CD-Charts Position 131
Average Rating:

My Song

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Keith Jarrett Quartet

Release Date November 16, 1999
I grew up listening to jazz as a child - my father had been a jazz musician. And I have been a Keith Jarrett fan for decades. With a musical genius the likes of Keith Jarrett it's painfully difficult to call any one album a definitive "favorite." However, this one certainly comes close.

CD-Charts Position 132
Average Rating:

Last Waltz: The Final Recordings Live

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
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 133
Average Rating:

Bill Evans Alone

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Bill Evans

Release Date October 25, 1990
I agree that this may be the best solo jazz piano album there is. Some of the tunes start out slow, but the improvisation and energy are incredible when Evans gets going, and the rhythmic and melodic invention he exhibits are unique and awe inspiring. I have been listening to this album for 20 years, and it never fails to move me. An absolute must have for anyone interested in jazz piano.

CD-Charts Position 134
Average Rating:

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays

Release Date February 29, 2000
This classic from 1981 is one of my favourites from the Metheny/Mays partnership and is a must-have for any fan of their music. It's mesmerizing stuff indeed.

The title track is very experimental even by today's standards let alone back then and as one might predict, it got (and still gets) very mixed reviews. Personally, I love it though and, according to Metheny himself in a magazine article, many of the ideas employed on the Pat Metheny Group's 2005 album The Way Up actually had their genesis on this recording 24 years earlier! I find that amazing.

The album speaks to me in so many different ways and though I've had it on vinyl since 1987 (the brilliant title track takes up the whole of side one!), I just had to get the CD because this is ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 135
Average Rating:

Best of Smooth Jazz

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Various Artists

Release Date October 28, 1997
excellent for a relaxation time. I use it for my office, my car and my home

CD-Charts Position 136
Average Rating:

Out to Lunch

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Eric Dolphy

Release Date March 23, 1999
An utterly inaccessible but extremely worthwhile jazz masterpiece. There's no piano here - Dolphy plays a variety of woodwinds (bass clarinet on "Hat and Beard" and "Something Sweet, Something Tender"; flute on "Gazzelloni"; alto sax on the title cut and "Straight Up and Down"); and the band includes other famous jazz figures such as Tony Williams (soon to join Miles Davis and form his own group, Tony Williams Lifetime) on drums and Freddie Hubbard (also of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage-era band, and the Coltrane group that made Ascension) playing trumpet. But the real star of the show is Dolphy, merging Monk's innovations in odd chord progression, Coleman's love of atypical harmonies, and Mingus' experiments with song structure - often, the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 137
Average Rating:

Exclusively for My Friends

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Oscar Peterson

Release Date November 17, 1992
If your a Peterson fan,this is the 'loin cut'.In this well-rounded collection,there are two trio formats, including the high calibre playing of SAM JONES and RAY BROWN,BOBBY DURHAM,ED THIGPEN,AND LOUIS HAYES on bass and drums respectively. All provide exceptional support throughout this collection.And in addition,Peterson presents us with a beautiful set of solo piano pieces which could well be considered the 'companion' to his other brilliant solo recording,'TRACKS'.This comes very highly reccommended, as it represents the quintessential example of piano performances in the trio and solo platforms at the very highest level from one of the greatest legends of the piano in modern jazz history. Highlights for me were 'AT LAST LONG LOVE',and'TIN TIN DEO',which are great examples ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 138
Average Rating:

Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Various Artists

Release Date April 09, 1991
Picked this CD out of the rack after not listening to it for years.

Los Lobos' Bertha interpretation is close to the original, but with a nice hint of accordion. Bruce Hornsby's Jack Straw is great, one can tell he played with the Dead many a time and I (for one ;-) think that he performed wonderfully with them over the years. Whatever you think of him, he can play piano.

Forget The Hashed Mellows' US Blues, what a disappointing straightforward rock-ish version that is. Elvis Costello's Ship of Fools is sort of interesting in the sense that he has some of Jerry's raspiness and I like the instrumentation.

Suzanne Vega's China Doll sounds like, well, a Vega tune, which isn't bad, but perhaps a bit dull. Happily her Cassidy is much livelier, certainly ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 139
Average Rating:

A Night at Birdland, Vol. 2

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Art Blakey, Clifford Brown, Horace Silver

Release Date August 07, 2001
The band: Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver, Curly Russell, Art Blakey. (Should recognize at least Brown, Silver and Blakey - big names in jazz.)

The venue: Birdland - "Jazz Corner of the World"

The production: Rudy Van Gelder remaster of a live recording. (Hot, but clean.)

The verdict: This is a worthwhile CD and should be in every serious jazz music collector's collection in one form or another (see below). It really swings and is seriously hot live jazz by some of the greatest jazz musicians ever to play music.

The caveat: You can buy Clifford Brown's The Complete Blue Note & Pacific Jazz Recordings, which contains this CD, A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1, The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 1, and another disc of Clifford's that ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 140
Average Rating:

The Traveler

CD-Charts > Music > Bebop
by: Kenny Barron

Release Date August 26, 2008
The band: Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver, Curly Russell, Art Blakey. (Should recognize at least Brown, Silver and Blakey - big names in jazz.)

The venue: Birdland - "Jazz Corner of the World"

The production: Rudy Van Gelder remaster of a live recording. (Hot, but clean.)

The verdict: This is a worthwhile CD and should be in every serious jazz music collector's collection in one form or another (see below). It really swings and is seriously hot live jazz by some of the greatest jazz musicians ever to play music.

The caveat: You can buy Clifford Brown's The Complete Blue Note & Pacific Jazz Recordings, which contains this CD, A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1, The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 1, and another disc of Clifford's that ... Read More: