"The Best Five Album Runs BEFORE TIME BEGAN" (Jazz artist nomination thread)

a jazz version of thread would be great, but it would be great as its own thing apart from this thread, don't understand why people can't just make one and stop whining on this one.

― some dude, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:25 (3 days ago) Permalink

easier to whine duh

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:27 (3 days ago) Permalink

just thinking about putting together a jazz version of this poll makes my head hurt -- too hard

but I hope someone does it

― Brad C., Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:31 (3 days ago) Permalink

I hope its called "The Best Five Album Runs BEFORE TIME BEGAN"

― the taint of Macca is strong (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:32 (3 days ago) Permalink

jazz poll would be kind of hard ... i mean, you'd have to go w/ the big guys. Miles, Ornette, Coltrane, Rollins ... maybe Hancock. But if you started adding everybody it'd get wacky. I mean, I'll argue for Art Blakey/Jazz Messengers til the cows come home, but I have no idea what their best five album run is.

― tylerw, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:34 (3 days ago) Permalink

Now, if you look at the 100 top acts at Acclaimed Music, the only jazz act from the albums era that would really fit in here is Miles Davis, the five album run that ended with "Sketches Of Spain". None of the others are acclaimed enough to be in the top 100 artists there. Yes, it is a rock centric list, but then, like most every "Best albums of all time" lists that have ever been made by any (non jazz specialist) magazine in recent times.

― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:35 (3 days ago) Permalink

the past, who needs it

― the taint of Macca is strong (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:38 (3 days ago) Permalink

how can you call a thread "the best five album runs ever" then not include one of the biggest genres ever, which has plenty of 5 album runs.

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:40 (3 days ago) Permalink

someone who knows more about jazz than gier should do a jazz one so everyone stops bickering

― Drew Daniel, Esq. (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:47 (3 days ago)

I'm not super expert, but I can hang with doing a nominations thread and poll. I can take up to fifty nominations but I doubt we'll get that much. Perhaps if we're under we could include alternate 5-album run suggestions.

One nomination per poster, please.

I'd have to go with:

A Monastic Trio
Huntington Ashram Monastery
Journey In Satchidananda
Ptah, The El Daoud
Universal Consciousness

John C, Pharoah, Miles, Ornette, Mingus, and Sun Ra all have obviously strong runs. Maybe Monk, R.R. Kirk also has a good run. 1973's In Concert kinda screw things up for 5 Miles albums if you ask me though.

Anyway, have at it. I'll post a poll after I think we have enough credible nominations or if we hit 50.

Oh... so mine is:

1. Alice Coltrane

Hard with the titans to figure out where you'd make the cut.

2. an early Bill Evans run: Portrait in Jazz, Explorations, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Waltz for Debby, How My Heart Sings!

This is hard because a lot of jazz artists' discographies are all over the place, i.e. they weren't tied to one single label. Also, do live albums count in the five-album runs? I would say they do because it's in the nature of improvisation that it only exists in the moment, so a live recording is as much a part of a jazz artist's oeuvre as a studio album. With that in mind, I'm nominating:

3. Albert Ayler – Spiritual Unity, New York Eye and Ear Control, Bells, Spirits Rejoice, In Greenwich Village

By the way, you won't get anything like 50 noms for this. Maybe 20 if you're very lucky. I've only been on this board a few months and it's already pretty obvious that jazz is a minority interest round here.

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers w/Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons, and Lee Morgan or Freddie Hubbard:

Roots & Herbs (1961)
The Witch Doctor (1961)
The Freedom Rider (1961)
Mosaic (1961)
Buhaina's Delight (1961)

for Miles:

E.S.P (1965)
Miles Smiles (1966)
Sorcerer (1967)
Nefertiti (1967)
Miles in the Sky (1968)

for Coltrane, maybe:

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)
Impressions (1963)
Live at Birdland (1964)
Crescent (1964)
A Love Supreme (1965)

(Impressions is the odd one out)

alternate Miles run:

Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
'Round About Midnight (1955-1956)

Dave Holland Quintet/Big Band:

2000 - Prime Directive - ECM
2001 - Not for Nothin' - ECM
2002 - What Goes Around - ECM
2003 - Extended Play: Live at Birdland - ECM
2005 - Overtime - Dare2

Ornette Coleman's 1st run:
Something Else!!!! (1958)
Tomorrow Is the Question! (1959)
The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
Change of the Century (1959)
This Is Our Music (1960)

Herbie Hancock:

Mwandishi (1971)
Crossings (1972)
Sextant (1973)
Head Hunters (1973)
Thrust (1974)

One nomination per poster

wynton, branford, kenny garrett, john scofield, and a bunch of others that came to mind come close, but i couldn't line up five in a row that i would rep for

sorry, just tryin' to help.

hm, my favorite mingus albums are all spread out, and i haven't heard all the clifford brown/max roach records.

