Best Jazz Album Recorded?

[CDB Studios]

For me?

Kind Of Blue





-Zach

[goldenarmes]

Crescent - John C.

If i only could get that sound...the tones RVG gets on the upright is insane. anyone haev any advice on how to approach that?

[aurelialuz]

[]

[cwileyriser]

Best is hard to say, but I know that I love Art Blakey's Moanin' - another Rudy Van Gelder production. It was remastered and reissued a few years ago and sounds wonderful. On top of that, it's one of the all-time classics musically, at least for hard bop.

[bert]

MILES SMILES

[wing]

Best is hard to say, but I know that I love Art Blakey's Moanin' - another Rudy Van Gelder production. It was remastered and reissued a few years ago and sounds wonderful. On top of that, it's one of the all-time classics musically, at least for hard bop.

that was going to be the one i was going to say actually. i love that record.

i will also have to go with miles davis's kind of blue.

there was a thelonius monk album i really liked but i forgot which one...

[bert]

Another one I've always loved is "The Quest"
with Mal Waldron on piano, Eric Dolphy doing beautiful things on clarinet, Ron Carter playing cello, Booker Ervin on sax.
The atmosphere is so heavy and so delicate all at the same time.

[jajjguy]

Mingus "The Great Concert"

It has my favorite tune, "Meditations on Integration," with Mingus bowing the bassline he had written for Eric Dolphy to play. Dolphy was dead, which sucks, but i actually prefer the version without him.

[Lostboy]

i like peter brotzmann a lot. but best album -> ?

[wayne kerr]

It has to be Paradise by Kenny G.. MAN, that thing is PERFECT... the drum machi... err, drummer doesn't miss a 64th note! I mean you can put that thing on and next thing you know, you're waking up in the back of an ambulance with a steering wheel indent in your forehead. Yeah, gotta vote for this one!

E

[bobbydj]

Jazz might've gone shitty in the '70s but there's a great LP by Ramon Morris called 'Sweet Sister Funk' from, uhm, '72 (?). The question is, is it more funk than jazz? But then I play it and think 'who cares?!?!'

[soundguy]

I dont imagine I can sneak The Grand Wazoo in there, so I'll go for a more traditional pick...

In a Silent Way would probably get my pick, which I thik was pulled from the same sessions as Kind Of Blue. Either those two or On The Corner/Water Babies.

dave

[goldenarmes]

Another one I've always loved is "The Quest"
with Mal Waldron on piano, Eric Dolphy doing beautiful things on clarinet, Ron Carter playing cello, Booker Ervin on sax.
The atmosphere is so heavy and so delicate all at the same time.

oh man..how did i forget eric dolphy. last date is one of my favorites. its a live recording but damn its dynamic and just has a real feeling.

[soundispatch]

I dont imagine I can sneak The Grand Wazoo in there, so I'll go for a more traditional pick...

sure, the grand wazoo is definitely one of the greatest jazz albums out there!

In a Silent Way would probably get my pick, which I thik was pulled from the same sessions as Kind Of Blue.

i don't think this can be correct. the players, music and approach (in a silent way was spliced to death, like bitches brew) were entirely different on these albums. from the silent way period, 'tribute to jack johnson' is very heavy.

are we speaking of great recordings, best compositions or best performances? wayne shorter's 'speak no evil' combines all three beautifully, also mingus 'ah um'? rvg made so many great recordings that it's hard to choose something simply based on recording.

recently, joe ferla is doing some great stuff with dave douglas. 'in our lifetime' is a classic. also tim berne's recent stuff blows me away (especially his compositions) --- if you're living in new york, you should definitely check him out live.

-cal

[todd]

sorry dave,
not getting nit-picky but "kind of blue" and "in a silent way" were recorded almost exactly 10 years apart (in 3/59 and 2/69 respectively). there is not a single member (besides miles) that plays on both sessions. there lies a huge portion of miles' progression between the 2 albums (namely the picking up of herbie hancock, wayne shorter, and tony williams during the "quintet years"). john coltrane appeared on kind of blue...how fucking crazy is that!!! i do appreciate you trying to throw zappa in here however.

MY VOTE for best jazz albums include ANYTHING from the miles davis quintet on columbia and the John coltrane quintet on impulse(but don't forget my favorite things, giant steps...)

to the peter brotzmann mentioner earlier, "machine gun" from 1969 is the quintessential european freee jazz album, but make sure you have some gauze handy for your ears, it's beyond brutal!!!
don't forget ornette, dolphy (mentioned earlier) "out to lunch", john zorn's masada, anthony braxton "for alto" and on and on and on....

next time ask for the 500 best jazz albums and you'll still be leaving countless scores out...

sorry to those well deserving jazz artists that i've left out while i stand briefly on my soapbox...mingus, oscar, jackie mclean, duke...stop me now!!!

thanks,
todd