The Top 50 Albums of 1960

by

Let me preface this post by the very sentiment that I’m gonna remember about the research behind it: these albums were particularly fun to check out in-service of the bigger goal here.

Here’s what I think are the best albums of 1960. It’s the first milestone in my comprehensive “Top 100 Albums of the 60’s” list-to-be, a project which I really wanted to pick up some steam for in 2019, but egads that was a busy fucking year.

Things have cooled down significantly since then in my life, and there‘s writing to be done in other fronts, as I’m planning to re-release my two 2014 novels, Coleman-Tarinat and Coleman-Tarinat 2 in one collection, translated to English and slightly reworked. I find I’m a little bit better at this at 23, than I was at 16.

But anyways, 1960 man. The turn of the decade, a modest sixty years ago.

Good, mostly innocent music that comes in concise packaging and is easy to digest. Gotta love the early sixties.

 

 

#50. Roland Kirk – Introducing Roland Kirk

 

Image result for roland kirk introducing roland kirk spotify

Jazz, Hard Bop

Sophomore album by Roland Kirk
Released November 15, 1960

Argo / MCA Records

 

trivia

  • Three of the six cuts on this album, The Call, Soul Station and Spirit Girl were composed by Kirk. David Rose penned Our Waltz, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin were behind Our Love Is Here to Stay, and Jack the Ripper by William D. Burton.
    o All the material of this album was recorded on the same day, June 7, 1960.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Soul Station
  2. Our Love Is Here to Stay
  3. The Call
  4. Our Waltz
  5. Spirit Girl
  6. Jack the Ripper

 

 

 

#49. Enoch Light and the Light Brigade – Provocative Percussion Volume 2

 

Image result for enoch light provocative percussion volume 2

Space Age Pop, Chachachá, Easy Listening, Big Band

22nd album by Enoch Light
Released in 1960

Command Records / London Record

 

trivia

 

 

 

#48. John Lee Hooker – That’s My Story

 

Image result for john lee hooker that's my story spotify

Delta Blues

Fifth album by John Lee Hooker
Released in 1960

Riverside

 

trivia

  • This album was one of the definitive moments of John Lee’s Delta Blues-style becoming popularized among the “folk boom” in the united states at the turn of the decade.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. I Need Some Money
  2. Wednesday Evening Blues
  3. No More Doggin’
  4. Democrat Man
  5. Gonna Use My Rod
  6. I’m Wanderin’
  7. Come On and See About Me
  8. One of These Days
  9. I Want to Talk About You
  10. I Believe I’ll Go Back Home
  11. That’s My Story
  12. You’re Leavin’ Me, Baby

 

 

 

#47. Hank Mobley – Soul Station

 

Image result for hank mobley soul station spotify

Hard Bop, Cool Jazz

Twelfth album by Hank Mobley
Released October 1960

Blue Note Records

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. This I Dig of You
  2. Remember
  3. Split Feelin’s
  4. Dig Dis
  5. Soul Station
  6. If I Should Lose You

 

 

 

#46. Blue Mitchell – Blue’s Moods

 

Image result for blue mitchell blue's moods spotify

Hard Bop

Fourth album by Blue Mitchell
Released in 1960

Riverside / Original Jazz Classics

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. When I Fall in Love
  2. I’ll Close My Eyes
  3. Sir John
  4. Sweet Pumpkin
  5. I Wish I Knew
  6. Scrapple From the Apple
  7. Avars
  8. Kinda Vague

 

 

 

#45. Duke Ellington – Blues in Orbit

 

Image result for duke ellington blues in orbit spotify

Big Band, Swing

32nd album by Duke Ellington
Released May 1960

Columbia / Legacy / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab

 

trivia

  • For the composition-portion of this album’s original material, Ellington collaborated with John La Touche on Brown Penny, Matthew Gee on The Swingers Get the Blues, Too, Milt Gabler on In a Mellow Tone, Barney Bigard on C Jam Blues, Billy Strayhorn on Smada, and Jimmy Hamilton on Three J’s Blues.
  • The melody of C Jam Blues is said to have originated from a Bigard work from 1941, but it’s not perfectly clear.
  • C Jam Blues later got lyrics written for it by Bill Katts, Bob Thiele and Ruth Roberts, and the name was subsequently changed to Duke’s Place.
  • In a Mellow Tone (or In a Mellotone) went on to become a Jazz standard, but was itself based on an earlier standard called Rose Room by Art Hickman and Harry Williams — which Ellington himself had recorded in 1932.
  • Howard Stern used this album’s version of In a Mellow Tone as the opening theme to The Howard Stern Show from 1987 to 1994.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. C Jam Blues
  2. In a Mellow Tone
  3. Smada
  4. Blues in Orbit
  5. Pie Eye’s Blues
  6. Three J’s Blues
  7. Sweet and Pungent
  8. Blues in Blueprint
  9. Villes Ville Is the Place, Man
  10. The Swingers Get Together
  11. The Swingers’ Jump

 

 

 

#44. Les McCann Ltd. – Les McCann Plays the Truth

 

Image result for les mccann plays the truth spotify

Jazz, Soul Jazz, Hard Bop

Debut album by Les McCann
Released in 1960

Pacific Jazz Records

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. The Truth
  2. For Carl Perkins
  3. This Can’t Be Love
  4. Vacushna
  5. I’ll Remember April
  6. How High the Moon
  7. Fish This Wee But Next Sunday Chitlings
  8. A Little 3.4 for God and Co.

