Top Ten Jazz Albums for People Who Don't Know Shit About Jazz

as you said "for people who don't know shit about jazz", that's what it's about no "desert island" stuff here!

um ok Lol

Nice list.

Good list lol! But that is so true and it's a great article :-)

Kiki Melendez even though clearly u know jazz :)

No Bill Evans? Gerry Mulligan? Monk? Sonny Rollins?

How about this for a top 10:

1. Waltz for Debbie - Bill Evans - redefined the piano trio - Evans at his best with Scott LeFaro;

2. Moanin' - Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - quintessenital hard bop - Blakey's best album;

3. Blue Train - John Coltrane's first effort at an album of all originals, recorded before he became impossible to listen to;

4. Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet - if we have to leave out Kind of Blue, his classic quintet with Coltrane & Red Garland;

5. Way out West - Sonny Rollins - one of Rollins' three best albums, and he is one of the two key tenor players of the post-swing era;

6. Masterpieces by Ellington - Duke Ellington - Duke's first LP recorded on tape and not lacquer leads to concert-length renditions of some of his best songs;

7. Live at the Five Spot - Thelonious Monk - with Johnny Griffin on tenor, this cooks like no other;

8. Gerry Mulligan Quartet Featuring Chet Baker - Gerry Mulligan - the best of West Coast jazz. The original recording of Funny Valentine;

9. The Original Savoy Recordings - Charlie Parker - really, they guy who invented bebop has to be here - listen to Koko;

10. Tears of Joy - Don Ellis - Ellis will expand your ears. His best recording, features tunes in 3 2/3 /4, 33/16; with 3 drummers, 2 bassists, an amplified string quartet, a trumpet section playing quarter-tone trumpets, and it swings!

Had to leave out too much, but really, the author's list was really insufficient.

So what about the real standard albims? Blue Train, Birth of the Cool, Bitches Brew, A Love Supreme, Consummation. Some of your list should just does not make sense, especially for people "who do not know shit about jazz."

Your list is infinitely more appropriate for the novice listener. As much as I love Mingus, people who have never listened to Jazz before find him inaccessible the first time they here something like Mingus Ah Um. I remember hearing Bird, the Complete Savoy Recordings when I was a freshman in high school and not having a clue what was going on...I had just digested Miles Someday MY Prince Will come, but he move from that to bop took awhile before I understtod what they were doing. Its hard to go back to virgin ears, but you have to think that way if you're compiling a list for novices..that's why Vince Guaraldi has remained so incredibly popular..the lay listener gets it immediately.

Mmmm, despite the inclusion of "Money Jungle" here, I think Rollins should weigh in on this.

It seems like your list is at odds with itself.  You didn't want to make a list of the "usual" classic important recordings like Kind of Blue.  But you can't have a list without it.  There's a reason why it's so important.  It's not just that it's a historically important album, it's also that good.  It's also very accessible to people that have never heard jazz before.  Which I believe is also what you were going for with your list.  So perhaps A Love Supreme, isn't a good starting place to listen to Coltrane.  However if you listen to Metallica, then it's better chance you would dig A Love Supreme  because of the raw energy of it.  So this really all depends on who your listener you are trying to convince is.  So here's my top 10 list to try to convince a non jazz listener why jazz is important.

1. Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald - Porgy & Bess - First off George Gershwin's music is amazing.  But this is what jazz is all about, nobody can recreate this performance of Pops and Ella, every vocal inflection is perfection and a study in how jazz was born out of the Blues.  And then there is Pops trumpet playing that commands your attention with just one note it's so powerful.  

2. Charlie Parker - Bird with Strings - any Bird recording will do, but here you have some solid string arrangements that are just taken to a new level anytime Bird enters.  Doesn't matter if he's just playing one note or a whole flourish of them. 

3. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue - Only takes a few listens before you will be humming the solos along with the melodies of the tunes because they are that strong.  It also showcases how completely different jazz musicians can approach the same situation.  Miles use of space and his cool tone.  John Coltrane's sheets of sound on arpeggios.  Cannonball Adderley's hard bop linear lines.  

4. Duke Ellington - At Newport - This recording of Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue may be the hardest swinging thing ever recorded.  Your foot won't be just tapping, but bouncing off the floor.  Just listen to how the crowd starts going nuts from Paul Gonsalves solo to the end.  This swings so hard, it sounds like the crowd is about to riot.  That's powerful stuff.

