Essential bop jazz recordings

[Brett A]

I'm wondering if ya'll could help. For a long time, I've considered these titles --correctly or incorrectly--to represent the pinnacle of 50's and 60's bop and hard bop genres. I'm continuing to expand this style and era of music in my CD collection and am curious to hear what people consider the best of the best. Thanks in advance for your opinions.

Dave Brubeck -Take Five
Miles Davis -Kind of Blue
Coltrane -Blue Train & Love Supreme
Monk -Just about anything w/Charlie Rouse
Cannonball Adderly -Somethin' Else
Sonny Rollins -Saxophone Colossus
Bill Evans -Sunday at the Village Vanguard & Waltz for Debbie
Art Blakey -Night in Tunisia

What am I missing?

dig

[dean_martin]

These may be considered 2nd tier bop/hard bop by some, but each has at least a couple of very strong tracks:
Hank Mobley - No Room for Squares
Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder

[MindGoneHaywire]

That's a good list, though I wouldn't call Love Supreme bop. I think Giant Steps is just as good, and My Favorite Things just as interesting. And I like some of the Impulse titles like Coltrane's Sound, etc. And the live One Up, One Down that came out a couple of years ago is great.

Some of my favorites also wouldn't be considered bop, but people do tend to get hung up on labels. Chet Baker was knocked sometimes, but it doesn't make any sense. For one disc, I'd suggest My Funny Valentine; for a good box, Pacific Jazz Years. Grant Green, Matador, Grantstand, and/or the Complete Quartets. Jimmy Smith...the Sermon. Herbie Hancock...Takin' Off. Charlie Parker With Strings. Miles...the Seven Steps box is amazing, and I've listened to Blue Haze as much as anything else recently. Rollins...The Bridge and Tenor Madness are rated up there with Saxophone Colossus, and I like the 1964 RCA sessions thing also. Another tenor, Dexter Gordon...Go!

And I'm partial to Bossa Nova, so some Stan Getz...

[Brett A]

I can't believe I forgot Mingus AH UM in my OP.

That's a good list, though I wouldn't call Love Supreme bop. I think Giant Steps is just as good, and My Favorite Things just as interesting. And I like some of the Impulse titles like Coltrane's Sound, etc. And the live One Up, One Down that came out a couple of years ago is great.

I've got Coltrane pretty well covered. I have all his Atlantic recordings, and the Impulse years classic Quartet box which contains all the albums that quartet put out. I'd have to say of the Impulse stuff, my favorite is Africa/Brass.

Why not call Love Supreme bop? because it transcends? or is there another genre I'm missing?

Chet Baker was knocked sometimes, but it doesn't make any sense. Another tenor, Dexter Gordon...Go!

I recently picked up a compilation called the best of Chet Baker Sings. I've really been digging it.
I forgot about Getz. I have the famous album w/ Girl from Ipanema on vinyl
I will check out Dexter Gordon Go!

[nobody]

Tons of records could be listed here and some good ones already have been. I'll just toss out a few more that I haven't see brought up.

Miles Davis: Walkin - Before he started creating new sounds with Kind of Blue, Miles was key to the early development of Bop and this is one of his strongest dates.

I'll also suggest a vocal record since you dig the Chet Baker, Johnny Hartman with John Coltrane is the only time Coltrane worked with a vocalist and is an excellent album.

And, while I'm taking about Coltrane, his Ballads album seems kinda divisive with some loving it and others thinking it shows him slumming it with these melodies instead of something wilder, but to me it just sounds great. Excellent playing that show you don't have to blow the roof off the make a great jazz record.

Last pick I'll make will be Horace Silver's Song for my Father. Great, accessible melodies make this one an easy listen. Instantly catchy, and you'll almost certainly recognize the opening lines of the title track which were later appropriated by Steely Dan.

(Just noticed you said you've already got Coltrane covered...oops. I'll toss out another suggestion then...Lou Donaldson: Blues Walk, an album that tosses a bluesy vibe into the bop mix.)

