NAME ME YOUR 10 JAZZ ALBUMS!

NAME ME YOUR 10 JAZZ ALBUMS!

A semi-response to A Blog Surpreme - Best Jazz from 2010

This past weekend, as I was driving back to Boston from a friends place in Brooklyn, NY, I was listening to a jazz radio station.  Unfortunately, as the program progressed, the static increased as I drove further away from the radio tower.  Luckily though, I was able to decipher most of an interview with drummer, Jimmy Cobb.  

At the time, I had no idea that Cobb was the last living member of the Kind of Blue recording session.  He's the last person who can talk about recording the number one selling jazz record of all-time.  Pretty amazing.  Cobb talked about how he ended up playing with Miles Davis.  He was replacing Philly Joe Jones at a gig and nailed the ending of the bridge section to "Round About Midnight."  Cobb said that once he played that section, Miles was very impressed and hired him for many sessions after that.  He sounded just as excited now, talking about the opportunity to play with Miles, as I'm sure he was back then.

However, an interesting point he made was, for everyone in the group, it was just another recording session.  He did mention however, that the music was different from other sessions - more laid back, and very little written music.  He also expressed his concern to Miles that he wasn't sure what to play over "Flamenco Sketches" and that Miles told him to play the colors of Flamenco on his drums.

The interviewer made a point to say that for most jazz fans, this record falls into their top 5.  

This made me remember a post on facebook that I had yet to reply to...

A friend of mine recently sent me a facebook note, asking me to name 15 albums that were important to me.  I'm ashamed to say that I haven't done so yet.  For this post though, I will limit it to 10 albums in the genre of jazz.  The list however is not a top 10.  The albums don't have to be anything you listen to now (although, they could be).  Quoting the note, "they should take you to a certain place... reminding you of people, places, emotions, smells, etc."  

Here are 10 albums that influenced me:

 - Arturo Sandoval Hot House - mad props to my mother for keeping this record in the car for the better part of 1999. More from the "athletic" side of music - Arturo dominates the trumpet.  The cuban rhythms that fill this album really captured me.

 - Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Moanin' -  bweeep bap doo-bap / boo boo bop dah bweep bap doo bap... 'nuff said, Lee-Mo, 'nuff said. 

 - Hank Mobley Soul Station

 - John Coltrane A Love Supreme - I'll admit it... the first time I was exposed to this masterpiece was when I saw the LCJO in Edmonton in 2005.  I didn't listen to much Trane or Miles when I was in HS.  I will admit though that nothing... nothing tops the original! 

 - Miles Davis Kind of Blue - not necessarily my favorite MD album... but one of the first times I ever "smoked" in my freshman year I had to leave the room to listen to this record.  Magical. 

- Oliver Nelson Blues and the Abstract Truth

- Ray Brown Some of my best friends are... the trumpet players  - I came across this record at The Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in 2003.  Clark Terry, Nick Payton, Roy Hargrove, James Morrison, and Jon Faddis.  A trumpeters wet-dream.

- Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come - To make up for my early lack of interest in Miles and Coltrane, I can say that this is one of the first jazz albums that I bought.  I must have been in 7th grade when I found this at the mall music store on a school band trip.  

- Kenny Wheeler Windmill Tilter  - Thank you Russ Macklem!

- Dave Holland Critical Mass

CAN YOU NAME ME YOUR 10 INFLUENTIAL JAZZ ALBUMS?

 - by sask4myopinion