#GreatAlbums1950s – TOP 10 - #MilesDavis – Kind of Blue (1959). Jazz buffs may groan under the weight of this singular classic of modern jazz, but for many folks it’s their first (possibly only) jazz LP. Something about Miles’s (plus Adderley, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Kelly, Chambers and Cobb) modal approach connects with the spirit, and the blues, on “So What,” “Freddie Freeloader” and “All Blues” infuse the occasion. I’ve heard this LP hundreds of times and it never gets old. #GreatJazzAlbums
#GreatAlbums1950s – TOP 10 - #BuddyHolly & the Crickets – The Chirpin’ Crickets (1957). Parallel recording contacts as “The Crickets” and “Buddy Holly” meant Holly’s best songs got split over two LPs (1958’s Buddy Holly, is equally worthwhile). That doesn’t stop Chirpin’ Crickets from jumping wild with “Oh, Boy,” “Not Fade Away,” “Maybe Baby” and “That’ll Be the Day.” The filler ballads are too heavy on vocal sweetening, but there’s enough prime Holly here to secure his legacy. #GreatRockAlbums
#GreatAlbums1950s – TOP 10 - #DaveBrubeck – Time Out (1959). The first million seller in jazz history, Time Out epitomized West Coast cool with Paul Desmond’s lyrical sax soloing against Brubeck’s classically informed piano. The music remains accessible to many who otherwise give jazz a pass, despite the tricky time signatures (“Blue Rondo a la Turk flips between 9/8 and 4/4 and “Take Five” strikes a groove in 5/4). A classy set, through and through, worth seeking on vinyl.
#GreatAlbums1950s – TOP 10 - #LittleRichard – Here’s Little Richard (1957). “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip it Up” are among the infectious gems on this quintessential early rock and roll LP. Sessions in New Orleans with top backing musicians fueled the fire already exuded by Little Richard Penniman’s magnetic persona and jet-fueled voice. Richard’s style adrenalized the jump blues of Louis Jordan and Joe Turner, keeping one foot in R&B as he tore up the house.
#GreatAlbums1950s - TOP 10 - #EllaFitzgerald – Sings the Cole Porter Song Book (1956). Porter’s familiar earworms thrive under Ella’s readings, which bring out both the joys (“Anything Goes,” “It’s De-Lovely”) and tragedies (a devastating “Miss Otis Regrets”) inherent in the Great American Songbook. At the top of her powers, Ella inaugurated Verve Records on this double-LP, gaining ground as a traditional pop singer while reviving her status as one of the premier jazz divas.
#GreatAlbums1950s – TOP 10 - #ElvisPresley – Elvis Presley (1956). Cobbled together from less-than-prime studio material (no “Heartbreak Hotel” or “Don’t Be Cruel”), the Elvis debut LP still holds up on the strength of his exuberant covers of “Blue Suede Shoes,” “I Got a Woman,” “Tutti Frutti,” and “Money Honey.” A definitive “Blue Moon,” one of a few tracks from Elvis’ pre-RCA years at Sun, enlivens Side Two, and the iconic cover solidified his image as a rockabilly hero.
#GreatAlbums1950s – TOP 10 - #FrankSinatra – Sings for Only the Lonely (1958). The third in Sinatra’s torch trilogy, this LP escapes the malaise of In the Wee Small Hours with Nelson Riddle arrangements jazzed-up by trumpeter Pete Condoli and pianist Bill Miller. The set deepens Sinatra’s personal blues with allusions to his breakup with Ava Gardner (esp. on Arlen’s “Blues in the Night”). This is late-night music for the ages – sentiment emboldened by Sinatra’s unique magnetism. #GreatPopAlbums
#GreatAlbums1950s – TOP 10 - #HowlinWolf – Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959). Blues LPs of the 50s were typically compilations of earlier singles, but Chess elevated the convention with a well-sequenced profile of Wolf’s work through the decade. Early hits from Memphis, “Moanin’ at Midnight” and “How Many More Years,” lead on to Chicago blockbusters like “Smokestack Lightnin’” and “Evil.” Wolf’s whiskey growl is legendary and a key influence on blues-rock of the 1960s. #GreatBluesAlbums
#GreatAlbums1950s - TOP 10 - #JohnnyCash – With His Hot and Blue Guitar (1957). From his deep baritone to the chug of the Tennessee Two to jaw-dropping lyrics (“I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die”), JC’s career at Sun was iconic. This debut LP has showstoppers (“Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Walk the Line”), folk standards (“Rock Island Line,” “Wreck of the Old 97”), and straight country (“Country Boy,” “Remember Me”) – all rendered with the classic Cash charisma.
