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.

1. 1
   Ellington at Newport

   Duke Ellington's 1956 Newport performance — big band's most legendary live document.
2. 2
   The Atomic Mr. Basie

   Count Basie's 1958 album — big band swing at its most explosive.
3. 3
   Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert

   Benny Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall concert — jazz's arrival in the concert hall.
4. 4
   Out of the Cool

   Gil Evans's 1961 arranger's-jazz masterpiece — subtle, sophisticated, stunning.
5. 5
   Concert in the Garden

   Maria Schneider Orchestra's 2004 Grammy-winning modern big band masterpiece.
6. 6
   Big Swing Face

   Buddy Rich Big Band's 1967 live album — the most thunderous big band drumming ever recorded.
7. 7
   Black, Brown and Beige

   Duke Ellington's 1958 sacred jazz suite with Mahalia Jackson — spiritual big band.
8. 8
   Consummation

   Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra's 1970 Blue Note date — post-bop big band's masterpiece.
9. 9
   Sketches of Spain

   Miles Davis and Gil Evans's 1960 orchestral masterwork — Spanish tone poems in jazz form.
10. 10
    Porgy and Bess

    Miles Davis and Gil Evans's 1959 reimagining of Gershwin — big band lyricism.
11. 11
    Thundering Herds

    Woody Herman's great post-war bands captured in their full swinging power.
12. 12
    Infernal Machines

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