CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Sunday at the Village Vanguard

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Bill Evans Trio

Release Date October 25, 1990
Recorded in June, 1961 this album set at that time the standard for the piano-bass-drums jazz trio - a standard that has still not been surpassed. It is essential to any collection of jazz, or music for that matter.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Last Waltz: The Final Recordings Live

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Bill Evans Trio

Release Date October 10, 2000
Anyone who thinks only Bill Evans' early work is his best
hasn't listened to Evans' final album, The Last Waltz,
the 8 disc box set of the 9 night gig he did at the
Keystone Korner in S. F., Sept. 1980, 11 days before his
death. The material on this album is as familiar as the
song titles, (which have so much to do with the bond he'd
established with his listeners), some versions of which he
played 2 or 3 times. The artistry and lyricism are equal to
his best earlier work, and the emotional intensity exceeds it.
although there will never be another Scott LaFaro, bassist,
Marc Johnson and drummer, Joe LaBarbera, make this as good a
Trio as Evans has ever had.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

The Paris Concert, Edition One

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Bill Evans

Release Date April 03, 2001
Bill Evans is a musician I can return to again and again. He's the jazz pianist comparable to the classical Debussey. Like Impressionist painters, they fascinate us with variations in light and color. They purr like finely-tuned, 12 cylinder Rolles Royces in neutral. Trouble is they hardly ever put that car in gear.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

People Time

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Stan Getz with Kenny Barron

Release Date February 04, 1992
stan recorded this session with months left to live in a staggering carear of music making . to be joined on these absolutely transcendent tracks by his frequent collaborator and brother in all but birth , kenny barron , is a gift to all with the capacity to appreciate it .

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

The Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Dave Brubeck

Release Date April 10, 2001
This is the Brubeck Quartet album I listen to most often. Abounds with good solos from Brubeck and Desmond. Years ago I thought some Brubeck harmonies here to be too harsh; but now I find those harmonies beautiful - harshly beautiful, - and thrilling. I particularly like the Brubeck solo at the end of St. Louis Blues; the Muse pushed him to take chances, and his solo's dronelike quality seems dramatic, even apocalyptic. In "For All We know", Brubeck's solo has dense block-chords, and they usually disturb the animals in my house; but those harmonies make me feel something deep and bittersweet, no matter how many times I hear it. Bluntly: most of the Desmond solos are flat-out masterpieces, jewels of lyric simplicity. The Muse was on a roll, pouring inspiration ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Serenity

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Stan Getz

Release Date May 21, 1991
I bought this CD back in the early 90's and have yet to find any album by anyone that can top it. If I had to take one CD to a desert island, this would be it. Stan was the best, and this is his finest overall disk. Kenny, Victor and Rufus are the perfect match. Energy, sublime finesse, gorgeous sound quality, inventive, the right amount of each component that goes into a great jazz album, ahhhhhhh.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

The Paris Concert, Edition Two

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Bill Evans

Release Date April 03, 2001
Unlike Edition One, this CD features mostly Evans originals. The close-mic'ed piano has an up-front, bright sound that almost sounds recorded in a carpeted studio. The bass has so much tone and sustain that it nearly duplicates a fretless bass guitar. The drums have a full, but natural sound.

Evans sticks closer to the written notes on Edition Two, leaving more sonic room for the band to noodle around than in Edition One. The result approaches the "good old days" with Scott LaFaro, except that Evans' playing is busier. Even his accompaniments on bass solos do more flips and turns than they did before.

Then there's Nardis. . .Evans contorts this song well beyond recognizability in an epic piano solo, then the band joins in. Everyone takes a "just ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Anniversary!

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Stan Getz

Release Date January 05, 1990
This is a wonderful album. The tunes and the performances are tremendous. I don't know who the keyboard player is but if you enjoy piano, that in itself is worth the album. The band is so tight and smooth; excellent recording. Highly recommended.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Jazz at Oberlin

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Dave Brubeck Quartet

Release Date July 01, 1991
Everything on the album is Brubeck/ Desmond at their greatest and most adventurous before popularity rendered them more polite, or elegant, or something admirable enough but not as exciting as this. I would single out Brubeck's solo on "The Way You Look Tonight" as one of the most daring, innovative, and relentlessly brilliant jazz performances I have ever heard on any instrument. Jazz and classical purists alike might disapprove, but it's beyond category.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Jazz: Red, Hot and Cool

CD-Charts > Music > Cool Jazz
by: Dave Brubeck

Release Date April 10, 2001
Dave Brubeck's cool piano, Joe Morello's rythms, and Paul Desmond's floating altosax never sounded better.