The Top 50 Jazz Albums of All Time

Jazz: The Top 50 Albums

24 lists focused on jazz albums were aggregated to create this list. Those albums featured on 2 or more lists were then sorted by overall points in Dave’s Music Database. Other jazz albums not appearing on the lists were factored in as well. Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here. 1. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (1959) 2. Norah Jones Come Away with Me (2002) 3. John Coltrane A Love Supreme (1965) 4. Miles Davis Bitches Brew (1970) 5. George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, & Dubose Heyward Porgy and Bess (1935) 6. Frank Sinatra Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! (1956) 7. Bessie Smith The Essential (compilation: 1923-33, released 1997) 8. Louis Armstrong The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (box set, recorded 1925-28, released 2000) 9. Glenn Miller Glenn Miller (aka “Glenn Miller & His Orchestra”) (compilation: 1939-42, released 1945) 10. Dave Brubeck Time Out (1959) 11. Norah Jones Feels Like Home (2004) 12. Stan Getz & João Gilberto Getz/Gilberto (recorded 1963, released 1964) 13. Henry Mancini The Music from Peter Gunn (soundtrack, 1959) 14. Duke Ellington The Blanton-Webster Band (box set: 1939-42, released 1990) 15. Benny Goodman The Complete Legendary Carnegie Hall Concert (live, recorded 1938) 16. Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) 17. Herbie Hancock Head Hunters (1973) 18. Miles Davis & Gil Evans Sketches of Spain (1960) 19. Miles Davis Birth of the Cool (recorded 1949-50, released 1957) 20. Charles Mingus Ah Um (1959) 21. Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus (1956) 22. Eric Dolphy Out to Lunch! (1964) 23. Bill Evans Trio Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961) 24. Miles Davis In a Silent Way (1969) 25. John Coltrane Giant Steps (recorded 1959, released 1960) 26. Duke Ellington At Newport (live, 1956) 27. Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook (1956) 28. Henry Mancini Breakfast at Tiffany’s (soundtrack, 1961) 29. Bill Evans Trio Waltz for Debbie (live, 1961) 30. Charlie Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Studio Recordings (box: 1944-48, released 2000) 31. Weather Report Heavy Weather (1977) 32. Charles Mingus The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963) 33. Erroll Garner Concert by the Sea (live, 1955) 34. Thelonious Monk Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (recorded 1947, released 1951) 35. Mahavishnu Orchestra The Inner Mounting Flame (1971) 36. Thelonious Monk Brilliant Corners (1956) 37. The Quintet (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, & Max Roach) Jazz at Massey Hall (live, 1953) 38. Jamiroquai Travelling Without Moving (1996) 39. Miles Davis & Gil Evans Miles Ahead (1957) 40. Louis Armstrong & Earl Hines Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines (compilation: 1928-29, released 1989) 41. Oliver Nelson Blues and the Abstract Truth (1961) 42. George Benson Breezin’ (1976) 43. Norah Jones Not Too Late (2007) 44. Duke Ellington Far East Suite (1966) 45. Ornette Coleman Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (1960) 46. John Coltrane Blue Train (1957) 47. Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage (1964) 48. Keith Jarrett The Köln Concert (live, 1975) 49. Wayne Shorter <9>Speak No Evil (1964) 50. Dizzy Gillespie The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (compilation: 1937-49, released 1995) Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: other best-of-genre lists First posted 4/13/2011; last updated 3/15/2024.

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Albums (May 2021)

Originally posted 5/22/2021. January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the tenth group of album inductees. These are the among the top twenty jazz albums of all time, excluding previous inductees Miles Davis’ A Kind of Blue, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Bessie Smith’s The Essential, Louis Armstrong’s Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings, Glenn Miller’s Glenn Miller, Henry Mancini’s Music from Peter Gunn, Duke Ellington’s The Blanton Webster Band 1939-1942, and Benny Goodman’s Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert. See the full list of album inductees here.

Frank Sinatra Songs for Swingin’ Lovers (1956) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

“Sinatra’s albums for Capitol introduced the singer’s album, the concept album and the grown-up album all at once.” RC On this album, the focus from Ol’ Blue Eyes and conductor/arranger Nelson Riddle was “on churning out up-tempo dance versions of standards.” SHS Read more.

Duke Ellington At Newport (1956) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

After an unsuccessful stint at Capitol Records, Duke Ellington re-established himself “as a vitally popular jazz artist” AMG with At Newport, a recorded of his appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956. The original album release was “almost fully manufactured, recorded in a studio with crowd madness dubbed in” AB but four decades later, a tape of the original Newport set saw the light of day, reviving the “set in its organic glory.” AB Read more.

Charles Mingus Ah Um (1959) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

Ah Um “is a stunning summation of the bassist’s talents and probably the best reference point for beginners…Mingus’ compositions and arrangements were always extremely focused, assimilating individual spontaneity into a firm consistency of mood, and that approach reaches an ultra-tight zenith” AMG on Mingus’ debut for Columbia, a Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry inductee. Read more.

Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

This “was a watershed event in the genesis of avant-garde jazz, profoundly steering its future course and throwing down a gauntlet that some still haven’t come to grips with. The record shattered traditional concepts of harmony in jazz, getting rid of not only the piano player but the whole idea of concretely outlined chord changes.” AMG The album was Coleman’s debut with Atlantic and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry. Read more.

Dave Brubeck Time Out (1959) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

“Dave Brubeck’s defining masterpiece, Time Out is one of the most rhythmically innovative albums in jazz history…Brubeck’s record company wasn’t keen on releasing such an arty project, and many critics initially roasted him for tampering with jazz’s rhythmic foundation. But for once, public taste was more advanced than that of the critics.” SH Read more.

Stan Getz with João Gilberto Getz/Gilberto (1963) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

“One of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time, not to mention bossa nova’s finest moment.” AMG “It’s one of those rare jazz records about which the purist elite and the buying public are in total agreement.” AMG Getz/Gilberto brought “two of bossa nova’s greatest innovators – guitarist/ singer João Gilberto and composer/ pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim – to New York to record with Stan Getz. The results were magic.” AMG The Grammy winner for Album of the Year featured The Girl from Ipanema, “one of the biggest smash hit singles in jazz history.” AMG Read more.

John Coltrane A Love Supreme (1965) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme is “widely considered his masterpiece.” WK Jazz critic Tom Hull called it “the most perfectly plotted single piece of jazz ever recorded.” WK It is also “easily one of the most important records ever made” JI in any genre. Techno-DJ Moby said it “is probably oe of the most beautiful and sublime recordings of the twentieth century.” AK-xvi Read more.

Miles Davis Bitches Brew (1970) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

“Inspired by the visionary work of James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and Sly Stone, Miles Davis began incorporating funk grooves and electronic instruments into his music – first with the languid, contemplative In a Silent Way…and then on…Bitches Brew.” TL The latter is “thought by many to be the most revolutionary album in jazz history, having virtually created the genre known as jazz-rock fusion.” TJ Read more.

Herbie Hancock Head Hunters (1973) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

“Perhaps the defining moment of the jazz-fusion movement (or perhaps even the spearhead of the Jazz-funk style of the fusion genre), the album made jazz listeners out of rhythm and blues fans, and vice versa.” WK “Hancock had pushed avant-garde boundaries on his own albums and with Miles Davis, but he had never devoted himself to the groove as he did on Head Hunters,” STE an inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry. Read more.

Norah Jones Come Away with Me (2002) Inducted May 2021 as “Top Jazz Albums.”

In 2003, Norah Jones won Grammys for Best New Artist, Album of the Year for Come Away with Me, and Record and Song of the Year for the album’s lead single, “Don’t Know Why.” The album topped the Billboard album chart and sold 27 million worldwide. “Though its surprising success…overwhelmed it, this seductively modest little record is a marvel of mood and invention. The songwriting and arrangements are sophisticated, often jazzy, yet full of catchy hooks. And Jones’ vocals are silken and perfectly turned, setting a seamless mood that could soundtrack high-end restaurants and low-rent make-out sessions alike.” RS’11 Read more.

Today in Music (1959): Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come recorded

The Shape of Jazz to Come Ornette Coleman

Released: November 1959 Recorded: May 22, 1959 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: jazz > avant garde

Tracks: Lonely Woman Eventually Peace Focus on Sanity Congeniality Chronology Total Running Time: 37:59 The Players: Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone) Don Cherry (cornet) Charlie Haden (bass) Billy Higgins (drums)

Rating: 4.781 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings) Quotable: “A watershed event in the genesis of avant-garde jazz” – Steve Huey, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Ornette Coleman’s Atlantic debut, The Shape of Jazz to Come, was a watershed event in the genesis of avant-garde jazz, profoundly steering its future course and throwing down a gauntlet that some still haven’t come to grips with. The record shattered traditional concepts of harmony in jazz, getting rid of not only the piano player but the whole idea of concretely outlined chord changes.” AMG “The pieces here follow almost no predetermined harmonic structure, which allows Coleman and partner Don Cherry an unprecedented freedom to take the melodies of their solo lines wherever they felt like going in the moment, regardless of what the piece’s tonal center had seemed to be.” AMG “Plus, this was the first time Coleman recorded with a rhythm section – bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins – that was loose and open-eared enough to follow his already controversial conception. Coleman’s ideals of freedom in jazz made him a feared radical in some quarters; there was much carping about his music flying off in all directions, with little direct relation to the original theme statements. If only those critics could have known how far out things would get in just a few short years; in hindsight, it’s hard to see just what the fuss was about, since this is an accessible, frequently swinging record.” AMG “It’s true that Coleman’s piercing, wailing alto squeals and vocalized effects weren’t much beholden to conventional technique, and that his themes often followed unpredictable courses, and that the group’s improvisations were very free-associative. But at this point, Coleman’s desire for freedom was directly related to his sense of melody – which was free-flowing, yes, but still very melodic. Of the individual pieces, the haunting Lonely Woman is a stone-cold classic, and Congeniality and Peace aren’t far behind. Any understanding of jazz’s avant-garde should begin here.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Ornette Coleman AMG All Music Guide review by Steve Huey WK Wikipedia First posted 5/3/2008; last updated 3/14/2024.