Sonny Rollins:

Moving Out (1954)
Work Time (1955)
Saxophone Colossus (1956)
Sonny Rollins Plus Four (1956; the "four" are the other members of the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet)
Tenor Madness (1956)

If it's just one nomination per poster, someone please nominate Pharoah Sander's run from Karma to Black Unity.

By the way, if you're looking for album release years, don't trust Allmusic, because for some reason they list many jazz albums based on the years they were recorded, not their release years. For example, AMG dates Pharoah Sanders' Village of the Pharoahs to 1971, before Black Unity, even though it actually came out in 1973, after Black Unity. Discogs.com is a more trusthworthy source for release years.

damn, i wanted to post Ornette's later run Dancing in Your Head through Virgin Beauty (6), but can't not get Monk on here. hard to pick a run w/Monk, and i could easily pick 10 more by the man:
Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Himself
Monk with Coltrane
Blakey's Jazz Messengers w/Thelonious Monk
Monk's Music

Mingus

Town Hall Concert (1962, Blue Note)
Oh Yeah (1962, Atlantic)
Tijuana Moods (1962, RCA)
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963, Impulse!)
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963, Impulse!)

sorry about listing one more, but this is desert island stuff for me.
Sonny Rollins:

Sonny Rollins (the one with the cover that Joe Jackson copied)
Sonny Rollins - plus 4
Saxophone Colossus
Max Roach-Clifford Brown Live at Basin Street
Tenor Madness

off the top of my head I want to nominate at least four different runs - Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and RR Kirk, but if I have to pick just one of those four... uh eeep

made more difficult by the fact that there are gaps in my knowledge of all four discographies, and its hard to tell what was recorded/released in what order...

this works pretty well for Sun Ra:

# 1965 – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One by Sun Ra
# 1965 – The Magic City by Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra
# 1965 – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two by Sun Ra
# 1966 – Nothing Is by Sun Ra (live)
# 1966 – Strange Strings

yeah i keep looking at jazz discographies and seeing how messy everyone's career really is. Like, there's no really perfect run of Rollins records I can find, just cuz he was putting out 6 albums a year! Was thinking a dark horse could be Hank Mobley -- he had a ridiculously good run in the early 60s.

yeah they just put out so much - anyone of consequence easily has 5+ great albums, but they're not all released one after the other. The good runs are broken up by obscure releases on random labels and stuff like that.

mccoy tyner had a cool run of underrated records in the 70s.

One nomination per poster

this is dumb because there are probably less jazz dbags here than there are worthy nominees

^^^this had also occurred to me

Wayne Shorter:

- Juju, Speak No Evil, The All Seeing Eye, Adam's Apple, Schizophrenia (all for Blue Note)

someone like Jimmy Smith is great, but you look at his discography and holy smokes they were milking him dry! Asterisked records not released at the time, but still!
1957
* A Date With Jimmy Smith Vol. 1
* A Date With Jimmy Smith Vol. 2
* Jimmy Smith At The Organ Vol. 1
* Jimmy Smith At The Organ Vol. 2
* The Sounds of Jimmy Smith
* Groovin' at Small's Vol. 1
* Groovin' at Small's Vol. 2
* Plays Pretty Just for You
* Jimmy Smith Trio + LD *
* Cherokee *
* Lonesome Road *
No matter how inventive/creative a musician is, I just can't imagine that the quality can be kept up.

^^^good call on the Shorter records. Those are all great. Amazing that he was writing/recording w/ Art Blakey during that whole time too! Maybe he goes against what I just said about being able to keep the quality up ...

damn i got beaten to the hancock and mingus nomination

are we counting live stuff? if we can exclude live then
Archie Shepp - Fire Music,On This Night,Three for a Quarter, One for a Dime, Mama Too Tight, The Magic Of Juju.
Of course even with the live albums it would still be a great run. plus it could be a different run with albums at either side of them.

Could actually make a 10 run for Archie Shepp

"E.S.P (1965)
Miles Smiles (1966)
Sorcerer (1967)
Nefertiti (1967)
Miles in the Sky (1968)"

Not sure if live albums excluded but if not I'd drop in the Sky and include Live at the Plugged Nickel. Either way that run of albums wins in a canter for me.

i dont see why there cant be multiple noms for different runs.

or just 1 nom per poster. someone do Pharoah Sanders please.

my biggest problem for a lot of these guys (Pharaoh and Archie Shepp and RR Kirk, etc.) is that I haven't actually HEARD five albums in a row by these guys. I may own way more than 5 albums by each, but none of them are a chronological run

Yeah, I'm looking over Ellington, and he was putting out at least five albums a year in the 50s and 60s, from dance records to suites to collaborations. I suppose you could do it by approach:

The 61-62 collabs:

* Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington (Roulette).
* ”Together for the First Time! The Count Meets the Duke”
* Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
* Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins
* Money Jungle

Tho' I havent' heard the first two.

or the late thematic works:

* The Far East Suite
* Latin American Suite (Fantasy)
* New Orleans Suite (Atlantic)
* The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (Fantasy)
* Toga Brava Suite (Storyville)

But I haven't heard LAS or TBS. I'd still probably choose that. Could argue that ... And Mother Called Him Bill goes in there too, which would seal it.

