Friday, March 15, 2024

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)


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First posted 4/13/2011; last updated 3/15/2024.