30 Jazz and Jazz Adjacent Albums You Might Have Missed
A selection of albums that deserve rediscovery.
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In 1973 legendary multi-genre drummer Bernard Purdie formed Encounter Records. The jazz label only managed five releases in one year before closing shop. Despite its short tenure, the Encounter catalog is great. It deserves to find a modern audience.
One of Encounter’s releases was Profile’s Sands of Time, which Purdie produced. The group’s lone effort is excellent and I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t found more of an audience as a sample source and on its own merits as a quality release. I’m especially into their cover of The Stylistics’ “People Make the World Go Round.”
Discovering Sands of Time a little while back inspired me to do a Twitter thread of jazz and jazz-adjacent albums that are (for the most part) pretty under the radar. A few of them are more well-known.
I decided to share them in a list with Songwhip links. Songwhip links make it easy to listen to albums and songs on your platform of choice. I discovered this great tool through the music newsletter Songletter.
30 albums is a lot of albums. Maybe you’ll listen to none. Maybe you’ll check out one. Or maybe you’ll dive into a few. Whatever the case, let me know what you think.
Sands of Time by Profile (1973)
Luv by Donald Smith (1976)
Sećanja by Miša Blam (1979/1980)
Soundmusication by Fitz Gore (1980)
People & Love by Johnny Lytle (1972)
It's About Damn Time by Wendell Harrison (2011)
Chameleon by Tony Lavorgna And The St. Thomas Jazz Quartet (1982)
Time and Space by Rudolph Johnson (1976)
Straight To The Bank by Bill Summers and Summers Heat (1978)
Light The Light by Seawind (1979)
Mini Jazz Klub 27 by Formace JQ (1980)
Stand By Me (Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get) by Pretty Purdie And The Playboys (1971)
Another Happy Customer by Step'in Out (1982/1983)
Cox Orange by Cox Orange (1978)
Goin' Away (ゴーイング・アウェイ) by Mikio Masuda (益田幹夫) (1979)
Shirley Scott & The Soul Saxes by Shirley Scott & The Soul Saxes (1969)
Nite Life by Mary Lou Williams (1998)
In A Minor Groove by Dorothy Ashby and Frank Wess (1958)
Terry Pollard by Terry Pollard (1955)
Symposium by Selah, Edith Hill, and The Children (1972)
Bird Call by Vi Redd (1962)
Full Court Press by Calvin Keys (1985)
Down On The Deuce by Hank Crawford (1984)
Streamline by Lenny White (1978)
DAITSUISEKI MUSIC FILE by Yuji Ohno (1992)
Stickball by Charles Williams (1972)
Miroslav by Miroslav Vitous (1977)
Windows by O'Donel Levy (1976)
Sinbad by Weldon Irvine (1976)
The Prophet by Johnny "Hammond" Smith (1973)