Hello ILM, back from work.

Live albums are fine for the reason bendy gave upthread.

and the "only one per poster" rule was dumb, I'll take all of Jordan's and any others people want to add. Must have overestimated the jazz appeal.

oops bendy=anagram

Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam,Karma,Jewels Of Thought,Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun),Thembi

so,

1. Alice Coltrane:
A Monastic Trio
Huntington Ashram Monastery
Journey In Satchidananda
Ptah, The El Daoud
Universal Consciousness

2. an early Bill Evans run: Portrait in Jazz, Explorations, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Waltz for Debby, How My Heart Sings!

3. Albert Ayler – Spiritual Unity, New York Eye and Ear Control, Bells, Spirits Rejoice, In Greenwich Village

4. for Miles:

E.S.P (1965)
Miles Smiles (1966)
Sorcerer (1967)
Nefertiti (1967)
Miles in the Sky (1968)

5. for Coltrane, maybe:

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)
Impressions (1963)
Live at Birdland (1964)
Crescent (1964)
A Love Supreme (1965)

6. Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
'Round About Midnight (1955-1956)

7. Dave Holland Quintet/Big Band:

2000 - Prime Directive - ECM
2001 - Not for Nothin' - ECM
2002 - What Goes Around - ECM
2003 - Extended Play: Live at Birdland - ECM
2005 - Overtime - Dare2

8. Ornette Coleman's 1st run:
Something Else!!!! (1958)
Tomorrow Is the Question! (1959)
The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
Change of the Century (1959)
This Is Our Music (1960)

9. Herbie Hancock:

Mwandishi (1971)
Crossings (1972)
Sextant (1973)
Head Hunters (1973)
Thrust (1974)

10. Sonny Rollins:

Moving Out (1954)
Work Time (1955)
Saxophone Colossus (1956)
Sonny Rollins Plus Four (1956; the "four" are the other members of the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet)
Tenor Madness (1956)

11. hard to pick a run w/Monk, and i could easily pick 10 more by the man:
Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Himself
Monk with Coltrane
Blakey's Jazz Messengers w/Thelonious Monk
Monk's Music

12. Mingus

Town Hall Concert (1962, Blue Note)
Oh Yeah (1962, Atlantic)
Tijuana Moods (1962, RCA)
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963, Impulse!)
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963, Impulse!)

13. Sonny Rollins:

Sonny Rollins (the one with the cover that Joe Jackson copied)
Sonny Rollins - plus 4
Saxophone Colossus
Max Roach-Clifford Brown Live at Basin Street
Tenor Madness

14. Sun Ra:

# 1965 – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One by Sun Ra
# 1965 – The Magic City by Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra
# 1965 – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two by Sun Ra
# 1966 – Nothing Is by Sun Ra (live)
# 1966 – Strange Strings

15. Wayne Shorter:

- Juju, Speak No Evil, The All Seeing Eye, Adam's Apple, Schizophrenia (all for Blue Note)

16. Archie Shepp - Fire Music,On This Night,Three for a Quarter, One for a Dime, Mama Too Tight, The Magic Of Juju.

17. The 61-62 collabs:

* Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington (Roulette).
* ”Together for the First Time! The Count Meets the Duke”
* Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
* Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins
* Money Jungle

18. the late thematic works:

* The Far East Suite
* Latin American Suite (Fantasy)
* New Orleans Suite (Atlantic)
* The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (Fantasy)
* Toga Brava Suite (Storyville)

19. Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam,Karma,Jewels Of Thought,Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun),Thembi

count live albums if you like, or don't. obviously we need some flexibility here because the whole jazz discography thing is really different than "rock", esp. earlier on cf. that crazy Jimmy Smith 1957 list.

Hancock and Sanders also looking good to me here.

herbie looks like he got my vote too

also, this:

Discogs.com is a more trusthworthy source for release years.

but lets face it, miles and coltrane should have other runs nominated that might push it

surely Miles' electric period deserves a running - easily one of the greatest runs in music ever

# In a Silent Way (1969)
# Bitches Brew (1970)
# A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1970)
# On the Corner (1972)
# Big Fun (1974 - previously unissued recordings from 1969-1972)

cool, #20

nice work excluding Fillmore there

no, those are great ones. Love the Ulmer and never heard the Smith, must investigate.

EITHER Smith, that is.

well I cant think of anything else right now so perhaps you can post the full nominations so far and see whats left?

1. Alice Coltrane:
A Monastic Trio
Huntington Ashram Monastery
Journey In Satchidananda
Ptah, The El Daoud
Universal Consciousness

2. an early Bill Evans run: Portrait in Jazz, Explorations, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Waltz for Debby, How My Heart Sings!

