As many of you know (and many of you don’t), KPLU, in cooperation with Jazz24.org, NPR, and nprmusic.org recent created a list of the 100 quintessential jazz songs of all time. The list was created by anyone who chose to vote for their five favorite songs of all time.
We received nearly 3,000 votes for over 1,500 different recordings, and yours truly tabulated each and every vote.
Over the next several days, Groove Notes will be taking a detailed look at the final results. Today I will post the list for those who haven’t seen it, with my writeup that was posted at nprmusic.org. Other highlights over the next couple of days will include:
- A more detailed audio discussion about the list that I had with KPLU’s Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick.
- Thoughts about the list from KPLU’s Midday Jazz host Robin Lloyd and Evening Jazz host Abe Beeson.
- Responses to listeners and readers thoughts on the list.
- My final conclusions and thoughts on the list.
For now, here is the list. We would love your comments and thoughts, and you can hear the list currently playing at jazz24.org.
The 100 Quintessential Jazz Songs
by Kevin Kniestedt
February 7, 2011The Jazz 100 is a crowdsourced list of the most quintessential jazz songs of all time, determined by the listeners of Jazz24.org and NPR Music.
If there was one theme we noticed while sorting through the 1,500 nominations, it was that time does not take its toll on great music. “Take Five,” which was the first jazz single to sell 1 million copies, was the undisputed top choice, while Miles Davis’ “So What” (which was coincidentally recorded in the same year, 1959) was the clear No. 2.
With a few exceptions, it appeared that when listeners looked to jazz vocalists, they preferred female artists that tugged at the heartstrings, while in most cases those who preferred instrumentalists enjoyed swinging, memorable mid- to up-tempo hits.
In large part, voters also seemed to focus on songs from the one or two most popular albums of a particular artist. That is, with the exception of John Coltrane. Coltrane fans still seem very divided on what qualifies as his best work, and the diversity of his catalog is evident in this list.
| Song | Artist | |
| 1. | Take Five | Dave Brubeck |
| 2. | So What | Miles Davis |
| 3. | Take The A Train | Duke Ellington |
| 4. | Round Midnight | Thelonious Monk |
| 5. | My Favorite Things | John Coltrane |
| 6. | A Love Supreme (Acknowledgment) | John Coltrane |
| 7. | All Blues | Miles Davis |
| 8. | Birdland | Weather Report |
| 9. | The Girl From Ipanema | Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto |
| 10. | Sing, Sing, Sing | Benny Goodman |
| 11. | Strange Fruit | Billie Holiday |
| 12. | A Night in Tunisia | Dizzy Gillespie |
| 13. | Giant Steps | John Coltrane |
| 14. | Blue Rondo a la Turk | Dave Brubeck |
| 15. | Goodbye Pork Pie Hat | Charles Mingus |
| 16. | Stolen Moments | Oliver Nelson |
| 17. | West End Blues | Louis Armstrong |
| 18. | God Bless The Child | Billie Holiday |
| 19. | Cantaloupe Island | Herbie Hancock |
| 20. | My Funny Valentine | Chet Baker |
| 21. | Body And Soul | Coleman Hawkins |
| 22. | Song For My Father | Horace Silver |
| 23. | Spain | Chick Corea |
| 24. | Blue In Green | Miles Davis |
| 25. | Naima | John Coltrane |
| 26. | Flamenco Sketches | Miles Davis |
| 27. | Waltz For Debby | Bill Evans |
| 28. | Autumn Leaves | Cannonball Adderley |
| 29. | St. Thomas | Sonny Rollins |
| 30. | Mercy, Mercy, Mercy | Cannonball Adderley |
| 31. | What A Wonderful World | Louis Armstrong |
| 32. | Lush Life | John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman |
| 33. | Blue Train | John Coltrane |
| 34. | Poinciana | Ahmad Jamal |
| 35. | In a Sentimental Mood | Duke Ellington & John Coltrane |
| 36. | Freddie Freeloader | Miles Davis |
