Table of Contents
The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World – please, check our sheet music list.
The list The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World was published in 2006 to mark the hundredth issue of the British music magazine Jazzwise.
It features all albums selected by Jazzwise editor Jon Newey and Keith Shadwick, with advice and commentary from authors Stuart Nicholson, Brian Priestley, Duncan Heining, Kevin Le Gendre, Charles Alexander and Tom Barlow.
The title of the list is a nod to The Wire’s previous 1998 compilation 100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening).
Please, subscribe to our Library. Thank you!
Rang | Artist/Band | Album Title | Label | Year |
1 | Miles Davis | Kind of Blue | Columbia | 1959 |
2 | John Coltrane | A Love Supreme | Impulse! | 1964 |
3 | Ornette Coleman | The Shape of Jazz to Come | Atlantic | 1959 |
4 | Bill Evans Trio | Sunday at the Village Vanguard | Riverside | 1961 |
5 | Sonny Rollins | Saxophone Colossus | Prestige | 1956 |
6 | Thelonious Monk | Brilliant Corners | Riverside | 1956 |
7 | Charles Mingus | Mingus Ah Um | Columbia | 1959 |
8 | Charlie Parker | Bird: The Complete Original Master Takes. The Savoy Recordings | Savoy Jazz | 1945–1948 |
9 | Miles Davis | Bitches Brew | Columbia | 1969 |
10 | Keith Jarrett | The Köln Concert | ECM | 1975 |
11 | John Coltrane | Giant Steps | Atlantic | 1959 |
12 | Eric Dolphy | Out to Lunch! | Blue Note | 1964 |
13 | Louis Armstrong | The Complete Hot Fives and Hot Seven Recordings | Columbia | 1925–1930 |
14 | Duke Ellington | The Blanton-Webster Band | RCA Bluebird | 1940–1942 |
15 | Mahavishnu Orchestra | The Inner Mounting Flame | Columbia | 1971 |
16 | Albert Ayler | Spiritual Unity | ESP-Disk | 1964 |
17 | Herbie Hancock | Head Hunters | Columbia | 1973 |
18 | Dave Brubeck | Time Out | Columbia | 1959 |
19 | Ornette Coleman | Free Jazz | Atlantic | 1960 |
20 | Weather Report | Heavy Weather | Columbia | 1976 |
21 | Ahmad Jamal | At the Pershing: But Not for Me | Argo | 1958 |
22 | Jelly Roll Morton | Volume 1 | JSP | 1926–1928 |
23 | Frank Sinatra | Songs for Swingin’ Lovers | Capitol | 1955–1956 |
24 | Wes Montgomery | The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery | Riverside | 1960 |
25 | Modern Jazz Quartet | Fontessa | Atlantic | 1956 |
26 | Bud Powell | The Genius of Bud Powell | Clef/Verve | 1951/52 |
27 | Cecil Taylor | At the Café Montmartre | Debut | 1962 |
28 | Art Blakey | Moanin’ | Blue Note | 1958 |
29 | Herbie Hancock | Maiden Voyage | Blue Note | 1965 |
30 | Stan Getz/João Gilberto | Getz/Gilberto | Verve | 1965 |
31 | Pat Metheny | Bright Size Life | ECM | 1976 |
32 | Jimmy Smith | A New Sound… A New Star… | Blue Note | 1956 |
33 | Jan Garbarek | Afric Pepperbird | ECM | 1970 |
34 | Woody Herman | The Thundering Herds | Columbia | 1945–1947 |
35 | Duke Ellington | Ellington at Newport | Columbia | 1956 |
36 | Ella Fitzgerald | Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook | Verve | 1956 |
37 | Charles Mingus | The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady | Impulse! | 1963 |
38 | Cannonball Adderley | Somethin’ Else | Blue Note | 1959 |
39 | Tony Williams Lifetime | Emergency! | Polydor | 1969 |
40 | Billie Holiday | Billie Holiday at JATP | Clef/Verve | 1945–1946 |
41 | Chick Corea | Return to Forever | ECM | 1971 |
42 | Stan Getz | Focus | Verve | 1961 |
43 | Miles Davis | Sketches of Spain | Columbia | 1960 |
44 | George Russell | The Jazz Workshop | RCA Victor | 1956 |
45 | John Coltrane | Impressions | Impulse! | 1961–1963 |
46 | Andrew Hill | Point of Departure | Blue Note | 1964 |
47 | Sonny Rollins | The Bridge | RCA Victor | 1962 |
48 | Sun Ra | The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1 | ESP-Disk | 1965 |
49 | Dizzy Gillespie | Shaw ’Nuff | Musicraft | 1945/46 |