3. Albert Ayler – Spiritual Unity, New York Eye and Ear Control, Bells, Spirits Rejoice, In Greenwich Village

4. for Miles:

E.S.P (1965)
Miles Smiles (1966)
Sorcerer (1967)
Nefertiti (1967)
Miles in the Sky (1968)

5. for Coltrane, maybe:

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)
Impressions (1963)
Live at Birdland (1964)
Crescent (1964)
A Love Supreme (1965)

6. Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
'Round About Midnight (1955-1956)

7. Dave Holland Quintet/Big Band:

2000 - Prime Directive - ECM
2001 - Not for Nothin' - ECM
2002 - What Goes Around - ECM
2003 - Extended Play: Live at Birdland - ECM
2005 - Overtime - Dare2

8. Ornette Coleman's 1st run:
Something Else!!!! (1958)
Tomorrow Is the Question! (1959)
The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
Change of the Century (1959)
This Is Our Music (1960)

9. Herbie Hancock:

Mwandishi (1971)
Crossings (1972)
Sextant (1973)
Head Hunters (1973)
Thrust (1974)

10. Sonny Rollins:

Moving Out (1954)
Work Time (1955)
Saxophone Colossus (1956)
Sonny Rollins Plus Four (1956; the "four" are the other members of the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet)
Tenor Madness (1956)

11. hard to pick a run w/Monk, and i could easily pick 10 more by the man:
Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Himself
Monk with Coltrane
Blakey's Jazz Messengers w/Thelonious Monk
Monk's Music

12. Mingus

Town Hall Concert (1962, Blue Note)
Oh Yeah (1962, Atlantic)
Tijuana Moods (1962, RCA)
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963, Impulse!)
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963, Impulse!)

14. Sun Ra:

# 1965 – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One by Sun Ra
# 1965 – The Magic City by Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra
# 1965 – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two by Sun Ra
# 1966 – Nothing Is by Sun Ra (live)
# 1966 – Strange Strings

15. Wayne Shorter:

- Juju, Speak No Evil, The All Seeing Eye, Adam's Apple, Schizophrenia (all for Blue Note)

16. Archie Shepp - Fire Music,On This Night,Three for a Quarter, One for a Dime, Mama Too Tight, The Magic Of Juju.

17. The 61-62 collabs:

* Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington (Roulette).
* ”Together for the First Time! The Count Meets the Duke”
* Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
* Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins
* Money Jungle

18. the late thematic works:

* The Far East Suite
* Latin American Suite (Fantasy)
* New Orleans Suite (Atlantic)
* The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (Fantasy)
* Toga Brava Suite (Storyville)

19. Pharoah Sanders - Izipho Zam,Karma,Jewels Of Thought,Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun),Thembi

20.
# In a Silent Way (1969)
# Bitches Brew (1970)
# A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1970)
# On the Corner (1972)
# Big Fun (1974 - previously unissued recordings from 1969-1972)

21.
Hank Mobley:
Soul Station 1960
Roll Call 1960
Workout 1961
Another Workout 1961
No Room for Squares 1963

22. Coltrane on Atlantic:
# Giant Steps
# Coltrane Jazz
# My Favorite Things
# Coltrane Plays the Blues
# Olé Coltrane

Suggest Ban Permalink

23. Braxton
New York, Fall 1974
Five Pieces 1975
The Montreux/Berlin Concerts
Creative Orchestra Music 1976
For Four Orchestras

24. Mingus run:

Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956, Atlantic)
The Clown (1957, Atlantic)
Blues & Roots (1959, Atlantic)
Mingus Ah Um (1959, Columbia)
Mingus Dynasty (1959, Columbia)

25. Miles again:
# My Funny Valentine (1964)
# Four & More (1964)
# Miles In Tokyo (1964)
# Miles In Berlin (1964)
# The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 (1965)

26. booker ervin:

The Freedom Book (1963)
The Song Book (1964)
The Blues Book (1964)
The Space Book (1964)
Setting The Pace (1965)

27. joe henderson:

1963: Page One
1963: Our Thing
1964: In 'N Out
1964: Inner Urge
1966: Mode for Joe

28. Nicole Mitchell:

Vision Quest (2001)
Africa Rising (2002)
Hope, Future, Destiny (2004)
Black Unstoppable (2007)
Xenogenesis (2009)

29. Lee Morgan:

Lee-Way
Take Twelve
The Sidewinder
Search For A New Land
Tom Cat

30. brad mehldau:

The Art of the Trio, Vol. IV — Back At The Vanguard (1999)
Places (2000)
The Art of the Trio, Vol. V — Progression (2001)
Largo (2002)
Anything Goes (2004)

31. Esbjorn Svensson Trio:

Good Morning Susie Soho
Strange Place For Snow
Seven Days of Falling
Viaticum
Tuesday Wonderland

32. James Carter:

1995: The Real Quietstorm
1996: Conversin' with the Elders
1998: In Carterian Fashion
2000: Layin' in the Cut
2000: Chasin' the Gypsy

33. Sonny Sharrock:

1986: Guitar
1987: Seize the Rainbow
1990: Highlife
1991: Faith Moves (duo with Nicky Skopelitis)
1991: Ask the Ages