 

 

 

#43. Bobby Timmons – This Here Is Bobby Timmons

 

Image result for this here is bobby timmons spotify

Hard Bop, Soul Jazz, Cool Jazz

Sophomore album by Bobby Timmons
Released in 1960

Riverside / Original Jazz Classics

 

trivia

  • #20 album of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.
  • Five of the nine cuts on this album are new takes on older compositions: Lush Life by Billy Strayhorn, The Party’s Over by Jule Styne, Prelude to a Kiss by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, My Funny Valentine by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, and Come Rain or Come Shine by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer.
  • Despite being recorded earlier (and subsequentially made famous) by Art Blakey, Moanin’ is a Bobby Timmons composition. With this being the first album Timmons led by himself, it was the first time the song was released under his name.
  • The call-and-response melody of Moanin’ has most famously been the basis for So What, the opening cut of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis (1959).
  • Dat Dere later got lyrics added to it by Vocal Jazz singer Oscar Brown Jr., and the song appeared with lyrics on his debut album Sin & Soul (1960).

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Moanin’
  2. Come Rain or Come Shine
  3. Dat Dere
  4. This Here
  5. Prelude to a Kiss
  6. Lush Life
  7. My Funny Valentine
  8. The Party’s Over
  9. Joy Ride

 

 

 

#42. Elmer Bernstein – The Magnificent Seven

 

Image result for the magnificent seven spotify

Film Score, Cinematic Classical

20th album by Elmer Bernstein
Released in 1960

United Artists Records / EMI Records

 

trivia

  • Along with the readily recognized main theme and effective support of the story line, the score also contains allusions to twentieth-century symphonic works, such as the reference to Béla Bartók‘s Concerto for Orchestra, second movement, in the tense quiet scene just before the shoot out.
  • The original soundtrack was not released at the time until reused and rerecorded by Bernstein for the soundtrack of Return of the Seven.

 

 

 

#41. Curtis Fuller’s Quintet – Blues-ette

 

Image result for curtis fuller blues-ette spotify

Hard Bop, Modal Jazz, Modal Jazz

Eighth album by Curtis Fuller
Released February 1960

Savoy Records / CBS / Sony Records

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Five Spot After Dark
  2. Minor Vamp
  3. Blues-Ette
  4. Undecided
  5. Love Your Spell Is Everywhere
  6. Twelve-Inch

 

 

 

#40. James Brown & The Famous Flames – Think!

 

Image result for james brown think spotify

Soul, Rhythm and Blues

Sophomore album by James Brown
Released February 1960

King Records

 

trivia

 

 

 

#39. Henry Mancini – The Blues and the Beat

 

Image result for henry mancini the blues and the beat spotify

Lounge, Big Band

Twelfth album by Henry Mancini
Released in 1960

RCA Victor

 

trivia

  • This album won the Grammy in 1961, for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance.
  • Misty is originally written by pianist Erroll Garner in 1954. Before the inclusion on The Blues and the Beat, the song reached 12 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart, with it’s version by Johnny Mathis. Other people that have taken on the song in their own way, include Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan
  • Mood Indigo is a Duke Ellington original from 1930, which had lyrics written for it by Irving Mills, and had different versions of it released before Mancini ever got his hands on it: Jimmie Lunceford in 1934, Ellington again in 1950 for his Masterpieces by Ellington project, Frank Sinatra in 1955, Thelonious Monk in 1955, and Nina Simone in 1958,
  • Big Noise from Winnetka is co-written by composer/bassist Bob Haggart and drummer Ray Bauduc with lyrics by Gil Rodin and Bob Crosby. The writer-duo was the first to ever record it, in 1938.
  • Tippin’ In already reached #1 on the national singles-chart as an instrumental hit by Erskine Hawkins, in 1945.
  • The tune of Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing) plays in the 1994 Simpsons episode Lady Bouvier’s Lover, in a scene where Mr. Burns cuts in to a dance between Grampa Simpson and Mrs. Bouvier.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Misty
  2. Sing, Sing, Sing
  3. The Beat
  4. Big Noise from Winnetka
  5. Mood Indigo
  6. The Blues
  7. Smoke Rings
  8. Alright, Okay, You Win
  9. After Hours
  10. How Could You Do a Thing Like That to Me
  11. Tippin’ In
  12. Blue Flame

 

 

 

#38. The Everly Brothers – A Date with the Everly Brothers

 

Image result for a date with the everly brothers spotify

Close Harmony, Pop, Rock & Roll

Fourth album by The Everly Brothers
Released October 1960

Warner Bros. Records

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Cathy’s Clown
  2. Lucille
  3. Love Hurts
  4. Stick with Me Baby
  5. Made to Love
  6. Always It’s You
  7. That’s Just Too Much
  8. A Change of Heart
  9. So How Come (No One Loves Me)
  10. Baby What You Want Me to Do
  11. Donna, Donna
  12. Sigh, Cry, Almost Die

 

 

 

#37. Artur Rubinstein – The Chopin Ballades

 

Image result for the chopin ballades artur rubisntein spotify

Romanticism

45th album by Artur Rubinstein
Released in 1960

RCA Victor

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23
  2. Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52
  3. Ballade No. 2 in F, Op. 38
  4. Ballade No. 3 in flat, Oop. 47

 

 

 

#36. Olatunji! – Drums of Passion

 

Image result for olatunji drums of passion spotify

Yoruba Music

Debut album by Babatunde Olatunji
Released February 15, 1960

Columbia Records

 

trivia

  • #12 album of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.
  • A rarity in the grouping of Columbia-releases of the times, this album stands at an un-questionable podium, as the record to popularize African music in the west.
  • Added to the National Recording Registry in 2004.
  • Jin-Go-Lo-Ba was the most popular song from the record, and sold millions of copies as a single. It was also covered by Serge Gainsbourg in 1964, Santana in 1969, James Last in 1971, Pierre Moerlen’s Gong in 1979, Cándido in 1969 and Fatboy Slim in 2004 — a year after Olatunji’s passing.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Akiwowo (Chant to the Trainman)
  2. Oya (Primitive Fire)
  3. Baba Jinde (Flirtation Dance)
  4. Kiyakiya (Why Do You Run Away?)
  5. Jin-Go-Lo-Ba (Drums of Passion)
  6. Shango (Chant to the God of Thunder)
  7. Oyin Momo Ado (Sweet as Honey)
  8. Odun de! Odun de! (Happy New Year!)

 

 

 

#35. Donald Byrd – Fuego

 

Image result for donald byrd fuego spotify

Hard Bop, Modal Jazz

Twelfth album by Donald Byrd
Released July 1960

Blue Note Records

 

trivia

  • All tracks were composed by Donald Byrd.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Amen
  2. Fuego
  3. Funky Mama
  4. Lament
  5. Bup a Loup
  6. Low Life

 

 

 

#34. Thelonious Monk – Thelonious Monk Alone in San Fransisco

 

Image result for thelonious monk alone in san francisco spotify

Hard Bop, Piano Blues, Stride

Fifteenth album by Thelonious Monk
Released January 1960

Riverside / Victor [JPN] / Original Jazz Classics

 

trivia

  • Bluehawk and Round Lights are the only Monk compositions which only appeared in these recorded versions. The other Monk compositions of Alone in San Fransisco had all appeared in previous albums.
  • This is the third album by Monk (following Solo 1954 and Thelonious Himself) where he’s the sole musician, without any other performing band-members.
  • Everything Happens to Me was written by Tom Adair and Matt Dennis, You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin, Remember by Irving Berlin, and There’s Danger in Your Eyes, Cherie by Harry Richman and Pete Wendling.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Ruby, My Dear
  2. Blue Monk
  3. Pannonica
  4. Reflections
  5. Everything Happens to Me
  6. Round Lights
  7. Bluehawk
  8. You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart
  9. Remember
  10. There’s Danger in Your Eyes, Cherie

 

 

 

#33. Etta James – At Last!

 

Image result for etta james at last spotify

Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Soul Blues, Vocal Jazz, Southern Soul

Debut album by Etta James
Released November 15, 1960

Argo

 

trivia

  • #8 album of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.
  • At Last is the #7 song of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.
  • Ranked #119 on Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”
  • The title track has had covers of it made by Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Leela James, Cyndi Lauper, Randy Crawford, Céline Dion and Connie Wilson.
  • Beyoncé also covered All I Could Do Was Cry.
  • Four tracks from At Last! had notable success on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart —  At Last, All I Could Do Was Cry, Trust Me and My Dearest Darling rose to nos. 2, 2, 4 & 5, respectively.
  • The single At Last was certifield God by the RIAA.
  • Etta herself has writing credits on only one song, Tough Mary, but of the four tracks that surfaces through the 1999 CD reissue of this record, three more tracks co-written by Etta and Gwen Gordy Fuqua were released: My Heart Cries, It’s a Crying Shame and If I Can’t Have You.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. At Last
  2. I Just Want to Make Love to You
  3. A Sunday Kind of Love
  4. Stormy Weather
  5. Trust in Me
  6. My Dearest Darling
  7. All I Could Do Was Cry
  8. Anything to Say You’re Mine
  9. Tough Mary
  10. Girl of My Dreams

 

 

 

#32. Muddy Waters – Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy

 

Image result for muddy waters sings big bill broonzy spotify

Delta Blues

Debut album by Muddy Waters
Released June 1960

Chess Records

 

trivia

  • Details of the circumstances are sparse, but it is common knowledge that the Blues forefather Broonzy also personally gave Muddy Waters his start in the music business, which the man thought significant enough to dedicate his first albums to virtual recastings of his idol’s songs.
  • Muddy Waters had released singles before, but this was the first time he or anyone in his band got to be recorded in stereo.

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. I Feel So Good
  2. Southbound Train
  3. Lonesome Road Blues
  4. Double Trouble
  5. When I Get to Thinking
  6. Mopper’s Blues
  7. Tell Me Baby
  8. Just a Dream (On My Mind)
  9. Hey, Hey
  10. Baby, I Done Got Wise

 

 

 

#31. George Russell and His Orchestra – Jazz in the Space Age

 

Image result for george russell jazz in the space age spotify

Modal Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz, Post-Bop, Progressive Big Band

Fourth album by George Russell
Released in 1960

Decca Records [USA] / GRP Records / Affinity Records

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Dimensions
  2. Waltz from Outer Space
  3. The Lydiot
  4. Chromatic Universe, all parts.

