The 5 Jazz Recordings You Would Take With You...


stranded on an island. You can only take 5. On this magical island there is a system suited to your specific tastes and the front end of your choice. Keep in mind only jazz will be tolerated on this island. Any other musical format will bring unfreindly natives to your doorsteps who will take you off and boil you in oil. Only five, don't cheat. What's in your suitcase?
Ag insider logo xs@2xhoopster
As for Coltrane ... it's difficult to impossible to ignore the breathtaking flights of both "Stellar Regions" and "Interstellar Space" ... these may require more faith, at least on initial listens, but both reveal depth and strength seldom found today ...
One CD I'd like to suggest would be Steve Turre's 1997 CD of the same name, "Steve Turre," ... and the opening track with Cassandra Wilson is simply glorious, as is the rest of the CD, ... and Turre is simply at one with his trombone.

I've got several subsequent CDs by Turre, but this one is forever. You won't be disappointed.
Billy Cobham - Stratus
Eric Gale - Ginseng woman
Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions
Jeff Beck - Diamond Dust
Donald byrd - Povo
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Art Pepper - Art Pepper + 11
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Diana Krall - Live in Paris
Mark Murphy - Love is What Says

Glad this is only hypothetical because I could not live without John Coltrane (Blue Train; My Favorite Things) and Bill Evans (Sunday at the Village Vanguard; Waltz for Debby).
i like this island. let's pull some permits and start building condos. here's my 5:

1. Kenny Burrell- Blue Lights volume 2
2. Grant Green- Green Street
3. Sonny Rollins- Saxophone Colossus
4. Kenny Dorham and the jazz prophets vol. 1
5. The three sounds- bottoms up
Miles - Kind of Blue
Pete la Roca - Basra
Dolphy - Out to Lunch
Coltrane - Giant Steps / Love Supreme
Rollins - Saxophone Colossus

and few GREAT optional on the iPod -

Thad Jones - The Magnificent Thad Jones - Blue Note 1527
Jackie McLean - New Soil
Lee Morgan - Cornbread / Sidewinder
Andrew Hill - Point Of Departure
Kind of Blue - Davis
Sunday at the VV - Evans
The Out of Towners - Jarrett
Extended Play - Holland
One of the 50s/60s Blue Notes, e.g., Song for My Father, Speak No Evil, etc. I'll decide just before I'm shipped to the island.
•World Saxophone Quartet - Revue
•Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet - on Emarcy
•Sarah Vaughan - No Count Sarah
•Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane - at Carnegie Hall
•Batacumbele - Live at the University of Puerto Rico
'Sunday At The Village Vanguard' - Bill Evans Trio
'A Love Supreme' - John Coltrane
'Birth Of The Cool' - Miles Davis
'Saxophone Colossus' - Sonny Rollins
'Smokin' At The Half Note' - Wynton Kelly/Wes Montgomery
1. Sun Ra: "The Magic City"
2. Ornette Coleman: Atlantic box set (this might be cheating)
3. John Coltrane: "A Love Supreme"
4. Eric Dolphy: "Out To Lunch"
5. Cecil Taylor "Unit Structures"
No, I am not going to say Blue Train by Coltrane or Kind of Blue by Miles that would be too easy and a bit reduntant. So these are the five I would play the most till the grooves literally wore out.

BLUES WALK - Lou Donaldson
The Melody at Night With You - Keith Jarrett
Gerry Mulligan meets Ben Webster
Boss Tenor - Gene Ammons
Stan Getz/Kenny Barron - People Time

With these five I could hold out a long time, maybe FOREVER.
1. Inner Mounting Flame - Mahavishnu Orchestra
2. Spectrum - Billy Cobham
3. Blue Train - Coltrane
4. Transition - Coltrane
5. Karma - Pharoah Sanders
I just picked up a jazz CD by a bass player from Columbus, Ohio named Andy Woodson called "Catalpa" that is wonderful. Michael Cox plays soprano sax on several of the cuts and does an exceptional job. If I could only choose five recordings this would be one of them. Patricia Barber's "Cafe Blue" and "Modern Cool" would be two more I would choose. A CD by jazz drummer Toshio Osumi called "Go with the Swingin" would be number number four and Johnny O'Neil's "In Good Hands" would be number five.
Surfgod:
"Stratus" was going to be my fusion #6 choice....
and then the obligatory Weather report "Heavy Weather" and RTF "Romantic Warrior"
Miles & Monk at Newport, Straight, no Chaser Monk, Stratus Billy Cobham, Ben Webster, at the Renassaince. Between Nothingness & Eternity, Mahavishnu Orchrestra
Time for me to chime in:

