This was a fun list to compile. Note that there is a separate category for duo/group performances, so some folks whose omission may seem puzzling will appear there. And here we go with our surprise #1 . . . 1. Fontella Bass: “Rescue Me” I went out on a bit of a limb by putting…
Continue ReadingAfter taking a few days off from Facebook, I returned to find that many of my friends (both musicians and not) are posting lists of their top 15 albums that will “always stick with you.” Obviously I enjoy lists and enjoy talking about music that’s important to me. So to have my cake and eat it too, I’m turning that into a top 10 list.
Continue ReadingLast month I blogged about my top 10 favorite jazz piano tracks, and this time around I’ll be looking at entire albums. Read on for props for Phineas, Cedar, Hampton, Mary Lou and others.
Continue ReadingGiven my line of work, this is a particularly tough one to narrow down. If you look at my other top 10 lists, you’ll see that there are also lists for piano trio albums and for piano solos. This is for standout individual tracks and takes the whole performance (e.g. not just the piano) into account.
Continue ReadingI’m not sure that Los Lobos are particularly cool, but I love ’em and am struck by how hard it was for me to narrow down to 10 fave tracks from among the dozens of excellent songs they’ve come up with.
Continue ReadingHere is my list of great comping albums, from crisply swinging to dense and aggressive. To the uninitiated, comping is the rhythmic, improvised playing of chords to accompany a melody or solo.
Continue ReadingI love the drums, and especially on groove-based music it all comes back to that. I also love great songs, so you’ll find that my drummer choices tend to revolve more around groove and service to the song as a whole as opposed to impressive chops-displays for their own sake.
Continue ReadingThis is for singers (of either gender) who also play an instrument on the cut in question (or vice versa). I just realized as I went to submit that due to a rather glaring oversight there are no Chet Baker recordings here; I don’t really want to “bump” any of these individual tracks, so let’s…
Continue Reading“Vocal only” means that those who are also play an instrument on the recording belong in another category. Apologies, as always, to the great singers (including Mark Murphy, Eddie Jefferson, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme and Jon Hendricks just to name a few) who didn’t make the list.
Continue ReadingThere is no shortage of great female jazz vocal performances on record so it was a hard one to narrow down! “Vocal only” distinguishes from those who also play an instrument on the recording; they get their own category.
Continue Reading