 

 

 

#30. Gene Ammons – Boss Tenor

 

Image result for gene ammons bos tenor spotify

Soul Jazz, Hard Bop

Fourteenth album by Gene Ammons
Released June 16, 1960

Prestige Records

 

trivia

  • Gene revisited this album — at least by means of title — the following year, on his collaborative album with Sonny Stitt, Boss Tenors in Orbit. The collaboration was a follow-up to a creative collaboration ten years prior, when the two together lead a more modest Jazz ensemble which didn’t take off as well as either one would have hoped. Both found their footing in the music business later, though, and in ’61 they’d come together to celebrate that.
  • Five of the seven cuts on this album are standards: Close Your Eyes by Bernice Petkere, My Romance by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, Canadian Sunset by Norman Gimbel and Eddie Heywood, Confirmation by Charlie Parker, and Stompin’ at the Savoy by Benny Goodman, Arthur Smith, Chick Webb and Andy Razaf.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. My Romance
  2. Hittin’ the Jug
  3. Close Yours Eyes
  4. Blue Ammons
  5. Confirmation
  6. Savoy
  7. Canadian Sunset

 

 

 

#29. Enoch Light – Persuasive Percussion Volume 3

 

Image result for enoch light persuasive percussion volume 3 spotify

Space Age Pop, Easy Listening, Exotica

22nd album by Enoch Light
Released in 1960

Command Records

trivia

 

 

 

#28. Gene Rains – Lotus Land

 

Image result for gene rains lotus land

Exotica, Cool Jazz

Sophomore album by Gene Rains
Released in 1960

Decca Records [USA]

trivia

  • Pianist Paul Conrad left the Gene Rains band shortly after the release of this album, and embarked on a solo career. The album he released under his own name, titled Exotic Paradise, has consequentially turned into as big of a rarity for music-collectors, as the album whose process inspired him to pursue a solo career.

 

 

 

#27. Ken McIntyre – Looking Ahead

 

Image result for ken mcintyre looking ahead spotify

Post-Bop, Hard Bop

Debut album by Ken McIntyre
Released June 28, 1960

Prestige Records / Original Jazz Classics

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Curtsy
  2. Lautir
  3. They All Laughed
  4. Geo’s Tune
  5. Head Shakin’
  6. Dianna

 

 

 

#26. Eden Ahbez – Eden’s Island (The Music of an Enchated Isle)

 

Image result for eden ahbez eden's island spotify

Exotica, Poetry

Debut album by Eden Ahbez
Released in 1960

Del-Fi Records

trivia

  • Ahbez promoted this album by means of a coast-to-coast walking tour, making personal appearances in public places, but the record went str8 wood.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Full Moon
  2. Eden’s Island
  3. The Wanderer
  4. Tradewind
  5. Myna Bird
  6. Eden’s Cover
  7. The Old Boat
  8. Market Place
  9. La Mar
  10. Mongoose

 

 

 

#25. Gerry Mulligan & Ben Webster – Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster

 

Image result for gerry mulligan meets ben webster spotify

Cool Jazz

Fourteenth album by Ben Webster
Thirty-third album by Gerry Mulligan
Released February 1960

Verve Records

 

trivia

  • Webster only has writing credits for one track (The Cat Walk), which he wrote in collaboration with Mulligan. Mulligan has four writing credits out of the six tracks, with Chelsea Bridge and Sunday being standards.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Sunday
  2. Chelsea Bridge
  3. Tell Me When
  4. Go Home
  5. The Cat Walk
  6. Who’s Got Rhythm

 

 

 

#24. Ahmed Abdul-Malik – East Meets West

 

Image result for ahmed abdul-malik east meets west spotify

Arabic Jazz, Post-Bop

Sophomore album by Ahmed Abdul-Malik
Released February 1960

RCA Victor

 

trivia

  • All songs composed by Ahmed Abdul-Malik.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Isma’a (Listen)
  2. La Ibky (Don’t Cry)
  3. Searchin’
  4. E-Lail (The Night)
  5. El Ghada (The Jungle)
  6. Rooh (The Soul)
  7. Takseem (Solo)
  8. Mahawara (The Fugue)

 

 

 

#23. Ken McIntyre – Stone Blues

 

Image result for ken mcintyre stone blues spotify

Post-Bop

Sophomore album by Ken McIntyre
Released in 1960

New Jazz

 

trivia

  • Besides six tracks out of seven being original Ken McIntyre compositions, the album’s closing number, I’ll Close My Eyes, is a standard written by Buddy Kaye & Billy Reid. It also appeared on Blue Mitchell‘s Blue’s Moods this year.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Stone Blues
  2. Mellifluous
  3. Cornballs
  4. Blanche
  5. Smax
  6. I’ll Close My Eyes
  7. Charshee

 

 

 

#22. The Three Suns – Twilight Memories

 

Image result for the three suns twilight memories spotify

Space Age Pop, Musette, Lounge

Twenty-sixth album by The Three Suns
Released April 1960

RCA Victor

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Twilight Time
  2. Delicado
  3. Peg O’ My Heart
  4. Moonlight and Roses
  5. The Petite Waltz
  6. Arrivederci Roma
  7. Don’t Take Your Love From Me
  8. Under Paris Skies
  9. Twilight Memories
  10. Jalousie
  11. Jet
  12. Anna

 

 

 

#21. John Lee Hooker – Travelin’

 