[Brett A]

Tons of records could be listed here and some good ones already have been. I'll just toss out a few more that I haven't see brought up.

Miles Davis: Walkin - Before he started creating new sounds with Kind of Blue, Miles was key to the early development of Bop and this is one of his strongest dates.

I'll also suggest a vocal record since you dig the Chet Baker, Johnny Hartman with John Coltrane is the only time Coltrane worked with a vocalist and is an excellent album.

And, while I'm taking about Coltrane, his Ballads album seems kinda divisive with some loving it and others thinking it shows him slumming it with these melodies instead of something wilder, but to me it just sounds great. Excellent playing that show you don't have to blow the roof off the make a great jazz record.

Last pick I'll make will be Horace Silver's Song for my Father. Great, accessible melodies make this one an easy listen. Instantly catchy, and you'll almost certainly recognize the opening lines of the title track which were later appropriated by Steely Dan.

(Just noticed you said you've already got Coltrane covered...oops. I'll toss out another suggestion then...Lou Donaldson: Blues Walk, an album that tosses a bluesy vibe into the bop mix.)

Good, good. I'm getting some good titles here.
I'm thinking of going to see Lou Donaldson at Bryant College in April. I just saw Freddy Cole there, he was wonderful. So far, don't have any of Lou's music.

Perhaps another one I could have added to my original list, a title I finally picked up last week, is Ornett Coleman's Free Jazz

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Miles Davis: Walkin - Before he started creating new sounds with Kind of Blue, Miles was key to the early development of Bop and this is one of his strongest dates.

I'd mention any of his quartet of Quintet albums leading up to KOB...Walking, Relaxing, Cookin' and Working. Not to mention Birth of the Cool

Oscar Peterson - Night Train
Gene Ammons - Boss Tenor
Mingus - Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus Mingus
Sonny Rollins - A Night at the Village Vanguard, Way Out West
Dexter Gordon - A Swinging Affair
The Poll Winners, featuring Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and Shelley Manne
Ben Webster - Soulville
Ike Quebec - Easy Livin'
Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd - Jazz Samba
Vince Guaraldi - Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus

Maybe not all essential, but damn fine.

[nobody]

You forgot Steamin'.

I'll second the mentions of Oscar Peterson: Night Train and Ben Webster's Soulville for sure. Another couple on there I may need to check out.

[jrhymeammo]

Can I recommend some Hiphop? Ok, maybe not.

Great rec'mendation above, especially Songs for my Father and Boss Tenor.

I will like to add a few of my favorite:

*Ray Bryant - Slow Freight
*Ahmad Jamal on Argo label
*Wynton Kelly - Kelly Great
*Bobby Timmons - This Here is BT

[Brett A]

Can I recommend some Hiphop?

I'd be interested to hear that too, but it would be a bit off topic.

Some far, some of my faves in that area are:

• Kool Keith -Black Elvis/Lost in Space
  
• All of Missy Elliot's stuff except Cookbook (if you call her hip-hop)
• Jurassic 5 -Power in Numbers
• Blackalicious -Blazing Arrows
• Cee-Lo Green -and his perfect imperfections
• Dr Dre -The Chronic 2000

But back to the jazz thing,
I have ordered a copy of Ben Webster's Soulville and will soon get a copy of Horace Silver's Song for my father.

Thanks for all your input so far. I'm going to keep all these names w/me next time I go hunting.

[Feanor]

I'm wondering if ya'll could help. For a long time, I've considered these titles --correctly or incorrectly--to represent the pinnacle of 50's and 60's bop and hard bop genres. I'm continuing to expand this style and era of music in my CD collection and am curious to hear what people consider the best of the best. Thanks in advance for your opinions.

