[Start Here] Jazz Masterpieces: A Must-Listen Album Selection
What kind of impression do you have of the musical genre known as jazz?
You might think of it as somewhat stylish, or perhaps a bit intimidating and highbrow.
The history of jazz, which includes many subgenres, can’t be summed up easily—and of course, it’s not just music from a bygone era.
This time, for those who are interested but don’t know where to start, we’ve picked out a selection of classic, standard albums that have gone down in jazz history—perfect as your first listen.
Be sure to check them out!
- The Royal Road of Jazz: Classic modern jazz masterpieces. Popular tracks you should listen to at least once.
- Hall of Jazz: Classic Blue Note Records. Recommended jazz albums.
- [For Beginners] Classic Modern Jazz Albums: Recommended Records to Start With
- [Jazz Intro] Classic Jazz Tracks Recommended for First-Time Listeners
- [Western Music] Classic jazz guitar albums: recommended records you should listen to at least once
- A roundup of classic Western jazz-funk albums—from staples to the latest releases
- [BGM] Delicious Jazz Classics You’d Want to Hear in a Restaurant [2026]
- A roundup of famous jazz standards featured in the hugely popular jazz manga BLUE GIANT
- [2026] Jazz piano masterpieces: from standards to recent favorites
- Introduction! A collection of recommended masterpieces and standard numbers for jazz beginners
- Classic swing jazz tunes. Recommended popular songs.
- Jazz Piano Masterpieces: From Classic Essentials to Contemporary Favorites
- Classic Dixieland jazz tunes. Recommended popular songs.
[Start with this one] Jazz masterpieces: A must-hear album selection (51–60)
Giant Steps LiveJohn Coltrane
Saxophonist John Coltrane is the greatest jazzman of modern jazz, beginning with bebop, passing through modal jazz, and ultimately arriving at free jazz.
Giant Steps is a landmark 20th-century composition that employed chord progressions previously thought impossible—and even made improvisation over them feasible.
The progression used in this piece is known as the Coltrane changes.
Donna LeeCharlie Parker
Jazz, which had been popular music performed by professionals, took a sudden step into modern jazz with the arrival of a single genius: alto saxophonist Charlie Parker.
With his emergence, a revolution occurred in jazz improvisation, and from then on, jazz evolved into music in which the virtuosity of soloists’ improvisations became one of the main highlights.
EpistrophyEric Dolphy
Originally an entertainment form, jazz also saw the emergence of artists who created truly artistic music as composition developed and performers’ skills improved.
Eric Dolphy, who could play anything on E-flat instruments with a focus on the alto saxophone, crafted a distinctive musical world with this Thelonious Monk composition.
BirdlandWeather Report
Within jazz, this album can be considered one of the most important in the genre known as fusion, which blends a variety of musical elements.
Released in 1977, Heavy Weather became Weather Report’s biggest hit—a group that drove the jazz scene of the ’70s and influenced many subsequent artists and bands.
It was their second album after the legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius joined, and it further emphasized a pop and funky feel within the band’s forward-thinking style, resulting in a masterpiece filled with tracks that are easy on the ears even for those not very familiar with jazz, let alone fusion.
The opening track Birdland, composed by Joe Zawinul and now a standard that has gone down in history, is especially famous—a perfect classic in every respect, from its dramatic development and unforgettable melody to Jaco’s striking fretless bass.
Highly recommended even for rock fans who don’t usually listen to much jazz!
[Start with this one] Jazz masterpieces: A must-hear album selection (61–70)
I’ve Got RhythmGeorge Gershwin
George Gershwin is also a composer who left many jazz standards.
In jazz, there’s a term called “rhythm changes,” which means using the same chord changes as Gershwin’s song “I’ve Got Rhythm.” It’s a piece that revolutionized jazz compositions.
CherokeeClifford Brown and Max Roach
Despite being recognized by many top-tier musicians for his talent and having a brilliant future ahead of him, Clifford Brown tragically died in an accident at the young age of 25.
In the history of jazz, he was a trumpeter of the so-called hard bop era, and although his active career lasted only about five years, the many outstanding performances he left behind are all highly regarded and continue to be loved by jazz fans around the world.
The album introduced here is Study in Brown, released in 1954, in which Clifford teamed up with the legendary drummer Max Roach.
Even just the opening track, Cherokee—with its intensely charged drum and piano runs and a trumpet line that weaves in electrifyingly—is so incredibly cool that you can savor the essence of hard bop, where melodicism, emotional expression, and improvisational flair coexist at a very high level.
The jazz-blues gem Sandu, penned by Clifford himself, is also deeply satisfying, making this a thoroughly compelling work from start to finish.
Experience the radiant talent of a brilliant, short-lived genius with this one album!
Strange FruitBillie Holiday
A song written by Abel Meeropol, a white Jewish New Yorker who was a teacher and union activist, after he saw a photograph of two Black men lynched and hanging from a tree in Marion, Indiana, on August 7, 1930.
Its original title was “Bitter Fruit.”