What is the best big band jazz album of all time?

Big band jazz is music at its most majestic — dozens of musicians swinging in perfect unison, building to huge ensemble climaxes. From Ellington's elegance to Buddy Rich's firepower, vote for the greatest.

Ellington at Newport

Duke Ellington's 1956 Newport performance — big band's most legendary live document.

1/12

The Atomic Mr. Basie

Count Basie's 1958 album — big band swing at its most explosive.

2/12

Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert

Benny Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall concert — jazz's arrival in the concert hall.

3/12

Out of the Cool

Gil Evans's 1961 arranger's-jazz masterpiece — subtle, sophisticated, stunning.

4/12

Concert in the Garden

Maria Schneider Orchestra's 2004 Grammy-winning modern big band masterpiece.

5/12

Big Swing Face

Buddy Rich Big Band's 1967 live album — the most thunderous big band drumming ever recorded.

6/12

Black, Brown and Beige

Duke Ellington's 1958 sacred jazz suite with Mahalia Jackson — spiritual big band.

7/12

Consummation

Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra's 1970 Blue Note date — post-bop big band's masterpiece.

8/12

Sketches of Spain

Miles Davis and Gil Evans's 1960 orchestral masterwork — Spanish tone poems in jazz form.

9/12

Porgy and Bess

Miles Davis and Gil Evans's 1959 reimagining of Gershwin — big band lyricism.

10/12

Thundering Herds

Woody Herman's great post-war bands captured in their full swinging power.

11/12

Infernal Machines

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society 2009 debut — big band reinvented for the 21st century.

12/12