[Start Here] Jazz Masterpieces: A Must-Listen Album Selection

Track A- Solo DancerCharles Mingus

Track A- Solo Dancer

Charles Mingus, highly regarded not only as a bassist but also as a visionary composer ahead of his time, was a great artist who continually projected Black pride and a complex identity into his music.

Released in 1963, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is considered his masterpiece.

Conceived as music for ballet, the work unfolds as a grand suite that explores the duality of saint and sinner, fusing elements of gospel, blues, and classical music.

The meticulous ensemble work and improvisation by the eleven-piece band are breathtaking, making it an artistic achievement that transcends the boundaries of jazz.

The fact that Mingus’s own psychoanalyst contributed to the liner notes further underscores the work’s deep introspection.

For anyone wishing to experience the profound depths of jazz, this is an essential album.

Lullaby of BirdlandSarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan – Lullaby of Birdland

Known by the nickname “The Divine One,” Sarah Vaughan is recognized as a master of jazz vocals—alongside Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald—for her rich projection and astonishing three-octave range.

She launched her professional career after winning at the Apollo Theater in 1942, and while performing with bebop giants like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, she forged her own distinctive style.

Recorded between 1954 and 1955, the album Sarah Vaughan is famed as her only collaboration with the brilliant, short-lived trumpeter Clifford Brown and later earned induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Centered on standards such as “Lullaby of Birdland” and “April in Paris,” the selection showcases a sublime interplay between Vaughan’s beautiful vibrato and Brown’s lyrical trumpet, offering a full immersion in the sophistication of modern jazz.

It’s a masterpiece we urge anyone seeking the allure of jazz vocals to hear first.

AcknowledgementJohn Coltrane

A Love Supreme, Pt. I – Acknowledgement

Even the Japanese title “Supreme Love” alone hints at a high level of artistry, imbued with a sacred resonance and atmosphere.

Despite a relatively brief active career of about a decade, John Coltrane, who is remembered as a giant in the jazz world, released his 1965 masterpiece A Love Supreme.

As noted at the outset, Coltrane spent many years in obscurity and only began working on the front lines in the late 1950s, after turning 30.

In the roughly ten years until his death in 1967, he blazed through an intensely concentrated jazz life at incredible speed, achieving a charismatic popularity that has inspired several documentary films.

Considered one of Coltrane’s crowning achievements, A Love Supreme is a conceptual album dedicated to God, structured in four movements.

It is an artistic tour de force in which the creativity and forward-looking style that would lead Coltrane toward free jazz in his later years come to full fruition, while also attaining commercial success.

Coltrane’s emotionally explosive playing, along with the powerhouse ensemble work of master musicians, is nothing short of breathtaking.

For listeners unaccustomed to jazz, certain aspects may feel challenging, but I hope you will experience the joy of immersing yourself in this sonic world with an open heart.

expand_lessRaise the rankingexpand_morelower

KOH-1

Report a problem

Maiden VoyageHerbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage

Herbie Hancock began his professional career in 1960 at the tender age of 20.

A gifted jazz pianist, he is also a maverick artist who, true to the title of his own composition “Chameleon,” has maintained a flexible approach and continually challenged himself with a wide range of styles throughout his long career.

Although he debuted on the prestigious Blue Note label, he went on to create pioneering works in jazz-funk and fusion, and by the 1980s he was already incorporating hip-hop methodologies.

As the times changed, so did his musical identity, and he became a towering figure who balanced artistic ambition with commercial success.

It’s hard to single out just one album from Hancock’s discography, but here we’ll highlight Maiden Voyage, released in 1965 and celebrated as a masterpiece of the 1960s “post-bop” (new mainstream) era.

Known in Japan under the title “Shojo Kōkai” (“Maiden Voyage”), the album reunites members who had honed their craft together in Miles Davis’s band and presents a conceptual work themed around a “voyage,” as its title suggests.

The restrained, cerebral ensemble work is cohesive, and the many memorable melodies resonate with grandeur and lyrical beauty.

It’s the perfect record to accompany a solitary evening, inviting quiet contemplation as you listen.

expand_lessRaise the rankingexpand_morelower

KOH-1

Report a problem

Speak No EvilWayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil

The title, quoted from the Japanese proverb made famous by the Three Wise Monkeys—“see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil”—is just so cool, isn’t it? Speak No Evil is the third album released under his own name by tenor and soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who hails from New Jersey, United States, and it came out in 1964.

Shorter is a towering figure who left a remarkable mark on jazz history: he played with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis’s Quintet, and later co-founded Weather Report, one of the pioneering fusion groups.

He even toured Japan during his Jazz Messengers days, and he’s remained very popular here.

This album is a gem of modal jazz that fully showcases Shorter’s slightly shadowy, mysterious allure, and it’s widely regarded as one of his early masterpieces.

Drawing on themes such as black magic, which Shorter was interested in at the time, it offers an adventurous, New Thing–leaning approach while keeping the melodies beautiful and accessible.

It’s the kind of music you want to listen to alone in your bedroom at midnight.

By the way, the woman on the cover is Shorter’s then-wife, Japanese American Teruka Eileen Nakagami!

expand_lessRaise the rankingexpand_morelower

KOH-1

Report a problem

Just FriendsCharlie Parker

Charlie Parker with Strings – Just Friends

Charlie Parker, also known by his nickname “Bird,” was a pioneering figure who helped forge bebop—the prototype of modern jazz—in the early 1940s, and he is revered by jazz fans worldwide as the “Father of Modern Jazz.” Sadly, Parker’s private life was far from exemplary, and his troubled day-to-day existence led to his death at the young age of 34.

Even so, his musical achievements are immeasurable in the history of jazz.

Clint Eastwood, famed for his maverick love of jazz and for directing several documentaries on jazz musicians, also produced and directed the 1988 film “Bird,” which focused on Parker.

Here, I’d like to introduce “Charlie Parker With Strings,” a two-disc collection compiling recordings Parker made between 1947 and 1952.

As the title suggests, it’s a collaboration with orchestra: within the sweet, retro-tinged string sound, Parker’s alto sax stands out with stunning presence and beauty.

If you want to savor the alto saxophone’s tone in a romantic mood, this is a must-listen.

expand_lessRaise the rankingexpand_morelower

KOH-1

Report a problem

RememberHank Mobley

Remember (1999/ Remastered)

Born in 1930, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley—one of the leading figures of hard bop—is known for his distinctive style, famously described by critics as the “middleweight champion of the tenor sax.” His rounded tone, neither too aggressive nor too sweet, and his melodious, songful phrasing are hallmarks of his playing.

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio in February 1960 and released by Blue Note Records that October, Soul Station is widely regarded as Mobley’s masterpiece.

Featuring a one-horn quartet with the golden rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey—who were active in Miles Davis’s band—the album contains six tracks that perfectly balance warm, soulful originals with standards.

A flowing, richly expressive work, it’s an ideal introduction to hard bop and a true classic.