Image result for john lee hooker travelin spotify

Electric Blues, Delta Blues

Sixth album by John Lee Hooker
Released in 1960

Vee-Jay Records

 

trivia

  • The first Hooker album recorded all in one session.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. No Shoes
  2. Whiskey and Wimmen
  3. Dusty Road
  4. I Wanna Walk
  5. Solid Sender
  6. Run On
  7. I’m a Stranger
  8. Canal Street Blues
  9. Goin’ to California
  10. Sunny Land
  11. I Can’t Believe
  12. I’ll Know Tonight

 

 

 

#20. Don Gibson – Look Who’s Blue

 

Image result for don gibson look who's blue spotify

Nashville Sound

Fifth album by Don Gibson
Released April 1960

RCA Victor

 

trivia

  • Big Hearted Me and Just One Time were released as singles, and while the former landed at #29 on the Country charts, the latter peaked at #2 on the very same chart, as well as #29 on the national hits-chart.
  • Just One Time got a cover done of it by Connie Smith, 11 years after this album’s release. The new rendition of the song peaked at #2 on the Country charts once again.
  • Skeeter Davis covered Just One Time too (an answer song as I Want to See You (Just One Time)).

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Just One Time
  2. Why Don’t You Love Me
  3. Lonely Street
  4. Big Hearted Me
  5. My Hands Are Tied
  6. The Streets of Laredo
  7. Everybody But Me
  8. Never Love Again
  9. It Only Hurts for a Little While
  10. My Love for You
  11. If I Can Stay Away
  12. On the Banks of the Old Pontchartain

 

 

 

#19. The Horace Silver Quintet – Horace-Scope

 

Image result for horace silver horace-scope spotify

Hard Bop

Eleventh album by Horace Silver
Released November 1960

Blue Note Records

 

trivia

  • Nica’s Dream was written by Horace Silver a whole six years before this album was released.
  • All tracks are written by Horace Silver, with the exception of Without You, a standard by Don Newey.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Nica’s Dream
  2. Strollin’
  3. Me and My Baby
  4. Horace-Scope
  5. Without You
  6. Where You At?
  7. Yeah!

 

 

 

#18. Count Basie – String Along with Basie

 

Image result for count basie string along with basie spotify

Jazz

Thirty-sixth album by Count Basie
Released in 1960

Roulette Records

 

trivia

  • This album’s tracklist is a personal selection of string-assisted Count Basie tracks recorded from the years 1959 and 1960.
  • Basie himself has writing credits on one of the 10 tracks — Blue and Sentimental, a song he co-penned with Jerry Livingston and Mack David.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Song of the Islands
  2. Summertime
  3. Poor Butterfly
  4. Blue and Sentimental
  5. She’s Funny That Way
  6. Stringing the Blues
  7. The One I Love
  8. Blues Bittersweet
  9. Sweet Lorraine
  10. These Foolish Things Remind Me of You

 

 

 

#17. Charles Mingus and His Jazz Groups – Mingus Dynasty

 

Image result for charles mingus mingus dynasty spotify

Post-Bop, Big Band

Thirteenth album by Charles Mingus
Released April 11, 1960

Columbia Records / CBS

 

trivia

  • Released with the intent of having it be a companion album to Mingus’ 1959 album, Mingus Ah Um.
  • This album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
  • The title alludes to Mingus’ ancestry, which was partially Chinese.
  • The tracks Slop, Song With Orange, Gunslinging Bird and Things Ain’t What They Used to Be were released in their unedited form in 1979 on vinyl and in 1999 on CD. The cuts amount to about 8 minutes.
  • Things Ain’t What They Used to Be was originally written by Mercer Ellington, and Mood Indigo by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard.
  • Mood Indigo also appeared on The Blues and the Beat by Henry Mancini this year.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Mood Indigo
  2. Slop
  3. Gunslinging Bird
  4. Song with Orange
  5. Far Wells, Mill Valley
  6. Things Ain’t What They Used to Be
  7. Diane
  8. New Now Know How
  9. Put Me in That Dungeon

 

 

 

#16. Johnny Cash – Now, There Was a Song!

 

Image result for johnny cash now there was a song spotify

Country

Eighth album by Johnny Cash
Released December 1960

Columbia Records

 

trivia

  • Seasons of My Heart is a song written by George Jones and Darrell Edwards, released by the former on his album Grand Ole Opry’s New Star: Country Song Hits in 1956. Cash’s rendition reached top 10 hit-status.
  • I Couldn’t Keep form Crying is a singly by Marty Robbins, released originally in 1953.
  • Time Changes Everything is a Western Swing standard written by Tommy Duncan, and originally released in 1940.
  • Cocaine Blues is a Western Swing standard as well, but pulls its’ basis from a reworking of the traditional song Little Sadie. Johnny Cash famously performed this song at his 1968 Folsom Prison concert, wherein he replaced the words “San Quentin” with “Folsom.”
  • For his 1979 album Silver, Cash rerecorded this song, choosing not to sing the word “bitch” on it.
  • Details about the most already-famous track on this album, and it’s authorship, are a tiny bit sketchy. Music journalist Chet Flippo and Kentucky historian W. Lynn Nickell have each claimed how 19-year-old Kentuckian Paul Gilley wrote the lyrics of I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, then sold the song to Hank Williams along with the rights, allowing Williams to take credit for it. However, Williams said he wrote the song originally intending that the words be spoken, rather than sung, as he had done on several of his Luke the Drifter recordings.
  • Just One More was originally a 1956 single by George Jones, and was the first hard-drinking songs that would later make its author famous.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
  2. I Feel Better All Over
  3. I Couldn’t Keep from Crying
  4. Time Changes Everything
  5. Seasons of My Heart
  6. My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You
  7. Transfusion Blues
  8. I’d Just Be Fool Enough (To Fall)
  9. Just One More
  10. I Will Miss You When You Go
  11. Honky-Tonk Girl
  12. Why Do You Punish Me?

