Get outside to celebrate the 20th annual Five Points Jazz Festival! In honor of Five Points’ rich musical history, here’s a list of fantastic and acclaimed albums from the golden era of jazz. Revisit an old favorite or discover a new one!
Drummer and bandleader Art Blakey's most successful LP gave listeners Bobby Timmons' "Moanin'" and Benny Golson's "Along Came Betty" and "Blues March," tunes so powerful that Blakey played them almost every night for the next 30 years! This beautifully performed and recorded session made the Jazz Messengers a jazz institution. Originally released in 1958, this re-release was remastered by Rudy Van Gelder.
The 2012 single-disc collection The Very Best of Dave Brubeck collects tracks the legendary pianist recorded for the Fantasy label from 1949 to 1953. These cuts feature Brubeck in his trio and quartet settings, often alongside saxophonist Paul Desmond. These cool jazz sides reveal Brubeck’s talent for reworking standards, sometimes with a classical influence. Included here are such studio recordings as "Blue Moon," "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "Me and My Shadow," and others. Also featured are several live cuts, including "Stardust" (from the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Jazz at Oberlin) and "This Can't Be Love" (recorded live at the Surf Club). The Very Best of Dave Brubeck is a solid introduction to the pianist's work before his famed late-'50s and '60s albums and predating his breakthrough hit, “Take Five.”
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Blue Train is saxophonist and bandleader John Coltrane's only collection of sides as a principal artist for the venerable Blue Note label. Blue Train: The Complete Masters includes a bonus disc of alternate and incomplete takes (4 of which have never been released prior to this collection). The 2 CD set comes with a bound booklet featuring session photos by Francis Wolff and an essay by Coltrane expert Ashley Kahn. Widely considered among the most important and influential entries not only of Coltrane's career, but of jazz music as well.
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Bandleader and tenor saxophonist John Coltrane saw the album-length suite A Love Supreme as his gift to God. The world has come to see this classic album as not only Coltrane's best known work, but one of the most important and influential jazz records ever made.
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Recorded in 1961, Evenings at the Village Gate features saxophonist and bandleader John Coltrane with multi instrumentalist Eric Dolphy showcasing Coltrane’s quintet during their month-long residency at the storied Greenwich Village nightclub. Featuring Dolphy on alto saxophone, bass clarinet, and flute, as well as pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Elvin Jones.
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Miles Davis (trumpet) leads various ensembles including Kenny Clarke (drums), J.J. Johnson (trombone), Lee Konitz (alto sax), John Lewis (piano), Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax), Max Roach (drums), Kai Winding (trombone), and others. Recorded in New York over three sessions in 1949 and 1950, this album marks a pivotal moment in jazz history as the birth of West Coast or "cool" jazz.
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Kind of Blue is an iconic album by trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis, often considered “the definitive jazz album.” Mellow, modal jazz, that subtly shifts tones but doesn't flaunt its genius. Featuring the amazing lineup of Davis, saxophonists John Coltrane and “Cannonball” Adderley, pianists Bill Evans and (on one track) Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb.
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Trumpeter Miles Davis leads his second classic quintet, featuring saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and 19-year-old drummer Tony Williams, establishing what would become their signature adventurous hard bop sound.
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The 2 disc set, Bill Evans Live at Ronnie Scott's features pianist Bill Evans, Eddie Gomez on double bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Recorded live in July 1968 at the renowned London jazz and blues club, Ronnie Scott's, the nearly two hours of music have been remastered from the original tape reels. The cover features a never-before-published drawing by artist and illustrator David Stone Martin, and the album includes an extensive booklet with rare photos, essays, and interviews.
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Ella Fitzgerald's "Songbook" records, with her peerless renditions of the best songs from iconic composers like Rogers & Hart, Cole Porter, and George & Ira Gershwin, are a cornerstone of the Verve catalog and the gold standard for vocal jazz. Fitzgerald never released a live version of these Songbooks. This record, discovered in the private collection of Norman Granz, marks the first time a live Songbook has been released from the First Lady of Song.
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Nightconcert chronicles a midnight concert at the prestigious hall, the Royal Concept Hebow, in Holland on November 7, 1964. Featuring Erroll Garner on piano, Eddie Calhoun on bass, and Kelly Martin on drums.
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Compiling all the major hits that legendary jazz tenor saxophonist Stan Getz had with Brazilian songwriter and vocalist Antonio Carlos Jobim, Their Greatest Hits is a perfect summation of what made the '60s bossa nova sound so popular. Included are such iconic tracks as, "The Girl from Ipanema," "Aguas de Marco (Waters of March)," and "Desafinado.
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Recorded on November 3, 1972 for VPRO at Heemskerk Societeit Progress, the Netherlands. At the time of this recording, American tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon was living in Copenhagen playing with a Dutch rhythm section consisting of pianist Rein de Graaff, double bassist Henk Haverhoek, and drummer Eric Ineke. The quartet’s deep rapport is evident on these three extended tracks. Gordon’s signature compositions, “The Panther” and “Fried Bananas,” plus the Coleman Hawkins classic, “Body and Soul.”
