Jazz Album Recommendations Master-list

Jazzcord invite link: discord.gg/qsGRWH5 Big Band

Bands that are big.

• Count Basie at Newport - Count Basie Youtube / Spotify

• Duke Ellington at Newport - Duke Ellington Youtube / Spotify

• Sinatra and Basie - Frank Sinatra, Count Basie Youtube / Spotify

• Central Park North - Thad Jones Youtube / Spotify

Cool Jazz

Reserved solos over structures which tend to be open to more harmonic interpretation. Notably developed on the west coast of North America.

• Crosscurrent - Lennie Tristano Youtube / Spotify

• Kind of Blue - Miles Davis Youtube / Spotify

• Time Out - Dave Brubeck Youtube / Spotify

• Together - Chet Baker and Paul Desmond Youtube / Spotify

Bebop

Prioritises harmonic complexity, fast tempos, and virtuosic playing.

• Bird's Best Bop On Verve - Charlie Parker Youtube / Spotify

• Live At Massey Hall - The Quintet Youtube / Spotify

• For Musicians Only - Dizzy Gillespie Youtube / Spotify

• Kaleidoscope - Sonny Stitt Youtube / Spotify

• Our Man in Paris - Dexter Gordon Youtube / Spotify

Hard Bop

Came after bebop. More effort put into composition, influenced by other popular music from the African diaspora at the time such as rhythm and blues. Existed and grew parallel to cool jazz.

• Soul Station - Hank Mobley Youtube / Spotify

• Study In Brown - Clifford Brown and Max Roach Youtube / Spotify

• Moanin’ - Art Blakey Youtube / Spotify

• Saxophone Colossus - Sonny Rollins Youtube / Spotify

• Horace Silver - Song For My Father Youtube / Spotify

• Them Dirty Blues - Cannonball Adderley Youtube / Spotify

• Giant Steps - John Coltrane Youtube / Spotify

Latin Jazz

Emphasising constant forward momentum with rhythmically identifiable patterns from Cuba, Brazil, and other Latin American countries.

• Stone Flower - Antônio Carlos Jobim Youtube / Spotify

• Irakere Live at Ronnie Scott's Birmingham - Irakere Youtube / Spotify

• El Rey Bravo - Tito Puente Youtube / Spotify

• Light as a Feather - Chick Corea Youtube / Spotify

• Getz / Gilberto - João Gilberto, Stan Getz Youtube / Spotify

• Cannonball's Bossa Nova - Cannonball Adderley Youtube / Spotify

• Do the Bossa Nova - Herbie Mann Youtube / Spotify

Trad-Jazz

Pre-bebop, with the basis of improvisation usually being the melody instead of the underlying chords.

• Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven - Louis Armstrong Youtube / Spotify

• Ragtime Jazz - Sidney Bechet Youtube / Spotify

• The Port of Harlem Jazzmen (Complete Recordings) Spotify

Fusion

A fusion of jazz and rock, featuring heavy experimentation with electronic instruments.

• Casiopea self-titled - Casiopea Youtube / Spotify

• Heavy Metal Be-Bop - Brecker Bros Youtube / Spotify

• Aja - Steely Dan Youtube / Spotify

• Light as a Feather - Return to Forever Youtube / Spotify

• Bitches Brew - Miles Davis Youtube / Spotify

Post-Bop

Ambiguously defined, somewhere between hard-bop and avant-garde jazz. Less structured than the former but not quite as limitless as the latter.

• A Love Supreme - John Coltrane Youtube / Spotify

• Destination Out - Jackie McLean Youtube / Spotify

• Evolution - Grachan Moncur III Youtube / Spotify

• Songbook - Kenny Garret Youtube / Spotify

• Tachibana - Tohru Aizawa Quartet Youtube / Spotify

• Maiden Voyage - Herbie Hancock Youtube / Spotify

• Thembi - Pharoah Sanders Youtube / Spotify

Free/Avant-garde Jazz

Nearly no harmonic structure. Completely free improvisation based on active musical communication between musicians. Can be a challenging listen.

• The Shape of Jazz to Come - Ornette Coleman Youtube / Spotify

• Angels and Demons at Play - Sun Ra Youtube / Spotify

• Interstellar Space - John Coltrane Youtube / Spotify

• Spirits Rejoice - Albert Ayler Youtube / Spotify

• Bitches Brew - Miles Davis Youtube / Spotify

Feel free to come and discuss this list on the jazz Discord server