Over what will likely be the next few years I’m going to be ranking and reviewing the top 5 albums according to users on rateyourmusic.com (think IMDB for music) from every year from 1960 to the present. If you want to know more, I wrote an introduction to the ‘challenge’ here.

1960. The year CERN’s first particle accelerator went live and year Elvis returned from military duty. The year aluminium cans were used for the first time and Kennedy won the US election. The year loads of other stuff happened that I don’t have time to list right now because we’re here to talk about music.

Let’s get this party started. What do our wonderful rateyourmusic.com users think are the top 5 albums of 1960?

#1 Giant Steps - John Coltrane
#2 Charlie Mingus - Blues & Roots
#3 Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
#4 Hank Mobley - Soul Station
#5 Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

Well, well, well, what have we here? A complete jazz quintuplet. Now, I’m not particularly well acquainted with writing about jazz, though I have reviewed a couple of Miles Davis and John Coltrane albums in the past. So, I guess, this is jumping in at the deep end. But then everyone likes jumping in at the deep end right? No one wants to waddle around in the shallow end, that’s just boring and unrewarding. Also, let’s face it, jazz is a cracking word, so there’s that.

Besides the top 5 here that I’m obligated to review, I’ve picked out one other album from the top 10 which looks intriguing, and at least provides one thing that isn’t jazz:

#9 Etta James - At Last!

Anyhow, without further ado, here’s my ranking and reviews:

SketchesofSpain — 6. Sketches of Spain

Miles Davis

Apparently Miles’ jaunt into Spanish music was inspired after he attended a flamenco at his wife’s insistence, and well thank you Mrs Davis, for without you Concierto de Aranjuez probably wouldn’t exist.

The album opens with the aforementioned Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio, a masterful piece that has a wonderful, quiet hope to it overall, but which occasionally bursts into triumphant flares of trumpet. It sounds like a sun rising peacefully in the distance, while celebratory fireworks go off at rather random intervals in the foreground. Which would feel a bit silly given you couldn’t really see the fireworks, but you get what I mean. It’s a sweeping 16 minute piece that never fails to take my attention.

The rest of the album never quite reaches those heady heights again, but it does create some really unique and evocative soundscapes, if without the excitement of that opening track. Saeta in particular feels a little straightforward.

Song Pick: Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio

7/10

Wes Montgomery.jpg — 5. The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

Wes Montgomery

I like to think that Wes came up with the name of this album himself. He just walked into the Riverside Records headquarters one day and said, ‘lads, I’ve got it, listen up’. I mean you can’t really argue with it, his playing is rather incredible. A super smooth, scale aficionado, Wes sure knows how to play. His guitar has a warm, relaxing tone, which works really well with his jumpy, dynamic style. It’s refreshing to have a guitar led Jazz album in the mix, and this one is worth anyone’s time.

The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery could breeze by without much to say if you let it, but if you give it your full attention, there’s some really great guitar playing here, which is both enjoyable and impressive in equal measure. It appears sometimes you can judge an album by its cover, well its title at least.

Song Pick: D-Natural Blues

8/10

Etta James did not have it easy. She grew up without a father and her mother was only 14 when she was born. Thus she was mainly brought up by foster parents, where she was regularly physically abused. A quick read of her Wikipedia page also reveals time spent in a psychiatric unit and struggles with heroin, for the possession of which her husband was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

This, her debut album, features some truly extraordinary vocals, in fact it’s kind of unbelievable that this is her first album. Etta can do breathy, she can do loud, she can do gritty, she can do everything. She performs with a maturity and emotion that make this album what it is. As far as I can gather, Etta didn’t write most of these songs (the credits only mention her having a hand in Tough Mary), but she sure makes them all her own, including Willie Dixon’s famous I Just Wanna Make Love to You which she sings with such ferocity it’s a wonder my eardrums are still here. At Last is the highlight for me, a song of relief, of a hard time coming to an end. I don’t think things ever got easier for Etta, but it’s nice to imagine that at least while she sang this song, they did.