Miles - Kind of Blue (of course, of course)
Coltrane-Blue Train
Diana Krall-Love Scenes (not going anywhere without at leat one DK)
Bill Evans Trio-Waltz for Debby
Brubeck-Lve at Canegie Hall

Am I at 5 already, dang. Well that's my choices for today anyway. Tommorrow might be a different storey.
Xiekitchen,
The natives would certainly hold a war council on your first 5 choices but would not attack. Your second 5 would couse no consternation at all.
And if the Natives won't allow fusion...
1. Miles Davis -- Someday My Prince Will Come
2. John Coltrane -- Lush Life
3. John Coltrane -- Love Supreme
4. Sonny Clarke -- Cool Struttin
5. Miles Davis -- Kind of Blue (of course)
And now, for something (almost) completely different...
I'll go with five fusion pieces:
1. Weather Report -- Tale Spinnin
2. Stanley Clarke -- School Days
3. Chick Corea -- Light as a Feather
4. Jean Luc Ponty -- Enigmatic Oceans
5. John Mclaughlin -- Belo Horizonte
Ahh, but there's so many more!
Alright, here's my try........ I hope there's a power boat that shows up at some point to bring some more stuff over... Drinks anyone?

Miles Davis - "Kind Of Blue"
Sonny Rollins - "Saxophone Colossus
Thelonious Monk - "Brilliant Corners"
Louis Armstrong/Duke Ellington - "Toegether for the First Time/Reunion (cheating a little here)
Billie Holliday - "Songs for Destingue' Lovers"
Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue"
John Coltrane "Blue Trane"
Bill Evans Trio "Waltz For Debbie"
Coleman Hawkins "Night Hawk"
Ella Fitzgerald "Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie"
David S. Ware "live in the World"
Cecil Taylor "Conquistador"
John Coltrane "Stellar Regions"
Tim Berne "Science Friction"
Eric Dolphy "Out to Lunch"
5 is asking the impossible...but here is,

Duke Ellington: Blues in Orbit
Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges: Back to Back
Sonny Clark: Leapin' and Lopin'
Duke Ellington: The Cosmic Scene
Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus
LOL @ Onhwy61!

If I were to be limited to just five, you might have to broaden the selection for me, as I like a lot of sub-genres from outside of the US. What if I were to bring along a bunch of steamer trunks ala JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO?

I got a funny feeling the natives of The Enchanted Isle of Jazz would be making Gunbei Chowder before too long.
Who can resist these parlor game questions? Not me, so here's a shot at it...

John Coltrane - "Love Supreme"
Thelonious Monk - "Brilliant Corners"
Bill Evans - "Sunday at the Village Vanguard"
Ornette Coleman - "Change of the Century"
Charlie Parker - "The Legendary Dial Sessions"

Tomorrow, it would be a different five...maybe we could cheat and include box sets? Billie Holiday's Verve and Columbia recordings? Monk's Riverside Tenor Sessions? The Duke Ellington RCAs? The Coltrane Quartet on Impulse? Miles at the Plugged Nickel?

Coltrane:
Villiage Vanguard sessions
Classic quartet studio recordings
European Tour
Meditations
Live in Seattle.
Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Innermounting Flame
Johnny Mathis - Open Fire, Two Guitars
Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto - Getz/Giberto
Django Reinhardt - Djangology
Tomasz Stanko - "Suspended Night"
Charles Mingus - "The Black Saint & the Sinner Lady"
Anouar Brahem - "Le pas du chat noir"
Todd Sickafoose - "Blood Orange"
Tipographica - "Tipographica"

And next time, please make it five HUNDRED.