Another great thought stimulating video Andy. My relationship with Bitches Brew has also been complicated. I was huge into fusion in the 70's, and I kept reading about how amazing and groundbreaking Bitches Brew was. And when I read the credits I thought it had to be amazing because it had all my guys on it... Zawinul, Shorter, McLaughlin, Chick, Cobham, Lenny White, etc... my mind was absolutely drooling! So I put it on and... meh. Sounded like everybody was playing in a different room. Only "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" caught my ear, and it didn't blow me away. So I thought obviously I must be missing something, these guys are way too good for this album to just be "ok". I'd put it on every few years or so, and it got better, but I still was pretty underwhelmed. This went on for 40 years... Then in 2018 the quadraphonic mix was released on SACD. I'm not even sure why I bought it, but my mind hasn't been the same since the first time I hit "play". The quad mix spread everything out, and suddenly it all made sense! All the interplay and dynamics that were lost to me in the stereo mix were there, and I finally understood the compositions buried beneath all the jamming. It absolutely blew me away, and I couldn't stop playing it for weeks! Nothing else could satisfy what Bitches Brew was doing to my head. So if you can, I emphatically recommend checking out the quad mix of Bitches Brew. It's everything they say and have said about the greatness of Bitches Brew. There's definitely a reason it changed all those genius musician's lives forever. Thanks AE!
A fine list and i love your alternates. Regarding pre-1959 jazz, or the last few years I have been recompiling 78rpm multi-disc shellac albums in my iTunes library. The Columbia Hot Jazz Classics series, Victor' Hot Jazz series and the 10" vinyl series of LPs called 'Piano Moods' also on Columbia all make fascinating listening . They usually feature great artwork, too. I also enjoy recreating shellac and early vinyl albums in other genres too.
As someone said down below: "Jazz is to big a tent for 10 albums". After all, Jazz is essentially composition in the moment. That is what sets it apart from other genres. Each great jazz musician moved the music forward. The progress and the evolution of jazz was done by the musicians themselves! The goal was always - discovery, laying it down so that the next guy could pick it up. Thanks Andy for imparting your historical knowledge on the internet. We need more educators like you. Jazz is American Classical music.
Good evening in 1971 Frank Zappa was at a jazz festival. and backstage he heard Duke Ellington asking the organizer for a few dollars. Zappa saw that jazz was at a difficult time.
30:25 St. Thomas The Pioneer Banque nightclub, Seattle. 1974 or 1975. Sonny Rollins for two nights only. I was 22 or 23 and had saved my money to attend both sets Saturday night. I think it was a $15 cover. Something hugely expensive. Sonny on tenor. Stanley Cowell, piano. Bob Cranshaw, Fender bass (Sonny liked the electric bass). David Lee, drums. Anyway. I don't remember the set lists but the music was remarkable. After the first set (1 Hour), management cleared the house which meant everyone but me a two other couples (75 person capacity?). I moved up to a table right in front of the bandstand. So after everyone was served during the 45 minute intermission the band, minus Sonny, took the stage. And they sat there. And they sat for a while longer. Finally we could hear Sonny playing back in the dressing room. He emerged and wended his way through the audience playing and acknowledging the crowd table by table. This went on for a few minutes. And the crowd began to rev up as Sonny began to build the sound. Finally Sonny took the stage, cued the band and they hit St. Thomas. The 75 or so of us present went completely nuts. It was, and is all these years later remains, one of the greatest performances I ever attended. Sonny appeared in Seattle fairly regularly throughout the 80's 90's. and 2000's. Saw him for the last time probably 2010 at a sold-out Paramont Theatre in front of a crowd of 3,000 at the annual Earshot Jazz Festival with Bob Cranshaw still on Fender Bass. Sonny is a giant in the music.
Another good one, Andy. My addition to this list would be Jazz Advance by the Cecil Taylor Quartet from 1957. Groundbreaking, but a very difficult listen. His early 70s records are challenging, so consider walking into an empty club in '57 and being confronted by this quartet. His acceptance was hard fought.
