Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane – “Ruby, My Dear” (1957)
Taken from the great Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane album, comes this beautiful rendition of the Monk classic. Coltrane sounds superb on this one.
Peggy Lee – “Black Coffee” (1953)
The great Peggy Lee doing the definitive version of “Black Coffee” (which Julie London also did a good version of), from her classic album of the same name, originally released in 1953 (then expanded & re-released in 1956).
Grant Green – “Ain’t It Funky Now” (1970)
Guitarist Grant Green’s take on the James Brown classic, from the 1970 album Green Is Beautiful…
Milt Jackson – “People Make the World Go Around” (1972)
This Milt Jackson piece comes from his 1972 Sunflower album and was used on the De La Soul track “Patti Dooke” from 1993.
Stanley Turrentine – “Papa Wings” (1977)
Another song sampled on Common’s “They Say” from his 2005 album Be, comes this piece by jazz tenor sax player Stanley Turrentine off his Nightwings album, that is equal parts funk, blues & jazz, with slight elements of the prevailing disco sound of the time.
Note: song gets cut off right at the end…sorry.
Ahmad Jamal – “Ghetto Child” (1974)
This piece by pianist Ahmad Jamal comes from his 1974 Jamaica album and was sampled nicely on Common’s 2005 Be album for the song “They Say.”
Idris Muhammad – “Loran’s Dance” (1974)
Taken from the drummer’s Power of Soul album from 1974, comes this tune that was sampled at the beginning of The Beastie Boys’ classic 1989 album Paul’s Boutique…
Freddie Hubbard – “Sky Dive” (1972)
Title track to the 1972 CTI album, in tribue to Freddie’s recent passing on Dec. 30, 2008 at the age of 70. RIP…
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five – “Savoy Blues” (1927)
The great Satchmo from 1927 with his classic Hot Five, performing “Savoy Blues” with Kid Ory on trombone. Recorded Dec. 13, 1927.
Clifford Brown and Max Roach – “Jacqui” (1955)
The Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet doing “Jacqui” - from the album Study in Brown.
One of the premier early hard bop units, they had unlimited potential. Sadly, Brown died in a car accident at the age of 25. It was one of the great losses in jazz history. He was already one of the great trumpeters in the business, and unlike most of his peers, was not involved in drugs. He could have gone far. But what he did accomplish is amazing in itself.
