What if you take the 40 most-played Christmas songs and replace them with each artist's most comparable non-holiday hit? You get one really weird playlist.
In fact, one of the most revered jazz albums is Vince Guaraldi's "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" which features "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" on the legendary Fantasy label that launched the careers of many jazz legends including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, etc. and would later become known in the rock world for Creedence Clearwater Revival. Most of the songs on the album are Vince's interpretations of songs from the classic foreign film Black Orpheus with the score composed by Bossa Nova pioneer Antonio Carlos Jobim and in fact much of the stuff on the million selling Getz/Gilberto album by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto on Verve (featuring the hit "The Girl From Ipanema") was composed by Jobim. Verve, Fantasy, Blue Note, Riverside, Prestige, Milestone and Columbia (Riverside, Milestone and Prestige would later be bought out by Fantasy) were among the leading labels in pure jazz at the time.
Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" on Columbia was also a Top 40 hit in 1961 while it is really a 1959 recording from his legendary "Time Out" album which remains one of the biggest selling jazz albums of all time with #1 being Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" from 1959.
Believe it or not, there were nearly 80 songs by Miles released as singles that didn't chart but he blazed the trail for many trends in not only jazz but all of popular music including progressive rock with his jazz fusion styled albums such as In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew in the late 1960s-early 1970s, he even collaborated with hip hop stars, etc. https://www.45cat.com/artist/miles-davis for the singles. His albums all remain in print in every form. If you happen to like what Miles did at the time, check out Mahavishnu Orchestra's catalog starting with the mega selling "Inner Mounting Flame" and "Birds of Fire" albums, and also Chick Corea's Return To Forever catalog and much of what CTI Records put out at the time.
Dave Brubeck, OTOH, did have several songs chart on the Hot 100 from his Columbia years: https://www.musicvf.com/The+Dave+Brubeck+Quartet.art (The "Dave Brubeck's Greatest Hits" compilation does compile the songs that actually charted as singles and he was one of the only pure jazz artists at the time to have several singles chart). His albums were huge sellers on the Billboard album charts for years at the time.
The late 1950s-early 1960s was a golden age for stereo oriented jazz and artists such as Coltrane, Miles, Brubeck, Guaraldi, etc. were in the limelight at that time.
LOVE this extra info on a legendary artist who--sadly-- most folks only know now from the Charlie Brown TV specials! I own several of the artists' albums you outline on vinyl--not because I think vinyl sounds better, but because Coltrane, Davis, and Brubeck deserve to be herd actively! I find I pay attention and listen intently to the music better somehow when I lower a tonearm into the LP groove. It's too easy for music to become background for social media doom scrolling when you just pull it up on Spotify. I
I'll stop now before I become old man yells at clouds.
Please fell free to argue with any of my specific song selections, Bradley I think it would be informative and fun!
Coltrane's A Love Supreme is one of the best jazz albums at the time, the same with My Favorite Things and Giant Steps. Cannonball Adderley's Something Else and Mercy Mercy Mercy albums are a must. The title track from the latter was a Top 40 hit, BTW.
I also recommend Dave Brubeck's "Time Further Out" as well as Time Out and these are the Brubeck albums I'd recommend if you like Miles' Birth of the Cool, Kind of Blue, etc. eras. For Guaraldi for starters outside of the Charlie Brown soundtracks, please get Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus. Art Pepper is also recommended for this period of jazz, and his Rhythm Section album is how to start. Charles Mingus is also worth checking out.
In fact, one of the most revered jazz albums is Vince Guaraldi's "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" which features "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" on the legendary Fantasy label that launched the careers of many jazz legends including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, etc. and would later become known in the rock world for Creedence Clearwater Revival. Most of the songs on the album are Vince's interpretations of songs from the classic foreign film Black Orpheus with the score composed by Bossa Nova pioneer Antonio Carlos Jobim and in fact much of the stuff on the million selling Getz/Gilberto album by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto on Verve (featuring the hit "The Girl From Ipanema") was composed by Jobim. Verve, Fantasy, Blue Note, Riverside, Prestige, Milestone and Columbia (Riverside, Milestone and Prestige would later be bought out by Fantasy) were among the leading labels in pure jazz at the time.
Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" on Columbia was also a Top 40 hit in 1961 while it is really a 1959 recording from his legendary "Time Out" album which remains one of the biggest selling jazz albums of all time with #1 being Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" from 1959.
Believe it or not, there were nearly 80 songs by Miles released as singles that didn't chart but he blazed the trail for many trends in not only jazz but all of popular music including progressive rock with his jazz fusion styled albums such as In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew in the late 1960s-early 1970s, he even collaborated with hip hop stars, etc. https://www.45cat.com/artist/miles-davis for the singles. His albums all remain in print in every form. If you happen to like what Miles did at the time, check out Mahavishnu Orchestra's catalog starting with the mega selling "Inner Mounting Flame" and "Birds of Fire" albums, and also Chick Corea's Return To Forever catalog and much of what CTI Records put out at the time.
Dave Brubeck, OTOH, did have several songs chart on the Hot 100 from his Columbia years: https://www.musicvf.com/The+Dave+Brubeck+Quartet.art (The "Dave Brubeck's Greatest Hits" compilation does compile the songs that actually charted as singles and he was one of the only pure jazz artists at the time to have several singles chart). His albums were huge sellers on the Billboard album charts for years at the time.
The late 1950s-early 1960s was a golden age for stereo oriented jazz and artists such as Coltrane, Miles, Brubeck, Guaraldi, etc. were in the limelight at that time.
LOVE this extra info on a legendary artist who--sadly-- most folks only know now from the Charlie Brown TV specials! I own several of the artists' albums you outline on vinyl--not because I think vinyl sounds better, but because Coltrane, Davis, and Brubeck deserve to be herd actively! I find I pay attention and listen intently to the music better somehow when I lower a tonearm into the LP groove. It's too easy for music to become background for social media doom scrolling when you just pull it up on Spotify. I
I'll stop now before I become old man yells at clouds.
Please fell free to argue with any of my specific song selections, Bradley I think it would be informative and fun!
The Criterion Collection has the movie Black Orpheus available on DVD and Blu-Ray, BTW.
Coltrane's A Love Supreme is one of the best jazz albums at the time, the same with My Favorite Things and Giant Steps. Cannonball Adderley's Something Else and Mercy Mercy Mercy albums are a must. The title track from the latter was a Top 40 hit, BTW.
I also recommend Dave Brubeck's "Time Further Out" as well as Time Out and these are the Brubeck albums I'd recommend if you like Miles' Birth of the Cool, Kind of Blue, etc. eras. For Guaraldi for starters outside of the Charlie Brown soundtracks, please get Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus. Art Pepper is also recommended for this period of jazz, and his Rhythm Section album is how to start. Charles Mingus is also worth checking out.
Matt, you are right that this kind of music needs to be listened intently as all of these artists I mentioned define the term musician.