I'm of the opinion there's a certain cut of Jazz Critic (and musician) who wanted time to stop in 1959, at least stylistically. That's just my opinion, not a bush that burns yet is not consumed, but in my experience, even that divide pales before the divide over Bitches Brew. My father, who was a gigging jazz drummer, loved the album, but that is by no means a universal opinion. There's a video on YT of a debate between James Mtume and Stanley Crouch that illustrates this much more than I could. I live in Western New York, and two of our local music critics (one of whom I knew from grad school) actually wrote duelling critiques of the work in one of our local papers, pro and cons. Music appreciation is a very serious business for some people. Thank you for your upload, Andy. Normally, I avoid anything like a top ten list; those "greatest" lists Rolling Stone churns out give me a screaming headache, but this upload I found very informative. JAMES
I was one of those pot head acid dropping hippies that did get into Bitches Brew. It was a gateway into jazz for me as I was also listening to Disraeli Gears, Abbey Road, Ladies of the Canyon, Music From Big Pink, etc around that period. It was an excellent era to be young. Thanks for your knowledgeable assessment of this list.
I still think Monk is underrated, even now!!! I absolutely ❤ Monk!!! I immersed myself in his music when I started playing jazz, way back....and I can listen to it anytime. After Bird and Miles it is Monk, Monk, Monk, all the way for me. Absolute genius!!! Charlie Haden deserves a feature sometime....saw him several times with Metheny, he was outstanding every gig. It was the perfect vehicle to hear his unique playing.....
Mingus Ah Um made its way to join my limited number of jazz CDs, for the simple reason that it has the original version of “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”. My favourite Jeff Beck performance is his cover on Wired. Love the Mingus album too.
That was an excellent video Andy, it has signposted for me artists and albums I need to check out to explore jazz more, out of all of those I only have Kind of Blue. That was one of the most informative videos I've ever watched. As an aside, bearing in mind what you said about Sonny Rollins playing on a bridge, was he the inspiration for Bleeding Gums Murphy in The Simpsons?
I don't get this view that Bitches Brew is not accessible. I was listening to it when I was 12 and totally got it. It is a monumental album that is beyond categorisation. Miles called it New Directions in Music and that is exactly what it is. It is jazz, but it is also so much more.
Thanks Andy - clever and informative video. Especially to highlight Bill Evans' amazing talent and "Sunday". Not least his interaction with Scott LaFaro during their solos where they almost weave the instruments together, actually makes a lot of other piano trios seem a bit "primitive".
St. Thomas is the Sonny Rollins' tune you were thinking of. Bitches Brew is an acquired taste; it does take some work, but it is great. Jarrett's Koln Concert is fantastic! Scott Lafaro was amazing; such a tragic loss.... This is a solid list, but there are so many.... Coltrane was just incredible.
I think it was Downbeat magazine that said Eric Dolphy's 'Out to Lunch' was the greatest jazz album. btw I don't think Miles ever dissed Ornette. He said he took his time with it, was equivocal, but eventually saw that it was a brilliant step forward. Jimmy garrison famously said it was fake bullshit.
You call it the 'Goldilocks' period, the perfect, classic moment, the 50s into the 60s. My sense is that the pre-bebop period has almost disappeared for many contemporary jazz lovers. 1959 is now 65 years in the past. It maybe should be ancient history, dated, quaint but it's not. But 1935- Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, Tatum, Hawkins is. Even if to people who really know and love jazz it's just as great.
5 Jazz albums that shook...me: Krzysztof Komeda - Astigmatic (1966) Don Pullen - Random Thoughts (1990) Miles Davis - On The Corner (1972) The Tony Williams Lifetime - Ego (1971) Billy Cobham - Spectrum (1973)
In 1993, I blindly bought a dusty cassette of Kevin Eubanks - Sundance (1984) and since then it has been my favorite jazz album that I have yet to get tired of. This album borrowed a lot from Allan Holdsworth - i.o.u. (1982) The first jazz album I ever bought was Pat Metheny - Life (talking) 1987
A. I can't deal with Charlie Parker w/strings B. It's BRILLIANT corners not DIFFERENT corners (indignant jazz snob sniff) C. Fully agree with 'the Bridge', especially the tune'John S.'!
Small clarification on Mingus Ah Um: Columbia records prevented Mingus from singing "those" lyrics on Fables for Faubus on this record. The singing didn't appear until the version on "Chrales Mingus Presents Charles Mingus" released on Candid.