5. Oscar Peterson Trio - The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson.  Highly arranged, very catchy riffs, blistering fast right hand, and another lesson in the power of swing during the interlude of Con Alma, it just builds and builds until you can't take it anymore.

6. Bill Evans - Portrait in Jazz - Jazz can also be an intimate conversation between musicians with the improvisational dialog between them becoming the final work of art.  What comes next has to do what was said before, and it all intertwines between piano, bass, and drums.

7. Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine/ Four and More - This recording takes the conversational improvisation approach about as far as it can go before becoming free jazz.  The entire jazz language is being discussed here and is the only thing really holding it all together.  Sometimes the musicians are even slightly lost, but their greatness says, it doesn't matter, just use your ears and work it out.  We'll all get to the end somehow.  

8. Duke Ellington & John Coltrane - a great example of how two totally different styles and eras can blend together to create great amazing music without changing what they do.  

9. Pat Metheny - Bright Size Life - Metheny and Jaco Pastorius were in their early 20's when they recorded this album that reminds us that while jazz is all about improvisation, the compositions that inspire that improvisation can be even more important.  Most fusion before this was a free exploration between jazz and rock, but on Bright Size Life you have a fusion of rock like compositions that are very catchy with jazz improvisation.

10. Herbie Hancock - The New Standard - while musicians have been doing jazz versions of pop tunes for a while (I can think of a 1969 Ira Sullivan cover of the Beatles' Norwegian Wood for example)  This album seemed to send a message to other jazz musicians, "Hey there's a lot of music out here to be explored, so why keep recording the same standards over and over again.  After this album you started to see lots of younger musicians doing jazz versions of rock tunes.  Plus if you are trying to convert some listeners to jazz, why not do it on their terms, with music they know.  

One last thing - looking back on the list it seems very strange that I don't have a Thelonious Monk album on here.  If I had to take one out and replace it with a Monk album, it would most likely be The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson.  But I really think a non jazz listener will get the Oscar Peterson Trio before Monk's Music.  Perhaps you can sell them on the thought between notes on a recording like Alone in San Francisco.  Or the coolest album cover ever "Underground"

Modern jazz.

Zzzzzzzzz.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

Although i've been a fan of Jazz, I'm relatively new to this genre and have no one around to really talk or educate me.Know most of the classics, don't know much of the "new" kids.Can anyone recommend a good artist or better yet an Album I can use to lure my GF to jazz?Hopefully planning to play it all night while I have her over for dinner i'm planning to cook.thank you

I listen to and appreciate all types of music. I still prefer Rock and Blues and I am a Baby Boomer that's been around the block more than a few times.Dig your list, BUT if you are trying to reach people who don't know shit about Jazz, "Kind of Blue" has to be there. I can honestly say that after at least 1000 listens (I go to sleep to music every night), the music still amazes me.

Hey just thinking about jazz in the present tense and how our film tackles that up and down -- "Icons Among Us." You can check it out on Netflix, iTunes or Amazon and see what is happening today that is really exciting and powerful. If you are really into it, order the the four part DVD series (4x54 min.) from Amazon which unpacks the feature length film (93 min.). We are hosting events and finding other ways to advance our seven year journey to create the series and feature length films. Stay in touch via Facebook/IconsAmongUs!   

The difference between Top 10 Albums and Top 10 Albums for People Who Don't Know Shit About Jazz is an interesting one. I really like that you didn't just name the usual suspects but looked for albums that could best bridge the gap. (Heck, if someone is interested in learning about jazz, they'll hear about "Kind of Blue" soon enough.) It's pretty much the difference between recommending Charlie Parker or Dizzy Gillespie. Both are terrific musicians, but Dizzy is far more welcoming.

As much as it pains me to say it, I would not recommend to a newbie "Giant Steps," "Out to Lunch," "Birth of the Cool,""Speak No Evil," "Bitches Brew," or "I Sing the Body Electric." It took me repeated listenings before I really got those albums (and these are now among my favorites).

On the other hand, "Ella and Louis" is an album that I've heard played in a few different settings by people who were not big jazz fans.

I'd add Dexter Gordon's "Our Man in Paris" and either Sonny Sharrock's "Ask the Ages" or Pharaoh Sanders's "Karma." Those last two are strange and experimental albums, yes, but they always sound very friendly to me.Also, thanks! I didn't know quite a few of these. The Ray Bryant track was great!