 

 

 

#15. Freddie Hubbard – Open Sesame

 

Image result for freddie hubbard open sesame spotify

Hard Bop

Debut album by Freddie Hubbard
Released November 1960

Blue Note Records

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Open Sesame
  2. One Mint Julep
  3. Gypsy Blue
  4. Hub’s Nub
  5. But Beautiful
  6. All or Nothing at All

 

 

 

#14. Miles Davis – Sketches of Spain

 

Image result for miles davis sketches of spain

Third Stream, Modal Jazz, Saeta, Flamenco Jazz

Twenty-seventh album by Miles Davis
Released July 18, 1960

Columbia Records

 

trivia

  • #2 album of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.
  • Released a mere year after Kind of Blue popularized Modality, the only bit of music theory to come from any genre of post-classical times of music, Sketches of Spain later went on to be recognized as an exemplary work of Third Stream, a musical fusion of Jazz, European classical and World Music; a significant album for the process of the popularization of the style.
  • Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio) is an extended version of the second movement of Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo (1939).
  • Will O’ the Wisp is a rendition of the 1914-1915 ballet El amor brujo by Spanish composer Manuel de Falla.
  • Reportedly, the first bit of inspiration for this album was when Miles’ then-wife Frances insisted he join her for a performance by flamenco dancer Roberto Iglesias. Miles was so inspired by the performance, he bought every Flamenco record he’d get his hands on at Colony Records Shop in New York City. Colony Records was closed decades later, in 2012.
  • Sketches of Spain was one of numerous collaborations with Canadian producer/arranger Gil Evans. The two were particularly active in collaborating around the turn of the decade.
  • The “chorus” on Concierto de Aranjuez, courtesy of Gil Evans, wasn’t straight-applied from the text of the original composition, but “echoed” several segments of it in Evans’ mind, which was the reason they decided to write it and put it in.
  • Joaquin Rodrigo was not impressed with Miles & Gil’s rendition of Concierto de Aranjuez, but made “a lot of money” from the royalties, according to Evans.
  • The Pan Piper is a traditional song (alternatively subtitled Alborada de Vigo), and Saeta and Solea were written by Gil Evans.
  • A 1997 reissue included three bonus tracks: Song of Our Country, and two alternative takes of Concierto de Aranjuez.
  • The Pan Piper refers to the instrument (pan pipe) played by a pig’s castrator and knife grinder and the melody he used to play when arriving to villages in Galicia. “Alborada” is a traditional folk style from Galicia.
  • Saeta is a type of religious song mostly sung during the Semana Santa processions in Spain.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks:

  1. The Pan Piper
  2. Saeta
  3. Solea
  4. Concierto de Aranjuez
  5. Will O’ the Wisp

 

 

 

#13. Esquivel – Infinity in Sound

 

Image result for esquivel infinity in sound spotify

Space Age Pop, Exotica, Latin Jazz

Ninth album by Esquivel
Released September 1960

RCA Victor

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Harlem Nocturne
  2. Johnson Rag
  3. Music Makers
  4. Take the “A” Train
  5. Frenesi
  6. Autumn Leaves
  7. Let’s Dance
  8. My Reverie
  9. So Rare
  10. Marie
  11. Macarena
  12. Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise

 

 

 

#12. Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers – The Big Beat

 

Image result for art blakey the big beat spotify

Hard Bop

Tenth album by Art Blakey
Released September 1960

Blue Note Records

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Dat Dere
  2. Lester Left Town
  3. It’s Only a Paper Moon
  4. Politely
  5. The Chess Players
  6. Sakeena’s Vision

 

 

 

#11. Nat Adderley – Work Song

 

Image result for nat adderley work song

Hard Bop, Soul Jazz

Seventh album by Nat Adderley
Released in 1960

Riverside

 

trivia

  • The ensemble here, of Adderley, Bobby Timmons, Wes Montgomery, Sam Jones, Percy Heath, Keter Betts and Louis Hayes, assembled on different tracks in various combinations from a trio to a sextet.
  • The fore-sound of pizzicato cello on numerous tracks, was considered unusual for Jazz at the time.
  • The title song — which became a standard retrospectively, as well — got lyrics written for it and a subsequent notable cover by Oscar Brown Jr. for his 1960 album Sin & Soul. Nina Simone also sang her rendition of it, on her 1961 album Forbidden Fruit.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Work Song
  2. Scrambled Eggs
  3. Sack O’ Woe
  4. Pretty Memory
  5. I’ve Got a Crush on You
  6. Violets for Your Furs
  7. Mean to Me
  8. Fallout
  9. My Heart Stood Still

 

 

 

#10. Bill Evans Trio – Portrait in Jazz

 