I can understand why the earlier greats are not on a list that is about "jazz albums that shook the jazz world". Its not a list of the best or most influential. The title infers that the list is about "shaking up" the existing jazz world and hence the music of the past greats . To shake up something there must exist something to shake up in the first place. And you have to start somewhere!. I would argue that Bitches Brew did indeed achieve that despite the other Miles records around that time..
"Bitches Brew" may have been relatively inaccessible but it still reached #4 on Billboard's R&B LP chart! I actually think "On The Corner" is a better record where the ideas coming from James Brown, Sly Stone, Funkadelic and even Norman Whitfield's sides for the Temptations seem to gel more cohesively. However I'm not sure that makes it a jazz record but who cares?
It is funny, when I started reading „Wire“, it was the Jazz Magazine of Great Britain, I have a subscription now, but Jazzwise, I can‘t find at the Mainstation Zürich Newsstands. It might be interesting to read that too.
A lot of great albums…and no Take 5… interesting… not to mention no Dizzy. Im no jazz connoisseur, but Dizzy was a jazz icon. And the Take 5 album was a mind blower, in 1959! How do you try to maximize complexity, AND somehow, incomprehensibly, make it more accessible?
I think if you look at the top 30 on the jazzwise list, then the top ten don't seem so exclusionary. I think you are spot on with The Bridge. (Williamsburg Bridge) over Colossus. And though I Love Sonny Rollins, he is probably more top 15 than top 10.
good evening I have most of the albums presented. vinyls or cd. I saw a video of Charles Mingus getting kicked out of his New York apartment. with his family the police accompany them and his double bass is placed against a lamppost. sad story.
Yer, for me Live at Koln is not one of Jarrett's best. It doesnt come close to Fort Yawuh for me, but obviously far more accessible for a punter. I agree with some of the comments and would replace it with 'Out to Lunch', now that is some real heavy shit.... Or I would obviously accept "Sixteen Men of Tain" as a replacement, however, not sure the jazz nazis would be too happy with that.
All these magazine lists are always biased to a particular demographic and readership, and of course it's always about the sales. Jazzwise is aimed at a strictly modernist audience and rarely strays into the pre-modern era. Today's jazz hipsters typically don't listen to much jazz before Miles' electric period and can be very sniffy about the perceived racial stereotypes of the Armstrong era.
Another great thought stimulating video Andy. My relationship with Bitches Brew has also been complicated. I was huge into fusion in the 70's, and I kept reading about how amazing and groundbreaking Bitches Brew was. And when I read the credits I thought it had to be amazing because it had all my guys on it... Zawinul, Shorter, McLaughlin, Chick, Cobham, Lenny White, etc... my mind was absolutely drooling! So I put it on and... meh. Sounded like everybody was playing in a different room. Only "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" caught my ear, and it didn't blow me away. So I thought obviously I must be missing something, these guys are way too good for this album to just be "ok". I'd put it on every few years or so, and it got better, but I still was pretty underwhelmed. This went on for 40 years...
Then in 2018 the quadraphonic mix was released on SACD. I'm not even sure why I bought it, but my mind hasn't been the same since the first time I hit "play". The quad mix spread everything out, and suddenly it all made sense! All the interplay and dynamics that were lost to me in the stereo mix were there, and I finally understood the compositions buried beneath all the jamming. It absolutely blew me away, and I couldn't stop playing it for weeks! Nothing else could satisfy what Bitches Brew was doing to my head. So if you can, I emphatically recommend checking out the quad mix of Bitches Brew. It's everything they say and have said about the greatness of Bitches Brew. There's definitely a reason it changed all those genius musician's lives forever.
Thanks AE!
I am surprised Dave Brubeck's Time Out isn't on that list. Take 5 is the gateway drug to jazz, or at least it was for me.
A fine list and i love your alternates. Regarding pre-1959 jazz, or the last few years I have been recompiling 78rpm multi-disc shellac albums in my iTunes library. The Columbia Hot Jazz Classics series, Victor' Hot Jazz series and the 10" vinyl series of LPs called 'Piano Moods' also on Columbia all make fascinating listening . They usually feature great artwork, too. I also enjoy recreating shellac and early vinyl albums in other genres too.
