My Current Top Ten Jazz Songs
I’ve been teaching a course at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama called Introduction to Jazz History, and I think, by far, I learned more about jazz than any of the students ever did. I’ve always loved jazz, but my early interest didn’t dive deep into the music. I bought John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things album and listened to that frequently. I played C Jam Blues in high school jazz band and gave a crowd pleasing solo during one concert on the tenor saxophone. I dug the soundtrack to Swing Kids with such greats as Louis Prima’s “Sing Sing Sing” in which they never actually sing, especially not three times! :P Also loved “Flat Foot Floogee” and especially the “Life Goes to a Party/Jumpin’ at the Woodside” especially when at BYU we used that song in the ballroom classes for the quickstep. So fantastic! But anyways, I never dug deeper than that, so when I got the opportunity to teach this class at Huntingdon, I explored the wondrous depths of jazz. There is so much great music there (as I’m writing this I’m listening to the Live version of Mahavishnu Orchestra’s “The Noonward Race”. Absolutely superb!
Getting to the list, I’ll just put here the songs I’m loving listening to right now. Not “these are the best” or “these are the most important”. Just “these are the ones I love right now”.
Alice Coltrane “Blue Nile” — This song is a revelation and fits so well on the album Ptah, The El Daud. The first side of the album has the song the album is named after, a 13 minute long mix of free and bebop forms with Alice Coltrane on the piano and includes Pharoah Sanders and Joe Henderson on the tenor saxophones, Ron Carter on the bass, and Ben Riley on the drums. This is followed by Alice Coltrane on the piano on “Turiya and Ramakrishna” in a noir night club mood setting, a nice counterpoint to the stronger, more forceful “Ptah, the El Daud”. Then you flip the album over and hear “Blue Nile.” It fits so well, this explosion of the harp and the alto flutes. It’s the release of all the tension from the first two songs and relaxes you with all the harp arpeggios. Again the form is a very loose bebop mixed with free. The alto flutes by Sanders and Henderson are a lovely contrast to Coltrane’s harp.
As a side note, try asking ChatGPT to write you a reflection on this song and see if it still incorrectly names the album this song comes from. Freakin’ AI man, what a waste of clean water.
Joe Henderson “El Barrio” — This song is phenomenal from the Inner Urge album, 1964. McCoy Tyner on the piano is superb. The song is in free form. According to the liner notes, Joe apparently told his colleagues to play “two simple chords, B minor and C major 7 (B phrygian)” and asked if they could “play something with a Spanish feeling”. He improvised in one take the recording on the album.
Miles Davis “Spanish Key” — Miles Davis assembled quite an avenging crew for his two initial fusion albums, In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. He worked with Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, Tony Williams, and Herbie Hancock. Thanks to the developing technology by the late 1960s, they were able to record super long songs. “Spanish Key” is the shorter of the long songs. “Bitches Brew” itself is 27 minutes long! I like it, too, but honestly felt like he needed an editor for that song. In “Spanish Key” he and his crew get the right balance of driving music with the music not meandering about unsure of what’s next, which sometimes seems to happen in “Bitches Brew.”
Wayne Shorter “Adam’s Apple” — This isn’t typically on one’s list from what I’ve been seeing, but man that melody with Herbie Hancock’s piano counterpoint is just so fantastic, works so beautifully. Just a gorgeous hard bop.
Sons of Kemet “My Queen is Harriet Tubman” — Shabaka Hutchings on the tenor saxophone lights up the place with his band Sons of Kemet as well as The Comet is Coming, which I’ll have later on this list. Here, from the Your Queen is a Reptile album, Hutchings is on tenor sax, Theon Cross on tuba, and Tom Kinner and Eddie Hick on two drums. They hit it out of the park with the Harriet Tubman song, balancing just perfectly the intensity and drive of the music. Hutchings is amazing on the sax and Cross shows just how much you can do with a tuba.
Kamasi Washington “Prologue” — This “Prologue” song is actually the closing song on his 2024 album Fearless Movement. Go figure, eh? The album itself is amazing, mixing in so many different styles and unique melodies. Kamasi has been on fire over the last ten years, making some really amazing albums. “Prologue” is an especially riveting song. The form is pretty simple hard bop with a melody to start and then the driving force of the song, all the solos in the middle, everyone raising the bar in the improvising, including Washington who wails so hard on the tenor that his tenor is almost not strong enough to express everything. Similar to John Coltrane on A Love Supreme. Just superb music.
Mahavishnu Orchestra “The Noonward Race” — Especially the live version on the album, this song is amazing, a superb fusion of rock and jazz. John McLaughlin is a god of the guitar who rocks among the best. The live version is over 15 minutes long and really gives all the players a chance to shine.
Charles Mingus “Moanin’” — God I love that beginning baritone saxophone lick, just freaking sassy as hell, man. Love it!
Duke Ellington “Tang” — I first heard this in April 1994 while I was working as a sales associate at a Men’s Wearhouse store in San Mateo, California. One of the salesmen tuned the radio every Sunday to the student run radio station at the College of San Mateo. This one Sunday I heard this song play and it caught my attention enough that I called the radio station to let me know what song this was. He told me it came from an album by Duke Ellington entitled Afro-Eurasian Eclipse. The whole suite is a fantastic blend of jazz with some classical elements and the flavors of sounds Duke Ellington heard around the world. I have loved in particular this song of the suite for the last thirty years. Still one of the best pieces of jazz I’ve ever heard.
The Comet is Coming “Blood of the Past” — My current favorite jazz song, this entry by Shabaka Hutchings with his bandmates Danalogue on keyboards and Betamax on drums is spectacular, from their album Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery. Hutchings at one point is rapping on his saxophone and its just brilliant. This whole album is fire! The other song “Summon the Fire” is astounding and is close to my top ten. The song also includes a spoken word part by Kae Tempest, which works well as a countermelody to the driving primary theme.