#41: Getz/Gilberto - Stan Getz & João Gilberto (1963)

This album is most noted for bringing together Stan Getz, João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Gilberto and Jobim were two of the pioneering forces behind the jazz bossa nova movement, but had never worked together until this project. It is also responsible for turning Astrud Gilberto, João's young wife, into an international superstar. It was the first jazz album to win the Grammy® for Album of the Year, and it was the only one until Herbie Hancock won in 2008.

One of my favorite songs has always been "The Girl From Ipanema," so I was very excited to hear the rest of the album. I was not disappointed. Every song sounds effortless. This is beyond essential and has quickly become one of my favorites so far.

Favorite Tracks: "The Girl From Ipanema," "Corcovado," "Doralice" and "Desafinado"

#40: Live at the Apollo - James Brown (1963)

James Brown earned his nickname "The Hardest Working Man In Show Business" by touring constantly. By 1962, he had clocked in more than 300 dates a year. It was no wonder that he pitched the idea of a live recording to his label, King Records. Due to lack of new songs, the label refused. So, Brown funded the recording at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The album spent more than a year on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, peaking at number 2.

There are a lot of things to like about this album; the introduction by Fats Gonder, the way that Brown belts out 4 of his biggest hits in about 10 minutes followed by a 10 and a half minute version of "Lost Someone", and the enthusiastic screams coming from the audience. I remember enjoying the album on the first listen, but for some reason, I had a hard time playing it a second time. It's definitely one of those albums that you have to be in the mood for. Well, Fats Gonder did his job well, because after listening to his introduction, I was ready for more soul.

Favorite Tracks: "Try Me," "Think," "I Don't Mind" and "Lost Someone"

#39: The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus (1963)

This album was insane. I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Start with the fact that Charles Mingus had his psychologist write the liner notes and go from there.

It's implied in the notes that this album is "as much an examination of his own tortured psyche as it is a conceptual piece about love and struggle." It was written as a ballet that borrows from styles ranging from Duke Ellington to flamenco and was the first jazz album to rely on the technique known as overdubbing. This led to it becoming the benchmark for all other avant-garde jazz in the '60s.

Like most avant-garde art, this album is not for everyone. It can be a bit frantic at times, but if you listen to it with perspective of the time that it was recorded, you'll see what a visionary Mingus was. Suffering and demented, but a visionary nonetheless.

Favorite Tracks: "Track A - Solo Dancer" and "Track C - Group Dancers"

#38: Live at the Harlem Square Club - Sam Cooke (1963)

If you compare any of Sam Cooke's studio recordings to this live concert, you'll immediately notice a difference. In the studio, Cooke exudes pop-oriented smoothness. While on stage, he loses himself in his soul and gospel roots.

When researching this album, I found that many reviewers felt this was the best recording of a live concert ever. I don't know if I would go that far. Maybe if I was a huge Sam Cooke fan. I did find it entertaining, I just don't know if it was the BEST.

It was very interesting that the album, while recorded in 1963, was not released until almost 22 years later in 1985. It's very ironic, considering the reception that it's received, that it went unreleased for so long.

I'm looking forward to comparing it to James Brown's Live At The Apollo, which I'll be listening to tomorrow.

Favorite Tracks: "Cupid," "Chain Gang," "Twistin' The Night Away" and "Nothing Can Change This Love"

#37: A Christmas Gift for You - Phil Spector (1963)

If you know me, you probably know that I don't mind listening to a Christmas album in September. However, I typically don't whip out the Christmas iPod until at least after Halloween.

I was a little torn over this one though. It did feature the song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love, which I'm sure you all know as the opening song from Gremlins. But it also has Phil Spector's name on it. I tried to not think about the fact that he was just convicted for murder earlier this year. I was fine until the very last track, "Silent Night," which was an instrumental version with Spector thanking me for listening to his album. How ironic is it that just yesterday I said I appreciated Ray Price for thanking me? This was just too creepy, so I had to listen to the Bob Dylan album again.


Favorite Tracks: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by The Crystals.

#36: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan (1963)

Dylan's debut album, Bob Dylan, featured just two original songs. His follow-up, Freewheelin', featured just two covers, cementing his reputation as a singer-songwriter with near perfect skill.

This album contains a trilogy of Dylan songs that would become the voice of a generation that demanded change ("Blowin' In The Wind," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and "Masters Of War"). These three are arguably Dylan's most enduring songs. They've been covered by artists ranging from Peter, Paul & Mary to Ozzy Osbourne, Cher and Dolly Parton. There's an especially good version of "Hard Rain" by Edie Brickell on the soundtrack for Born on the Fourth of July.

I listened to this album once in my car while stuck in traffic, but I had to listen to it again when I got home so I could fully appreciate the poetry of his lyrics. I heard echoes of Ramblin' Jack Elliott and I could hear how Dylan has influenced artists of today like Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson. It's not a perfect album, but it came pretty darn close.

Favorite Tracks: "Blowin' In The Wind," "A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall," "Masters Of War" and "Girl From The North Country."

#35: With the Beatles - The Beatles (1963)

While rock & roll acts like Elvis and the Everly Brothers and jazz artists like Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd were popular in the States, something very interesting was going on across the Atlantic. Four young men from Liverpool were making quite a splash in nightclubs in Hamburg. By the end of 1962, they had already released a hit album and 4 singles (one of which reached number one).
With The Beatles, their 2nd LP to be released in the UK, was released on the day that JFK was assassinated. It features 8 original songs and 6 covers of R&B and Motown hits. Most of the songs from the album were released as Meet The Beatles! in the US in 1964 (their first in the States).

Another interesting note is that this album contained no singles, which was almost unheard of at the time. "All My Loving" was released as an Extended Play, but never as a single.

