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User
Album Ratings 1
Last Active 09-04-12 10:32 pm
Joined 09-04-12
Review Comments 207
| Top 10 Albums Of 1960
So I'm going through with a rather large undertaking. I'm going to be listing my top 10 favourite albums (will start being top 20 probably around 1970) for each year from 1960-2012. Then I'll do the top 20 albums by decade, then the top 20 of the last 50 years. Why am I doing this do you ask? Well currently I'm not in school and have too much free time on my hands. I do think it will be interesting to see what will come of this though. Anyway, without further ado, the top 10 albums of 1960. | | 10 |  | Freddie Hubbard
Open Sesame | | 9 |  | Hank Mobley
Soul Station | | 8 |  | Hank Mobley
Roll Call | | 7 | | Donald Byrd
At the Half Note Cafe Vols, 1 & 2
Donald Byrd is probably one of my favourite trumpet players. I love his sound and this double live album really exemplifies his earlier Hard Bop roots before moving towards the more Jazz Funk sound he found later in his career. | | 6 |  | Miles Davis
Sketches of Spain
This is an album I could never get into that much, which is too bad because I know it's very good. I probably could have rated it higher but I'm not quite as familiar with some of the other stuff on this list as I am with this album. Anyway, this album is definitely a classic in many jazz fans' eyes, and there are tracks on it I do enjoy (Will O Wisp) coming to mind, but this one just hasn't clicked with me yet. | | 5 |  | Eric Dolphy
Outward Bound
This Dolphy album is definitely more of a straight up jazz album than some of his other stuff, but it's still great. You can listen to this and almost predict where Dolphy was going to go with his sound. While I don't find the rhythm section as pronounced as Out There, but the performances by each musician are still solid. On Green Dolphin Street may be the standout track. | | 4 |  | Eric Dolphy
Out There
I love this album, and Eric Dolphy, but especially this album. He was such a visionary and this album did leaps and bounds for the avant-garde and post-bop jazz scenes. Even though the album is relatively out there (no pun intended), it still has a lot of accessibility. The quirky, awesome melodies are highlighted by a fantastic rhythm section consisting of Ron Carter and Roy Haynes, both of which really shine on this record. The first track absolutely sizzles, and Carter performs an unbelievable bass solo. The whole thing is concluded with Feathers, a slower track, but still amazing (and showcasing another great solo by Carter). | | 3 |  | John Coltrane & Don Cherry
The Avant-Garde
I was really considering putting this at number 2, but being that I only found this album about a year and a half ago it didn't have the nostalgic edge number 2 has. That being said, this is a great of work of early Avant-Garde Jazz. It's not boisterously noisy like a lot of avant-garde stuff, it's honestly more in tune with Hard Bop or Modal Jazz than anything else. Both Cherry and Coltrane are in top form here as they begin destroying the boundaries of jazz. It's too bad these two never collaborated again. | | 2 | | Duke Ellington
The Nutcracker Suite
I don't have a whole bunch of albums from 1960, but even still, ranking the top 5 was difficult. And guaranteed this one sneaks into the number 2 spot just because of the nostalgic edge it has. This is a wicked rendition of some of Tchaikovsky's most popular ballet, which I was a fan of to begin with, so once the Duke was thrown into the mix there's no way I could refuse. I remember listening to this album in high school when I played in the jazz band, hoping my teacher could find some sheet music of it so we could play it at the Christmas show. Of course, he didn't, but regardless, this is a fantastic rendition. | | 1 |  | John Coltrane
My Favorite Things
One of my absolute favourite Coltrane albums, 'My Favourite Things' was one of the albums that really opened up my eyes to the world of jazz. The rendition of the title track is just absolutely stellar and each member of the quartet, especially Elvin Jones, is absolutely spot on throughout the whole album. A highly accessible work of Jazz that I recommend everyone listen to. | |
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