John Coltrane Archives - Best of Jazz

All posts tagged “John Coltrane”

The Best Thelonious Monk Albums

Thelonious Sphere Monk was a pioneer of modern jazz music. Known for his eccentricity and improvisational impishness, Monk’s performances said as much with their silences as the raw chords that dominated some of the more stripped-back ballads.

Monk was also one of the most prolific composers in the history of jazz. Throughout his career, he recorded albums for labels including Blue Note, Prestige Records, and Riverside Records. Somehow, we’ve managed to unpick all of those releases to find The Mad Monk’s 10 of the best.

Best of Miles Davis Albums

Miles Davis was a transformative figure in the world of jazz, pushing boundaries and frequently reinventing the genre throughout his career. From his early bebop recordings in the 1940s to his groundbreaking explorations of modal jazz, fusion, and electronic music in the following decades, Davis constantly challenged conventions and created innovative and influential music.

His talent as a trumpeter, composer, and bandleader, combined with his restless spirit of experimentation, solidified his status as one of the most important and iconic figures in the history of jazz.

Here we tackle the most unenviable of tasks: the 10 best Miles Davis albums.

Best of John Coltrane Albums

John Coltrane, a towering figure in the realm of jazz, left an indelible mark on the music world with his revolutionary approach and boundless creativity. From his early days as a sideman with luminaries like Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis to his prolific career as a bandleader, Coltrane pushed the boundaries of jazz and redefined its possibilities.

Miles Davis – Kind of Blue

It is an instantly recognizable album cover; Davis in a blue suit, lips puffed, about to blow his trumpet; the black backdrop, the Columbia logo, and the album’s title typed in blue. Not only is Kind of Blue considered Miles Davis’s magnum opus and masterpiece, but it is also regularly billed as one of the best albums of all time, not to mention the greatest-ever jazz album.

John Coltrane – Giant Steps

There is a well-known Latin phrase Omne trium perfectum which put simply, means “everything that comes in threes is perfect”. Nobody knows where the principle of the perfect set of three originally came from but it is a philosophy the Ancient Greeks recognized and carried into the future. It is a phrase still used today, albeit heavily paraphrased.

John Coltrane – Blue Train

Sometimes the most extraordinary things occur in the most ordinary of places. If you should drive past an unassuming health centre on a quiet residential street in New Jersey – or 25 Prospect Avenue, Hackensack, to be more exact – you would be forgiven for disbelieving the site’s place in jazz music legend.

John Coltrane – A Love Supreme

It is one of the most iconic openings in musical history. Those first few seconds of A Love Supreme are infinitely recognisable to jazz music aficionados and instantly alluring to those hearing it for the first time.

From the first few seconds of the record, Coltrane hints at something magic. With the opening Asian gong and cymbal washes, the listener is plunged straight into a curious album with many musical meanderings, missing meanings and the feel of a smoky late-night underground jazz club.

The 10 Best Cool-Jazz Albums

Cool jazz is a genre of modern jazz that emerged in the late 1940s. It can be seen as a Californian adaptation of the frantic New York bebop. It has slower rhythms and less complex arrangements. It conveys a relaxed, sophisticated, or “cool” sound, hence the name “cool jazz.”

The 3 Greatest Jazz Albums Of All Time

Making a list called “The Three Greatest Jazz Albums of All Time” can raise the question, “Why three? Why not five, 10, or 50?”

It is because these three records are so good, so evidently beautiful, and are forever the foundation of jazz as we know it. If we were to add two, seven, or 47 albums for a more in-depth list (which we will soon do in another post), we would underemphasize how important the three following records were, are, and will be for many decades and maybe centuries to come.

Best Jazz Albums of 2021

Discover our final and definitive “Best Jazz Albums of 2021” list.

This year, the selection is divided into albums featuring solos, duets, trios, quartets, quintets, and larger ensembles, with three selections per category, for a total of 18 albums. We also added one category for “Artist of the Year”, and one for “Archive of the Year”, thereby adding two albums to the final selection, for a grand total of 20 albums that sum up how great 2021 was for jazz.