Charles Mingus "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" (1963)

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
release date: Jul. 1963
format: cd (1995 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Bob Thiele
label: Impulse! - nationality: USA

[ full album ]

Studio album by Charles Mingus originally released on Impulse!
This is a great album of highly original jazz by one of the most significant composers of the genre. The style here is avant-garde jazz with big band elements. The original vinyl version contains three tracks on the vinyl A-side and one track (in three parts) with the title(s): "Trio and Group Dancers (Stop! Look! And Sing Songs of Revolutions!) / Single Solos and Group Dance (Saint and Sinner Join in Merriment on Battle Front) / Group and Solo Dance (Of Love, Pain, and Passioned Revolt, Then Farewell, My Beloved, 'Til It's Freedom Day)" on the B-side.
The album is the only Mingus album to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

1963 Favourite releases: 1. The Beatles Please Please Me - 2. Charles Mingus The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - 3. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas Heat Wave

BEST OF 1960:Miles Davis "Sketches of Spain" (1960)

Sketches of Spain
release date: Jul. 18, 1960
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Tracklist: A) 1. "Concierto de Aranjuez" (Adagio) (Joaquín Rodrigo) - 2. "Will o' the Wisp" (Manuel de Falla) - - B) "The Pan Piper" (aka 'Alborada de Vigo') (traditional) - 2. "Saeta" (Gil Evans) - 3. "Solea" (Gil Evans)

Studio album by Miles Davis released on Columbia Records and produced by Teo Macero and Irving Townsend. Initially, Davis went to the studio to do his and Gil Evans' version of "Concierto de Aranjuez" (classical concert by Joaquín Rodrigo), but in the rehearsal process the idea to make a Spanish album came up. This is great, beautiful, and really cool jazz with much Spanish tone to it.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone Album Guide 5 / 5 stars ]

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons / The Four Seasons "Sherry" (1962)

Sherry & 11 Others [debut]
release date: Oct. 1962
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Big Girls Don't Cry" - 2. "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" - 3. "Peanuts" - 4. "La Dee Dah" - 5. "Teardrops" - 6. "Apple of My Eye" - 7. "Never on Sunday" - 8. "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" - 9. "The Girl in My Dreams" - 10. "Oh Carol" - 11. "Lost Lullabye" - 12. "Sherry" (5 / 5)

The debut album released as The 4 Seasons. At this point of their early career they were also known as The Four Seasons, but from early 1970s they became known as Frankie Valli and The 4 Seasons due to their eminent lead vocalist, Frankie Valli, who released his first solo album titled The Four Seasons Present (1967). From then on, he concentrated on his solo career, which had a boost in 1978 with his vocal appearance on the soundtrack album Grease with the homonymous song written by Barry Gibb. After the release of this debut album, the band shortly became the most popular vocal pop band, at least until The Beatles' debut in 1963.

John Coltrane "Ballads" (1963)

Ballads
release date: 1963
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Studio album by John Coltrane Quartet released on Impulse! Records and produced by Bob Thiele. This is a fine melancholic cool jazz album by one of jazz' biggest icons.