Long Shot's Top 50 Albums of 1960
Color me surprised at the relative dearth of quality albums from this year. It was a bit of a struggle to make it to 50 albums worth mentioning here; seems like this year was a relatively stagnant one as far as music is concerned, apart from surf rock starting to catch on a bit more with acts like The Ventures achieving popular success. Oh yeah, and Giant Steps. That's a thing as well, I suppose. |
| 1 |  | Charles Mingus
Blues & Roots
4.8
Track pick: "Moanin'" |
| 2 |  | John Coltrane
Giant Steps
4.6
Track pick: "Naima" |
| 3 |  | Oscar Brown Jr.
Sin & Soul
4.4
Track pick: "Somebody Buy Me a Drink" |
| 4 |  | Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Alone in San Francisco
4.3
Track pick: "Ruby, My Dear" |
| 5 |  | Art Blakey
The Big Beat
4.2
Track pick: "Dat Dere" |
| 6 |  | Joan Baez
Joan Baez
4.2
Track pick: "All My Trials" |
| 7 |  | Miles Davis
Sketches of Spain
4.2
Track pick: "Concierto de Aranjuez" |
| 8 |  | Ella Fitzgerald
Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife
4.2
Track pick: "Mack the Knife" |
| 9 |  | Charles Mingus
Mingus Dynasty
4.2
Track pick: "Slop" |
| 10 |  | Wes Montgomery
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
4.1
Track pick: "Mr. Walker" |
| 11 |  | Etta James
At Last!
4.0
Track pick: "At Last" |
| 12 |  | Bill Evans
Portrait in Jazz
3.9
Track pick: "Blue in Green" |
| 13 |  | Ornette Coleman
Change of the Century
3.9
Track pick: "Ramblin'" |
| 14 |  | Muddy Waters
At Newport 1960
3.8
Track pick: "Got My Mojo Working" |
| 15 |  | Joao Gilberto
O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor
3.8
Track pick: "Samba de una nota so" |
| 16 |  | Muddy Waters
Sings "Big Bill"
3.8
Track pick: "Double Trouble" |
| 17 |  | Ahmed Abdul-Malik
East Meets West
3.8
Track pick: "Searchin'" |
| 18 |  | Yusef Lateef
The Centaur and the Phoenix
3.8
Track pick: "Iqbal" |
| 19 |  | Bobby Timmons
This Here Is Bobby Timmons
3.7
Track pick: "Moanin'" |
| 20 |  | Eric Dolphy
Outward Bound
3.7
Track pick: "G. W." |
| 21 |  | Hank Mobley
Soul Station
3.7
Track pick: "This I Dig of You" |
| 22 |  | Freddie Hubbard
Open Sesame
3.6
Track pick: "Open Sesame" |
| 23 |  | Lonnie Johnson
Blues & Ballads
3.6
Track pick: "St. Louis Blues" |
| 24 |  | Duke Ellington
Blues In Orbit
3.6
Track pick: "Blues in Orbit" |
| 25 |  | Ray Charles
The Genius Hits the Road
3.6
Track pick: "Georgia on My Mind" |
| 26 |  | Bo Diddley
Have Guitar, Will Travel
3.5
Track pick: "Mumblin' Guitar" |
| 27 |  | Kenny Dorham
Quiet Kenny
3.5
Track pick: "Lotus Blossom" |
| 28 |  | Frank Sinatra
Nice 'n' Easy
3.5
Track pick: "Nice 'n' Easy" |
| 29 |  | Roy Orbison
Lonely and Blue
3.5
Track pick: "Only the Lonely" |
| 30 |  | John Lee Hooker
House of the Blues
3.5
Track pick: "Walkin' the Boogie" |
| 31 |  | Donald Byrd
Byrd In Hand
3.5
Track pick: "Here Am I" |
| 32 |  | Tina Brooks
True Blue
3.4
Track pick: "Theme for Doris" |
| 33 |  | Ben Webster & Oscar Peterson
Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson
3.4
Track pick: "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" |
| 34 |  | Curtis Fuller
Blues-ette
3.4
Track pick: "Five Spot After Dark" |
| 35 |  | Wanda Jackson
Rockin' With Wanda
3.4
Track pick: "Rock Your Baby" |
| 36 |  | Donald Byrd
Fuego
3.4
Track pick: "Fuego" |
| 37 |  | The Kingston Trio
String Along
3.4
Track pick: "This Mornin', This Evenin', So Soon" |
| 38 |  | Gerry Mulligan and Ben Webster
Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster
3.4
Track pick: "Chelsea Bridge" |
| 39 |  | Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger
3.3
Track pick: "Sixteen Tons" |
| 40 |  | John Lee Hooker
Travelin'
3.3
Track pick: "I'm a Stranger" |
| 41 |  | The Modern Jazz Quartet
Pyramid
3.3
Track pick: "Pyramid" |
| 42 |  | Cliff Richard
Me and My Shadows
3.3
Track pick: "She's Gone" |
| 43 |  | The Ventures
Walk, Don't Run
3.2
Track pick: "Walk, Don't Run" |
| 44 |  | Eden Ahbez
Eden's Island
3.2
Track pick: "Market Place" |
| 45 |  | Cannonball Adderley
Them Dirty Blues
3.2
Track pick: "Work Song" |
| 46 |  | Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley in the Spotlight
3.2
Track pick: "Road Runner" |
| 47 |  | Babatunde Olatunji
Drums of Passion
3.2
Track pick: "Jin-Go-Lo-Ba" |
| 48 |  | Elvis Presley
Elvis Is Back!
3.1
Track pick: "Reconsider Baby" |
| 49 |  | Tony Bennett
Sings a String of Harold Arlen
3.1
Track pick: "When the Sun Comes Out" |
| 50 |  | George Russell
Jazz in the Space Age
3.1
Track pick: "Dimensions" |
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