Dave Brubeck -Take Five
Miles Davis -Kind of Blue
Coltrane -Blue Train & Love Supreme
Monk -Just about anything w/Charlie Rouse
Cannonball Adderly -Somethin' Else
Sonny Rollins -Saxophone Colossus
Bill Evans -Sunday at the Village Vanguard & Waltz for Debbie
Art Blakey -Night in Tunisia

What am I missing?

dig

Brett, thanks for that. I'm not huge jazz fan but I have a small collection and I like Bop, or perhaps more precisely taxonomically, Bob, Hard Bop, Modal, and Post-Bop


I'm too poor and cheap to add recordings to my collection ramdomly, so I construct lists to aid my collecting based on various recommendations. Here is my list of top Bop, Hard Bop, Modal, and Post-Bob recordings, (classification per AMG) -- it includes most of yours not suprisingly:

Modal	Coltrane, John	A Love Supreme
Modal	Coltrane, John	My Favorite Things
Bop	Davis, Miles	Cookin'
Hard Bop	Davis, Miles	Miles Smiles
Hard Bop	Davis, Miles	Round About Midnight
Post-Bop	Davis, Miles	Kind of Blue
Hard Bop	Donaldson, Lou	Blues Walk
Post-Bop	Evans, Bill, Trio	Sunday at the Village Vangard
Post-Bop	Evans, Bill, Trio	Waltz for Debby
Hard Bop	Griffin, Johnny	A Blowin' Session
Modal	Hancock, Herbie	Empyrean Isles
Modal	Hancock, Herbie	Maiden Voyage
Hard Bop	Henderson, Joe	Page One
Hard Bop	Hubbard, Freddie	Ready for Freddie
Post-Bop	Hubbard, Freddie	Breaking Point
Hard Bop	Hutcherson, Bobby	Dialogue
Bop	Monk, Thelonious	Brilliant Corners
Bop	Monk, Thelonious	Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane
Post-Bop	Rivers, Sam	East Broadway Rundown
Bop	Rollins, Sonny	A Night at the Village Vanguard
Bop	Rollins, Sonny	Saxophone Colossus
Hard Bop	Rollins, Sonny	Way Out West
Modal	Shorter, Wayne	Speak No Evil

[Brett A]

Brett, thanks for that. I'm not huge jazz fan but I have a small collection and I like Bop, or perhaps more precisely taxonomically, Bob, Hard Bop, Modal, and Post-Bop

Wow. Thanks for the table. I wasn't even aware of the sub-categories of bop. It will be a valuable piece of information as I continue to refine my tastes.
all the best, brett

[Feanor]

Wow. Thanks for the table. I wasn't even aware of the sub-categories of bop. It will be a valuable piece of information as I continue to refine my tastes.
all the best, brett

Yeah, I am just going by AMG's jazz classification, not that I'm expert myself.

I totally agree about Ah Um Mingus. I missed it because AMG classifies it as "Avant-Garde"

[basite]

Can I recommend some Hiphop? Ok, maybe not.

Great rec'mendation above, especially Songs for my Father and Boss Tenor.

I will like to add a few of my favorite:

*Ray Bryant - Slow Freight
*Ahmad Jamal on Argo label
*Wynton Kelly - Kelly Great
*Bobby Timmons - This Here is BT

hey mista populah, clear some space in that pm box of ya

back on topic:
definately check out Kenny Burrell's 'blue lights' volume 1 and 2, and Donald Byrd - Royal Flush, and Slow Drag...

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

[jrhymeammo]

done.

[noddin0ff]

I'm not very good at my sub-genres...web crawling says 'hard-bop'

Stanley Turrentine and the 3 Sounds: Blue Hour

This is on of my faves, not mentioned above. It's blues-y and swings. Nothing too challenging really, so it's an easy listen. I have a particular weakness for Willow Weep for Me by just about anyone, but I like this one a lot (Apple Lossless Sample Linky). I have the complete, remastered sessions (linked above). S.T. has a fat, rich sound which is a nice counterpart to some of the great Sax players above.