As someone said down below: "Jazz is to big a tent for 10 albums". After all, Jazz is essentially composition in the moment. That is what sets it apart from other genres. Each great jazz musician moved the music forward. The progress and the evolution of jazz was done by the musicians themselves! The goal was always - discovery, laying it down so that the next guy could pick it up. Thanks Andy for imparting your historical knowledge on the internet. We need more educators like you. Jazz is American Classical music.
"Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny!". The brilliant Frank Zappa.
Good evening in 1971 Frank Zappa was at a jazz festival. and backstage he heard Duke Ellington asking the organizer for a few dollars. Zappa saw that jazz was at a difficult time.
Great appetizer for jazz, have to check out several of the albums on the list and the ones you mentioned. Thanks!
Great discussion!
As usual Andy, very informative. Keep doing these please!
Good analysis. I look forward to listening to some of your suggestions. Thank you.
Excellent! I’m just starting to appreciate Jazz and this guide is just what I need. Thanks.
30:25 St. Thomas The Pioneer Banque nightclub, Seattle. 1974 or 1975. Sonny Rollins for two nights only. I was 22 or 23 and had saved my money to attend both sets Saturday night. I think it was a $15 cover. Something hugely expensive. Sonny on tenor. Stanley Cowell, piano. Bob Cranshaw, Fender bass (Sonny liked the electric bass). David Lee, drums. Anyway. I don't remember the set lists but the music was remarkable. After the first set (1 Hour), management cleared the house which meant everyone but me a two other couples (75 person capacity?). I moved up to a table right in front of the bandstand. So after everyone was served during the 45 minute intermission the band, minus Sonny, took the stage. And they sat there. And they sat for a while longer. Finally we could hear Sonny playing back in the dressing room. He emerged and wended his way through the audience playing and acknowledging the crowd table by table. This went on for a few minutes. And the crowd began to rev up as Sonny began to build the sound. Finally Sonny took the stage, cued the band and they hit St. Thomas. The 75 or so of us present went completely nuts. It was, and is all these years later remains, one of the greatest performances I ever attended. Sonny appeared in Seattle fairly regularly throughout the 80's 90's. and 2000's. Saw him for the last time probably 2010 at a sold-out Paramont Theatre in front of a crowd of 3,000 at the annual Earshot Jazz Festival with Bob Cranshaw still on Fender Bass. Sonny is a giant in the music.
Another good one, Andy. My addition to this list would be Jazz Advance by the Cecil Taylor Quartet from 1957. Groundbreaking, but a very difficult listen. His early 70s records are challenging, so consider walking into an empty club in '57 and being confronted by this quartet. His acceptance was hard fought.
Its been a while since I watched your recent videos, Andy - looking forward to this one, for sure!
MO, RTF, Brand X
I'm of the opinion there's a certain cut of Jazz Critic (and musician) who wanted time to stop in 1959, at least stylistically. That's just my opinion, not a bush that burns yet is not consumed, but in my experience, even that divide pales before the divide over Bitches Brew. My father, who was a gigging jazz drummer, loved the album, but that is by no means a universal opinion. There's a video on YT of a debate between James Mtume and Stanley Crouch that illustrates this much more than I could. I live in Western New York, and two of our local music critics (one of whom I knew from grad school) actually wrote duelling critiques of the work in one of our local papers, pro and cons. Music appreciation is a very serious business for some people. Thank you for your upload, Andy. Normally, I avoid anything like a top ten list; those "greatest" lists Rolling Stone churns out give me a screaming headache, but this upload I found very informative.
JAMES
Cool stuff Andy
I was one of those pot head acid dropping hippies that did get into Bitches Brew. It was a gateway into jazz for me as I was also listening to Disraeli Gears, Abbey Road, Ladies of the Canyon, Music From Big Pink, etc around that period. It was an excellent era to be young.
Thanks for your knowledgeable assessment of this list.
BRILLIANT Corners, Andy.
wonderbarer channel. now i'm listen to the bridge. so happy weekend!
I still think Monk is underrated, even now!!! I absolutely ❤ Monk!!! I immersed myself in his music when I started playing jazz, way back....and I can listen to it anytime. After Bird and Miles it is Monk, Monk, Monk, all the way for me. Absolute genius!!!