34. Peter Brötzmann:

For Adolphe Sax
Machine Gun
Nipples
Balls
Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink

35. Bobby Hutcherson:

1965 Spiral
1965 Dialogue
1965 Components
1966 Happenings
1966 Stick-Up!

36. Grant Green:
1963 Am I Blue?
1963 Idle Moments
1964 Matador
1964 Solid
1964 Talkin' About!

37. some form of Donald Byrd's:
1969 Kofi Blue Note
1970 Electric Byrd Blue Note
1971 Ethiopian Knights Blue Note
1972 Black Byrd Blue Note
1973 Street Lady Blue Note
1974 Stepping into Tomorrow Blue Note
1975 Places and Spaces Blue Note

38. Keith Jarrett:

Facing You
Fort Yawah
Ruta & Daitya
Solo Concerts
Belonging

39. Cecil Taylor :
3 Phasis
Live in the Black Forest (another real fave)
Silent Tongues (totes OUT and intense solo Cecil from slightly earlier, 74)
Great Paris Concert (dbl alb from the early 60s Cafe Monmartre live stuff w/ Murray and Lyons, now heard to better advantage on Revenant's Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come set)
One Too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye

40. Leon Thomas

Spirits Known and Unknown (1969)
The Leon Thomas Album (1970)
In Berlin (live) (1971)
Blues and the Soulful Truth (1972)
Full Circle (1973)
Suggest Ban Permalink

The Thing!!

# The Thing (2000)
# She Knows... (with Joe McPhee) (2001)
# Garage (2004)
# Live at Blå (2004)
# Action Jazz (2006)

Dolphy

1. Out There
2. Caribe
3. Far Cry
4. Live At The Five Spot with Booker Little v. 1
5. Live At The Five Spot v. 2

How about for Horace Silver

1964 Song for My Father
1965 The Cape Verdean Blues
1966 The Jody Grind
1968 Serenade to a Soul Sister
1969 You Gotta Take a Little Love

Jimmy Smith:

1960 Crazy! Baby
1960 Open House
1960 Back at the Chicken Shack
1960 Midnight Special
1960 Prayer Meetin'

Lonnie Liston Smith
1973 Astral Traveling
1974 Cosmic Funk
1974 Expansions
1976 Reflections of a Golden Dream
1977 Live!

James Blood Ulmer:
1978 Tales of Captain Black
1980 Are You Glad to Be in America?
1981 Free Lancing
1982 Black Rock
1984 Odyssey

that's 45, my numbering is off cause the Sonny Rollins at #13 is gone.

Anyone going to do a late period Coltrane?

I didn't even know EST had that many albums. I love Leucocyte. Are those others comparable?

Can anyone throw out a list for Billie or Ella or Sarah?

Henry Threadgill

You Know The Number (1987)
Easily Slip Into Another World (1988)
Rag, Bush and All (1989)
Spirit of Nuff...Nuff (1991)
Too Much Sugar For A Dime (1993)

Shit, man, this thread is BLOWING MY MIND.

Ok, brief notes—I'm totally getting snowed under by release dates and wild discographies. Especially John Coltrane, but also a fair number of the more obscure folks.

"and I haven't heard Prepare Thyself..."

It's fucking amazing. I'd start Kirk's five earlier though, going Rip, Rig and Panic; Funk Underneath; Now Please Don't You Cry Beautiful Edith; Left and Right; and Volunteered Slavery.

As for Coltrane and Mingus, I'd go one later on each of their runs, but whatever.

Don Cherry's first five really depends on which of the live sets you count, and how you count his two-part Mu.

Other folks that I'd want to look at long before I thought The Thing (who are OK) deserved being up there: Abdullah Ibrahim, Ken Vandermark, and William Parker.

Can anyone throw out a list for Billie or Ella or Sarah?

― dad a, Friday, October 2, 2009 6:45 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

they don't seem to really have albums as such, they all bridge the gap between pre and post war. I mean, Billie's discography on allmusic starts in 1950, which is ridiculous, her impact was much earlier but isn't quantifiable in the LP format.

and as far as Kirk goes you are leaving out Here Comes The Whistleman and The Inflated Tear as far as I can tell, remember this is five consecutive albums.

if Prepare Thyself is that good I would consider:

Blacknuss
Bright Moments
Prepare Thyself
Return Of The 5000 Lb Man
The Three Sided Dream

I didn't even know EST had that many albums. I love Leucocyte. Are those others comparable?

― Sundar, Friday, October 2, 2009 6:41 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

I'll take that as a cosign to include them.

I didn't even know EST had that many albums. I love Leucocyte. Are those others comparable?

Yeah, I had to leave the last one off because Good Morning Susie Soho was kind of their breakthrough. They're all good but Seven Days of Falling is a personal favourite of mine.

