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All-Time Favorite Jazz Albums Since 1949

All-Time Favorite Jazz Albums Since 1949

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 LI> Miles Davis - Miles & Coltrane (Columbia) 58
  164. Charles Mingus - Mingus (Candid) 60
  165. Miles Davis - Workin' (Prestige) 56
  166. John Coltrane - Coltrane's Sound (Atlantic) 60
  167. John Coltrane - Coltrane Jazz (Atlantic) 59
  168. Miles Davis - Steamin' (Prestige) 56
  169. Miles Davis - Cookin' (Prestige) 56
  170. Miles Davis - Relaxin' (Prestige) 56
  171. Miles Davis - Miles Ahead (Columbia) 57
  172. Sun Ra - Angels And Demons At Play (Evidence) 60
  173. Sun Ra - Holiday For Soul Dance (Evidence) 60
  174. Charlie Parker (& Gillespie/Roach/Mingus/Powell) - Jazz At Massey Hall (Debut) 53
  175. Miles Davis - Milestones (Columbia) 58
  176. Charles Mingus - The Clown (Atlantic) 57
  177. Sun Ra - Super Sonic Jazz (Evidence) 56
  178. Sun Ra - The Nubians of Plutonia 58-59 (Evidence) 59
  179. Sonny Rollins - Freedom Suite (Contemporary) 58
  180. Sonny Rollins - A Night At The Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (Blue Note) 57
  181. Sonny Rollins - Newk's Time (Blue Note) 58
  182. Ornette Coleman - Ornette! (Atlantic) 61
  183. Sonny Rollins - The Bridge (Bluebird/RCA) 62
  184. Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk (Prestige) 54
  185. Ornette Coleman - Ornette On Tenor (Atlantic) 61
  186. Miles Davis - Seven Steps To Heaven (Columbia) 63
  187. John Coltrane - Soultrane (OJC/Prestige) 58
  188. Dizzy Gillespie - Jambo Caribe (Verve) 64
  189. John Coltrane - Black Pearls (OJC/Fantasy) 58
  190. Thelonious Monk - Alone In San Francisco (Riverside) 59
  191. Cannonball Adderly Quartet - Somethin' Else (Blue Note) 58
  192. Miles Davis - Porgy and Bess (Columbia) 58
  193. John Coltrane - Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (Impulse) 62
  194. Sun Ra - When Sun Comes Out (Saturn) 63
  195. Charles Mingus - Mingus Dynasty (Columbia) 59
  196. Charles Mingus - Blues and Roots (Atlantic) 59
  197. Sonny Rollins - Work Time (Prestige) 55
  198. Miles Davis - '58 Sessions (Columbia) 58
  199. Ornette Coleman - Twins (Atlantic) 61
  200. Ornette Coleman - To Whom Keeps A Record (Atlantic) 61
  201. Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (Columbia) 73
  202. Herbie Hancock - Speak Like A Child (Blue Note) 68
  203. Archie Shepp - The Way Ahead (Impulse) 68
  204. John McLaughlin - Devotion (Restless) 70
  205. Alice Coltrane - Lord Of Lords (Impulse) 73
  206. Joe Henderson & Alice Coltrane - The Elements (Fantasy/OJC) 73

-- A.S. Van Dorston