We all have listened to jazz at some point in our lives, though it may leave an impression that is far away from this era.

The truth is, we will never be able to discover jazz the way people did in the 1950s and 1960s. But we can dig deeper, beyond the jazz standards, to discover that the magic is still there, somewhere on these forgotten albums.

Lullabies of Birdland (1954)

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One of the first albums from Ella Fitzgerald, it reminds us that we all wanted, once in our lives, to be in a smoky jazz club back in the mid-1950s, where “the first lady of the song” was in the spotlight. Fitzgerald is always pictured under Dizzy Gillespie’s influence in her early career or in her equally amazing duets with Louis Armstrong, but she was brilliant on her own, and that is what this album represents.

Solitude (1956)

Billie Holiday is defined by tragedy, but that was part of her art in some way. She may have made some bad choices in her personal life, but in music she was brave enough to sing behind the beat, giving a new meaning to what she sang. Even if Lady in Satin is consider her best album, there is something in Solitude that you cannot find on Lady in Satin, which is the pure, fresh and vital voice of Holiday in her early career.

Little Girl Blue (1958)

Beyond her voice, Nina Simone really provided a deep and strong message through her music. She was not just a great singer but an excellent pianist also. She went to the Julliard School to prepare for her audition at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but she believed she was denied because of racial prejudice. And as she wrote “Mississippi Goddam”, she put her rage into her music. But this album shows the purest Simone on her debut album, the broken soul after her dreams were wiped out.

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Blues & Roots (1959)

This Charles Mingus album was released the same year as Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. But it is far from being the same kind of jazz. This is a key album of Mingus’ career, and the energy on it is so rollicking that it almost feels like you are doing something dangerous. You can also feel Mingus’ great temperament, his moods swung hard like his music. It has a visceral force and charm capable of taking you back to 1959 if you close your eyes.

Don’t Go to Strangers (1960)

This is Etta Jones’ debut album, and most of the songs were familiar at the time. But it is not the reason why it’s a classic; Jones had a sense of rhythm and technique that were unique. And beyond that, she had an affinity with instruments that made her special. Jones many times reached a supreme moment of the perfect balance between instrument and voice, and that’s also the description of this album.

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Getz/Gilberto (1964)

It’s not technically just jazz, but something like the bossa nova that people like Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim were forging. Bossa nova mixes Brazilian samba rhythms, Gilberto’s guitar in this case, with mid-1950s cool jazz that Stan Getz’s saxophone brings. You may know already “The Girl from Ipanema”, but there is more in there, and it will take you from Corcovado to dancing samba without getting tired.

Maiden Voyage (1966)

This is next-generation kind of jazz as this album expands on the freedom discovered in modal jazz. By the time this was recorded, Herbie Hancock had left the Miles Davis Quintet, and used what he learned to make his own statement in music. The solos run free on this album, and don’t have any restrictions, which gives a new dimension and texture to the music. Hancock’s piano here has a soul. (tif/kes)

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