50 | Lennie Tristano | Tristano | Atlantic | 1955 |
51 | John Zorn | Naked City | Elektra/Nonesuch | 1989 |
52 | John McLaughlin | Extrapolation | Marmalade | 1969 |
53 | Pharoah Sanders | Karma | Impulse! | 1969 |
54 | Lester Young | Lester Young/Buddy Rich Trio | Verve | 1946 |
55 | John Coltrane | Ascension | Impulse! | 1965 |
56 | Art Ensemble of Chicago | A Jackson in Your House | BYG Actuel | 1969 |
57 | Horace Silver | Song for My Father | Blue Note | 1963/64 |
58 | Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet | Clifford Brown and Max Roach | EmArcy | 1954 |
59 | Coleman Hawkins | Body and Soul | RCA Bluebird | 1939–1956 |
60 | Peter Brötzmann Octet | Machine Gun | FMP | 1969 |
61 | Miles Davis | Birth of the Cool | Capitol | 1949/50 |
62 | Count Basie | The Atomic Mr. Basie | Roulette | 1957 |
63 | Archie Shepp | Four for Trane | Impulse! | 1964 |
64 | Brad Mehldau | Art of the Trio Vol. 3 | Warner | 1998 |
65 | Gerry Mulligan | Gerry Mulligan Quartet | Pacific Jazz | 1952 |
66 | Gil Evans | The Individualism of Gil Evans | Verve | 1963/64 |
67 | John Handy | Live at Monterey Jazz Festival | Columbia | 1965 |
68 | Esbjörn Svensson Trio | From Gagarin’s Point of View | ACT | 1999 |
69 | Stan Tracey | Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood | EMI/Columbia | 1965 |
70 | Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) | African Marketplace | Elektra/Musician | 1980 |
71 | Wayne Shorter | Speak No Evil | Blue Note | 1964 |
72 | Thelonious Monk | Genius of Modern Music – Vol 1 | Blue Note | 1947 |
73 | Roland Kirk | Rip, Rig and Panic | Limelight | 1965 |
74 | Herbie Hancock | The New Standard | Verve | 1996 |
75 | Oscar Peterson | Night Train | Verve | 1962 |
76 | Charles Lloyd | Dream Weaver | Atlantic | 1965 |
77 | Art Tatum | The Genius of Art Tatum No. 1 | Clef | 1953 |
78 | Betty Carter | The Audience with Betty Carter | Betcar | 1979 |
79 | Oliver Nelson | The Blues and the Abstract Truth | Impulse! | 1961 |
80 | John Surman | Tales of the Algonquin | Deram | 1971 |
81 | Eberhard Weber | The Colours of Chloë | ECM | 1973 |
82 | Steve Coleman and the Five Elements | The Tao of Mad Phat: Fringe Zones | RCA/Novus | 1993 |
83 | Diana Krall | Love Scenes | Impulse! | 1997 |
84 | Anthony Braxton | For Alto | Delmark | 1969 |
85 | Krzysztof Komeda | Astigmatic | Nagrania Muza | 1965 |
86 | Steps Ahead | Steps Ahead | Elektra/Musician | 1983 |
87 | Django Reinhardt | Rétrospective 1934–53 | Saga | 1934–1953 |
88 | Joe Harriott-John Mayer Double Quintet | Indo-Jazz Suite | EMI Columbia | 1965 |
89 | Jackie McLean | Let Freedom Ring | Blue Note | 1962 |
90 | Charlie Haden | Liberation Music Orchestra | Impulse! Records | 1969 |
91 | Music Improvisation Company | Music Improvisation Company | ECM | 1970 |
92 | Sarah Vaughan | Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown | EmArcy | 1954 |
93 | Jan Johansson | Jazz på svenska | Megafon | 1962–1964 |
94 | Cassandra Wilson | Blue Light ’Til Dawn | Blue Note | 1993 |
95 | Wynton Marsalis | Black Codes from the Underground | Columbia | 1985 |
96 | Medeski, Martin & Wood | Combustication | Blue Note | 1998 |
97 | Tomasz Stańko | Soul of Things | ECM | 2001 |
98 | Courtney Pine | Journey to the Urge Within | Antilles | 1986 |
99 | The Bad Plus | These Are the Vistas | Columbia | 2005 |
100 | Polar Bear | Held On the Tips of Fingers | Babel | 2004–2005 |
M I L E S D A V I S – Kind Of Blue – Full Album
Browse in the Library:
So what 00:00 Freddie Freeloader 9:26 Blue In Green 19:13 All Blues 24:51 Flamenco Sketches 36:34 On Green Dolphin Street 45:46 Fran – Dance 55:40 Stella by Starlight 1:01:28 Love for Sale 1:06:14
Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded on March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in New York City, and released on August 17 of that year by Columbia Records.
