost of a Chance" from his Soundin' Off BN recording. Pure soul oozes out of his horn.

A couple of traditional solos I like a lot:

Don Byas, Harvard Blues (w/ Basie)
Frankie Newton, Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave to Me

I am tempted to list a bunch of Eric Dolphy solos, since he's probably my favorite soloist, but I will restrain myself and pick 3 off the top of my head:
- his solo on Spiritual, from the original Vanguard 1961 album. No doubt this is somewhat for personal reasons, as it was the first Dolphy solo I heard, and really knocked me out. Still love it.
- his hair-raising solo on Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting, from Mingus at Antibes.
- his incredibly voice-like solo on Mendacity, from Max Roach's Percussion Bittersweet.

A few more favorites that come to mind:
- Coltrane on Autumn Serenade & Alabama. I'm not saying these are the best Coltrane solos (they're far from representative, given their brevity and relative restraint), but what he does in a relatively restrained mode and in an incredibly concentrated time-frame here is remarkable to me.
- Marc Ribot's solo on Tom Waits' Way Down in the Hole. Not jazz, but probably my favorite guitar solo.
- Ike Quebec's solo on Sonny Clark's recording of Deep in a Dream. Classic.
- Brad Mehldau's solo on Song Song...so subtle, yet it feels like it's constantly on the verge of boiling over. Really tense in a gorgeous, low-key way. The way he rides the rhythm section throughout is masterful.
- Monk's take on I Should Care on "Himself"...the whole thing is like a perfect solo to me.

nathan

I have always loved his solo from "Hoe-Down" on that album.

For me it's the one on the title-track, too! What a fantastic and fascinating and so simple-sounding solo that is!

* Keith Jarrett "Koln"

* And say what you will about his singing on the tune, but I really dig Gary Bartz' solo that ends "Peace and Love" from his I've KNown Rivers... album.

Got to add some Cannonball...

my favourite:
- Love for Sale (Somethin' Else)

but there are others...
- Freddie Freeloader (KoB)
- Dat Dere (Them Dirty Blues)

he had his pet licks, sure, and plenty of them, but he had buckets of soul!


Then there's that terrific trumpet solo of Bennie Bailey's on "Swiss Movement" (McCann/Harris), where in the middle the crowd goes all applauding (the story shared in the liners: he played with closed eyes, thought they'd dug him that much, but then he opened the eyes and noticed that they clapped for Ella who'd just entered... still the solo is da shit!)

No, not at all.

List the ones you like. Who knows what others have heard anyway?

I'm writing these down so I can listen to as many of them as possible.

I'll contribute some later.

Here's one for now:

Steve Turre's trombone solo on "In a Sentimental Mood" from his eponymous album. The solo is short but perfect...

More later...

Ok, I'll bite......Woody Shaw's solo on 'Softly as a Morning Sunrise' from Larry Young's 'Unity' melts my mind......

I like Wynton Kelly's solo on Freddie Freeloader......

Donald Byrd's playing on 'Cristo Redentor' from 'A New Perspective' is powerful.

that's a few........ok one more......Lee Morgan's solo from 'C.T.A.' offa 'Candy. NIIIIICE

Templejazz OUT!!!!!!!!!

John Patton on "Shadow of Your Smile"

Lester Young's opener on Basie's "Miss Thing." Lighter than air.

And while we're in Basieland, Buck Clayton's spot on "Don't You Miss Your Baby?"

Since you be talkin' Basie - Prez on Taxi War Dance.

Sweets Edison - Verve Blues - The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 5

The man plays a solo like he means it!

This one should be taught/studied in schools.

Dexter Gordon, Dexter Calling. "Modal Mood."

Dex's solo on "Tanya"

Dolphy's solo on "Aggression".

Since we be talkin' Basie and Pres: Love and Live Tonight

Since we be talkin' Pres: Lester's Blues #1 (On Savoy Jazz Immortals vol;. 2)

Alan Shorter's solo on "Syeeda" (Four for Trane).

Cecil's solo on "Indent."