Charlie Haden deserves a feature sometime....saw him several times with Metheny, he was outstanding every gig. It was the perfect vehicle to hear his unique playing.....
I have a thing for Monk, too. Wonder why?
Mingus Ah Um made its way to join my limited number of jazz CDs, for the simple reason that it has the original version of “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”. My favourite Jeff Beck performance is his cover on Wired. Love the Mingus album too.
That was an excellent video Andy, it has signposted for me artists and albums I need to check out to explore jazz more, out of all of those I only have Kind of Blue. That was one of the most informative videos I've ever watched.
As an aside, bearing in mind what you said about Sonny Rollins playing on a bridge, was he the inspiration for Bleeding Gums Murphy in The Simpsons?
Thank you Andy ! Excellent ranking ! Take care of your guitars in the back ... :-)
I don't get this view that Bitches Brew is not accessible. I was listening to it when I was 12 and totally got it. It is a monumental album that is beyond categorisation. Miles called it New Directions in Music and that is exactly what it is. It is jazz, but it is also so much more.
That's cuz u were listening 2 it at 12...
Excellent vid Andy! Love hearing your views on these jazz giants. Especially on Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk. More on these guys please!
"We love the moody dark look." And I do, as well. Most Andy Haunted!
I like this list. I'm easily easy when it comes to great music. And hauntings.
Thanks Andy - clever and informative video.
Especially to highlight Bill Evans' amazing talent and "Sunday". Not least his interaction with Scott LaFaro during their solos where they almost weave the instruments together, actually makes a lot of other piano trios seem a bit "primitive".
What moody dark look? You light up every room, Andy. And your reviews enlighten us even more. 😎
Maybe Ellington didn't "shake" the world, but when you realize his music from the 30s still has influence across genres today.....what a giant!
Cecil Taylor also danced around his piano in his last years. Another lone genius who we can;t judge by conventional standards.
Great programme
St. Thomas is the Sonny Rollins' tune you were thinking of. Bitches Brew is an acquired taste; it does take some work, but it is great. Jarrett's Koln Concert is fantastic! Scott Lafaro was amazing; such a tragic loss.... This is a solid list, but there are so many.... Coltrane was just incredible.
I think it was Downbeat magazine that said Eric Dolphy's 'Out to Lunch' was the greatest jazz album.
btw I don't think Miles ever dissed Ornette. He said he took his time with it, was equivocal, but eventually saw that it was a brilliant step forward. Jimmy garrison famously said it was fake bullshit.
I enjoyed this video.
Yussef kamaals - black focus is an underated gem. Yussef dayes drumming is unbelievably great.
Tribute to Jack is my favourite jazz album ever.
You call it the 'Goldilocks' period, the perfect, classic moment, the 50s into the 60s. My sense is that the pre-bebop period has almost disappeared for many contemporary jazz lovers. 1959 is now 65 years in the past. It maybe should be ancient history, dated, quaint but it's not. But 1935- Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, Tatum, Hawkins is. Even if to people who really know and love jazz it's just as great.
5 Jazz albums that shook...me:
Krzysztof Komeda - Astigmatic (1966)
Don Pullen - Random Thoughts (1990)
Miles Davis - On The Corner (1972)
The Tony Williams Lifetime - Ego (1971)
Billy Cobham - Spectrum (1973)
In 1993, I blindly bought a dusty cassette of Kevin Eubanks - Sundance (1984) and since then it has been my favorite jazz album that I have yet to get tired of.
This album borrowed a lot from Allan Holdsworth - i.o.u. (1982)
The first jazz album I ever bought was Pat Metheny - Life (talking) 1987
Terje Rypdal's s/t album (1971)
Sorry, but it was Brilliant Corners
They shook the world because each one was an improvised explosive device.
Money Jungle - Ellington, Mingus and Max Roach. Essential. Should be on the list.
A. I can't deal with Charlie Parker w/strings
B. It's BRILLIANT corners not DIFFERENT corners (indignant jazz snob sniff)
C. Fully agree with 'the Bridge', especially the tune'John S.'!
I'm curious to see whether Herbie Hancock's album Sextant (1973) is still mentioned
Small clarification on Mingus Ah Um: Columbia records prevented Mingus from singing "those" lyrics on Fables for Faubus on this record. The singing didn't appear until the version on "Chrales Mingus Presents Charles Mingus" released on Candid.
