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The Greatest Jazz Albums of All Time

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Art Blakey &amp; the Jazz Messengers - Moanin' (Blue Note, 1959)

Moanin'

Moanin' is a jazz album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded in 1958.

Miles Davis - E.S.P. (Columbia, 1965)

Herbie Hancock - Empyrean Isles (Blue Note, 1964)

Empyrean Isles

Empyrean Isles is the fourth album by American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, recorded on June 17, 1964 for Blue Note Records. It features the debut of two of his most popular compositions, "One Finger Snap" and "Cantaloupe Island".

Mal Waldron - Mal/2 (Prestige, 1957)

Mal Waldron - The Quest (Prestige, 1962)

Horace Silver - Song for My Father (Blue Note, 1965)

Song for My Father

Song for My Father is a 1965 album by the Horace Silver Quintet, released on the Blue Note label in 1965. The album was inspired by a trip that Silver had made to Brazil. The cover artwork features a photograph of Silver's father, John Tavares Silva, to whom the title song was dedicated. "My mother was of Irish and Negro descent, my father of Portuguese origin," Silver recalls in the liner notes: "He was born on the island of Maio, one of the Cape Verde Islands."
Allmusic reviewer Steve Huey praised the album:
One of Blue Note's greatest mainstream hard bop dates, Song for My Father is Horace Silver's signature LP and the peak of a discography already studded with classics...it hangs together remarkably well, and Silver's writing is at his tightest and catchiest.
The album was identified by Scott Yanow in his Allmusic essay "Hard Bop" as one of the 17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings.

Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage (Blue Note, 1965)

Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage is the fifth album led by jazz musician Herbie Hancock, and was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder on May 17, 1965 for Blue Note Records. It was issued as BLP 4195 and BST 84195. It is a concept album aimed at creating an oceanic atmosphere. Many of the track titles refer to marine biology or the sea, and the musicians develop the concept through their use of space and almost tidal dynamics. The album was presented with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.
According to Bob Blumenthal's 1999 liner notes, "Blue Note logs indicate that an attempt had been made to record 'Maiden Voyage', 'Little One', and 'Dolphin Dance' six days earlier, with Hubbard on cornet and Stu Martin in place of Williams. Those performances were rejected at the time and have been lost in the ensuing years." A different version of "Little One" was also recorded around the same time by Miles Davis and his quintet for the album E.S.P., also released in 1965.

Bill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debby (Riverside, 1962)

Waltz for Debby

Waltz for Debby is a 1964 album by the American jazz pianist Bill Evans and the Swedish singer Monica Zetterlund.
It was reissued by Verve Records in 2006.

Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else (Blue Note, 1958)

Bill Evans Trio - Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Riverside, 1961)

Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil (Blue Note, 1966)

Speak No Evil

Speak No Evil is the sixth album by Wayne Shorter, recorded on 24 December 1964 and released on Blue Note in 1966. The music combines elements of hard bop and modal jazz. The cover shows Wayne Shorter's first wife, Teruka Nakagami, whom he met in 1961.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959)

Kind of Blue

Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on August 17, 1959, by Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959. The sessions featured Davis's ensemble sextet, with pianist Bill Evans, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. After the entry of Evans into his sextet, Davis followed up on the modal experimentations of Milestones by basing Kind of Blue entirely on modality, in contrast to his earlier work with the hard bop style of jazz.
Though precise figures have been disputed, Kind of Blue has been described by many music writers not only as Davis's best-selling album, but as the best-selling jazz record of all time. On October 7, 2008, it was certified quadruple platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America. It has been regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz album of all time and Davis's masterpiece.

Miles Davis - Milestones (Columbia, 1958)

Milestones

Milestones is the 2002 compilation album by Miles Davis.

Clifford Brown &amp; Max Roach (EmArcy, 1954)

Clifford Brown & Max Roach

Clifford Brown & Max Roach is a 1955 album by influential jazz musicians Clifford Brown and Max Roach as part of the Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet, described by The New York Times as "perhaps the definitive bop group until Mr. Brown's fatal automobile accident in 1956". The album was critically well received and includes several notable tracks, including two that have since become jazz standards. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. It is included in Jazz: A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Important Recordings at #34, where it is described by New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff as "one of the strongest studio albums up to that time".
Originally released on the EmArcy label, it has been multiply re-issued, including in a 2000 edition by Verve Records that contains additional tracks.

Lee Morgan - Search for the New Land (Blue Note, 1966)

Search for the New Land

Search for the New Land is an album by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan. A hard bop set with a group of well-known jazz musicians, Search for the New Land was recorded before The Sidewinder was released and is considered more abstract than its popular predecessor. Although it was recorded in 1964, the album was shelved for two years, then issued with the original catalogue number 84169. It is described by jazz commentator Scott Yanow as "one of the finest Lee Morgan records". The album reached #16 on Billboard's "Black Albums" chart and #143 on "Pop Albums".

John Coltrane - My Favorite Things (Atlantic, 1961)

My Favorite Things

My Favorite Things is the seventh studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1961 on Atlantic Records, catalogue SD-1361. It was the first album to feature Coltrane playing soprano saxophone, and yielded a commercial breakthrough in the form of a hit single that gained popularity in 1961 on radio, an edited version of the title song, "My Favorite Things." In 1998, the album was a recipient of the Grammy Hall of Fame award.

Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus (Prestige, 1956)

Saxophone Colossus

Saxophone Colossus is one of Sonny Rollins' most acclaimed albums. Recorded in June 1956 and released in April 1957, it has been awarded a rare Crown by The Penguin Guide to Jazz, and is widely considered the masterpiece of his mid-1950s series of recordings for Prestige Records and one of the greatest albums ever issued on that label.

Miles Davis - 'Round About Midnight (Columbia, 1957)

Clifford Brown &amp; Max Roach - Study in Brown (EmArcy, 1955)

John Coltrane - Blue Train (Blue Note, 1958)

Blue Train

Blue Train is the second studio album by John Coltrane, released in 1957 on Blue Note Records, catalogue BLP 1577. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, it is Coltrane's second solo album, the only one he recorded for Blue Note as a leader, and the only one he conceived personally for the label. It has been certified a gold record by the RIAA.

Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1960)

Sketches of Spain

Sketches of Spain is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City. An extended version of the second movement of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez is included, as well as a song called "Will o' the Wisp", from the ballet El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla. Sketches of Spain is regarded as an exemplary recording of Third Stream, a musical fusion of jazz, European classical, and styles of world music.

Bill Evans Trio - Portrait in Jazz (Riverside, 1960)

Portrait in Jazz

Portrait in Jazz is an album by American jazz pianist Bill Evans, released in 1960.

Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse!, 1961)

Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson (Verve, 1959)

Grant Green - Idle Moments (Blue Note, 1965)

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