Besides the vocals, the music is very much of it’s time, with nothing more adventurous than a standard pop arrangement. It’s fine, and when you’ve got a vocalist with the undoubtable character and talent of Etta James, that’s all you need.

Song Picks: At Last, I Just Wanna Make Love to You, Stormy Weather

8/10

John Coltrane’s fifth album with him as leader, and one that spawned two jazz standards: Naima, and the title track Giant Steps.

You don’t need me to tell you how well Coltrane plays saxophone, the guy walks up and down the neck like it’s, well, a walk in the park. He plays notes with a speed and precision that is rather remarkable. But that’s not what this is about is it? It’s not all, ‘oh I wonder who can play instruments the most quickly and precisely’, this isn’t sport, it’s about feeling, man. I don’t find jazz the most emotionally evocative genre, but there’s no doubt that Coltrane creates a ‘feeling’. Combined with the quietly frenetic drumming (see the start of Countdown) and smooth, yet bouncy bass, Coltrane and the gang create an atmosphere of sitting out in sunny streets drinking various cold beverages and shooting the breeze with some friends. All while in some sort of incredibly vivid Van Gogh painting where the sky isn’t just blue, it’s really blue. There’s no doubt Coltrane’s saxophone playing is very busy, which may put some off, but it has a wonderful mystical quality, a life of its own, an instrument with too much to say in too little time. My favourite track has to be the least busy song however, the absolutely gorgeous Naima, which sounds like a trip to the moon: desolate, alone and full of mystery. Wynton Kelly’s piano working together with Coltrane’s saxophone to create something truly magical.

Having had a brief forward look, I can see that there’s plenty of Coltrane to come (spoiler: he dominates the top 5 in 1961) and having heard this I’m rather excited to hear more.

Song Picks: Naima, Giant Steps

8/10

Just look at that cover, he sure looks like a happy chappy. Hank Mobley was described by Leonard Father as the ‘middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone’, because his style is much less aggressive than the likes of Coltrane.

There’s no doubt here that Hank plays with quite a laid back style, one that means this album works much better as background music than some of the other offerings here (such as Coltrane), but that’s not a sleight on it by any means. There’s some really great instrumental performances here, with stellar moments on the double bass, piano and drums, as well as of course Hank’s sax, which sounds so effortlessly you can imagine Hank playing it in the bath. The instruments give each other space, and there’s a very ‘tag-team’ feel to the soloing here, once one instrument finishes improvising, another comes in. It’s never particularly challenging, but this is just a great listen from start to finish, and one I’ve thoroughly enjoyed putting on at pretty much any time of day. I dig it, as one might say.

Song Pick: This I Dig of You

8.5/10

Blues&Roots — 1. Blues & Roots

Charles Mingus

We’ll be seeing plenty of Mr. Mingus as we head through the 60s I’m sure, but here’s his first entry, apparently recorded as a response to critics who claimed he ‘didn’t swing enough’.

Charles Mingus, who is already well into double figures in terms of albums recorded with him as bandleader at this stage, provides the backbone to this wonderfully energetic collection with his rock solid and yet flamboyant, occasionally skittering double-bass playing. However, it’s far from the ‘Charles Mingus show’, with the rest of the band staking just as much of a claim to the limelight. Multiple saxophones play with a kind of barely controlled, joyous ecstasy, which when coupled with the occasional shouts by band members creates a kind of sophisticated raucousness (see opener Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting) that really is rather unique. Speaking of saxophone, Moanin’ features some delightfully rustic playing, with the sax playing a 1960s jazz equivalent of a dirty, distorted guitar riff. When things calm down such as on Crying Blues, it’s impossible not to get sucked into the gentle groove as Horace Parlan twinkles stardust all over it with his piano playing, but even then you’re never far away from another explosion of jazz energy as voices and saxophones scream and shout their lungs out before giving way to the groove again.

This album is a jazz bar fight in a well built saloon. The foundations are solid, you’re in good hands, but you just never quite know what’s going to happen next, and that’s what makes it so exhilarating. Of this lot, this takes the crown for 1960, and I can’t see many jazz albums beating it for me down the line. But then again, we have only just begun…

Song Picks: Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting, Moanin’

9/10