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Originally released on Milestone in 1969, the hard bop cult classic Power to the People finds legendary saxophone virtuoso Joe Henderson soaring in the intersection of thematic development and ecstatically pure sound, joined by a titanic rhythm section featuring Mike Lawrence, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette.
Drawn from almost two decades of recording for the Commodore, Decca, and Verve labels, this collection features all of her signature songs, "Lover Man," "Strange Fruit," "Fine And Mellow," "Don't Explain," "Good Morning Heartache," "My Man," "Lady Sings The Blues" and her best known song, "God Bless the Child." The greatest performances by one of the greatest ever.
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A thrilling, previously unissued live recording of Elvin Jones' quartet that captures the legendary drummer's emergence as a bandleader at a little-known New York City club where he had a weekly residency after leaving John Coltrane's band in early 1966. Featuring Joe Farrell on tenor saxophone, Billy Greene on piano, and Wilbur Little on bass. Recorded between July 28-30, 1967.
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A collection of recordings culled from Charles Mingus' 1960 sessions on the Candid label, 2024's Incarnations is a swinging yet heady album that finds the bassist bridging the mainstream jazz of the '40s and '50s with the avant-garde post-bop and third-stream explorations he would pursue just a few years later. A must listen for any Mingus fan.
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In 1968 the United States was gripped by tension following the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, as well as the ongoing Vietnam War. Palo Alto, California wasn't immune, and there were racial tensions between the residents of the mostly white Palo Alto and the mostly Black East Palo Alto. Danny Scher, a junior at the predominantly white Palo Alto high school, had a dream to have Thelonious Monk perform at his school. After arranging the concert with Monk’s manager and having his older brother pick up Monk and his band from a club in San Francisco, Monk and his touring band (drummer Ben Riley, tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, and bassist Larry Gales) performed in the school’s spacious auditorium, and for a few hours, the show united Black and white residents, old and young, in a shared musical experience. Originally, there were no plans to record the concert, but a janitor at the school asked Scher if he could record the show in exchange for tuning the piano. 52 years later, Impulse! Records and Legacy Recordings released Palo Alto, which captures the engaging 47-minute Monk performance in full.
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Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey documents the legendary 1953 concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, featuring jazz legends Charlie Parker (playing a plastic saxophone!), Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach on stage together. Includes two insightful essays and previously unseen photos, this expanded collection features mastering and audio restoration by Paul Blakemore.
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This 3 disc set features 48 jazz interpretations of songs by prolific American composer and songwriter Cole Porter. Recorded between 1951 and 1988, these standards, ballads, and show tunes are rendered by some 15 vocalists, many of whom appear twice, and about 13 instrumental groups from the Verve Records catalog.
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American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer Tito Puente was known for his dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. Part of MCA's Millennium Collection, these ten tracks are taken from Tito Puente's albums, The Mambo King: His 100th Album, Tito's Idea, In Session, Dance Mania '98: Live at Birdland, and Mambo Birdland.
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Saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ widely acclaimed album Saxophone Colossus was recorded on June 22, 1956, at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey, with Tommy Flanagan on piano, former Jazz Messengers bassist Doug Watkins, and drummer Max Roach. This was Rollins's sixth recording as a leader and it included his best-known composition "St. Thomas," a Caribbean calypso based on "Hold Him Joe," a tune sung to him by his mother in his childhood, as well as the fast bebop number "Strode Rode," and "Moritat" (the Kurt Weill composition also known as "Mack the Knife").
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Rollins in Holland: The 1967 Studio & Live Recordings is Resonance Records' first archival release from influential saxophonist Sonny Rollins. This deluxe 2 CD set, officially sanctioned by Rollins, includes 3 different previously unissued 1967 performances with Ruud Jacobs (bass) and Han Bennink (drums). With an extensive booklet of unseen photos and essays by Aidan Levy & Frank Jochemsen, plus interviews with Sonny Rollins & Han Bennink, a remembrance of Ruud Jacobs, and more.
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In one day in December 1958, American singer, songwriter, pianist, and activist Nina Simone recorded 14 songs at New York City's Belltone Studios for Bethlehem Records. When the Bethlehem catalog was sold, all 14 songs were issued on singles, and those original discs are the basis of this 2018 collection. Sequenced in the order the 45s were released and remastered to make the most of the warm, well-detailed audio, Mood Indigo reveals why Simone was one of the most gifted jazz artists of her day, able to confidently weave the melodic and technical precision of classical music with the emotional honesty of blues.
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Getz at the Gate is a previously unreleased 1961 live recording from the historic Village Gate in New York City. This release features an all-star, rarely heard quartet with pianist Steve Kuhn, bassist John Neves, and drummer Roy Haynes (aka “The Boston Band”). Includes extensive liner notes by Boston jazz historian Bob Blumenthal.
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