Image result for bill evans portrait in jazz last fm

Cool Jazz, Modal Jazz

Fourth album by Bill Evans
Released February 1960

Riverside

 

trivia

  • #14 album of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.
  • Eight months after his successful collaboration with Miles Davis on Kind of Blue, Evans recorded Portrait in Jazz with a new group (the Bill Evans Trio) that helped change the direction of modern jazz. Most noticeably, Scott LaFaro‘s bass is promoted from a mere accompanying instrument to one of almost equal status to the piano (though not to the extent that it would be on later albums such as Sunday at the Village Vanguard).
  • Come Rain or Come Shine was written (music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer) for the musical St. Louis Woman, which opened on March 30, 1946 and closed after 113 performances.
  • Come Rain or Come Shine had notable pre-Evans renditions done by Billie Holiday in 1955, Judy Garland in 1956 and 1961, Fran Warren in 1956, Connie Francis in 1959, and Ray Charles in 1959. After 1960, artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, B.B. King and Eric Clapton, Etta James, Rufus Wainwright, and Willie Nelson did their own versions of it.
  • Come Rain or Come Shine was featured on Bobby Timmons‘ album This Here Is Bobby Timmons, this year.
  • Autumn Leaves is a 1945 Jazz standard composed by Joseph Kosma with original lyrics by Jacques Prévert (French) and Johnny Mercer (English). Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis did the most famous take on the song in 1958, on the former’s album Somethin’ Else.
  • Autumn Leaves was featured on Leo Diamond‘s Subliminal Sounds and Esquivel‘s Infinity in Sound this year.
  • Witchcraft is a 1957 song composed by Cy Coleman with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. Frank Sinatra’s rendition of the song was released as a single the same year it was written.
  • When I Fall in Love is a popular song written by Victor Young (music) and Edward Heyman (lyrics), first introduced in the Tay Garnett film One Minute to Zero, and sung for the first time by Jeri Southern in 1952.
  • What Is This Thing Called Love? is a 1929 popular song written by Cole Porter, for the musical Wake Up and Dream, which ran for 263 shows.
  • Spring Is Here is a 1938 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, for the musical I Married an Angel, released that same year.
  • Someday My Prince Will Come is a 1937 song by Larry More (lyrics) and Frank Churchill (music), and performed by Adriana Caselotti, for the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, where she voiced the main character.
  • It has long been speculated that Bill was the one to write Blue in Green. In his autobiography, Davis maintains that he alone composed the songs on Kind of Blue, where the song first appeared and Bill played piano on it, but this album here credits the tune to “Davis-Evans”. In a radio interview broadcast on May 27, 1979, Evans himself said that he had written the song. On being asked about the issue by interviewer Marian McPartland, he said: “The truth is I did [write the music]… I don’t want to make a federal case out of it, the music exists, and Miles is getting the royalties….” Evans recounted that when he suggested that he was entitled to a share of the royalties, Miles wrote him a check for $25.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. When I Fall in Love
  2. Witchcraft
  3. Spring Is Here
  4. Peri’s Scope
  5. Someday My Prince Will Come
  6. Blue in Green
  7. Autumn Leaves
  8. What Is This Thing Called Love?
  9. Come Rain or Come Shine

 

 

 

#9. Ornette Coleman – Change of the Century

 

Image result for ornette coleman change of the century spotify

Avant-Garde Jazz, Hard Bop, Free Jazz

Fourth album by Ornette Coleman
Released June 1960

Atlantic

 

trivia

  • #9 album of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.
  • All tracks written by Ornette Coleman.
  • Recording sessions for the album took place on October 8 and 9, 1959, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California. Two outtakes from the sessions, Music Always and The Circle with the Hole in the Middle, were later released on the 1970s albums To Whom Who Keeps a Record and The Art of the Improvisers, respectively.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Ramblin’
  2. Free
  3. Una Muy Bonita
  4. Bird Food
  5. The Face of the Bass
  6. Change of the Century
  7. Forerunner

 

 

 

#8. Nino Rota – La dolce vita

 

Image result for nino rota la dolce vita spotify

Film Score, Easy Listening, Jazz, Soundtracks

Third album by Nino Rota
Released in 1960

RCA Custom

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. La Dolce Vita (Finale)
  2. Via Veneto e i Nobili
  3. Notturno o Mattutino
  4. Blues: La Dolce Vita dei Nobili
  5. La Dolce Vita – La Bella Melanconica
  6. La Dolce Vita – Via Veneto
  7. La Dolce Vita Nella Villa Di Fregene – Can Can – Jingle Bells – Blues – La Dolce Vita – Why Wait
  8. Patricia – Canzonetta – Entrata dei glatiatory – Valzer (Parlami di me)
  9. Titoli di Testa – Canzonetta – Notturno
  10. Cadillac – Arrivederci Roma – Caracalla’s
  11. Lola (Yes Sir, That’s My Baby)

 

 

 

#7. Jimmy Giuffre – Western Suite

 

Image result for jimmy giuffre western suite spotify

Cool Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz, Third Stream, Post-Bop, Gypsy Jazz

Sixteenth album by Jimmy Giuffre
Released July 1960

Atlantic

 

trivia

  • The trio of clarinet, guitar and valve trombone, was considered unusual for Jazz at the time. Jimmy arranged the first track/side to fit those instruments due to his personal inspirations from Folk and Country music.
  • The tracks Topsy and Blue Monk are standards, the former written by Edgar Battle and Eddie Durham, and the latter by Thelonious Monk.

