TOP 15 JAZZ ALBUMS

Starting a jazz listening collection can be confusing. 

There are thousands of wonderful albums.  Here is a great list of "must have" recordings that we believe in, but cannot take all the credit.  13 of the 15 titles are suggested by former jazz critic for the Los Angeles Times and author of "Jazz for Dummies" Dirk Sutro. 

  1. Louis Armstrong, Hot Fives and Sevens (Sony)

  2. Jelly Roll Morton, Birth of the Hot (BMG/RCA)

  3. Duke Ellington, Okeh Ellington (Sony)

  4. Benny Goodman, Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert (Sony)

  5. Dizzy Gillespie, Dizzy Gillespie and His Big Band (GNP)

  6. Ella Fitzgerald, The Best of the Songbooks (Verve)

  7. Charlie Parker, Bebop and Bird, Volumes 1 and 2 (Rhino)

  8. Thelonious Monk, Best of the Blue Note Years (EMD/Blue Note)

  9. Mile Davis, Birth of the Cool (Capitol)

  10. Dave Brubeck, Time Out (Sony)

  11. Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come (Atlantic)

  12. Mile Davis, Bitches Brew (Sony)

  13. World Saxophone Quartet, Plays Duke Ellington (Elektra)

  14. Mile Davis, Kind of Blue (Columbia)

  15. John Coltrane, The Best of John Coltrane (Atlantic)

Here is a good website to find new and used compact discs:

www.amusicarea.com