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NPR'S TOP 100 JAZZ SONGS OF ALL TIME · Playlist · 101 songs · 3.5K likes.
- Take Five. Dave Brubeck.
- So What. Miles Davis.
- Take The A Train. Duke Ellington.
- Round Midnight. Thelonious Monk.
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- Honeysuckle Rose – Fats Waller
- Mack The Knife – Ella Fitzgerald
- Cantaloupe Island – Herbie Hancock
- My Favorite Things – John Coltrane
- Take Five – Dave Brubeck
- God Bless The Child – Billie Holiday
- How High The Moon – Ella Fitzgerald
- Stella by Starlight – Miles Davis
- St. Thomas – Sonny Rollins
- Ain’T Misbehavin – Fats Waller
A popular song from the 1930s, ‘Honeysuckle Rose’ was composed by pianist, singer and entertainer Fats Waller, with lyrics by Andy Razaf. The song was published in 1929. Beyond its popularity as a song, many jazz musicians use the beginning of the melody line as a ‘lick’ or component in their improvisations. Waller’s 1934 recording captures his bea...
Written by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in 1928, Mack The Knifeisn’t the usual story of romance or lost love; it’s based on the story of an 18th Century English thief! The oldest jazz song on this list, it’s made its way to the heart of the jazz songbook, with swinging versions by everyone from Louis Armstrongand Oscar Peterson to Bobby Darin and ...
Recorded and performed by many artists over the years, pianist-composer Herbie Hancock’s version of Cantaloupe Island is the definitive version for many jazz fans. Released on his 1964 album Empyrean Isles, the song is a classic example of the hard-bop style vamps and laid-back groove that Blue Note popularised in the 50s and 60s. Hancock is joined...
Whilst John Coltrane is perhaps more famous for the songs on his groundbreaking Giant Steps album, his performance of the old jazz song My Favorite Things reached widespread popularity on its release in 1961. Originally written in 1959 as a show tune for Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music, its open structure and memorable melody hav...
Pianist Dave Brubeck’s album Time Out, released by Columbia records in 1959, was groundbreaking for its extensive use of unusual time signatures. Becoming the first album to sell over one million copies, its most famous track was the song Take Five in (as you probably guessed) ‘5/4 time.’ Famous for its two chord vamp, (usually Ebm7 and Bbm7) it’s ...
Billie Holiday wrote this classic jazz song with Arthur Herzog Jr., a frequent collaborator. It has strong religious overtones and the title lyric refers to something her mother said to her in the course of an argument. Billie Holidayrecorded it three times, and the 1950 version with orchestra and chorus gives it a spiritual-like quality. This prov...
This song is known to jazz musicians as a swinging Broadway show tune and as its alter-ego ‘Ornithology’, the bebop head that Charlie Parker composedover its chord progression. The earliest version recorded was by Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, but it’s Ella Fitzgerald’s take on it that stands out in jazz history. She often sang How High The moon a...
Composed by Victor Young for the 1944 film ‘The Uninvited’, ‘Stella’ was soon picked up by jazz musicians as a favourite song, as we wrote about here. Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Chet Baker and Nat King Cole were among the first to record it, but it is perhaps Miles Davis’ deep, 13-minute, dive into it for his album ‘My Funny Valentine‘ which stands...
This joyful, calypso-inspired piece is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser and notable in this list as one of the few latin-influenced songs. The tenor sax legend Sonny Rollins is credited as the composer, although its origins are from the Virgin Islands and further back as an English folk song. He first recorded it on ‘Saxophone Colossus’, released in 1956...
One of the most famous early examples of Stride piano, Ain’t Misbehavin’ was written back in 1929 with Andy Razaf contributing lyrics to the music written by Harry Brooks and Fats Waller himself. Whilst many people know the famous Louis Armstrongversions of this song, the original Fats Waller version is well worth discovering. Relatively slow compa...
- “So What”—Miles Davis. Years Active: 1944–1975 and 1980–1991. Great Albums: In a Silent Way, Seven Steps to Heaven. Associated Acts: John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Philly Joe Jones.
- “My Favorite Things”—John Coltrane. Years Active: 1945–1967. Great Albums: Blue Train, Giant Steps. Associated Acts: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis Quintet, Eric Dolphy.
- “Take Five”—Dave Brubeck. Years Active: 1940s–2012. Great Albums: Dave Brubeck Octet, Jazz at the College of the Pacific. Associated Acts: Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright, Joe Morello, Gerry Mulligan.
- “Acknowledgement”—John Coltrane. Years Active: 1945–1967. Great Albums: Blue Train, Giant Steps. Associated Acts: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis Quintet, Eric Dolphy.
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- Duke Ellington – Take the A Train. Written by Billy Strayhorn in 1940, who was inspired to compose the song after he wrote down directions of how to get to Harlem using New York’s subway system, “Take The A Train” was one of Duke Ellington’s biggest hits and also became his signature tune.
- Miles Davis – So What. The opening track on legendary trumpeter Miles Davis’ landmark 1959 album Kind Of Blue is one of the best-known examples of modal jazz.
- John Coltrane – Giant Steps. Most fans would agree John Coltrane’s classic LP is 1964’s suite-like A Love Supreme. His fifth album Giant Steps, however, was his first to feature all self-composed material and it remains a must-have record for all serious jazz fans.
- Charlie Parker – All The Things You Are. One of bebop’s prime architects, Kansas City-born Charlie Parker was famed for his lightning-fast alto saxophone solos but showed a more restrained side on this Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein tune he performed with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945.
Apr 30, 2024 · Top 100+ Jazz Classics Playlist | Best Jazz Music of All Time. Soul Piano - Relaxing Jazz. ·. Podcast. 34 episodes Last updated on Apr 30, 2024. Get ready to relax and unwind to the best...
1. Miles Davis - Freddie Freeloader (Official Audio) •. 4.7M views • 10 years ago. 2. Dave Brubeck - Take Five. buckinny. •. 87M views • 15 years ago. 3. So What - Miles Davis (1959)...