#GreatAlbums1950s – TOP 10 - #CharlesMingus – Mingus Ah Um (1959). The prolific and cantankerous Mingus commanded the post-bop period with this blues and gospel-inflected set of signature pieces, like the exuberant opener “Better Git it in Your Soul,” wordless protest anthem “Fables for Faubus” and the Lester Young tribute “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.” An accessible middle ground between Mingus’s ethereal tone poems of the mid-50s and his knottier dance with the Sinner Lady in ’63.
#GreatAlbums1950s - #LaVernBaker - Sings Bessie Smith (1958). Long before Smith's own catalogue had been properly updated, Baker lent her powerful lungs and gospel-inflected emotion to this fine set of standards. As potent a blues singer as better known figures like Big Mama Thornton, Baker made toil and trouble wither under her fierce, commanding vocal delivery. Dinah Washington also tributed Bessie Smith in smoother style, but Baker's raw energy got closer to the essence.
#GreatAlbums1950s - #TBoneWalker – T-Bone Blues (1959). Before BB King there was T-Bone Walker, whose single-note guitar leads earned respect in both the jazz and blues worlds. This Atlantic set refreshed signature T-Bone tracks – “T-Bone Shuffle,” “Mean Old World,” “Call it Stormy Monday,” “How Long Blues” et. Al. – with backing by Chicago’s finest and first-rate production (the Ertegun brothers + Jerry Wexler) rarely afforded blues artists of the period. #GreatBluesAlbums#Blues#BluesMusic
#GreatAlbums1950s - #BBKing – Singin’ the Blues (1957). King’s urbane blues took cues from T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulson (“3 O’Clock Blues” and “Every Day I Have the Blues” had been Fulson hits). But the raw power of King’s voice – a product of early life as a Mississippi busker – gave him a commanding presence seldom equaled. His breakout guitar solos – played here on a piercing Fender Esquire prior to “Lucille” – defined the form pursued by every future blues-rocker. #GreatBluesAlbums#Blues
#GreatAlbums1950s - #JimmyReed – I’m Jimmy Reed (1958). Reed’s loping, laidback approach to the blues made him an unlikely star and massive influence on later blues-rock. What he lacked in technical virtuosity was made up in feel – acres and acres of it – plus a gift for instantly memorable tunes like “Honest I Do,” “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” and “You Don’t Have to Go.” Where his contemporaries wailed, howled, and stomped, Reed rarely raised his voice above a soulful purr.
#GreatAlbums1950s - #MartyRobbins – Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs (1959). This LP dramatized the American West through Robbins’s narratorial vocal style and cinematic arrangements. “Big Iron” and “El Paso” are original highlights amid traditional fare like “Billy the Kid” and “Cool Water.” Pervasive tragedy in the lyrics pulls the reins against Robbins’s smooth delivery. Breaking Bad fans will recall use of “El Paso” as a musical motif in the show’s finale, “Falina.”
#GreatAlbums1950s - #HankWilliams – Moanin’ the Blues (1952). One of two 10-inch LPs released during Williams’s lifetime, Moanin’ briefly encapsulated the bluesier side of the Williams canon on “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “I’m a Long Gone Daddy,” “The Blues Come Around” and five other tracks. The expanded version (available on streaming) adds raw solo-acoustic outtakes, including the brooding “Alone and Forsaken,” from one of the greatest bodies of music ever created.
