CD-Charts Position 1
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Kind of Blue

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: Miles Davis

Release Date April 07, 1997
It has already been said here that this album is usually found in non-jazz fans' collections alongside Bob Marley's greatest hits and most probably David Gray's entire ouvre. Perhaps it stands sentry there unplayed, just so its spine can be read, head tilted sideways, begging to impress upon whoever it is browsing through their collection some ill-gotten measure of sophistication? Perhaps they did play it once then decided no, they were right about jazz all along?

Modal, understated, and (aaargh!) cool, or tedious, cicuitous and under-cooked? Amongst aficionados, the most fiercely debated issue with the session is whether you are appreciating it at the correct pitch (an issue with the tape playback speed when it was mastered). That ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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Verve Presents: The Very Best of Christmas Jazz

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: Various Artists

Release Date November 05, 2001
This is my favourite Christmas CD, it has something for everyone! It's the perfect antidote for the tired old tunes that everyone plays at Christmas (if I hear "I wish it could be Christmas every day" one more time I won't be responsible for my actions), the highlights being "Zat you Santa Claus?" by Louis Armstrong and "Silent Night" by Dinah Washington.
Give it a go and you won't be disappointed, especially at this price!!

CD-Charts Position 3
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Then And Now: The Definitive Herbie Hancock

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: Herbie Hancock

Release Date November 10, 2008
This is my favourite Christmas CD, it has something for everyone! It's the perfect antidote for the tired old tunes that everyone plays at Christmas (if I hear "I wish it could be Christmas every day" one more time I won't be responsible for my actions), the highlights being "Zat you Santa Claus?" by Louis Armstrong and "Silent Night" by Dinah Washington.
Give it a go and you won't be disappointed, especially at this price!!

CD-Charts Position 4
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Live at Belleville

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: Arild Andersen, Tommy Smith, Paolo Vinaccia

Release Date November 10, 2008
Living here in California and knowing this live concert recording would not be on sale until Nov. 25th, I ordered from the [always reliable] Amazon.UK. I'm a nut for live material, especially in the jazz idiom and realize that ECM seldom (if ever) releases a shoddily recorded live set.

This recording is superb! I only received it yesterday, so I have only listened on headphones and can't state that the concert atmosphere ambiance will duplicate as well on my 10-speaker rig. But musically there are no grounds for disappointment. Each member of the trio blends into a cohesive whole and the tonal balance is perfect!

CD-Charts Position 5
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The Koln Concert: 24 January 1975

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: Keith Jarrett

Release Date July 01, 1988
I first heard this record at a friends house. I was completely blown away. I went straight to the first record store and bought it. Since then it became my favorite Jazz album of all times, and has put Keith Jarret, in my opinion, on the top of the world's greatest piano players.
I've been a fan ever since and bought every single live album he has released. They are all amazing, but there's no love like the first one.
No record collection will be complete without it.

CD-Charts Position 6
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Invisible Cinema

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: Aaron Parks

Release Date September 15, 2008
I first heard this record at a friends house. I was completely blown away. I went straight to the first record store and bought it. Since then it became my favorite Jazz album of all times, and has put Keith Jarret, in my opinion, on the top of the world's greatest piano players.
I've been a fan ever since and bought every single live album he has released. They are all amazing, but there's no love like the first one.
No record collection will be complete without it.

CD-Charts Position 7
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Tuesday Wonderland

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: Esbjorn Svensson Trio (E.S.T.)

Release Date May 01, 2007
fading made preludium
30 seconds of blissfully quiet piano before grinding, crashing
godspeed-esque noise and chaos, electric bass flanged and feeding back
like a guitar for the next three minutes

tuesday wonderland
repetitive, kraut-ey piano riff, almost like life's what you make it
by talk talk, bass drops in, other piano layers and twirls dance
around skittish drums simple acoustic bass patterns at deceptive
speed. glacial concentric circles and swirls

the goldhearted miner
twanging acoustic strings give way to piano and slow, sweeping drum
brushes, occasionally the twanging strings re-emerge as a motif.
autumnal, balladic, falling leaves, frosty paygrounds
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CD-Charts Position 8
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Milestones

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: Miles Davis

Release Date April 16, 2001
Perhaps the jazz conservatives (e.g. Stanley Crouch) would burn me at the stake for the title of this review and yes, the soul-stirring Kind of Blue is certainly the best modal record I've heard, but I much prefer this, since Coltrane and Adderley really leap out and play from the get-go.
Dr. Jackle is absolutely manic to play, a Jackie McLean tune that this quintet seem to delight in playing rather fast. It's excellent hard-bop, and Miles plays an excellent solo which sticks to the middle register, a range which trumpeteers do not explore enough, though this can be only down to the influence of intervallic trumpeters like Dizzy. Listen out for the early duel between Adderley, and Coltrane. Listening to 'Two Bass Hit', it is an interesting contrast ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Speak No Evil: Remastered

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: Wayne Shorter

Release Date May 03, 1999
This album is proof that the criticisms of Wayne Shorter being just another Rollins-Coltrane imitator were indeed fatuous. Shorter, who has always incorporated a stronger element of the blues to his playing than Coltrane did in the mid-sixties, mixes this with some masterful composition and improvisation. Couple this with some astounding support from the polyrhythmic Elvin Jones, a (sometimes over) brassy and exuberant Freddie Hubbard, with the mercurial Herbie Hancock and journeyman Ron Carter.

The compositions themselves are wondrous, opening with "Witch Hunt", an interesting piece with a separate intro that moves straight into the main theme. It is a haunting blues with great solos from Shorter and Hubbard, driven along by Jones' fiery beat. "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum" ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Floating Point

CD-Charts > Music > General AAS
by: John McLaughlin

Release Date June 30, 2008
This album does take some getting used to. And you do have to take some space from it and go back again with fresh ears before you are able to sort out what's new. The Meeting of the Minds - The Making of Floating Point [2008] DVD, which is awesome, helped clinch the album for me. The first thing you have to deal with is the overwhelming drums and percussion throughout. At first you can't help but think that this is some kind of mistake in the mixing, but persist and you can get used to it. It's a deliberate decision that ensures that the whole album operates at a very high energy level. John's albums have always been about joy and ecstasy and seldom on the mellow side of those values. The album is meant to be rhythmically overwhelming, from start to finish. So dig the drums ... Read More: