This page is a gift of sorts to all, but especially to my dissertation advisor, Jeff Spinner-Halev. Jeff guided me through the difficult process of the PhD. Along the way, we discovered a shared love for jazz music. As a thank you, I’ve created a list of excellent jazz records I think he (and you) will enjoy. No one will like all of it, but everyone will like some of it–of that I am sure. These are all albums which I’ve listened to several times at one point or another.
Now, in no particular order, the list.
- Bill Evans
- California, Here I Come
- Alone
- Conversations with Myself
- Undercurrent
- Waltz for Debby (Trio)
- Waltz for Debby (Monica Zetterlund)
- The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album
- The Solo Sessions vol 1 and 2
- We Will Meet Again
- Joe Pass
- Unforgettable
- Virtuoso
- Virtuoso 2
- Oscar Peterson
- The Giants
- We Get Requests
- Sonny Stitt Sits with the Oscar Peterson Trio
- Night Train
- Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson
- Quiet Now
- Exclusively for My Friends
- Solo
- Tracks
- Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio
- John Coltrane
- Giant Steps
- A Love Supreme
- Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
- Blue Train
- Stardust
- Soultrane
- The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (Thelonius Monk)
- Sarah Vaughan
- Time After Time
- Sarah Vaughan
- Abbey Lincoln
- You Gotta Pay the Band
- Charles Mingus
- Mingus Ah Um
- Jacob Mann Big Band
- Greatest Hits Vol 1 and 2
- Frank Sinatra
- Sinatra at the Sands
- It Might As Well Be Swing
- Fred Hersch
- Songs from Home
- Live at Jazz Standard
- Songs without Words
- Songs we Know (Bill Frisell)
- Joe Henderson
- The Kicker
- Tetragon
- The Standard Joe
- Maria Schneider
- Concert in the Garden
- Kurt Rosenwinkel
- Standards Trio: Reflections
- Berlin Baritone
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook
- Ella and Louis
- Kurt Elling
- Flirting with Twilight
- Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman
- Live in Chicago
- Miles Davis
- Kind of Blue
- Miles Davis – In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk
- Someday My Prince Will Come
- Billy Harper
- Capra Black
- Black Saint
- Chris Potter
- Gratitude
- Imaginary Cities
- Circuits
- Follow the Red Line
- Got the Keys to the Kingdom
- Pathways (Dave Holland)
- Critical Mass (Dave Holland)
- Overtime (Dave Holland)
- We Are (Alina Engibaryan)
- What Goes Around (Dave Holland)
- Moments Captured (Alex Sipiagin)
- Wayne Escoffery
- Times Change
- Roman Nights (Tom Harrell)
- Joshua Redman
- Spirit of the Moment
- Moodswing
- Joshua Redman
- Compass
- Freedom in the Groove
- Walking Shadows
- Nearness (Brad Mehldau)
- Brad Mehldau
- Highway Rider
- Introducing Brad Mehldau
- Largo
- Blues and Ballads
- Anything Goes
- Seymour Reads the Constitution
- Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau
- Elegiac Cycle
- Art of the Trio vols 1-4
- Live in Tokyo
- Your Mother Should Know
- RoundAgain
- Sonny Stitt
- Personal Appearance
- Sonny Side Up (Dizzy and Rollins)
- Roy Hargrove
- Earfood
- Approaching Standards
- Walter Smith III
- Twio
- Michael Brecker
- Nearness of You
- Tales from the Hudson
- Wide Angles
- Gonzalo Rubalcaba
- Tokyo Adagio
- Solo
- Avatar
- Miguel Zenon
- Esta Plena
- El Arte Del Bolero
- SFJAZZ Collective
- Music of Stevie Wonder
- Live 2010: 7th Annual Concert Tour
- New Works and Classics Reimagined
- Keith Jarrett
- The Koln Concert
- Jasmine
- After the Fall
- Charles Lloyd
- The Water is Wide
- Hyperion with Higgins
- Brian Blade
- Kings Highway
- Body and Shadow
- Season of Changes
- Landmarks
- Snarky Puppy
- GroundUp
- We Like It Here
- Empire Central
- Live at Royal Albert Hall
- Culcha Vulcha
- Tell Your Friends
- Julian Lage
- The Layers
- View with a Room
- Squint
- World’s Fair
- Arclight
- Esperanza Spaulding
- Esperanza
- Biréli Lagrène
- Summertime
- Duet (with Sylvain Luc)
- Solo Suites
- Bireli Legrene Plays Loulou Gaste
- Cannonball Adderley
- Somethin’ Else
- Know What I Mean
- Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley
- Charles Mingus
- Ah Um
- Ahmad Jamal
- Happy Moods
- Cross Country Tour: 1958-1961
- The Awakening
- Oliver Nelson
- The Blues and the Abstract True
- Jimmy Smith
- Back at the Chicken Shack
- Art Tatum
- The Standard Transcriptions
- Piano Starts Here
- Makaya McCraven
- In the Moment
- Deciphering the Message
- In These Times
- Shaun Martin
- Focus
- Bob Reynolds
- Deja Vu
- Scott Ave (Yayennings)
- Yayennings Vol 2
- Robert Glasper
- R+R=NOW Live
- Collagically Speaking
- Kamsi Washington
- Harmony of Difference
- Michael Mayo
- Fly
- Bones
- Nate Smith
- Pocket Change
- Pocket Change 2
- Kinfolk
- Kinfolk 2
- Charlie Hunter
- Dionne, Dionne
- Natty Dread
- People Please
- Sam Fribush Organ Trio Vol 1 & 2
- Ashley Henry
- Beautiful Vinyl Hunter
- Kiefer
- Something for Real
- Superbloom
- Between Days
- When There’s Love Around
- Larry Goldings
- Music from the Front Room
- In My Room
- Duke Ellington
- Such Sweet Thunder
- The Ellington Suites (esp. The Queen’s Suite)
- The Nutcracker
- BADBADNOTGOOD
- III
- IV
- Nubya Garcia
- Source