I thought that it was very coincidental that I happened to be reviewing my first Beatles album the day after their catalog was re-released on newly remastered CD's. It would have been even more coincidental if I had already gotten them (birthday hint #1). I'll have to settle for reviewing the CD versions from 1987.

The influence that Motown had on the band is easy to spot on this album. George Harrison and John Lennon share amazing harmonies on Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and Lennon's version of "Money (That's What I Want)" is a fantastic way to end the record.

My favorite song on this album was a toss-up. "All My Loving" would turn out to be Paul McCartney's first classic and I couldn't stop myself from singing along in my car (much to JC's dismay). But John Lennon's heartfelt "All I've Got To Do" is one of the best moments on this album.

While this is not my favorite album by the group, it's a nice solid effort that built on the popularity of their first release and poised America for "Beatlemania."

Favorite Tracks: "All I've Got To Do," "All My Loving," "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Money (That's What I Want)"

#34: Night Life - Ray Price (1962)

Have I ever heard of Ray Price? I don't know, but my mom probably has. This reminded me of the kind of music that I'm sure she listened to when I was younger. It made me a little homesick for Georgia.

I don't have anything against Ray Price, I just prefer classics like Hank Williams (Senior) or Willie Nelson. Speaking of Nelson, he actually wrote the title song for Price, but the two had a falling out after Willie shot one of Ray's roosters. I'm not making that up.

One thing that I did love about this album was the spoken word introduction. Although, I think I loved it more for the kitsch-factor. It was nice of Ray to thank me for listening to his album (not very many of these artists have thanked me so far) and he let me know what I was in for ("songs of happiness, sadness, heartbreak"). Well, most of the songs were about sadness and heartbreak. It was his answer to Frank Sinatra's In The Wee Small Hours. I think I'll save this for when my mom comes for a visit and she needs something to listen to.

Favorite Tracks: "Introduction And Theme/Night Life," "The Twenty-Fourth Hour" and "Pride"

#33: Jazz Samba - Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd (1962)

I don't even know where to begin with this one. I've always enjoyed Stan Getz. Especially his sessions with Joao and Astrud Gilberto. But this album was just amazing. This was one of the first (if not THE first) bossa nova albums ever recorded by American jazz musicians and it really started the bossa nova excitement in America.

It features a couple of pieces composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim ("Desafinado" and "Samba de Uma Nota" ["One Note Samba"]). The rest are by other Brazilian composers and Charlie Byrd. In '63, Getz won the Grammy® for Best Jazz Performance for "Desafinado." (Sidenote: there's a really great cover version of "Desafinado" by George Michael and Astrud Gilberto on the Jobim-tribute album, Red Hot + Rio, which I highly recommend if you're interested in the bossa nova movement.)

While listening to this album, I closed by eyes and imagined I was on a Brazilian beach sipping a nice rum-based drink... and then I realized that I was driving and quickly snapped back to reality. Well, I'm home now and I'm listening to it again and it's still as enjoyable as it was the first time. Now, where's my rum?

Favorite Tracks: "Desafinado," "Samba de Uma Nota" and "Bahia".

#32: Green Onions - Booker T. & The MG's (1962)

You might recognize the song "Green Onions" from the trailer for Chicken Run. Or you may recognize it because you've been to a baseball game in your lifetime. Booker T. & The MG's took Jimmy Smith's jazz organ and reinvented it for the pop market.

An interesting fact about the song "Green Onions," is that it fell in and out of the top spot on the Billboard soul charts 3 times! The single was an improvised studio jam recorded while the group was waiting to start a recording session.

In addition to the hit single, there's a cover of a Ray Charles tune, a very satisfying version of "Twist and Shout," and even a sequel to "Green Onions" called "Mo' Onions." While listening to this, I flip-flopped from feeling like I was at a baseball game to feeling like I was at church. But, I enjoyed it the whole time.

Hearing this album makes me want to give Jimmy Smith another chance...

Favorite Tracks: "Green Onions," "I Got A Woman," "Twist and Shout," "One Who Really Loves You" and "Mo' Onions"

#31: Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music - Ray Charles (1962)

It's hard to imagine what a shock it must have been when Ray Charles released a country & western album back in 1962. Charles made this record against his label's wishes, but it proved to be a critical and commercial success, spending 14 weeks at the top of the charts and launching him even further into the mainstream.

The album takes several country & western standards and reinterprets them in several different styles, from r&b and jazz to big band. Personally, I didn't much care for the big band version of "Bye, Bye Love," but that's never been one of my favorites anyway.

This album is considered a landmark in American music, as Charles bended the racial barriers in music by integrating soul and country amid the height of the civil rights struggle. He also became one of the first black musicians to exercise complete artistic control over his own recording career. To put this in perspective, this album was released over a year before Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech.

Even though the album got off to a bad start for me with "Bye Bye Love," it quickly regained its footing with the beautiful version of "You Don't Know Me." That song always makes me want to cry, but I was out for a run, so I held the tears in.

Favorite Tracks: "You Don't Know Me," "That Lucky Old Sun" and "Born To Lose"

#30: Sunday at the Village Vanguard - Bill Evans (1961)

Bill Evans is one of the most influential jazz pianists from the 20th century. He's influenced artists such as Chick Correa and Herbie Hancock.

This album was recorded over 5 sessions in June of 1961, and was the final performance by the Bill Evans trio of the time, which included bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. LaFaro was killed in a car accident just ten days after this recording.

I'll admit that my knowledge of jazz piano is pretty much limited to Vince Guraldi (thanks to "A Charlie Brown Christmas). This was a fine album and is probably something that I would listen to again on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Favorite Tracks: "Alice In Wonderland (Take 2)" and "Solar"