The 101 Best Jazz Albums: A History of Jazz on Records
by Len Lyons
by Len Lyons
In 1980, Len Lyons published an excellent guide to the best in recorded jazz from its beginnings in Ragtime through the late 1970s. That guide, The 101 Best Jazz Albums (William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1980, ISBN 0-688-08720-5) is still in print, and I highly recommend it. (Purchase from Amazon.com.)
Some years ago, Jim Determan updated the listing of vinyl albums from the Lyons book by providing the equivalent CD versions or, where no equivalent was available, the best alternatives. Unfortunately, Determan's translation appears not to have been updated in several years.
In addition, since Determan's listing of CDs, we have seen the advent of MP3s, and many of the albums from the Lyons book are now available from iTunes, Amazon, and other sources.
Consequently, this listing is an attempt to list the 101 best jazz albums from the Lyons book plus the CD and MP3 equivalents or the best alternatives.
The list itself and the section headings are from the book, which is copyright 1980 by Leonard S. Lyons. The comments attributed to Jim Determan are copyright 1996 by Jim Determan. All other comments are copyright 2011 by Robert Burgin.
Part One: Traditional Jazz
Part Two: Modern Jazz
Part Three: Contemporary Jazz