Maybe Wes Montgomery could file for an appeal in his jazz crimes court case. Pat Metheny could testify how much he enjoys the smooth jazz music of Wes... Well actually come to think of it, they both need to be tried in a court of musical crime for making accessible music.

Not bad. Well rounded selection featuring items that I don't have in my collection (other than the Monk/Coltrane).

just glad somebody made the list that isn't dead...

Some good choices here, the Monk and Ellington records are great. I would have structured it a bit differently, maybe picking records from each of the eras of jazz or choosing records that would serve as transitions between other genres of music e.g. For fans of classical piano, Bill Evans' solo albums, fans of rock Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, etc

Need to have some older stuff, west coast stuff, big band stuff, etc. to have a representative list. No Bill Evans? Dave Brubeck? I understand that you were trying to limit it to 10, but really!

Is just another list people and not a bad one. Just make your own and share.

as valiant a solution as one could ask for the set-up, all good stuff

Louis & Earl, Bix & Tram

I've turned a lot of people on to jazz with those, more than anything else

Now granted, I am a vocalist, do I love vocal jazz, but not one mention of Ella? If everyone is crying for a Louis, kill two birds with one stone and put Ella and Louis on this list. As for modern jazz, how about Esperanza Spalding? She's got it all: serious chops, cred, not to mention looks. For people who don't know shit about jazz, she would be easily accessible me thinks.

As for your picks, I haven't heard of Ray, but I'll check him out.

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How 'bout some HERBIE?   Manchild!

Hey, I've got a great idea for a column. How about "Ten Movies For People Who Don't Know Shit About Movies"? Here's my list! (1) "Bride of Frankenstein" (2) "Romeo and Juliet" (dir. Baz Luhrmann) (3) "Billy Madison" (4) "Cheyenne Autumn" (5) "The Bells of Saint Mary's" (6) "1776"  (7) "Ben-Hur" (8) "All Quiet on the Western Front" (8) "The Philadelphia Story" (9) "Twelve O'Clock High" and (10) "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."

Of course there could have been better offerings on your list, but I commend you for your desire and effort to introduce the beauty of Jazz to the novice and the unknowing.   

I was not hip to the Ray Bryant, so thank you.Also, anyone who includes The Divine One on a list for those who need Jazz 101 is alright with me.  She is everything to me.FYI, I am a Coltrane baby.  Heard him every single day of my life growing up because my father  eats, sleeps and breathes his music, still to this day.  Consequently, I love Classic Jazz.  Sarah Vaughan, Ella, Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington, Miles, Monk, Elvin Jones, Stephane Grapelli, Sonny Rollins, etc....Long live this art form. 

1) I would add the very straightforward "Ballads" by John Coltrane2) Tony Bennett Sings... More Great Rodgers & Hart Songs w/ George Barnes/Ruby Braff3) Charlie Parker with Strings - With the most beautiful rendition of "Laura" ever4) Wes' Montgomery "Pretty Blue"

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I agree with most of the choices. one or two are suspect to me. There are so many great recordings that I could have come up with a list that would have been at least as accurate as could a lot of people. No Pops ??????????????

How about "Clifford with strings", "Lady in Satin", or Trane`s "Ballads"?

Typical island question is not new. I would take some Pops and Dinah, Rollins and Dexter, Trane and Bill Evans (p), Lady Day and Bird. With the new media players we have all of them available all the time.

No Ornette Coleman? No Charlie Parker? No Louis Armstrong? My God, Sean, tell the people!

Referenced this one recently in my review of Miles Davis "Dark Magus" which is along the same vein of foundation laid by Jack Johnson, albeit with a completely different line-up.

Good reading on this, great recommendations!

If you care to check out my words on Dark Magus: http://icnt.mx/2012/05/miles-d...

I'm not going to judge, but I coincidentally read this Down Beat article today where Miles Davis comments on "Money Jungle":  http://www.forghieri.net/jazz/...

Miles on the song "Caravan"... "What am I supposed to say to that? That's ridiculous. You see the way they can fuck up music? It's a mismatch. They don't complement each other. Max and Mingus can play together, by themselves. Mingus is a hell of a bass player, and Max is a hell of a drummer. But Duke can't play with them, and they can't play with Duke.

Now, how are you going to give a thing like that some stars? Record companies should be kicked in the ass. Somebody should take a picket sign and picket the record company."