#GreatAlbums1950s - #LeftyFrizell – Listen to Lefty (1952). The archetypal hard-living honkytonk journeyman of the fifties, Lefty remains best known for “If You’ve Got the Money (I’ve Got the Time),” which temporarily made him a friendly rival to Hank Williams on the country hit parade. This ten-inch LP (digitized on Apple and Spotify) presents eight songs from Frizell’s heyday as a singer able to twang the heartstrings while keeping a firm eye on hardscrabble realities.
#GreatAlbums1950s - #TheLouvinBrothers – Satan is Real (1959). As famous for its kitschy cover as the music within, this LP is a rare country-gospel classic. “The Christian Life,” famous from The Byrds’ cover on Sweetheart of the Rodeo, epitomizes the Louvins’ immaculate close harmonies and bluegrassy twang. There’s plenty of fire and brimstone to scare the wits out of believers, but songs like “The Drunkard’s Doom” are just as concerned with earthly demons of the flesh.
#GreatAlbums1950s - #GeneVincent & His Blue Caps – Bluejean Bop! (1956). Like many 50s rockers, Vincent’s LPs fall short of “great” owing to labels’ habit of reserving the best tunes for singles (no “Be-Bop-a-Lula” here or on the 1957 followup). Still, this LP is a rare place to hear a full set by the original Blue Caps – including ace Cliff Gallup on lead guitar. Plus there’s plenty of hellfire in “Jezebel” and “Who Slapped John?” to show why Vincent is a #rockabilly legend. #GreatRockAlbums
#GreatAlbums1950s - #BillHaley & His Comets – Rock Around the Clock (1955). Although history remembers Haley mainly for one earth-shifting 45, there was more to Bill’s oeuvre given his talent for countrified jump blues and occasional ability to write bangers like “Rock a-Beatin’ Boogie.” While most of this disc rocks amiably in ways you’d expect, there’s one wonderfully bizarre turn on “Thirteen Women” – a fantasy about the only male among 14 survivors of nuclear Armageddon.
#GreatAlbums1950s - #TheEverlyBrothers (1958). Taming rock and roll’s bad reputation didn’t mean compromise for Don and Phil Everly, who injected their own kind of energy and soul into the Ray Charles and Little Richard material they covered. Don Everly’s country-inflected songwriting blooms on “Maybe Tomorrow” and “I Wonder if I Care as Much,” and showstoppers “Bye Bye Love” and “Wake Up Little Susie” make this eponymous LP a landmark of 1950s pop. They're off and rolling!
#GreatAlbums1950s - #TheDrifters – Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters (1956). The original Drifters were among the seminal R&B groups, bridging traditional pop (the Ink Spots in the 40s) and fifties soul (anticipating Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, etc.). “Money Honey” is a rollicking stop-time with claims to being an early (1953) rock & roll single. But much of this LP features McPhatter’s keening tenor on a set of immaculate gospel-tinged ballads – “Without Love,” “Seven Days” et. Al. #GreatPopAlbums
#GreatAlbums1950s - #CarlPerkins – The Dance Album (1957). Sidelined after a 1956 car crash, Perkins watched from a hospital bed as “Blue Suede Shoes” topped the pop/ country/ R&B charts, only to be overshadowed by Elvis’s cover version on LP and TV. Still, Perkins made a mark with songs like “Honey Don’t,” “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” and “Matchbox” (all covered by the Beatles) -- epitomizing rockabilly as an enduring form beyond the fickleness of the charts. #GreatRockAlbums, #Rockabilly
#GreatAlbums1950s - #RockAndRollTrio – Johnny Burnette & the Rock ‘n Roll Trio (1956). This Memphis trio played rockabilly with furious insistence, sealing their legend among hard rockers of later decades. “Honey Hush” and “Train Kept A-Rollin’” sounded as unhinged and rebellious as anything released in ‘56, with Paul Burlinson’s fuzz guitar and Johnny Burnette’s chaotic screams anticipating everything from Iggy to Zeppelin. The latter tune became an oft-covered rock standard.