1950s jazz | The many sounds of small groups

Recordings to explore this era

1. 1956

   Ella and Louis

   Louis Armstrong / Ella Fitzgerald

   Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s vocal duet recording brings fresh character to jazz standards through the conversation between their voices.

   Open this album in the Atlas →
2. 1956

   Ellington at Newport

   Duke Ellington

   A live recording at the Newport Jazz Festival. Paul Gonsalves’s ecstatic twenty-seven-chorus solo dramatically renewed Ellington’s popularity.

   Open this album in the Atlas →
3. 1957

   Such Sweet Thunder

   Duke Ellington / Billy Strayhorn

   A suite by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn inspired by Shakespeare, displaying their mastery of orchestral arranging.

   Open this album in the Atlas →
4. 1950

   Charlie Parker with Strings

   Charlie Parker

   Parker realized a long-held ambition, placing his bebop alto saxophone against a string orchestra.

   Open this album in the Atlas →
5. 1959

   Kind of Blue

   Miles Davis

   A landmark of modal jazz. The spacious improvisations with John Coltrane, Bill Evans and others helped make it the best-selling album in jazz history.

   Open this album in the Atlas →
6. 1959

   The Shape of Jazz to Come

   Ornette Coleman

   A groundbreaking recording offering improvisation free from fixed chord progressions and pointing toward Coleman’s harmolodic approach. It became a key starting point for free jazz.

   Open this album in the Atlas →
7. 1959

   Moanin'

   Art Blakey

   A defining Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recording, bringing gospel and blues language into the heart of hard bop.

   Open this album in the Atlas →
8. 1954

   A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1

   Art Blakey

   A live recording at Birdland by a quintet featuring Clifford Brown, documenting a pivotal moment in the emergence of hard bop.

   Open this album in the Atlas →
9. 1956

   Saxophone Colossus

   Sonny Rollins

   A quartet recording with Tommy Flanagan, Max Roach and others. Featuring St. Thomas, it became a landmark of thematic improvisation.

   Open this album in the Atlas →

Years follow the Atlas catalogue. Recording dates, original release dates and digital reissue dates may differ.