 | Kind of Blue by Miles Davis
Buy used from: $0.01 The best album to start your collection with. A classic recording, this is as good as music gets.
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 | Takin' Off by Herbie Hancock
Buy new: $8.97 / Used from: $6.72 Herbie Hancock's first recording is fabulous. In addition to fantastic tune writing on Hancock's part (Watermelon man, driftin'), Freddie Hubbard astounds on trumpet, as does Dexter Gordon on Tenor Sax (check out his solo on "the Maze." Astounding.
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 | Moanin' by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $6.92 Hard swinging and hard driving, this album is the best any of Art Blakey's groups ever put together. The album is worth it just for the title track alone, but many of the other tunes "along came betty", "blues march" are also standards now, and very very good on this recording. Lee Morgan's solo on "Moanin'" is legendary, and Benny Golson is characteristically stunning throughtout.
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 | Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz
Buy new: $14.99 / Used from: $3.85 This recording blew the minds of people fifty years ago, and it really changed music. After this, bossa nova became really mainstream. Stan Getz is the perfect complement here, and the tune writing by Gilberto is fabulous (girl from ipanema, desifanado, etc.).
Though this is not the best recording of Stan Getz, it is the best recording with him on it and a great place to start.
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 | Time Out by The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Buy new: $6.99 / Used from: $1.95 An extremely popular album for its time (and even today), this album features alto saxophonist Paul Desmond with some of his best playing ever, as well as the classic recording of his famous tune "take five." Dave Brubeck fills in on piano, and with most of the rest of the songwriting. This is a very smooth recording for easy listening.
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 | Song for My Father by Horace Silver
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $4.22 Another classic jazz recording, this one is predominately latin, and there is a heavy emphasis on the overall groove of the individual tunes. Though this is latin, don't let it fool you- there is a TON of soul in this album. Joe Henderson has a legendary solo on the title track. I once listened to just the solo for a whole hour.
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 | Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus
Buy used from: $2.95 A classic jazz album, this is sometimes hard listening for some people, as there is at times "chaos." Still, this album has more soul than probably any other album I've ever heard. Very good tune writing throughout, and many of Mingus's tunes on this album are now standards.
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 | Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $5.96 Wayne Shorter has one of the most unique and distinct sounds in both his playing on the Tenor Sax and in his compositions. They have a way of sounding so different by challenging your ears, but they stay in your head, and you can't get them out. This is the album to start listening to Wayne Shorter.
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 | Page One by Joe Henderson
Buy new: $8.94 / Used from: $4.98 Underrated throughout their careers, Joe Henderson and Kenny Dorham team up here with McCoy Tyner (from the John Coltrane quartet) to produce on of the most enjoyable jazz albums ever. Good songwriting, amazing soloing, and a very tight group of musicians. Oh, and some good latin tunes here, including the first performances of "Recorda-me" and "blue bossa"
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 | Doin' Allright by Dexter Gordon
Buy new: $8.94 / Used from: $4.86 Though some will argue Dexter's "Go" is a "better" album, or that "ballads" is the "best" place to start listening to Dexter's playing, I still think Doin' alright is the most entertaining of his albums, and I find myself coming back to this one more than the other two.
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 | The Blues and the Abstract Truth by Oliver Nelson
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $6.49 Much like "kind of blue," this album really explores the blues, albeit in a completely different manner. (interestingly, Bill Evans is on piano on both recordings though he is not know for his blues playing). On this album, it is the arranging of Oliver Nelson that makes this recording so memorable.
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