Blog » Jazz Album “Must-Haves”

Reading Time: 9 minutesJanuary 18, 2019

JAZZ ALBUM “MUST-HAVES”

Have you ever asked yourself the question: “What albums would I buy if I had to build-up my Jazz collection up from scratch?”

Well, the albums in this blog would be the “must-haves” for me. Some of them rank high on various Jazz charts you can find online. The albums listed in this blog are “listed” in random order. All these albums are worth buying. I will update this article from time to time …

NOTE: For more information about the albums, check Wikipedia or just Google!


ACOUSTIC JAZZ

Albums with what jazz-purists would call “real jazz”, with other words “mainstream”: Swing, Bebop, Hardbop … 

You might have wondered … “Hey, were is Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue in that list?” … have you?


1959 – THE YEAR THAT CHANGED JAZZ

Years ago I saw a BBC documentary called “1959, The year that changed Jazz“. In this docu they talk about four important Jazz albums made that year (1959). I had already two of those albums (“Kind of Blue” and “Time Out”) in my collection, and – after watching the docu – added the other two as well. Tongue Out

Instead of writing all about these albums, I’d like to suggest you [ watch this documentary on youtube ]


JAZZ WITH STRINGS

Absolute quality music for a romantic dinner … or just to “drift away” with in thoughts or (day)dreams …


“AVANT-GARDE”, FREE-JAZZ, FREE-FUNK …

Not for the faint-hearted and close-minded.


CONCEPT ALBUMS

The albums of Cannonball and Nat Adderley were inspired by The Zodiac. If you like to read more about the relationship between Astrology and Music, then read the article “Zodiac & Tonality (Music)“.



(SEMI) ELECTRIC JAZZ & GROOVE-BASED JAZZ

Albums with “groovy” music. From Jazzrock/Fusion, to Jazz-Funk and Crossover.
Jazz-purists might not call it Jazz … thank God I’m not a purist!


(SEMI) ELECTRONIC JAZZ

Various (semi) electronic Jazz genres: Jazz-Hop, Nu-Jazz, Broken-Jazz, et cetera … 


FOOT NOTES

Some “comments” about some of the albums listed in this blog. 

KIND OF BLUE (MILES DAVIS)
The best selling Jazz album ever in Jazz history! 

TIME OUT (DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET)
This album contains the best ever soled Jazz Single: “Take Five”. A Jazz album where the Quartet explores “non common time signatures” (5/4, 6/4, 9/8), something new to Jazz in those days. It might be interesting to know, that the 9/8 rhythm in “Blue Rondo à la Turk” is not a Turkish rhythm, but a rhythm commonly used in Bulgarian and Macedonian traditional folklore music. 

THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME (ORNETTE COLEMAN)
This album has been called the birth of “Free Jazz” by some.

MINGUS AH UM (CHARLES MINGUS)
Besides being a masterpiece, this album contains a clear fearless outspoken message about society, politics, and against racism.

SOMETHIN’ ELSE (CANNONBALL ADDERLEY & MILES DAVIS)
On this album you can hear what I find the prettiest version of Autumn Leaves.

FUTURE 2 FUTURE (HERBIE HANCOCK)
The live DVD is a must too!


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