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Blue Monk
  2. Topsy
  3. Western Suite

 

 

 

#6. Arthur Lyman – Taboo Vol. 2

 

Image result for arthur lyman taboo vol 2 spotify

Exotica, Field Recordings

Eighth album by Arthur Lyman
Released in 1960

HiFi Record

 

trivia

  • Reissued in 1998 under the subtitle New Exotic Sounds of Arthur Lyman, the record had the CD treatment in 1998, almost 40 years since its’ initial release.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Taboo Tu
  2. Love Dance
  3. Babalik Ka Rin
  4. Sakura
  5. Mangwani Mpulele
  6. Ebb Tide
  7. Jungle Fantasy
  8. Beautiful Kahana
  9. Return to Paradise
  10. Hi Lili Hi Lo
  11. Koni Au Ika Wai
  12. Moon of Manakoora

 

 

 

#5. Charles Mingus – Blues & Roots

 

Image result for charles mingus blues and roots spotify

Post-Bop, Third Stream, Hard Bop, Avant-Garde Jazz

Twelfth album by Charles Mingus
Released March 1960

Atlantic

 

trivia

  • #6 album of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.
  • The 1998 Rhino Records CD reissue included four additional tracks; alternate takes on Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting, Tensions, My Jelly Roll Soul and E’s Flat Ah’s Flat Too.

 

“This record is unusual—it presents only one part of my musical world, the blues. A year ago, Nesuhi Ertegün suggested that I record an entire blues album in the style of Haitian Fight Song (in Atlantic LP 1260), because some people, particularly critics, were saying I didn’t swing enough. He wanted to give them a barrage of soul music: churchy, blues, swinging, earthy. I thought it over. I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I’ve grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing. So I agreed.”

–Charles Mingus, liner notes.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Moanin’
  2. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting
  3. Cryin’ Blues
  4. My Jelly Roll Soul
  5. Tensions
  6. E’s Flat Ah’s Flat Too

 

 

 

#4. Don Gibson – Sweet Dreams

 

Image result for don gibson sweet dreams spotify

Nashville Sound

Sixth album by Don Gibson
Released December 1960

RCA Victor

 

trivia

  • The re-recording of the title track, Far Far Away, and What About Me all charted as singles — #6, #11 and #22 on the Country chart, and #93, #72, and #100 on the national charts, respectively.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Sweet Dreams
  2. Far Far Away
  3. (I’d Be) A Legend in My Time
  4. What About Me
  5. Hurtin’ Inside
  6. Maybe Tomorrow
  7. Foolish Me
  8. The Next Voice You’ll Hear
  9. My Tears Don’t Show
  10. The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise
  11. What’s the Reason I’m Not Pleasin’ You
  12. Time Hurts (As Well as It Heals)

 

 

 

#3. John Coltrane – Giant Steps

 

Image result for john coltrane giant steps spotify

Hard Bop, Modal Jazz

Tenth album by John Coltrane
Released January 27, 1960

Atlantic

 

trivia

  • This album topped the RYM yearly chart for 1960.
  • Miles Davis’s business manager Harold Lovett negotiated a record contract for Coltrane with Atlantic, the terms including a $7,000 annual guarantee. There were a couple of recording dates that brought no fruit, but Coltrane was still working on Kind of Blue at the time. Principal recording took place on May 4-5, 1959, two weeks after participating in the final Kind of Blue session. The track Naima started the “tradition” — continued on the next Coltrane album, Coltrane Jazz — of additional rhythm sections by Miles Davis Quintet being added.
  • A lot of tracks from this album have become both Jazz standards, and even practice templates for jazz saxophonists.
  • In 2004, the Library of Congress chose this as one of the albums top be added to the National Recording Registry.
  • Ranked #201 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
  • Naima is the most played John Coltrane track of all time, according to last.fm
  • #1 album of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.
  • Giant Steps is the #14 song of its year according to acclaimedmusic.net.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Naima
  2. Giant Steps
  3. Cousin Mary
  4. Spiral
  5. Syeeda’s Song Flute
  6. Countdown
  7. Mr. P.C.

 

 

 

#2. Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – The Nutcracker Suite

 

Image result for duke ellington the nutcracker suite last fm

Swing, Big Band, Christmas Music, Third Stream

Thirty-third album by Duke Ellington
Released September 1960

Columbia Records

 

trivia

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Overture
  2. Peanut Brittle Brigade
  3. Entr’acte
  4. Arabesque Cookie
  5. Danse of the Floreadores (Waltz of the Flowers)
  6. Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy)
  7. Toot Toot Tootie Toot (Dance of the Reed-Pipes)
  8. Chinoiserie (Chinese Dance)
  9. The Volga Vouty (Russian Dance)

 

 

 

 

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

 

Leo Diamond and His Orchestra – Subliminal Sounds

 

Image result for leo diamond subliminal sounds

 

Space Age Pop, Easy Listening

Sixth album by Leo Diamond
Released in 1960

ABC-Paramount

 

trivia

  • The second release since Diamond’s departure from RCA Victor wherein he took significant part in making harmonica a serious instrument for soloing. He signed with ABC-Paramount, and made great efforts to move his music in a direction that was a little harder to approach, mixing in musique concréte elements, experimented with tape mixing methods and mixed in sound effects such as jet noise and bird calls, for a not so easy bit of listening, innovative for the times and unpredictable.
  • Most of the harmonicas Leo used on this record were made by himself.

 

last.fm ranks the tracks

  1. Off Shore
  2. Jungle Drums
  3. How High the Moon
  4. High on a Windy Hill
  5. Autumn Leaves
  6. Laura
  7. Rain
  8. Through the Lonely Night
  9. Dream Train
  10. The Last Round Up
  11. Three Coins in the Fountain
  12. House of Dreams

 

 

 

 

 

 

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