What is the best ambient jazz album of all time?

Decades-old spiritual jazz landmarks share space with hushed modern electronic sessions and cult underground favorites, spanning saxophone reveries to ambient drone collaborations. Cast your vote for the one that pulls you deepest into the drift.

1

Promises

Pharoah Sanders, Floating Points, and the London Symphony Orchestra's 2021 suite pairing saxophone improvisation with slow-building orchestral ambience.

1000pts

2

Does Spring Hide Its Joy

Kali Malone, Stephen O'Malley, and Lucy Railton's 2022 drone collaboration of organ, guitar, and cello, adjacent to ambient jazz's slow-drift lineage.

569pts

3

Journey in Satchidananda

Alice Coltrane's 1971 spiritual jazz landmark, built on drone-like harp, oud, and modal saxophone that drift into meditative ambience.

569pts

4

Extra Presence

Carlos Niño & Friends' 2021 album gathering the LA ambient-jazz scene (including Sam Gendel and Nate Mercereau) into loose, floating improvisations.

568pts

5

Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics

Jon Hassell and Brian Eno's 1980 collaboration fusing trumpet, electronics, and non-Western rhythm into a genre-defining 'Fourth World' ambient-jazz sound.

481pts

6

In a Silent Way

Miles Davis's 1969 studio-edited fusion album whose weightless, reverb-soaked textures prefigured ambient jazz.

481pts

7

Ptah, the El Daoud

Alice Coltrane's 1970 album of extended modal pieces led by harp and flute, prized for its spacious, ambient-leaning spiritual jazz.

481pts

8

Vernal Equinox

Jon Hassell's 1977 debut, a hazy blend of processed trumpet and gamelan-inspired percussion widely regarded as an ambient jazz touchstone.

481pts

9

Help

Duval Timothy's 2019 album of sparse piano and treated jazz textures, a cult favorite in the modern ambient jazz underground.

374pts

10

Nothing Space Music

Maya Ongaku's ambient jazz album blending hazy guitar, saxophone, and field-recording textures into a hushed, floating sound.

374pts

11

Space 1.8

Nala Sinephro's 2021 debut, a harp-and-synth suite of interlinked 'Space' pieces that fuses jazz improvisation with ambient electronics.

240pts

12

Harvest Time

Pharoah Sanders' 1977 solo saxophone and Fender Rhodes meditation, often cited as one of the earliest true ambient jazz records.

240pts

13

Music for Saxofone and Bass Guitar

Sam Gendel's 2020 minimalist duo album pairing effects-laden saxophone with bass guitar in loose, ambient jazz sketches.

240pts

14

Gold

Alabaster DePlume's 2020 International Anthem release of hushed saxophone mantras and spoken interludes, a niche favorite in ambient jazz circles.

240pts