Top Ten List
Versioning: The Top Ten Songs for Asking Someone “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?"
by Dean Nardi
Tin Pan Alley is on West 28th in NYC, between 5th and 6th Avenues, but it references much more than a location and a few buildings that are now designated as landmarks. This is where the magic was created by songwriters composing for the live theater on Broadway. The term “Tin Pan" was slang at the time for a “decrepit old piano." Almost all of the songwriters used the piano as their writing instrument as guitars were mainly for rhythm ...
Continue ReadingThe Timeless Sounds of Chet Baker: A Look at the Trumpeter and Vocalist’s Top Ten Songs
by DIG 9000
Chet Baker, a name synonymous with cool jazz, left an indelible mark on the world of music with his evocative trumpet playing and hauntingly beautiful vocals. His career, spanning from the early 1950s until his untimely death in 1988, produced a wealth of recordings that continue to resonate with audiences today. In celebrating Baker's legacy, it's essential to highlight some of his most influential and beloved recordings. Here's a look at the top ten recordings that showcase the depth and ...
Continue ReadingThe Ten Best Jazz Christmas Albums Of All Time
by Peter J. Hoetjes
As temperatures drop and days grow short, Winter is once again upon us. For those looking to listen to the sounds of the season without resorting to December's relentless slew of glossy, generic cash-grabs, jazz can be a breath of fresh, wintry air. You won't find (many) singers on this list, since most people already know and have records by Frank, Dean, Ella, Karen, and more. Instead, I've put together jazz's greatest Christmas albums from the golden age to today. ...
Continue ReadingTop Ten Lee Morgan Recordings
by Jason Innocent
These albums represent a diverse range of Lee Morgan's musical output and showcase his virtuosity, innovation, and contribution to jazz trumpet. The Sidewinder Blue Note Records 1963 Morgan's most famous and commercially successful release is this album. It features the catchy title track, which became a major hit and is now considered a jazz standard. Cornbread Blue Note Records 1965 This album showcases Morgan's exceptional ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington's Top Ten Albums
by DIG 9000
Duke Ellington, the legendary jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader, released numerous albums throughout his illustrious career. It's challenging to narrow down his extensive discography to just ten, but here are some essential Duke Ellington albums that showcase his incredible talent and contribution to jazz: Ellington at Newport Columbia Records 1956 This live album is one of Ellington's most famous and significant recordings, featuring the iconic performance of “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" with an ...
Continue ReadingJazz For The Serious Connoisseur
by Phillip A. Haynes
In tackling this top ten list for serious students of jazz, the focus was on works that shocked and intrigued upon first and successive listens, striving to understand their meaning, materials, historical context, and influence on contemporary improvisation. “Blackbird" (1980) by Bobby McFerrin, The Voice (Elektra, 1984) When released, McFerrin's astounding virtuosity represented the first revolution in scat since Ella Fitzgerald. His entertaining and breathtaking “man chorale" approach utilizes rapidly juxtaposed tessituras, changeable vocal characters, integrated ...
Continue ReadingPat Martino Top Ten Albums: More Than Meets The Eye
by Ian Patterson
Hugely admired by his peers, guitarist Pat Martino never really enjoyed the high profile accorded the likes of John McLaughlin, John Abercrombie, Pat Metheny or John Scofield, though in that esteemed company the Philadelphian guitarist, who passed away in 2021, surely belongs. In a sixty-year career, interrupted for the guts of a decade by a near fatal brain aneurysm--see Ian Knox's documentary Martino Unstrung (Sixteen Films, 2008)--Martino recorded twenty-seven albums as leader for labels such as Prestige, Muse, ...
Continue ReadingTop Jazz-Rock Fusion Recordings
by Douglas Groothuis
The emergence of jazz-rock fusion in American music in the late 1960s was controversial. To some, those who played it were traitors to the cause of jazz. Others thought it has saved jazz from extinction. Sometime in the 1960s, rock had eclipsed jazz in popularity in America, and many jazz aficionados were none too happy about that. Even folk had gone electric when Bob Dylan plugged in his guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. At that, some shouted ...
Continue ReadingB.B. King: Through the Years
by Alan Bryson
Sixty-six years passed from the time in 1948 when Riley King auditioned for a spot on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program, until his final performance at the House of Blues on October 3, 2014 in Chicago. His life was a remarkable odyssey from a sharecropper's cabin to the pinnacle of success. We'll never know how many millions of miles he logged on his tour bus in the 50s and 60s --he and his band essentially lived on the road in ...
Continue ReadingFilmmaker Joerg Steineck's Top Ten John Scofield Albums
by Michael Ricci
In his All About Jazz interview, Berlin-based filmmaker Joerg Steineck discusses the making of his documentary Inside Scofield. As the title suggests, the film takes a look at guitar icon John Scofield's career and life on (and off) the road as a touring jazz musician. After the interview we asked Joerg to identify his favorite “Sco" records. Interviewer Mike Jacobs also chimed in with a half dozen of his own. 1. A Go Go (Verve, ...
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