Landmark Albums

A deck by Hana Wexler · 12 cards

Head Hunters

Head Hunters is the twelfth studio album by American pianist, keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock, released October 26, 1973, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the evening at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California. Hancock is featured with woodwind player Bennie Maupin from his previous "Mwandishi" sextet and three new collaborators – bassist Paul Jackson, percussionist Bill Summers, and drummer Harvey Mason. The latter group of collaborators, which would go on to be known as the Headhunters, also played on Hancock's subsequent studio album Thrust (1974). All of the musicians play multiple instruments on the album.

Giant Steps

Giant Steps is a studio album by the jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in February 1960 through Atlantic Records. This was Coltrane's first album as leader for the label, with which he had signed a new contract the previous year. The record is regarded as one of the most influential jazz albums of all time. Many of its tracks have become practice templates for jazz saxophonists. In 2004, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. It attained gold record status in 2018, having sold 500,000 copies.

Mingus Ah Um

Mingus Ah Um is a studio album by the American jazz musician Charles Mingus. It was recorded in May 1959 and released that October through Columbia Records. It was Mingus' first album recorded for Columbia.

Saxophone Colossus

Saxophone Colossus is the sixth studio album by American jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Perhaps Rollins's best-known album, it is often considered his breakthrough record. It was recorded monophonically on June 22, 1956, with producer Bob Weinstock and engineer Rudy Van Gelder at the latter's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. Rollins led a quartet on the album that included pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Doug Watkins, and drummer Max Roach. Rollins was a member of the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet at the time of the recording, and the recording took place four days before his bandmates Brown and Richie Powell died in a car accident on the way to a band engagement in Chicago. Roach appeared on several more of Rollins' solo albums, up to the 1958 Freedom Suite album.

Kind of Blue

Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on August 17, 1959, by Columbia Records. For this album, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, with new band pianist Wynton Kelly replacing Evans on "Freddie Freeloader". The album was recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City in two sessions on March 2 and April 22, 1959.

Time Out (album)

Time Out is a studio album by the American jazz group the Dave Brubeck Quartet, released in 1959 by Columbia Records. Recorded at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in New York City, the album is noted for its pioneering use of unconventional time signatures for jazz, including 98, 64, and 54. Musically, it represents a subtle fusion of cool and West Coast influences.

A Love Supreme

A Love Supreme is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. It was recorded in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones.

Out to Lunch!

Out to Lunch! is a 1964 album by the American jazz multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. His only recording on Blue Note Records as a leader, it was issued posthumously as BLP 4163 and BST 84163. Featuring Dolphy in a quintet with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Tony Williams, it is considered by critics as one of the finest albums issued on Blue Note and one of the high points of 1960s avant-garde jazz.

Birth of the Cool

Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by the American jazz trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis. It was released in February or March 1957 on Capitol Records. It compiles eleven tracks recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950.

Bitches Brew

Bitches Brew is a studio album by the American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded from August 19 to 21, 1969, at Columbia's Studio B in New York City and released on March 30, 1970, by Columbia Records. It marked Davis's continuing experimentation with electric instruments that he had featured on his previous record, the critically acclaimed In a Silent Way (1969). With these instruments, such as the electric piano and guitar, Davis departed from traditional jazz rhythms in favor of loose, rock-influenced arrangements based on improvisation. The final tracks were edited and pieced together by producer Teo Macero.

Sketches of Spain

Sketches of Spain is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on July 18, 1960, by Columbia Records. Recording took place between November 1959 and March 1960 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City. An extended version of the second movement of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) is included, as well as a piece called "Will o' the Wisp", from Manuel de Falla's ballet El amor brujo (1914–1915). Sketches of Spain is regarded as an exemplary recording of third stream, a musical fusion of jazz, European classical, and styles from world music.

The Shape of Jazz to Come

The Shape of Jazz to Come is the third studio album by American jazz musician Ornette Coleman. Released on Atlantic Records in November 1959, it was his debut on the label and his first album featuring the quartet of himself, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins. The recording session for the album took place on May 22, 1959, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. Although Coleman initially wished for the album to be titled Focus on Sanity after its fourth track, producer Nesuhi Ertegun suggested the final title, feeling that it would give consumers "an idea about the uniqueness of the LP."