I can understand why the earlier greats are not on a list that is about "jazz albums that shook the jazz world". Its not a list of the best or most influential. The title infers that the list is about "shaking up" the existing jazz world and hence the music of the past greats . To shake up something there must exist something to shake up in the first place. And you have to start somewhere!. I would argue that Bitches Brew did indeed achieve that despite the other Miles records around that time..
"Bitches Brew" may have been relatively inaccessible but it still reached #4 on Billboard's R&B LP chart! I actually think "On The Corner" is a better record where the ideas coming from James Brown, Sly Stone, Funkadelic and even Norman Whitfield's sides for the Temptations seem to gel more cohesively. However I'm not sure that makes it a jazz record but who cares?
Thank you.
It is funny, when I started reading „Wire“, it was the Jazz Magazine of Great Britain, I have a subscription now, but Jazzwise, I can‘t find at the Mainstation Zürich Newsstands. It might be interesting to read that too.
About that Mingus Latin album title: I would think it's actually an abbreviation for "Mingus Minga Mingum" (masculine, feminine, neuter)
A lot of great albums…and no Take 5… interesting… not to mention no Dizzy. Im no jazz connoisseur, but Dizzy was a jazz icon. And the Take 5 album was a mind blower, in 1959! How do you try to maximize complexity, AND somehow, incomprehensibly, make it more accessible?
“Jazz snobs”? That’s almost like saying “wet fish”. 😂😅
That Sonny Rollins tune is called St Thomas I think
Vout-o-ree-nee!! ☝️😎
I am sure that Keith Jarret was making many records with Impulse/ABC in the mid 70s so I am not sure how the ECM thing worked out?
I think if you look at the top 30 on the jazzwise list, then the top ten don't seem so exclusionary. I think you are spot on with The Bridge. (Williamsburg Bridge) over Colossus.
And though I Love Sonny Rollins, he is probably more top 15 than top 10.
The Williamsburg Bridge is the one you are referrring to 'St. Thomas' is the track?
No jazz album shook the world. Kenny G maybe. But seriously, Time Out had to be up there.
Sure they did- Kind of Blue, A Love Supreme, For Sax, Bitches Brew, Emergency, etc....
@@danalawrence4473 They shook the world of jazz fans was my point. That's hardly the world at large.
shook the jazz world maybe
Chet baker,art pepper.😮
good evening I have most of the albums presented. vinyls or cd. I saw a video of Charles Mingus getting kicked out of his New York apartment. with his family the police accompany them and his double bass is placed against a lamppost. sad story.
Yer, for me Live at Koln is not one of Jarrett's best. It doesnt come close to Fort Yawuh for me, but obviously far more accessible for a punter. I agree with some of the comments and would replace it with 'Out to Lunch', now that is some real heavy shit.... Or I would obviously accept "Sixteen Men of Tain" as a replacement, however, not sure the jazz nazis would be too happy with that.
I would maybe swap sonny rollins for 'In 'n' Out by henderson or some wayne shorter like speak no evil but cant argue rollins was a heavy weight too
I'd argue Herbie Hancock's Headhunters shook the world
be bop came out of the depression the instrument became the vocal part to cut down on cost of singers at least that is what I read...
Soft Machine!!!!
Yes the list is looking at jazz through a keyhole not opening the door. Good records tho and good discussion. Jazz is too big a tent for 10 records
All these magazine lists are always biased to a particular demographic and readership, and of course it's always about the sales. Jazzwise is aimed at a strictly modernist audience and rarely strays into the pre-modern era. Today's jazz hipsters typically don't listen to much jazz before Miles' electric period and can be very sniffy about the perceived racial stereotypes of the Armstrong era.
Andy, why do you pronounce it "Sharrett", rather than his real name, "Jarrett"?
Its all subjective but no Armstrong?
No Jazz album shook any world 😅 They sold like sinclair electric cars !
The Cult of Keith Jarrett, I don't get it? - I think Helen Keller plays better piano.......