MLK Day: Eight for Freedom

Today in the U.S., it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday since 1986 to honor the slain civil rights leader and a holiday recognized by all 50 states since 1999. To remember Dr. King, I chose seven great jazz albums that express what King was fighting for. Let freedom ring:

Here's Sonny Rollins's Freedom Suite (1958), the album's first track...



Here's Max Roach's We Insist: Freedom Now Suite (1960)...



Here's Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers's Freedom Rider (1961)...



Here's Jackie McLean's Let Freedom Ring (1962)...



Here's Kenny Burrell's Freedom (1963)...



Here's Booker Ervin's The Freedom Book (1963)...



Here's Jaki Byard's Freedom Together (1966)...



And here's Nathan Davis's Rules of Freedom (1967), with Nathan Davis (ts,sop,fl), Hampton Hawes (p), Jimmy Garrison (b) and Art Taylor (d)...