It feels like there should be more singers on the list, but beyond Leon Thomas I can't really think of any. With some of them, like Billie Holiday, the problem of course is that their major work was done in the pre-LP era. But even with singers who recorded extensively in the LP era, like Sarah Vaughan or Ella Fitzgerald, it seems there's always some obscure albums between their classic ones, so it's hard to say which would be their best five album run.

ok, here's all the Coltrane on Impulse (plus Live at Birdlan on MCA 'cause it's grate!):

Africa/Brass (1961)
Live at the Village Vanguard (1961)
Coltrane (1962)
Ballads (1962)
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (1962)
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)
Dear Old Stockholm (1963)
Live at Birdland (1964)
Crescent (1964)
A Love Supreme (1965)
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (1965)
Kulu Se Mama (1965)
Ascension (1965)
New Thing at Newport (1965)
Live in Seattle (1965)
Om (1965)
Meditations (1965)
Live at the Village Vanguard Again! (1966)
Expression (1967)

i'm gonna nominate this late-period run, just because:

New Thing at Newport (1965)
Live in Seattle (1965)
Om (1965)
Meditations (1965)
Live at the Village Vanguard Again! (1966)

I thought everybody hated Om

ha, yea om is really interesting but fuck if that's what i put on when i want to hear coltrane

well, there's just no way around it really.

I'd go for this one...

Crescent (1964)
A Love Supreme (1965)
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (1965)
Kulu Se Mama (1965)
Ascension (1965)

three, arguably four of which are favourites. (ascension, love, kulu...possibly crescent).

that list is incomplete though...where's interstellar space? comsmic music? sun ship?

those were all posthumous releases.

well, yeah... but they don't count?

i dunno. point is, they weren't released in any kind of chronological order as far as i can tell. so how do you consider them as part of an established run of releases?

i need to get those latter day coltrane records. haven't heard any of the post-classic quartet stuff except for interstellar space.

I'd like to nominate the Miles Davis run that was his best after all:
Milestones
Porgy And Bess
Kind Of Blue
Sketches Of Spain
Someday My Prince Will Come

I like Coltrane - Om.

"and as far as Kirk goes you are leaving out Here Comes The Whistleman and The Inflated Tear as far as I can tell, remember this is five consecutive albums."

I missed The Inflated Tear; I thought Whistleman was recorded/released before Rip, Rig and Panic.

And I really like Om too.

Was Impressions posthumous?

alternate sun ra selections:

(early)
Angels & Demons at Play
Super Sonic Jazz
Sound of Joy
Jazz in Silhouette
Sound Sun Pleasure!!

(slightly later)
Fate in a Pleasant Mood
Holiday for Soul Dance
The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra
Bad & Beautiful
Art Forms for Dimensions Tomorrow

(much later)
The Solar-Myth Approach
The Solar-Myth Approach, v.2
Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, v.1
Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, v.2
It's After the End of the World

Andrew Hill

10/1965 AH "Compulsion"
4/1965 Bobby Hutcherson - "Dialogue"
6/1964 Andrew Hill "Andrew!"
3/64 Andrew Hill "Point of Departure"
1/1964 Andrew Hill "Judgement"

i need to find a David Murray 5....

Was Impressions posthumous?

nope. 1963 release originally.

xp

good luck David Murray; his discography is a bitch to sort out.

damn, i must have accidentally deleted Impressions from the above list. oh well.

xp to self

Well, we got to 50 after all, I cut the original Miles #24 and replaced it with Geir's nomination in spite of his absurd rationales since it is a nice run including some "classics".

If anybody wants to change anything now, let me know. I'll make a poll this weekend that's open for another week.

1. Alice Coltrane:

A Monastic Trio
Huntington Ashram Monastery
Journey In Satchidananda
Ptah, The El Daoud
Universal Consciousness

2. an early Bill Evans run:

Portrait in Jazz,
Explorations,
Sunday at the Village Vanguard,
Waltz for Debby,
How My Heart Sings!

3. Albert Ayler –

Spiritual Unity,
New York Eye and Ear Control,
Bells,
Spirits Rejoice,
In Greenwich Village

4. for Miles:

E.S.P (1965)
Miles Smiles (1966)
Sorcerer (1967)
Nefertiti (1967)
Miles in the Sky (1968)

5. for Coltrane, maybe:

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)
Impressions (1963)
Live at Birdland (1964)
Crescent (1964)
A Love Supreme (1965)

6. Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (1956)
'Round About Midnight (1955-1956)

7. Dave Holland Quintet/Big Band:

2000 - Prime Directive - ECM
2001 - Not for Nothin' - ECM
2002 - What Goes Around - ECM
2003 - Extended Play: Live at Birdland - ECM
2005 - Overtime - Dare2

8. Ornette Coleman's 1st run:

Something Else!!!! (1958)
Tomorrow Is the Question! (1959)
The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
Change of the Century (1959)
This Is Our Music (1960)

9. Herbie Hancock:

Mwandishi (1971)
Crossings (1972)
Sextant (1973)
Head Hunters (1973)
Thrust (1974)

10. Sonny Rollins:

Moving Out (1954)
Work Time (1955)
Saxophone Colossus (1956)
Sonny Rollins Plus Four (1956; the "four" are the other members of the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet)
Tenor Madness (1956)

11. hard to pick a run w/Monk, and i could easily pick 10 more by the man:

Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Himself
Monk with Coltrane
Blakey's Jazz Messengers w/Thelonious Monk
Monk's Music

12. Mingus

Town Hall Concert (1962, Blue Note)
Oh Yeah (1962, Atlantic)
Tijuana Moods (1962, RCA)
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963, Impulse!)
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963, Impulse!)

