Ten Favorite Jazz Albums From the '60s

**No Pride** · 03-23-2013

Inspired by a query from Jerjo in the "Jazz Discussion" thread. Maybe if we pick a few of the same albums, it'll give him a starting point for investigating gems from my favorite decade for jazz. I'll start with an off-the-top-of-my-head list, which is to imply that if I made another one tomorrow, it'd probably come out a little differently. You don't have to, but I'm going to keep it down to one album per artist.

1: Miles Davis - ESP
2: John Coltrane - Live at Birdland
3: Herbie Hancock - Empyrean Isles
4: Wayne Shorter - Juju
5: Wes Montgomery (with the Wynton Kelly Trio) - Smokin' at the Half Note
6: Joe Henderson - Power to the People
7: Bill Evans - At the Montreux Jazz Festival
8: Andrew Hill - Point of Departure
9: Charles Lloyd - Forest Flower
10: Chick Corea - Now He Sings, Now He Sobs

**nosebone** · 03-23-2013

Great idea!

In no particular order:

Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond
Grant Green - Idle Moments
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
Gil Evans - The Individualism of Gil Evans
Herbie Hancock - Speak Like A Child
Joe Henderson - Power To The People
Miles Davis -In A Silent Way
Andrew Hill - Passing Ships
Hank Mobley - Roll Call
Eric Dolphy - Out To Lunch

That was hard..., a top twenty would be easier.

**GuitarGeek** · 03-23-2013

60's, huh? OK, how about:

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Volunteered Slavery
John Coltrane: Africa/Brass
Miles Davis: In A Silent Way
Sun Ra: The Magic City
Sun Ra: Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy
Sun Ra: Atlantis
Jimmy Smith: Back At The Chicken Shack
Bill Evans Trio: Sunday At The Village Vanguard
Duke Ellington/Charles Mingus/Max Roach: Money Jungle
Duke Ellington: The Far East Suite

**Jerjo** · 03-23-2013

If I can be particular, I am especially looking for vinyl. I have Bill Evans Portrait in Jazz on vinyl and I love to spin it on a Sunday morning. That is until my wife gets up and complains that it's too many notes for this early in the morning.

**Wisdomview** · 03-23-2013

Too hard! My list would definitely contain mid to late Coltrane, Miles, Ornette, Don Cherry, Shorter, Hancock, Bill Evans, Dolphy (Out To Lunch), also the first 2 Tony Williams albums (Lieftime & Spring), Evans and Hall......... Ugh, too many........

**Wisdomview** · 03-23-2013

Originally Posted by No Pride

8: Andrew Hill - Point of Departure

That's a great one too!

**Poisoned Youth** · 03-23-2013

Very difficult to do 10 without it being fairly obvious, so I'll splash in a few extra and only do one per artist...

John Coltrane – Africa/Brass
Miles Davis – In A Silent Way
Eric Dolphy – Out To Lunch
Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage
Pharoah Sanders – Karma
Ornette Coleman – Town Hall, 1962
Sun Ra – Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 1
Andrew Hill – Point of Departure
Charles Mingus – Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Grachan Moncur III – Evolution
Cannonball Adderley – Country Preacher
Art Ensemble of Chicago - People in Sorrow
Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue
Dexter Gordon - One Flight Up
Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond
Wayne Shorter - The All Seeing Eye
McCoy Tyner - Expansions

**Poisoned Youth** · 03-23-2013

Originally Posted by nosebone

Great idea!

Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond
Grant Green - Idle Moments
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
Joe Henderson - Power To The People
Miles Davis -In A Silent Way
Hank Mobley - Roll Call
Eric Dolphy - Out To Lunch
.

Scary. All of these are either my tops or 2nd fave from these guys.

**walt** · 03-23-2013

Here goes..

Herbie Hancock-Empyrean Isles
Jeanne Lee & Ran Blake-The Newest Sound Around
Tony(Anthony) Williams-Spring
Gil Evans Orchestra-Out Of The Cool
Jimmy Giuffre 3-1961
Eric Dolphy-Out To Lunch
Ornette Coleman-Crisis
Art Ensemble of Chicago-People In Sorrow
Mingus at Antibes
Miles Davis-In A Silent Way..one more for good luck..
Cecil Taylor-Student Studies

**Dave (in MA)** · 03-23-2013

Here are a few of mine that weren't mentioned.

**yogibear** · 03-23-2013

my jazz stuff is not as large as y'alls.
eric dolphy - out to lunch
herbie hancock- maiden voyage
mingus at antibes
wayne shorter - ju ju
andrew hill- point of departure
john coltrane-a love supreme
stan getz joao gilberto- getz/gilberto
miles - miles smiles
rahsaan roland kirk - I talk with the spirits
wes montgomery - the incredible jazz guitar

**Trane** · 03-23-2013

I'll include the seminal 1959 year but exclude 1969 as to avoid Miles' JR/F and most of Trane's legacy galaxy (Alice, Mccoy, Pharoah, etc...)
another self-imposed restraint, no more than two per artiste)

