The 30 Best Jazz Albums of the 1950s

Smoky club sessions, studio landmarks and a few records that rewired the genre, all pressed within one restless decade. Expect arguments about what counts as essential.

1. 1
   Kind of Blue

   Miles Davis's 1959 modal landmark, widely cited as the best-selling jazz record ever made.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Soultrane

   John Coltrane's 1958 Prestige album where his dense 'sheets of sound' approach first took clear shape.
   675pts
3. 3
   The Shape of Jazz to Come

   Ornette Coleman's 1959 Atlantic debut that dropped chord changes and opened the door to free jazz.
   582pts
4. 4
   Saxophone Colossus

   Sonny Rollins's 1956 Prestige date featuring St. Thomas and a masterclass in thematic improvisation.
   582pts
5. 5
   Clifford Brown and Max Roach

   The 1954 quintet record that captured trumpeter Clifford Brown at his blazing peak.
   541pts
6. 6
   Lady Sings the Blues

   Billie Holiday's 1956 Verve record of late-career signature songs, worn and unforgettable.
   541pts
7. 7
   Ella and Louis

   Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong's 1956 pairing of silk voice and gravel on standards.
   501pts
8. 8
   The Amazing Bud Powell

   Bud Powell's early bebop trio sessions, issued on Blue Note in 1952 and a template for modern jazz piano.
   494pts
9. 9
   Time Out

   Dave Brubeck Quartet's 1959 experiment in odd time signatures that produced the hit Take Five.
   494pts
10. 10
    But Not for Me

    Ahmad Jamal's 1958 live set at the Pershing Lounge, with sparse, spacious trio playing that Miles admired.
    494pts
11. 11
    Pithecanthropus Erectus

    Charles Mingus's 1956 Atlantic breakthrough, a tone poem about human evolution and collapse.
    442pts
12. 12
    Milestones

    Miles Davis's 1958 sextet album that previewed the modal approach of Kind of Blue.
    442pts
13. 13
    Ellington at Newport

    Duke Ellington's 1956 festival set, revived by Paul Gonsalves's 27-chorus tenor solo.
    442pts
14. 14
    Way Out West

    Sonny Rollins's 1957 pianoless trio record, a cowboy-themed set with Ray Brown and Shelly Manne.
    442pts
15. 15
    Birth of the Cool

    Miles Davis's nonet sessions from 1949-50, gathered on LP in 1957 and the seed of cool jazz.
    442pts
16. 16
    Chet Baker Sings

    The trumpeter's 1954 vocal debut, whose fragile voice defined West Coast cool.
    383pts
17. 17
    Everybody Digs Bill Evans

    Bill Evans's 1958 Riverside sophomore album, with Peace Piece and Miles Davis's liner endorsement.
    383pts
18. 18
    Moanin'

    Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers' 1958 hard bop benchmark, anchored by Bobby Timmons's gospel-soaked title tune.
    383pts
19. 19
    'Round About Midnight

    The 1957 Columbia debut of Miles Davis's first great quintet with John Coltrane.
    383pts
20. 20
    Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section

    A 1957 one-day session pairing the alto saxophonist with Miles Davis's rhythm players.
    383pts
21. 21
    Somethin' Else

    Cannonball Adderley's 1958 Blue Note album, with Miles Davis sitting in as a sideman.
    316pts
22. 22
    Miles Ahead

    Miles Davis and Gil Evans's 1957 orchestral collaboration, a lush reinvention of big-band writing.
    316pts
23. 23
    Bags' Groove

    A 1954 Prestige session by Miles Davis with Milt Jackson and Thelonious Monk on the title track.
    316pts
24. 24
    Cole Porter Song Book

    Ella Fitzgerald's 1956 double album that launched Verve's Great American Songbook series.
    238pts
25. 25
    Jazz at Massey Hall

    The 1953 Toronto concert reuniting Parker, Gillespie, Powell, Mingus and Roach.
    238pts
26. 26
    Brilliant Corners

    Thelonious Monk's 1957 session of angular, jagged compositions that took 13 takes to land the title track.
    238pts
27. 27
    The Atomic Mr. Basie

    Count Basie's 1958 big-band record, crisp and swinging, with arrangements by Neal Hefti.
    238pts
28. 28
    Blue Train

    John Coltrane's 1957 Blue Note leader date, his strongest statement before the Atlantic years.
    147pts
29. 29
    Cool Struttin'

    Sonny Clark's 1958 Blue Note trio-plus-horns session with one of the most imitated covers in jazz.
    147pts
30. 30
    Mingus Ah Um

    Charles Mingus's 1959 Columbia debut, packed with gospel, blues and tributes to Lester Young.
    0pts

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