13. Sun Ra:

# 1965 – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One by Sun Ra
# 1965 – The Magic City by Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra
# 1965 – The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two by Sun Ra
# 1966 – Nothing Is by Sun Ra (live)
# 1966 – Strange Strings

14. Wayne Shorter:

Juju,
Speak No Evil,
The All Seeing Eye,
Adam's Apple,
Schizophrenia (all for Blue Note)

15. Archie Shepp -

Fire Music,
On This Night,
Three for a Quarter,
One for a Dime,
Mama Too Tight,
The Magic Of Juju.

16. Duke Ellington: The 61-62 collabs:

* Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington (Roulette).
* ”Together for the First Time! The Count Meets the Duke”
* Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
* Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins
* Money Jungle

17. Duke Ellington: the late thematic works:

* The Far East Suite
* Latin American Suite (Fantasy)
* New Orleans Suite (Atlantic)
* The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (Fantasy)
* Toga Brava Suite (Storyville)

18. Pharoah Sanders -

Izipho Zam,
Karma,
Jewels Of Thought,
Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun),Thembi

19.
# In a Silent Way (1969)
# Bitches Brew (1970)
# A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1970)
# On the Corner (1972)
# Big Fun (1974 - previously unissued recordings from 1969-1972)

20.
Hank Mobley:
Soul Station 1960
Roll Call 1960
Workout 1961
Another Workout 1961
No Room for Squares 1963

21. Coltrane on Atlantic:
# Giant Steps
# Coltrane Jazz
# My Favorite Things
# Coltrane Plays the Blues
# Olé Coltrane

22. Braxton
New York, Fall 1974
Five Pieces 1975
The Montreux/Berlin Concerts
Creative Orchestra Music 1976
For Four Orchestras

23. Mingus run:

Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956, Atlantic)
The Clown (1957, Atlantic)
Blues & Roots (1959, Atlantic)
Mingus Ah Um (1959, Columbia)
Mingus Dynasty (1959, Columbia)

24. Miles substitute nomination:

Milestones
Porgy And Bess
Kind Of Blue
Sketches Of Spain
Someday My Prince Will Come

25. booker ervin:

The Freedom Book (1963)
The Song Book (1964)
The Blues Book (1964)
The Space Book (1964)
Setting The Pace (1965)

26. joe henderson:

1963: Page One
1963: Our Thing
1964: In 'N Out
1964: Inner Urge
1966: Mode for Joe

27. Nicole Mitchell:

Vision Quest (2001)
Africa Rising (2002)
Hope, Future, Destiny (2004)
Black Unstoppable (2007)
Xenogenesis (2009)

28. Lee Morgan:

Lee-Way
Take Twelve
The Sidewinder
Search For A New Land
Tom Cat

29. brad mehldau:

The Art of the Trio, Vol. IV — Back At The Vanguard (1999)
Places (2000)
The Art of the Trio, Vol. V — Progression (2001)
Largo (2002)
Anything Goes (2004)

30. Esbjorn Svensson Trio:

Good Morning Susie Soho
Strange Place For Snow
Seven Days of Falling
Viaticum
Tuesday Wonderland

31. James Carter:

1995: The Real Quietstorm
1996: Conversin' with the Elders
1998: In Carterian Fashion
2000: Layin' in the Cut
2000: Chasin' the Gypsy

32. Sonny Sharrock:

1986: Guitar
1987: Seize the Rainbow
1990: Highlife
1991: Faith Moves (duo with Nicky Skopelitis)
1991: Ask the Ages

33. Peter Brötzmann:

For Adolphe Sax
Machine Gun
Nipples
Balls
Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink

34. Bobby Hutcherson:

1965 Spiral
1965 Dialogue
1965 Components
1966 Happenings
1966 Stick-Up!

35. Grant Green:

1963 Am I Blue?
1963 Idle Moments
1964 Matador
1964 Solid
1964 Talkin' About!

36. some form of Donald Byrd's:

1969 Kofi Blue Note
1970 Electric Byrd Blue Note
1971 Ethiopian Knights Blue Note
1972 Black Byrd Blue Note
1973 Street Lady Blue Note
1974 Stepping into Tomorrow Blue Note
1975 Places and Spaces Blue Note

