One of the Main Purposes of This Blog

One of the main purposes of this blog is to maintain the list of jazz vinyl LPs, CDs, and MP3s that was first created by Len Lyons in his outstanding guide to jazz recordings, The 101 Best Jazz Albums (William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1980, ISBN 0-688-08720-5), and then updated by Jim Determan. Lyons listed vinyl LPs, and Determan added CDs. I have added MP3s.

The current list can be accessed via the page links in the left navigation bar.

Just how tricky it is to maintain this list can be seen by considering the very first album listed by Lyons: Scott Joplin's "Scott Joplin — 1916" (Biograph BLP-1006).

• The Biograph vinyl recommended by Lyons is available, and I have included a link to one of the versions that are available via Amazon.com. However, if you search "Scott Joplin - 1916" in Amazon's music store, you will find three or four different listings. One, for example, lists 4 used copies from $6.00. Another lists 3 used copies from $5.00. A third lists 1 used for $25.00. I have chosen to simplify matters and to list just one of the results from an Amazon search, usually the one with the most copies or the least expensive copies.
  
• As Jim Determan noted when he expanded the Lyons list to include CDs, this particular album has not been released as a CD. Instead, the cuts on the album have been spread out over 2 separate CDs. Unfortunately, Jim does not name these, and I have had to assume that he meant "The Entertainer" (Shout Factory) and "Elite Syncopations (Shout Factory). The first is available in CD and MP3 formats; the latter is available in vinyl LP, CD, and MP3 formats. I have linked these to Amazon.com.
  
• Jim Determan also recommended three alternatives to the Scott Joplin piano rolls, and even these present problems. The first, for example, is Dick Hyman's "Sixteen Classic Rags," which doesn't appear to be available in any format, and so I have listed "Scott Joplin's Greatest Hits," which includes 19 Joplin tunes, played by Hyman and James Levine.
  
• Determan's second alternative is Richard Zimmerman's "Scott Joplin - His Complete Works," which is available only on CD from Amazon resellers, and so I have listed it as well as Zimmerman's "Scott Joplin: His Greatest Hits," which includes 16 Joplin tunes and is available in CD and MP3 format.
  
• Finally, Determan suggests Joshua Rifkin's "Scott Joplin Piano Rags," which includes 17 Joplin tunes. But Determan also adds a note that he prefers the other two choices to Rifkin's "too slow and stately" interpretations.
  

Hopefully, in spite of these complexities, my efforts to update Lyons and Determan will prove helpful to folks who are interested in recorded jazz.
Robert