This is one that almost always moves me to tears .....

Others:
John Lewis on Django from the MJQ's European Concert - I know it by heart.
Ron Carter on Survival Blues from McCoy Tyner's Extensions - so much humor and at the same time clever thematic improvisation.
Ron Carter on Turiya and Ramakrishna from Alice Coltrane's Ptah, The El Daoud - some of the deepest roots bass playing I have ever heard.
Prez on I Can't Get Started and Body And Soul on Aladdin - desert island music.
Roy Ayers on Daddy Bug (the title tune) - so beautifully melodic you can't tell where the written part ends.
Roy Ayers on Paper Man and There Is A Mountain on Herbie Mann's Windows Opened - the most rhythmolodic vibes playing ever.
Almost any solo by John Lewis on Stitt Plays Bird.

Ahmad Jamal on New Rhumba from Chamber Music of the New Jazz.
There are some extremely beautiful Ray Crawford guitar solos on that album as well.

Wayne Shorter on "Message from the Nile" (McCoy's Extensions) -- one of the greatest soprano saxophone solos I've heard

Sonny Rollins' solo on "Misterioso" (Blue Note). His entrance once knocked me off my chair!

Prez on "Jumpin' at the Woodside"

Miles' solo on "Stella By Starlight" from "My Funny Valentine". Such drama - such pacing!

Bird's solo on "Funky Blues" - so brilliant, especially juxtaposed between Hodges & Carter.

John Handy's solo on Mingus' "Alice in Wonderland". When he hits that trill.....

Indeed!!! And the way Gary Bartz picks up his last phrase and continues is just as masterful.

I love that one too.

Should also mention...
* Mal Waldon on "Warm Canto" (The Quest)
* Mary Lou Williams on "It Ain't Necessarily So" (Black Christ of the Andes)
* Roland Kirk on "Moonray" (Out of the Afternoon)

Oh yes! One of my favorites!

Keith Jarrett's solo intro to "Roads Travelled, Roads Veiled" (Fort Yawuh)-- I'm iffy on his solo concerts, but some of his solo work within group confines is masterful and this one is stunning

Charlie Haden's bass solo on "Ramblin" (Change of the Century)

Joe Henderson on "Zoltan" (Unity) -- maybe my favorite Joe H solo

Joe Henderson on "Teeter Totter" (Our Thing) & "El Barrio" (Inner Urge)

John Coltrane on "Creation" (from the Half Note 1965)

Chick Corea on "Masqualero" (Paris 11/3/69) -- the best Chick Corea solo I've ever heard

Wayne Shorter on "Mademoiselle Mabry" (Filles de Kilimanjaro) -- I like how he allows the recurring melody to fill in the gaps in his solo

Wayne Shorter on "So What" (Plugged Nickel) -- burning

Wayne Shorter on "Arabia" (Mosaic)

Horace Silver on "Blowin' the Blues Away" -- my favorite H Silver solo

Booker Ervin on "I.I. BS" (Mingusx5)

Cannonball solo on "Waltz for Debby"

enjoy the transcription here !
cannonball transcription

Quite agree!

Not wanting to be negative, but those same solos of Oliver Nelson's that have been mentioned I'm not too keen on for the precise reason that they do sound rehearsed. At best, I think he's playing 'composer's sax' here...

John Coltrane's solo on "Teo" (Miles Davis' Someday My Prince Will Come album), Ike Quebec's solo on "Deep in a Dream" (Sonny Clark's Leapin' and Lopin' album), Sonny Rollins' solos on his Saxophone Colossus album, Bill Evans' playing on "My Foolish Heart" (his Waltz for Debby album), and loads of others...

We have mentioned this one before.

Quite possibly my favorite recording ever.

Speaking of Miles' "Someday My Prince Will Come" - there's a stunning Mobe solo there, too, I think on "Old Folks"? Perfectly constructed and beautifully executed.

Also I have a soft spot for Miles' solo on the Carnegie Hall performance of "Teo" - it's loud and high, and not all that sophisticated, but I just love it...