37. Keith Jarrett:

Facing You
Fort Yawah
Ruta & Daitya
Solo Concerts
Belonging

38. Cecil Taylor :

3 Phasis
Live in the Black Forest (another real fave)
Silent Tongues (totes OUT and intense solo Cecil from slightly earlier, 74)
Great Paris Concert (dbl alb from the early 60s Cafe Monmartre live stuff w/ Murray and Lyons, now heard to better advantage on Revenant's Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come set)
One Too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye

39. Leon Thomas

Spirits Known and Unknown (1969)
The Leon Thomas Album (1970)
In Berlin (live) (1971)
Blues and the Soulful Truth (1972)
Full Circle (1973)

40. The Thing!!

# The Thing (2000)
# She Knows... (with Joe McPhee) (2001)
# Garage (2004)
# Live at Blå (2004)
# Action Jazz (2006)

41. Dolphy

1. Out There
2. Caribe
3. Far Cry
4. Live At The Five Spot with Booker Little v. 1
5. Live At The Five Spot v. 2

42. How about for Horace Silver

1964 Song for My Father
1965 The Cape Verdean Blues
1966 The Jody Grind
1968 Serenade to a Soul Sister
1969 You Gotta Take a Little Love

43. Jimmy Smith:

1960 Crazy! Baby
1960 Open House
1960 Back at the Chicken Shack
1960 Midnight Special
1960 Prayer Meetin'

44. Lonnie Liston Smith
1973 Astral Traveling
1974 Cosmic Funk
1974 Expansions
1976 Reflections of a Golden Dream
1977 Live!

45. James Blood Ulmer:
1978 Tales of Captain Black
1980 Are You Glad to Be in America?
1981 Free Lancing
1982 Black Rock
1984 Odyssey

46. Henry Threadgill

You Know The Number (1987)
Easily Slip Into Another World (1988)
Rag, Bush and All (1989)
Spirit of Nuff...Nuff (1991)
Too Much Sugar For A Dime (1993)

47. Rahsaan Roland Kirk:

Blacknuss
Bright Moments
Prepare Thyself
Return Of The 5000 Lb Man
The Three Sided Dream

48. another Coltrane:

Crescent (1964)
A Love Supreme (1965)
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (1965)
Kulu Se Mama (1965)
Ascension (1965)

49. this later Sun Ra:

The Solar-Myth Approach
The Solar-Myth Approach, v.2
Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, v.1
Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, v.2
It's After the End of the World

50. Andrew Hill

10/1965 AH "Compulsion"
4/1965 Bobby Hutcherson - "Dialogue"
6/1964 Andrew Hill "Andrew!"
3/64 Andrew Hill "Point of Departure"
1/1964 Andrew Hill "Judgement"

multiple runs:

Miles 4
Coltrane 4
Mungus 2
Ellington 2
Sun Ra 2

oops Mingus

joe henderson, miles, hank mobley, coltrane, monk, mingus, alice coltrane and bill evans are the only 5 album runs I've heard here in their entirety! and here I thought I was a jazz d-bag ... :(

I hope people besides me have heard that Threadgill run. Some of my favorite music ever.

36. some form of Donald Byrd's:

1969 Kofi Blue Note
1970 Electric Byrd Blue Note
1971 Ethiopian Knights Blue Note
1972 Black Byrd Blue Note
1973 Street Lady Blue Note
1974 Stepping into Tomorrow Blue Note
1975 Places and Spaces Blue Note

This still needs to be cut down to 5 albums.

yes, any preference Hermann? I think that was your nomination.

After thinking about this a bit, I decided to run this as a mail in poll since there will probably be two dozen votes at the most and I don't like the way the current poll system only allows one choice. so send your top THREE picks, in order of preference, and I will assign point values (5 for first, 3 for second, 1 for third). this way there will be a wider range.

send ballots to my ILX email, that should work.

you could cut Kofi -- it's electric, but not as R&B/disco as the others are. And I don't even think it was released until the 90s?

i would say go with the 1st 5. if kofi want released til the 90s then
1970 Electric Byrd Blue Note
1971 Ethiopian Knights Blue Note
1972 Black Byrd Blue Note
1973 Street Lady Blue Note
1974 Stepping into Tomorrow Blue Note

will be fine.

OK cool, voters take note!

remember, your top three picks in order sent to my ILX webmail

are you starting a new thread with nominations to choose from so that everyone can see voting has started?
and is webmail working now?

I think webmail is working, send me one and I'll send you one to test. otherwise I can use another email. I'll start a new thread once we get that worked out.

i dont use the email i signed up with

it says i sent you a webmail

yep, got it

sent.

This will give me some ideas for a few holes to fill in. I'm halfway through ripping my jazz section to flac, then I'll be all done! I realized I sold some old Armstrong and Ellington collections to get the new remasters. Problem is they aren't new anymore, and some are out of print, grr. Is it just me or does there seem to be a lack of jazz reissues for the earlier 20s-40s eras. I guess this is outside the scope of this thread though.

new thread for discussion and voting:

"The Best Five Album Runs BEFORE TIME BEGAN" (Jazz poll voting thread VOTE HERE)