Jazz Appreciation Month: 10 Iconic Jazz albums to stream on Audacy

Miles Davis’ 1959 magnum opus Kind of Blue is widely considered to be one of the greatest jazz albums of all time. Prior to the album’s release, Davis and his musical colleagues had given rise to the “hard bop” genre, which became popular due its rhythmic and bouncy nature. Straying away from hard bop, Davis began experimenting with musical modals which allowed for more creative and emotive sounds in music due to their lack of a traditional tonal center. With the help of saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian Adderly, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb, Davis pieced together one of the most melancholic and synesthetic pieces of art in music history, providing a new sonic understanding of what it means to feel “blue.”

1959 might have been one of the best years in jazz history. Just a few months after the debut of Davis’ Kind of Blue, Charles Mingus released his eponymous album, Mingus Ah Um. This album is stunningly diverse in both in terms of its sound and its subject matter. After beginning with the lively fervent, song, "Better Git In Your Soul," it transitions into the pensive and somber, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," an elegy to the influential saxophonist Lester Young, who had just died a few months prior to this album’s recording. Another standout on the album—and testament to Mingus' dynamic story-telling ability—is “Fables of Faubus,” which was written in political opposition to then-Arkansas governor Orval Fabius. Fabius famously sent the National Guard to Little Rock Central High School in 1957 to try and prevent the Little Rock Nine from attending class. Mingus' label, Columbia Records, refused to release the version of the song he'd written with lyrics, so only the instrumental was released on Mingus Ah Um. But two years later the independent label Candid allowed Mingus to release the original song with its lyrics, which you can listen to here. An overall profound artist, jazz would not be the same without Mingus’ infinite contributions to the genre.

Born out of a period of great struggle for John Coltrane, this spiritual album brought the tenor saxophonist to new personal and commercial heights. Between 1950 and 1957, Coltrane battled a heroin addiction which ended with him being expelled from Miles Davis’ ensemble, the First Great Quintet. After witnessing the harm the drug was doing to his career, Coltrane quit cold turkey. He reflected in the 1964 album liner notes for A Love Supreme, “by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music.” The album acts as a suite with four parts to it: “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance,” and finally, “Psalm.” The song titles allude to a spiritual awakening for Coltrane. Through the masterful compositions, he is placing his faith in "a love supreme," and forging a new path past his addiction.

Sonny Rollins’ exalted album The Bridge tells a beautiful story of the saxophonist mastering his craft. In the mid-1950s, Rollins began receiving widespread recognition for his work that led to his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1957 and eventually a European tour in 1959. Amidst all the craze of his newfound fame, Rollins made the decision to take a musical sabbatical in the fall of 1959 to focus on perfecting his craft. As a New York native living in the Lower East Side, Rollins would take his saxophone to the Williamsburg Bridge to practice for up to 15-16 hours a day for three years straight. Released in 1962, the album’s title nods to his time spent alone on the bridge, which he described as his “heaven.” You can hear the magic he experienced throughout this entire album with divine songs like “You Do Something To Me” and “God Bless The Child.” We’re lucky to have a window into this slice of Rollins’ life, since he claimed, “I could have probably spent the rest of my life just going up on the bridge. I realized, no, I have to get back into the real world.” This album will forever transcend time and allow listeners into Rollins’ musical journey on the bridge.

It’s hard to believe this gorgeous album was Nina Simone’s first. As a young aspiring pianist in the ‘50s, Simone was told that she needed to sing in addition to playing the piano to play in nightclubs. Launching her career as a vocalist, Little Girl Blue features Simone’s raw and velvety vocals soaring over her expert piano-playing on classics like “Mood Indigo,” “Don’t Smoke in Bed” and “My Baby Just Cares For Me.” The album also features Simone’s cover of the beautiful Broadway ballad, “I Loves You Porgy,” which became her first ever charting single in 1958. Overall, this album stands out as one that helped spark the career of one of the most influential and inspirational artists to this day.

A stunning debut album, Chet Baker Sings continues to be a jazz staple to this day. Baker’s soothing voice and elite trumpeting skills are a perfect match for soft and heartwarming songs like, “I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)” and “My Funny Valentine.” With a slow and endearing tone, the album is mainly composed of classic love songs which helped solidify Baker in the hearts of listeners everywhere. Baker posthumously won a GRAMMY Hall of Fame Award for this album in 2001, perpetuating Baker’s cultural influence to this day.

Billie Holiday’s idiosyncratic voice is truly one of a kind. Released in 1958 on Granz’ Verve Records, All or Nothing at All sees Billie tackling many different moods and emotions with her raw vocals. From slower, bluesy songs like “Ill Wind” to upbeat swing tracks like, “Love Is Here To Stay,” the singer was able to take any song and make it sound like her own. Vocalists everywhere were influenced by Holiday’s moving singing, including Frank Sinatra who said in 1958, ‘‘It is Billie Holiday... who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me.’’ While Billie’s musical catalog is too expansive to pick one best album, All or Nothing at All stands out as one that demonstrates her vocal and emotional range perfectly.

With two of the most beloved and recognizable voices in jazz history, it’s no wonder this album is one of our favorites. Prior to recording Ella and Louis in 1956, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong had dueted on singles like “Dream a Little Dream of me.” But it wasn’t until Fitzgerald’s manager Norman Granz founded the new record label Verve Records that Fitzgerald and Armstrong came together to record a whole album. This musical marriage between Fitzgerald and Armstrong was the first of three to be produced for Verve Records, resulting in jazz staples like “Cheek to Cheek” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.” With Ella’s charming voice and Louis’ animated trumpet playing, this album will forever remain a top pick for jazz lovers.

This exquisite collaboration between two of jazz’s best composers is one for the ages. Duke Ellington was one of the most influential musicians of his time, having played a pivotal role in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, a period of burgeoning African American music and art in Harlem, New York. Many of his original compositions such as “Mood Indigo” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” were covered by artists on this list. Ellington’s masterful piano talents paired with the ingenuity of Coltrane’s saxophone playing lend to a unique and intuitive sonic experience on this album. The two musicians explore a spectrum of emotions on this record ranging from moving ballads like “In A Sentimental Mood” and “My Little Brown Book,” to more swing-esq songs such as “Take The Coltrane” and “Angelica.”

With her sweet and soothing vocals, Blossom Dearie released Once Upon a Summertime with Verve Records as a part of a deal she made with the aforementioned Norman Granz. The album has a light and sentimental mood to it, with Dearie’s beautiful vocals gliding over jazz classics like “Manhattan” and “Our Love is Here to Stay.” A frequent collaborator with the likes of Miles Davis and Johnny Mercer, Blossom Dearie’s one-of-a-kind musical style has stood the test of time.