Please list jazz albums which you would qualify as "sleepers"

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Wie Gehts?, Jul 21, 2009.

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  1. Wie Gehts?

    Wie Gehts? New Member Thread Starter

    Meaning, of course, those which are quite good (and by "major" artists) but which are rarely seen on "best jazz album" lists. Thanks in advance.
     
  2. johnny 99

    johnny 99 Down On Main Street

    Location:
    Toronto
    Here's a few off the top of my head:

    Joe Henderson - "Our Thing"
    Tina Brooks - "True Blue"
    Sonny Clark - "Leapin' And Lopin'"
    Horace Silver - "Serenade To A Soul Sister"
    Lee Morgan - "Tom Cat"
    Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - "Mosaic"
    Freddie Hubbard - "Open Sesame"
    Jackie Mclean - "Jackie's Bag"
     
  3. mrt2

    mrt2 Active Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI, USA
    There are so many, it is hard to even decide where to start:

    I think there are groups and soloists whose entire back catalog are sleepers. Off the top of my head:

    Lee Morgan - Search for a new land
    Hank Mobley - Workout, Roll Call, no room for squares
    Wynton Kelly - Kelly Blue
    Kenny Burell - Guitar forms
    Johnny Griffin - Little Giant
    Jim Hall - Concierto
    Paul Desmond - Take Ten
    Art Pepper - Village Vanguard recordings
    Wayne Shorter - Adam's Apple
    Barney Kessel - Poll winners
    Other unsung heros of jazz, most of whom have made big contributions and never get mentioned in lists of top performers:
    Art Farmer
    Blue Mitchell
    Grant Green
    Kenny Dorham
     
  4. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Two on Contemporary, my faves, great West Coast Jazz.

    BARNEY KESSEL with ART PEPPER~Some Like It Hot, 1959, stereo.

    HAROLD RUMSEY & RUMSEY’S LIGHTHOUSE ALL-STARS~Music For Lighthouse Keeping, 1956, stereo.

    I have more but I have a feeling the OP and I have different specs when it comes to old jazz..
     
  5. TaterBones

    TaterBones Active Member

    Location:
    The Upstate, SC
    More of an under-recognized gem than major artist...

    Sonny Criss - Crisscraft
     
  6. brew ziggins

    brew ziggins Forum Prisoner

    Location:
    The Village
    The first two replies highlight the depth of the Blue Note catalog. There are just so many.

    One which immediately leaps to mind is Miles Davis' Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud soundtrack.

    I'd also point towards the Black Saint/Soul Note catalog, which captured some of the greats of the 80's, including David Murray, Henry Threadgill/Air, Richard Muhal Abrams, and dozens of others, including Don Pullen's masterpiece The Sixth Sense.
     
  7. Green Tea

    Green Tea Sweet Soulful Sounds

    Location:
    ϟ
    Tina Brooks: Back to the Tracks
    Sonny Red: Out of the Blue
    Wilbur Ware: Chicago Sound
     
  8. Wie Gehts?

    Wie Gehts? New Member Thread Starter

    I listened to clips from the two titles you mentioned and I like them both well enough to buy them. I prefer jazz from 1950 to the early '60s (with the exception of some later Miles Davis releases), whereas you've indicated that you like jazz that was released on 78rpm format best, as I recall. ;)
     
  9. Jackson

    Jackson Senior Member

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Autumn Leaves - Manhattan Jazz Quintet
    Late Hour Special - Gene Ammons
     
  10. mrt2

    mrt2 Active Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI, USA
    So true. Blue Note had stuff unreleased in the vaults like Quartets with Grant Green and Sonny Clark, that had been sitting for years.

    Also, Prestige, Contemporary, Riverside, Verve, Atlantic and Columbia were pretty solid too.
     
  11. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Two from the Prestige label:

    No-one ever mentions Oliver Nelson's Screamin' the Blues (with Dolphy and the wonderful, little-known trumpeter Richard Williams) but I think it's his finest work - grittier and sprightlier than Abstract Truth, which it is otherwise similar to. It contains my two favorite Nelson compositions, the sweetly lyrical "The Drive" and the title track.

    Speaking of Dolphy, I think Outward Bound is as good as Out to Lunch. Like that record, it features Freddie Hubbard and the two counterpoint one another exquisitely.