Miles - Kind Of Blue
Brubeck - Time Out (or Impressions of Japan)
Miles & Gil - Sketches Of Spain
Sun Ra - The Nubians of Plutonia
John Coltrane – Africa/Brass
Gil Evans Orchestra-Out Of The Cool (or the Individualism of )
Mingus - Black Saint
Graham Collier - Deep Dark Blue Centre
Rendell-Carr Quintet - Dusk Fire
john coltrane-a love supreme

heyyyyy!!! waddyaknow... I got 10 and stop at that

Yup, I'm not a big Blue Note fan (so no Shorter, no Hancock, No A. Hill, no D Byrd

**Reid** · 03-23-2013

Herbie Hancock-Inventions And Dimensions
Miles Davis Quintet-Miles Smiles
Oliver Nelson-Straight Ahead
Yusef Lateef-Live At Pep's Vols 1&2
Mingus-Oh Yeah!
Mingus-Blues & Roots
Horace Silver-Cape Verdean Blues
Archie Shepp-The Way Ahead
Eric Dolphy-Iron Man
Ornette Coleman Trio-At The Golden Circle
McCoy Tyner-The Real McCoy

Ernie mentioned Joe Henderson's Power To The People, a really fine date from '69.
And all of the Graham Collier stuff re-issued on BGO is worth picking up.

**Paul** · 03-23-2013

Joe Henderson - Mode for Joe
Joe Henderson - Page One
Grant Green - Idle Moments
Grant Green - Street of Dreams
Hank Mobley - No Room For Squares
Hank Mobley - Roll Call
Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
Miles Davis - Miles Smiles
Kenny Dorham - Whistle Stop
McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy

**mogrooves** · 03-23-2013

Booker Little ~ Out Front
Max Roach ~ Percussion Bitter Sweet
Larry Young ~ Unity
Chick Corea ~ Tones For Joan's Bones
Booker Ervin ~ Heavy!
Joe Harriott ~ Free Form
Randy Weston ~ African Cookbook
Anthony Braxton ~ For Alto
Muhal Richard Abrams ~ Levels and Degrees of Light
Gary Burton ~ A Genuine Tong Funeral

**nosebone** · 03-23-2013

Shit, I forgot Larry Young and bobby Hutch.

**NogbadTheBad** · 03-23-2013

bookmarking this for future reference

**Trane** · 03-24-2013

Originally Posted by mogrooves

Max Roach ~ Percussion Bitter Sweet
Larry Young ~ Unity
Chick Corea ~ Tones For Joan's Bones
Joe Harriott ~ Free Form

Yeah, there are some good ones in there, but with only 10 slots allowed, drastic choices have to be made... Only space for the "big classics"

Harriott: I prefer the Indo-Jazz Fusion stuff he did with Amancio D'Silva and John Mayer (not the new artiste) i n the second half of the 60's
Roach: Members Don't Get Weary is actually stunning... and much more adventurous than his early 60's

**sonic** · 03-24-2013

Nat Adderley — You, Baby
Lonnie Smith — Move Your Hand
Larry Coryell ‎– Coryell
Grant Green —Matador (Yes, I know it was't released at the time ... which is shocking considering how amazing it is)
Herbie Mann — At the Village Gate
Gato Barbieri — The Third World
Charlie Byrd —Byrd at the Gate
Lee Morgan — The Sidewinder
Larry Young — Unity
Gábor Szabó — Spellbinder

**Dana5140** · 03-24-2013

John Coltrane- Selflessness
John Coltrane- Meditation
John Coltrane- Love Supreme
John Coltrane- Ascension
Sun Ra- Heliocentric Worlds Vol 1
Pharoah Sanders- Karma
Anthony Braxton- For Alto
Ornette Coleman- Free Jazz
Albert Ayler- Bells
Cecil Taylor- Unit Structures

**N_Singh** · 03-24-2013

Albums that stick out (my problem is that I bought all the greats' box sets, so I think of boxed sets more than albums):

Mingus: The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Gil Evans: The Individualism of Gil Evans
Sonny Rollins: the Bridge
Ellington: Far East Suite
Oliver Nelson: the Blues and the Abstract Truth
WesMo: Smokin' at the Half Note
Ornette Coleman: This is Our Music
Trane: Africa/Brass
Miles: in a Silent Way
Stan Getz: Focus
Bil Evans: Complete at the Village Vanguard

**No Pride** · 03-24-2013

Glad to see a lot of love for "The Real McCoy!" The only reason I didn't include it on my list was that McCoy was already on two other albums I chose and I wanted to fit Chick and Bill Evans in there. But that's a classic with some of Tyner's best tunes and a great personnel!

Lots of great choices here! And I know, keeping it down to 10 is difficult; sorry!

**N_Singh** · 03-24-2013

This was an incredible period for big bands--in an artistic way-not as popular dance bands.

In addition to Gil Evans, we had: (1) the Gerry Mulligan Concert Band; (2) Gerald Wilson; (3) Thad Jones and Mel Lewis; (4) Oliver Nelson.

This gets lost in the shuffle. But I will compare these groups with any in recorded music.

Those five big bands have been collected in Mosaic box sets---these are my absolute favorite Mosaics.

**Reid** · 03-24-2013

I love Oliver Nelson's small group recordings, but some of that big band stuff doesn't hold up too well. It's sounds dated, and very much of its time. But I dig Gil Evans and George Russell.