# The 12 Best Jazz Tracks of All Time A century of American improvised music, from New Orleans marching bands to modal abstraction, compressed here into one doorway rather than a survey. Every genre on this map that values a soloist owes it something. - **Origin:** New Orleans, Louisiana, 1917 - **Tempo:** 60–300 BPM - **Also known as:** bebop, swing, modal jazz, hard bop - **Tracks:** 12 - **Updated:** 2026-08-30 - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/jazz/ ## The list ### 1. [Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five](https://waxonia.com/artist/louis-armstrong-and-his-hot-five/) — [West End Blues](https://waxonia.com/track/louis-armstrong-and-his-hot-five--west-end-blues/) *1928 · OKeh* The opening cadenza is twelve unaccompanied seconds that reorganised the music around the individual soloist. Everything about jazz as a personal statement starts in that phrase. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Louis%20Armstrong%20and%20His%20Hot%20Five%20West%20End%20Blues) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=BTxhgmk_ofk) ### 2. [Miles Davis](https://waxonia.com/artist/miles-davis/) — [So What](https://waxonia.com/track/miles-davis--so-what/) *1959 · Columbia* Two chords and an instruction to stop running changes. Kind of Blue remains the best-selling jazz record ever made because it is also one of the calmest and most radical. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Miles%20Davis%20So%20What) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXk1LBvIqU) ### 3. [John Coltrane](https://waxonia.com/artist/john-coltrane/) — [Acknowledgement](https://waxonia.com/track/john-coltrane--acknowledgement/) *1965 · Impulse!* A four-note cell moved through every key, then sung. A Love Supreme is devotional music that requires no shared belief to level you, which is a very rare achievement. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/John%20Coltrane%20Acknowledgement) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmx2WuUPVcs) ### 4. [Charlie Parker](https://waxonia.com/artist/charlie-parker/) — [Ko-Ko](https://waxonia.com/track/charlie-parker--ko-ko/) *1945 · Savoy* Bebop's founding document, taken at a tempo designed to exclude people who could not keep up. Parker's phrasing is still the standard against which improvisation is measured. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Charlie%20Parker%20Ko-Ko) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8wGJpbPKbz8) ### 5. [Billie Holiday](https://waxonia.com/artist/billie-holiday/) — [Strange Fruit](https://waxonia.com/track/billie-holiday--strange-fruit/) *1939 · Commodore* Her own label refused it, so she released it elsewhere. The most uncomfortable three minutes in American popular music, sung with almost no inflection, which is why it works. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Billie%20Holiday%20Strange%20Fruit) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=649wWWkW_1o) ### 6. [Thelonious Monk](https://waxonia.com/artist/thelonious-monk/) — ['Round Midnight](https://waxonia.com/track/thelonious-monk--round-midnight/) *1947 · Blue Note* The most recorded composition by any jazz musician, and nobody plays it like its author. Monk's sense of where a note should not go is the whole style. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Thelonious%20Monk%20'Round%20Midnight) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iYY8-2TWzbU) ### 7. [Coleman Hawkins](https://waxonia.com/artist/coleman-hawkins/) — [Body and Soul](https://waxonia.com/track/coleman-hawkins--body-and-soul/) *1939 · Bluebird* Hawkins states the melody once and then abandons it for three minutes of pure invention, on a hit single, in 1939. A commercial risk that permanently raised the ceiling. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Coleman%20Hawkins%20Body%20and%20Soul) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q7J4PgrRsY) ### 8. [The Dave Brubeck Quartet](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-dave-brubeck-quartet/) — [Take Five](https://waxonia.com/track/the-dave-brubeck-quartet--take-five/) *1959 · Columbia* A jazz single in five-four that went into the charts. Paul Desmond's tune, Joe Morello's drums, and the unlikely proof that odd metres can be effortless. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Dave%20Brubeck%20Quartet%20Take%20Five) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-DHuW1h1wHw) ### 9. [Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers](https://waxonia.com/artist/art-blakey-and-the-jazz-messengers/) — [Moanin'](https://waxonia.com/track/art-blakey-and-the-jazz-messengers--moanin/) *1958 · Blue Note* Hard bop's calling card — gospel call and response welded to bebop technique. The most direct line from the church to the jazz club, and it swings enormously. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Art%20Blakey%20%26%20The%20Jazz%20Messengers%20Moanin') · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fsJ3JjpZyoA) ### 10. [Herbie Hancock](https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/) — [Maiden Voyage](https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--maiden-voyage/) *1965 · Blue Note* Suspended chords that never resolve and a rhythm section that floats rather than drives. The record that made harmonic ambiguity feel like weather rather than like theory. Also on: [Twice Over](https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Maiden%20Voyage) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=EWC5x9G45yo) ### 11. [Benny Goodman](https://waxonia.com/artist/benny-goodman/) — [Sing, Sing, Sing](https://waxonia.com/track/benny-goodman--sing-sing-sing/) *1937 · Victor* Gene Krupa's tom pattern turned a dance band into a phenomenon, and made the drummer a star for the first time. Swing at its most physically irresponsible. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Benny%20Goodman%20Sing%2C%20Sing%2C%20Sing) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u_E0UVNtJ9Y) ### 12. [Original Dixieland Jass Band](https://waxonia.com/artist/original-dixieland-jass-band/) — [Livery Stable Blues](https://waxonia.com/track/original-dixieland-jass-band--livery-stable-blues/) *1917 · Victor* The first jazz record, made by white musicians playing a Black New Orleans music, which is the industry's original sin stated on the very first release. Included for that, not despite it. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Original%20Dixieland%20Jass%20Band%20Livery%20Stable%20Blues) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=So-iDJiKMHQ) --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.