While we're here

25 favourite albums of jazz predating 1970, in somewhat more arbitrary order than the previous list. Fats Waller and late Armstrong count, Sinatra and Louis Jordan don't for some reason.

1. Louis Armstrong, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1923-34)
2. Thelonious Monk, Brilliant Corners (1956)
3. Billie Holiday, Lady in Autumn (1946-59)
4. Billie Holiday + Lester Young, A Musical Romance (1937-57)
5. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme (1964)
6. Thelonious Monk, Misterioso (1958)
7. The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 8 (1956)
8. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rip, Rig and Panic/Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith (1965-67)
9. Louis Armstrong, The California Concerts (1951-55)
10. Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster (1957)
11. Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
12. Duke Ellington, The Far East Suite (1966)
13. Ella Fitzgerald, Ken Burns Jazz (1938-63)
14. Miles Davis, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel (1965)
15. Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges (1964-65)
16. Louis Armstrong, Hot Five and Hot Sevens (JSP, 1926-28)
17. Billie Holiday, Lady Day (4CD version, 1935-42)
18. Mingus Ah Um (1959)
19. Duke Ellington, The Best of Early Ellington (MCA, 1926-31, yeah the RCA recordings are better but there's no available single disc)
20. Horace Silver, The Very Best (1954-66)
21. Fats Waller, If You Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It (1926-43, just found this last month, still working through it)
22. Cecil Taylor, Conquistador (1966)
23. Duke Ellington, The Blanton-Webster Band (1939-42)
24. Charlie Parker, Bird of Paradise (Prism cheapo, 1945-48)
25. Coleman Hawkins, A Retrospective (1929-63)