| 37. | Summertime | Ella Fitzgerald |
| 38. | Watermelon Man | Herbie Hancock |
| 39. | Salt Peanuts | Dizzy Gillespie |
| 40. | Moanin’ | Art Blakey |
| 41. | Straight, No Chaser | Thelonious Monk |
| 42. | Good Morning Heartache | Billie Holiday |
| 43. | Mack the Knife | Ella Fitzgerald |
| 44. | In the Mood | Glenn Miller |
| 45. | Desafinado | Stan Getz |
| 46. | Cast Your Fate To The Wind | Vince Guaraldi |
| 47. | Rhapsody in Blue | George Gershwin |
| 48. | Blue Monk | Thelonious Monk |
| 49. | Caravan | Duke Ellington |
| 50. | Sidewinder | Lee Morgan |
| 51. | Django | Modern Jazz Quartet |
| 52. | Compared To What | Les McCann |
| 53. | Red Clay | Freddie Hubbard |
| 54. | Ruby, My Dear | Thelonious Monk |
| 55. | April in Paris | Count Basie |
| 56. | Bitches Brew | Miles Davis |
| 57. | Twisted | Lambert, Hendricks & Ross |
| 58. | Maiden Voyage | Herbie Hancock |
| 59. | Mood Indigo | Duke Ellington |
| 60. | St. Louis Blues | Louis Armstrong |
| 61. | Manteca | Dizzy Gillespie |
| 62. | How High The Moon | Ella Fitzgerald |
| 63. | At Last | Etta James |
| 64. | Fever | Peggy Lee |
| 65. | Satin Doll | Duke Ellington |
| 66. | Someday My Prince Will Come | Miles Davis |
| 67. | Autumn in New York | Billie Holiday |
| 68. | Epistrophy | Thelonious Monk |
| 69. | I Loves You Porgy | Nina Simone |
| 70. | It Don’t Mean A Thing | Duke Ellington |
| 71. | Koko | Charlie Parker |
| 72. | Milestones | Miles Davis |
| 73. | Misterioso | Thelonious Monk |
| 74. | Nuages | Django Reinhardt |
| 75. | Struttin’ with Some BBQ | Louis Armstrong |
| 76. | The In Crowd | Ramsey Lewis |
| 77. | Ain’t Misbehavin | Fats Waller |
| 78. | Bye Bye Blackbird | John Coltrane |
| 79. | On Green Dolphin Street | Miles Davis |
| 80. | Linus and Lucy | Vince Guaraldi |
| 81. | Georgia on My Mind | Ray Charles |
| 82. | Joy Spring | Clifford Brown & Max Roach |
| 83. | One O’Clock Jump | Count Basie |
| 84. | Potato Head Blues | Louis Armstrong |
| 85. | Bumpin’ (On Sunset) | Wes Montgomery |
| 86. | Feeling Good | Nina Simone |
| 87. | Misty | Errol Garner |
| 88. | Moody’s Mood For Love | James Moody |
| 89. | Stardust | Louis Armstrong |
| 90. | Yardbird Suite | Charlie Parker |
| 91. | Diminuendo & Crescendo in Blue | Duke Ellington |
| 92. | Donna Lee | Charlie Parker |
| 93. | Water Boy | Don Shirley |
| 94. | Ornithology | Charlie Parker |
| 95. | Begin the Beguine | Artie Shaw |
| 96. | Ceora | Lee Morgan |
| 97. | Sophisticated Lady | Duke Ellington |
| 98. | Sugar | Stanley Turrentine |
| 99. | Footprints | Wayne Shorter |
| 100. | Four on Six | Wes Montgomery |
whaddya mean part 1? how can a quintessential list have a part 2. well i know voting is over. Hope part 2 includes Anita O’Day Tea for Two Live 58 Newport Jazz Festival!
Of all the artists left off this list, Jell Roll Morton’s absence was the most disappointing. I really really expected Black Bottom Stomp, or another tune of his on the list.
*Jelly not Jell
I was disappointed at the shallowness of the response with respect to the history of Jazz. For instance, /louis Armstrong’s “West End Blues” has an intro that was copied, altered and inseerted into solos for years, including a direct quote by Charlie Parker in one of his bebop masterpieces. It seems that the submitters reponded to what’s on KPLU playlists, rather than a knowlege of the history of jazz. Don’t get me wrong. I am most definitely not a “mouldy fig” in ANY sense. My tastes are centered around the 50’s and 60’s, when I was in my formative years – Miles, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Monk, Shearing, the MJQ. So, I believe that, before voting, people should attend remedial lessons from Ken Wiley (and why haven’t we heard from him?). btw, I play jazz piano – it’s a passion of mine.
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