[Start Here] Jazz Masterpieces: A Must-Listen Album Selection

Straight No ChaserThelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk – Straight,No Chaser /Classic Modern Jazz

Another genius pianist of the bebop era is Thelonious Monk.

Known for his eccentric behavior—such as suddenly spinning around on stage during performances—he was a born maverick who created pieces with innovative rhythms and harmonies that were extraordinarily advanced for their time.

Autumn Leavesjim hall

Jim Hall & Ron Carter – Autumn Leaves

In jazz harmony, along with the piano, the guitar is sometimes used.

Among the masters of the guitar—an instrument said to be three times harder than the piano—in the world of jazz is Jim Hall.

One of the charms of jazz guitar is the technique of playing chords and melody simultaneously—and doing so improvisationally.

Mack the KnifeBobby Darin

Bobby Darin “Mack The Knife” on The Ed Sullivan Show

A song composed by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht for the music drama Die Dreigroschenoper.

This Bobby Darin version became his biggest hit and won Song of the Year at the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1959.

All the Things You AreJoe Pass

Joe Pass All Things You Are

Alongside Jim Hall, Joe Pass is a master of jazz guitar.

He plays chords, melody, and bass lines simultaneously—and improvises them.

Even the jazz standard “All the Things You Are” becomes uniquely his own without disturbing the character of the piece.

Feeling GoodNina Simone

Nina Simone Feeling Good

A song written by British songwriters Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1965 Broadway musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd.

In the Broadway production, it was performed by actor Gilbert Price.

This Nina Simone version has become one of her best-known songs.

The Girl From IpanemaAstrud Gilberto & Stan Getz

The Girl From Ipanema

In 1961, jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had toured Brazil, introduced tenor saxophonist Stan Getz to Brazilian bossa nova, leading to the release of the smash hit Jazz Samba in 1962.

What is now a familiar meeting of jazz and bossa nova took shape through this very sequence of events.

The album we’re highlighting today, Getz/Gilberto, is renowned—alongside the aforementioned Jazz Samba—as an epoch-making work that fused jazz and bossa nova.

Credited jointly to Getz and bossa nova singer-guitarist João Gilberto, it was released in 1963, became a major hit reaching No.

2 on the Billboard chart, and won a Grammy Award.

Though it drew mixed reactions in some quarters, it undeniably helped bring widespread recognition of bossa nova to the United States.

From the moment the opening track—The Girl from Ipanema, the extraordinarily famous classic sung by Astrud Gilberto, João’s wife at the time whose career breakthrough it became—begins, you feel as if you’re tasting the atmosphere of South America you couldn’t possibly know firsthand.

It’s a highly recommended album for newcomers to both jazz and bossa nova.

In a Sentimental MoodDuke Ellington & John Coltrane

In A Sentimental Mood

The more you learn about jazz history and its musicians, the more you’re amazed at how often truly legendary pairings have produced lavish collaborations.

The album introduced here, Duke Ellington & John Coltrane, is exactly one of those works.

Duke Ellington, born in 1899, was the jazz pianist who ignited the swing era.

John Coltrane, the saxophonist who, in his short 40-year life, raced through jazz’s transformative phases—from hard bop to modal jazz and on to free jazz.

This 1962 recording by these generational giants is said to have been done all in single takes at Duke’s request.

Led by the Ellington-composed standard In A Sentimental Mood, the track list centers on Duke’s classic repertoire, yet both artists honor each other’s individuality to craft a refined, mature jazz statement.

If you’re interested in either of them, this is a beautiful album you absolutely should hear.

And the cover art is fantastic, too!