Top 10 Essential Jazz Albums
Upgrade Your Jazz Music With These Essentials
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Actually, if you want to argue semantics, maybe we should call this a cooperative list of individual Top 5s. We leave that choice up to you. Either way, what follows is a list of 10 albums selected by Gear Patrol crew members Jason Heaton and Eric Yang as essential albums in your current or about-to-be-started jazz album collection. After all, any man’s music collection deserves a few, if not many, jazz classics. Maybe you already have a few scattered songs here or there in your collection, but isn’t it about time you go full monty? Here are our suggestions on some classic (and unique) essentials to build upon.
Selections from Jason Heaton:
Kind of Blue by Miles Davis
Possibly the greatest jazz album ever. From the first note, this album started a whole new genre of jazz in the 1950s and confirmed Miles’s place as one of the great musical innovators. This is the album you play on vinyl. Make sure the lights are low.
Cost: $8
Live at Blues Alley by Wynton Marsalis
Jazz is music meant to be heard live. This album is the next best thing. This was Marsalis in his younger days, ripping through standards at a crowded club. You’ll work up a sweat just listening to it.
Cost: $20
Time Out by Dave Brubeck Quartet
Brubeck was a master of mood and this is him at his best. “Take Five” is the recognizable track on this album. Even people who don’t know jazz know this one.
Cost: $8
Winelight by Grover Washington Jr.
OK, purists, let’s be upfront, this is jazz fusion. But this ain’t no Kenny G. It’s smoky, early ’80s smooth and Grover played a mean saxophone. He got some help from Bill Withers on “Just the Two of Us” and won a Grammy.
Cost: $9
Still Life (Talking) by Pat Metheny Group
Another fusion album, but this one has all the elements of great jazz - jamming improvisation, long solos, and great musicians. Metheny was a masterful guitarist. The track “Last Train Home” evokes a mood like no other song. Listen to it and you’ll agree.
Cost: $10
Selections from Eric Yang:
Beyond The Missouri Sky by Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny
Repeat on Pat Metheny… “Beyond The Missouri Sky” will pull at the musical heartstrings of you men who clamor for a slower pace of life. Pair this one with your favorite brew on the patio and you’ve got something commonly referred to as bliss.
Cost: $15
Somethin’ Else by Cannonball Adderly
Read the album cover. Cannonball Adderly’s quartet included Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Hank Jones, and Sam Jones. Wow. Sure, they come from different schools of jazz, but, in unison, lay down some incredible tracks. “Somethin’ Else” should be one of your first stops, even if you’re told otherwise.
Cost: $12
The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett
Anyone who knows jazz knows that piano is one of the essential keystone instruments. Keith Jarrett has a following larger than the European Union and it all started with “The Köln Concert”. An absolute 88-key marvel.
Cost: $14
Empyrean Isles by Herbie Hancock
Sure, it’s known for the album that carried Cantaloupe Island, but damn, if this album doesn’t inspire gimlet martinis and a consideration for cigarettes, I’m not sure what does. Less celebrated than Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage,” but, to this writer, it’s the superior album.
Sunday At the Village Vanguard by Bill Evans Trio
This album is a solid piece for those of you starting out your jazz collections. The choice is admittedly subjective, but unique is always good. It doesn’t take any ramp-up time to listen to the Bill Evans Trio with their accessible jazz style. The entire album can be listened back to front without a moment of hesitation.
Cost: $12
This list will inevitably inspire some argument or suggestions. If you’ve got an addition, change, or otherwise, we want to hear it. Leave a comment and let us know.
This is great, I've been listening to "Improvisations" on NPR (I'm getting old) on my way home lately, and wondering where to start on adding Jazz to my collection.
Seriously, no John Coltrane?
^ Exactly. Where's Coltrane? You can't leave Coltrane behind if you are talking about top 10 jazz albums!
It's ridiculous that Giant Steps, Bitches Brew and Bright Size Life aren't on this list.
I must concede that the absence of Coltrane is quite glaring.
I had Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" on my top ten but when asked to contribute five albums, I wanted to keep it diverse, so dropped it. Trust me, making this list was very difficult and we left off Ellington, Parker, Holliday, and many many others. OK, maybe "top ten" isn't the best title.
For what it's worth, Coltrane figures prominently on "Kind of Blue."
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great article! whenever i'm stressed "some kind of blue" makes my worries vanish.
Other people have mentioned Coltrane, and his My Favorite Things is gorgeous, but I want to add some extra Miles. Sketches of Spain. It's completely different from Kind of Blue, and for that matter different from many other jazz albums, but it's nearly as seminal as Kind of Blue.
You just can't have a top 10 for jazz. The same for rock n' roll and ever other genre of music. You're going to need at least 20 or 30 albums to accurately sample the breadth and depth of such a vast musical spectrum.
A co-worker apparently got invited to the Vancouver Jazz Festival gala opening and doesn't know much about Jazz. So I had to give a crash course and I'm more of blues funk guy. Heck I'm more of a singer songwriter kinda guy. Anyway is there a law that all top ten lists have to have Kinda Blue in it? What about On the Corner? Someone recommeded that to me once but I didn't care for it as much as Headhunters or the Sermon I saw Unity on a list on Amazon I own those three. My taste is a bit eclectic but I like this list, it has some orginality.
I also told my co-work all the great Jazz musicians are dead, but Sonny Rollins is headlining this year but the old generation just like in blues is largely gone.
Where is Ornette's Shape of Jazz To Come?
And for Herbie-what about Maiden Voyage or Speak Like A Child?
Also there isn't one Mingus album on that list.
No George Benson "Breezin" or Chuck Mangione "Feels so Good"??? Those were the top two smooth jazz albums of all time!
This is a good list of the traditional jazz, though.
Kind of Blue is the best without a doubt! I'm a Parker fan but I agree with Paul as far as Chuck goes. He's silky smooth!
just listen to "coltrane play the blues" and if you like blues …. and jazz ….. you will for sure put it in the top ten …. but what about bill evans, wayne shorter, herbie hancock, wes montgomery, dexter gordon ….. and many others
Sure I can agree with the posters that missing Coltrane is glaring, but what about the seminal jazz figure Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong and the Hot Fives (& Hot Sevens) changed music, shaped culture, and defined Jazz, and they did this in the 1920’s.
Before Blakley, Brubeck, Coltrane, Davis, Monk, there was Armstrong.