    Finally, a non-Prestige: McCoy Tyner's Horizon. One of his leanest, most rousing LPs, with modal and subtle R&B influences, arguably his finest. With splendid, plaintive violin by John Blake and two blistering lesser-known sax players - Joe Ford and George Adams.

    I'll add that all summer I've been grooving to the Sonny Rollins - McCoy Tyner - Ron Carter Milestone Jazzstars In Concert live superset, an album whose existence I only recently discovered even though I'm a big fan of all three of the principals, and which I've discovered is largely maligned amongst those who have heard of it. I find it completely satisfying, except for a lesser version of "Don't Stop the Carnival" with which it concludes. Tyner's "A Little Pianissimo," a modestly titled original elsewhere unrecorded, is a major composition.
     
  12. webbcity

    webbcity Confused Onlooker

    Harold Land - Harold in the Land of Jazz, The Peace-Maker, West Coast Blues
    Wynton Kelly - Piano
    Bobby Hutcherson - Medina, Total Eclipse
    John Coltrane - Transition, Crescent
    Clifford Jordan - Glass Bead Games
    Oscar Peterson Trio - Live at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival
    Sam Rivers - Contours

    ...so many others...!
     
  13. jpm-boston

    jpm-boston Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Pee Wee Russell - Ask Me Now!
    Pee Wee Russell - Portrait of Pee Wee (Steve remastered the definitive digital version)
     
  14. ledsox

    ledsox Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    James Clay & David "Fathead' Newman
    The sound of the wide open spaces.
    STEREO 1178 Riverside 1960
     
  15. butch

    butch Senior Member

    Location:
    ny
    Eberhard Weber- Colours of Chloe Brilliant stuff that defies categorization...is it Euro Jazz,orchestral or modern bebop?
     
  16. PreciousRicky

    PreciousRicky Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, NY USA
    Anything by David Murray, an artist whose name I do not recall being mentioned on this forum until someone else listed him in a previous post.
     
  17. bluesbro

    bluesbro Forum Hall of Shame

    Location:
    DC
    Anything by Jaki Byard
     
  18. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    "Mr. Gershwin and Mr. Wilson" by Teddy Wilson. I've got the CBS Special Products CD release, which is a quite-nice ADD remix. The album is currently on a 2-fer disc from Oldies.com, and I'm not sure if that's an original mix or a remix.
     
  19. pig whisperer

    pig whisperer CD Member

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    Some piano trio stuff:

    The Oscar Peterson Trio - The Oscar Peterson Trio Plays (Verve) - the only OPT album I really like.
    Russ Freeman / Richard Twardzik - Trio (Pacific Jazz)
    Ray Brown - Something For Lester (Contemporary) - '77 recording with an old time feel.

    Some perennial favorites in Japan (judging by the number of times they have been re-released over the years)

    Walter Bishop Jr. Trio - Speak Low (Jazztime)
    Ray Bryant - Ray Bryant Plays (Signature)
    Sonny Clark Trio - Sonny Clark Trio [1961] (Baybridge)
    Tommy Flannigan Trio - Complete Overseas (DIW) - all three EPs on one disc with bonus tracks.
     
  20. alanb

    alanb Senior Member

    Location:
    Bonnie Scotland
    Wayne Shorter's JU JU and Speak No Evil are both good jazz albums you don't seem to hear too much about..( i know MM is releasing Ju Ju soon...)
     
  21. zeppage2

    zeppage2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
  22. chef0069

    chef0069 Forum Resident

    sleepers

    I'll add some as I think of them.
    Chick Corea-Tap Step, Friends, Mad hatter
    John McLaughlin-Que Alegria, Free Spirits, The Promise, Floating Point
    Jean Luc Ponty-Imaginary Voyage, Enigmatic Ocean, Aurora
    Frank Zappa-Waka Jawaka
    Larry Young-Testimony
    Grant Green-His Majesty King Funk
     
  23. zappa

    zappa New Member

    Location:
    St Pete, Florida
    herbie mann- stone flute...........a masterpiece..........quite nice...........
     
  24. Hank Garland "Jazz Winds From a New Direction" 1961
     
  25. wave

    wave Forum Resident

    Location:
    Allen Park, MI
    Cal Tjader - Several Shades of Jade / Breeze from the East
    (2 Verve albums on one CD)
     
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