For the recording, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, with new band pianist Wynton Kelly appearing on one track – “Freddie Freeloader” – in place of Evans.
Influenced in part by Evans, who had joined the ensemble in 1958, Davis departed further from his early hard bop style in favor of greater experimentation with musical modes, as on his previous album Milestones (1958).
Basing Kind of Blue entirely on modality, he gave each performer a set of scales that encompassed the parameters of their improvisation and style, and consequently more creative freedom with melodies; Coltrane later expanded on this modal approach in his own solo career.
Kind of Blue is regarded by many critics as Davis’s masterpiece, the greatest jazz record, and one of the best albums of all time. Its impact on music, including jazz, rock, and classical genres, has led writers to also deem it one of the most influential albums ever recorded.
The album was one of fifty recordings chosen in 2002 by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry, and in 2003 it was ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2019, Kind of Blue was certified 5× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of at least five million copies.
Personnel
Miles Davis – trumpet
Julian “Cannonball” Adderley – alto saxophone except on “Blue in Green” and bonus disc track “So What”
John Coltrane – tenor saxophone
Bill Evans – piano except on “Freddie Freeloader” and bonus disc track “So What”
Wynton Kelly – piano on “Freddie Freeloader” and bonus disc track “So What”
Paul Chambers – double bass Jimmy Cobb – drums
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme [Full Album] (1965)
Part I – Acknowledgement 0:00 Part II – Resolution 7:42 Part III – Pursuance 15:02 Part IV – Psalm 25:44
Personnel:
John Coltrane — bandleader, liner notes, vocals, soprano and tenor saxophone
Jimmy Garrison — double bass
Elvin Jones — drums
McCoy Tyner — piano
Browse in the Library:
Ornette Coleman – The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
00:00 Lonely Woman (1959) 04:56 Eventually (1959) 09:14 Peace (1959) 18:11 Focus On Sanity (1959) 24:58 Congeniality (Nomad) (1959) 31:40 Chronology (Step In) (1959)
Personnel:
Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone
Don Cherry – cornet
Charlie Haden – bass
Billy Higgins – drums
Bill Evans – Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Track listing
"Gloria's Step" (take 2) (Scott LaFaro) – 6:09
"My Man's Gone Now" (George Gershwin) – 6:21
"Solar" (Miles Davis) – 8:52
"Alice in Wonderland" (take 2) (Sammy Fain) – 8:34
"All of You" (take 2) (Cole Porter) – 8:17
"Jade Visions" (take 2) (Scott LaFaro) – 3:44
Bonus tracks on CD:
"Gloria's Step" (take 3) – 6:54
"Alice in Wonderland" (take 1) – 6:59
"All of You" (take 3) – 8:03
"Jade Visions" (take 1) – 4:16
Personnel:
Bill Evans – piano
Scott LaFaro – bass
Paul Motian – drums
Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus
Track listing
Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Length
- “St. Thomas” Sonny Rollins 6:49
- “You Don’t Know What Love Is” Gene de Paul, Don Raye 6:30
- “Strode Rode” Sonny Rollins 5:17
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Length - “Moritat” Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht 10:05
- “Blue 7” Sonny Rollins 11:17
Personnel Sonny Rollins – tenor saxophone
Tommy Flanagan – piano
Doug Watkins – bass
Max Roach – drums