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NPR Top 100 Quintessential Jazz Recordings

Andyman

Andyman

Scroungus Stereophilus
Subscriber
Saw this on Yahoo and thought it might be interesting over here..

I'm surprised at how many I actually know and or have...

http://www.jazz24.org/jazz100.html


1. Take Five Dave Brubeck
2. So What Miles Davis
3. Take The A Train Duke Ellington
4. Round Midnight Thelonious Monk
5. My Favorite Things John Coltrane
6. A Love Supreme (Acknowledgment) John Coltrane
7. All Blues Miles Davis
8. Birdland Weather Report
9. The Girl From Ipanema Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto
10. Sing, Sing, Sing Benny Goodman
11. Strange Fruit Billie Holiday
12. A Night in Tunisia Dizzy Gillespie
13. Giant Steps John Coltrane
14. Blue Rondo a la Turk Dave Brubeck
15. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat Charles Mingus
16. Stolen Moments Oliver Nelson
17. West End Blues Louis Armstrong
18. God Bless The Child Billie Holiday
19. Cantaloupe Island Herbie Hancock
20. My Funny Valentine Chet Baker
21. Body And Soul Coleman Hawkins
22. Song For My Father Horace Silver
23. Spain Chick Corea
24. Blue In Green Miles Davis
25. Naima John Coltrane
26. Flamenco Sketches Miles Davis
27. Waltz For Debby Bill Evans
28. Autumn Leaves Cannonball Adderley
29. St. Thomas Sonny Rollins
30. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy Cannonball Adderley
31. What A Wonderful World Louis Armstrong
32. Lush Life John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman
33. Blue Train John Coltrane
34. Poinciana Ahmad Jamal
35. In a Sentimental Mood Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
36. Freddie Freeloader Miles Davis
37. Summertime Ella Fitzgerald
38. Watermelon Man Herbie Hancock
39. Salt Peanuts Dizzy Gillespie
40. Moanin' Art Blakey
41. Straight, No Chaser Thelonious Monk
42. Good Morning Heartache Billie Holiday
43. Mack the Knife Ella Fitzgerald
44. In the Mood Glenn Miller
45. Desafinado Stan Getz
46. Cast Your Fate To The Wind Vince Guaraldi
47. Rhapsody in Blue George Gershwin
48. Blue Monk Thelonious Monk
49. Caravan Duke Ellington
50. Sidewinder Lee Morgan
51. Django Modern Jazz Quartet
52. Compared To What Les McCann
53. Red Clay Freddie Hubbard
54. Ruby, My Dear Thelonious Monk
55. April in Paris Count Basie
56. Bitches Brew Miles Davis
57. Twisted Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
58. Maiden Voyage Herbie Hancock
59. Mood Indigo Duke Ellington
60. St. Louis Blues Louis Armstrong
61. Manteca Dizzy Gillespie
62. How High The Moon Ella Fitzgerald
63. At Last Etta James
64. Fever Peggy Lee
65. Satin Doll Duke Ellington
66. Someday My Prince Will Come Miles Davis
67. Autumn in New York Billie Holiday
68. Epistrophy Thelonious Monk
69. I Loves You Porgy Nina Simone
70. It Don't Mean A Thing Duke Ellington
71. Koko Charlie Parker
72. Milestones Miles Davis
73. Misterioso Thelonious Monk
74. Nuages Django Reinhardt
75. Struttin' with Some BBQ Louis Armstrong
76. The In Crowd Ramsey Lewis
77. Ain't Misbehavin Fats Waller
78. Bye Bye Blackbird John Coltrane
79. On Green Dolphin Street Miles Davis
80. Linus and Lucy Vince Guaraldi
81. Georgia on My Mind Ray Charles
82. Joy Spring Clifford Brown & Max Roach
83. One O'Clock Jump Count Basie
84. Potato Head Blues Louis Armstrong
85. Bumpin’ (On Sunset) Wes Montgomery
86. Feeling Good Nina Simone
87. Misty Errol Garner
88. Moody's Mood For Love James Moody
89. Stardust Louis Armstrong
90. Yardbird Suite Charlie Parker
91. Diminuendo & Crescendo in Blue Duke Ellington
92. Donna Lee Charlie Parker
93. Water Boy Don Shirley
94. Ornithology Charlie Parker
95. Begin the Beguine Artie Shaw
96. Ceora Lee Morgan
97. Sophisticated Lady Duke Ellington
98. Sugar Stanley Turrentine
99. Footprints Wayne Shorter
100. Four on Six Wes Montgomery
 
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I was looking at that list last night. I think I have most of them between my CD and vinyl collections, though there are plenty I don't know.
 
Think I have everything on the list except 93 & 96.

Interesting that Vince Guaraldi shows up twice. He wasn't a jazz giant like Miles and the others, but those were huge crossover hits.
 
Certainly better thought out than the great majority of lists like this, or is it that the majority of these pieces reside in my collection. hmmm
 
RT Fan said:
Certainly better thought out than the great majority of lists like this
Click to expand...

I think it certainly depends on your perspective. Two Guaraldi tunes but only one by Mingus?

edit: I read the comments on the NPR site and now I understand why the list is the way it is.
 
Last edited:
Scuzzer said:
I think it certainly depends on your perspective. Two Guaraldi tunes but only one by Mingus?
Click to expand...

Never been a huge fan of Mingus, I find his music somewhat strident, whereas I like Monk's playing and plenty of people find his style disturbing.

I think this list tends towards songs that were touchstones to some degree, and not reflective of the musicians contributions to jazz in total.
 
What is it then?

"The Jazz 100 is a crowdsourced list of the most quintessential jazz songs of all time, determined by the listeners of Jazz24.org and NPR Music."
 
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It would appear that "Jazz 24" is an NPR station in the Pacific Northwest:

http://www.jazz24.org/about

This list was voted on by Jazz 24 listeners.

The list is, IMO, very NPR-ish, consisting of many "safe" jazz classics (many of which I really like though).

As for Mingus, some of his stuff ("Goodbye Porkpie Hat") is simply stunning. Other stuff (Mingus "Dynasty") does not turn me on like I expected it would.
 
I was under the understanding that Jazz 24 did the original survey, and that NPR only picked up the story when it was done. Apologies if I misheard the story on NPR a few days ago.

Edit - Ken's info makes more sense, if it was a local NPR station's project, which was then taken up as a national story. On that note, our local station does some locally-programmed Jazz shows that are quite adventurous, and they have an HD subcarrier that's all jazz. I wish they'd fire up a second HD subcarrier as an all-classical station.
 
I'm sure any jazz fan could pick the list apart(me included), but it would make for one hell of a playlist for a road trip/plane ride.
 
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