MY favorite Jazz albums

The following are MY favorites. Some I've loved for years -- others I've been introduced to through various "100 best" lists. Some of those are a really good place to start -- but, I'm sure you will develop your own likes and dislikes.

These are not in any order -- it's neither descending nor ascending order -- I just listed them as I came across them on my Cd shelf. I do own every one of these CD's, and play them often.

Lee Morgan -- The Sidewinder
Jackie McLean -- Lights Out
Dorham/Henderson/Hancock -- Una Mas
'Trane/Red Garland/Donald Byrd -- Soul Junction
Freddie Hubbard -- Red Clay
Charlie "Bird" Parker -- Complete Storyville Performances
Miles Davis -- Kind Of Blue
Miles -- Filles de Kilimanjaro
Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
"The Quintet " (Parker, Gillespie, Bud Powell, Mingus, Max) -- Jazz At Massey Hall (without the Mingus overdub)
T. Monk -- Round Midnight
Monk and 'Trane at Carnegie Hall
The Jazz Messengers At The Cafe Bohemia vols 1 & 2 (Blakey, Silver, Mobley, Dorham, Watkins)
Duke Ellington at Newport 1956 complete, 1 & 2
Les McCann % Eddie Harris -- Swiss Movement
Bix Beiderbecke
Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) -- Django
Dave Brubeck -- Jazz Goes To College (early Brubeck, very accessible)
Horace Silver -- Tokyo Blues
Jackie McLean -- Let Freedom Ring
MJQ -- 2 degrees E. 3 degrees West
The Very Best of Fats Waller
The Best of Joe Pass
R. R. Kirk -- Domino
Count Basie -- The Complete Decca Recordings 1, 2, 3.
Ella Fitzgerald -- The Complete Songbooks 1--16
King Pleasure -- Moody's Mood For Love
Johnny Griffin -- A Blowin' Seession
Benny Goodman At Carnegie Hall 1938 Complete 1 & 2
Slim & Slam -- The Groove Juice Special
Bird & Diz -- Bird & Diz
Sonny Rollins -- Saxophone Colossus
Clifford Brown -- The Complete Blue Note and Pacific Jazz 1-4
Django -- Jazz Masters
Blakey -- A Night At Birdland 1&2
Jim Hall and Pat Metheny
Chet Baker -- The Best of Chet Baker sings
Bird -- The Complete Live Performances on Savoy 1-4
Shelly Manne & Friends -- My Fair Lady
Miles Davis -- The Columbia Years 1-4 (I also have The Complete Columbia Album Collection, but that's a bit much to add as a "favorite album". You must include Bitches Brew, etc, but do that after you have sampled some other stuff)
Ella -- The Complete Ella In Berlin
Dinah Washington's Finest Hour
Sarah Vaughans Finest Hour
John Coltrane The Heavyweight Champion - The Complete Atlantic Recordings 1-7
Miles Davis Chronicle (Prestige) 1-8
The Complete Jazz At The Philharmonic 1-10 (gives a good overview of swing era straight ahead Jazz -- along with some rather "bopish" stuff)
Oscar Peterson Trio -- We Get Requests
Phil Woods -- Bop Stew
Bunny Berigan And His Orchestra -- I Can't Get Started
Charlie Barnet And His Orchestra
Jay McShann And His Orchestra 1&2
Bill Evans Trio -- Waltz For Debby
Yank Lawson & Bob Haggart -- "Worlds Greatest Jazz Band"
Charles Earland -- The Almighty Burner
Joe Pass -- Virtuoso
Horace Silver -- Song For My Father
Joe Henderson -- Page One
Count Basie -- April in Paris
Jaco Pastorius
Ella Fitzgerald -- Ella In Hamburg
Billie Holiday -- Lady Sings The Blues
T. Monk -- Brilliant Corners
Bird/Ben Webster/Benny Carter/Johnny Hodges -- "Super Session" (see, "super groups" are NOT a New thing)
Kenny Burrell -- Midnight Blue
Oliver Nelson -- Blues And The Abstract Truth
Charlie Byrd -- The Guitar Artistry Of
Wes Montgomery -- The Incredible Jazz Guitar Of
Louis Armstrong -- The Best Of The Hot 5's and 7's 1&2
Nat Adderly -- Work Song
Lionel Hampton 1-5 (one of those compilations -- has no other title)
Dizzy Gillespie 1-5 (same as above. I know there will be some overlap with other CD's but, that really can't be avoided)
Nat "King" Cole Trio 1&2
Mahavishnu Orchestra -- The Inner Mounting Flame
Dexter Gordon -- Gettin' Around
Mobley/blakey/etc. -- Soul Station
The Gerry Mulligan Quartet -- Original Recordings on Pacific Jazz 1&2
Keith Jarrett -- The Koln concert
Sonny Rollins -- The Bridge
Charles Mingus -- Mingus Ah Um
Sonny Criss -- The Hampton Hawes Sessions
Lee Morgan -- Charisma
Gene Ammons -- Jammin' In Hi-Fi
Miloes -- Round About Midnight
Miles -- The Complete Birth of The cool
Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy
Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins -- Sonny side Up
Kai Winding & J.J. Johnson -- The Great Kai and J.J.
Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson -- The Very Tall Band
woody Herman Big Band -- World Class
Sonny Stitt -- Givin' Away The Store
Charlie Haden -- Liberation music Orchestra
Stan Kenton -- 1952 - 1953
Art Tatums Finest Hour
Oscar Peterson Trio -- Night Train MJQ at Music Inn With Jimmy Giuffre
Coltrane -- A Love Supreme
Grant Green -- Idle moments
Ornette Coleman -- The Shape Of Jazz To Come
Dexter Gordon -- Go!
Getz/Gilberto
Coltrane -- Blue Train
Jimmy Smith -- Back At The Chicken Shack
T. Monk -- Straight No Chaser
Miles -- Sketches of Spain
Blakey & The Jazz Messengers -- Moanin'
Duke Ellington -- Blanton - Webster Recordings
Lester Young With The Oscar Peterson Trio
Bud Powell Plays Bird
Lee Konitz, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan -- The Complete 1953 Haig Performances
J. R. Monterose (an old favorite from my Lower East Side Days, as were the Turrentine brothers)
The Sonny Stitt Quartet -- New York Jazz
Jessica williams -- Jessica's blues
McCoy Tyner -- Today and Tomorrow
Stuff Smith, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson 1&2
Mary Lou williams -- Live At The Cookery
Diana Krall -- pick almost any two albums. She is fantastic.
Booker Ervin -- The Freedom Book
Kenny Dorham -- The Matador/Inta' Somethin'
Jimmy McGriff -- The Worm

and on, and on, and on. There is so much great stuff out there -- and I didn't even get into any of the "traditional jazz" guys, or some of the great players from the big band era -- like, say, Billy Butterfield. Didn't mention Fletcher Henderson, Lunceford, Sidney Bechet, barely touched on Django Reinhardt, or a ton of others. Do some exploring on your own -- it's a great way to forget (for a while) all the bad news cascading down on us all.