Roy Hargrove – Habana
1997 Roy Hargrove’s “Habana” is a widely lauded album not only because it won a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Performance but also because it is a real fusion of different styles of jazz. Roy really...
View ArticleMiles Davis – E.S.P.
1965 You can’t talk about jazz without talking about Miles Davis. For ESP, Davis assembled his second quintet – this one populated with young guns like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. This album...
View ArticleSonny Rollins – The Bridge
1962 As many jazzheads may know, Sonny Rollins retired in 1959. That didn’t last long, however, as three years later he came out with “The Bridge,” an album featuring a line up that would come to...
View ArticleTerence Blanchard – Flow
2005 Terence Blanchard’s “Flow” proved that while the jazz genre has changed considerably since the days of the giants, there are still great jazz albums being made currently. Jazz is constantly...
View ArticleMilt Jackson and Wes Montgomery – Bags Meets Wes!
1962 Bags Meets Wes! is an album that was spawned when Milt Jackson demanded the ability to do a co-leader album with Montgomery before signing with his record label, Riverside. Jazz aficionados all...
View ArticleChristian Scott – Live at Newport
2008 Ever since Christian Scott came into mainstream jazz consciousness he has been compared to Miles Davis, and this is a comparison that the trumpeter welcomes. Davis is his hero and you can hear it...
View ArticleMarc Johnson – Bass Desires
1985 Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires is a guitar-lover’s jazz album. It features a pairing of jazz guitarists Bill Frisell and John Scofield that some have called “auspicious” and while this is certainly...
View ArticleDuke Ellington – Money Jungle
1963 Duke Ellington’s post-bop record Money Jungle is widely regarded as one of the greatest jazz records of all time. It’s a classic that puts together Ellington, Max Roach, and Charles Mingus to...
View ArticleAlbert Collins – Ice Pickin’
1978 Albert Collins was a relatively unknown guitar player until Ice Pickin’ came out in the late 1970s. Once this album hit, it changed the way a lot of blues men looked at their guitars. Collins’s...
View ArticleJohn Coltrane – Blue Train
1957 John Coltrane’s Blue Train is a hard bop album that saw the saxophonist sticking to the genre in a manner that has kept it as testament to those who want to know what hard bop is all about all...
View ArticleCharles Mingus – The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
1963 Charles Mingus’s The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is widely regarded as one of his finest works, one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, and indeed one of the greatest albums of all time....
View ArticleMahavishnu Orchestra – Birds of Fire
1973 Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Birds of Fire marked the last studio album by the original group put together by John McLaughlin and listening to this album it’s hard to understand why. The first track,...
View ArticleWoody Shaw – Night Music
1982 Woody Shaw is another example of a great musician taken from us all too early. Before his death, however, he left us great jazz albums such as Night Music to forever remember him by. At first...
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