Recently we asked our newsletter subscribers and our followers on Facebook and Twitter what their absolute favorite jazz solos are. We received a lot of really great submissions and were pleasantly surprised to discover some new jazz solo’s ourselves! There are so many incredible solos out there, and often times, the best way to discover great new music is to ask your friends what they are listening to.
We decided to narrow the list down to 30 solos. The list includes solos that were mentioned as favorites more than once, ones that were new discoveries for us, and solos that we just all around agreed were awesome! So in no particular order, here are 30 jazz solo’s you need to hear:
1. John Coltrane
Soloist: John Coltrane
Song: It Could Happen To You
Album: Miles Davis Quintet “Relaxin'” (1956)
Solo starts: 2:14
2. John Coltrane
Soloist: John Coltrane
Song: Someday My Prince Will Come
Album: Miles Davis “Someday My Prince Will Come” (1961)
Solo starts: 5:51
3. Cedar Walton
Soloist: Cedar Walton
Song: Hammerhead
Album: Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers “Free For All” (1964)
Solo starts: 4:49
4. Blue Mitchell
Soloist: Blue Mitchell
Song: Stablemates
Album: “Stablemates” (1977)
Solo starts: 0:47
5. Bill Evans
Soloist: Bill Evans
Song: All The Things You Are
Album: “At Shelly’s Manne-hole” (1963)
Solo starts: 0:53
6. Wynton Kelly
Soloist: Wynton Kelly
Song: Remember
Album: Hank Mobley “Soul Station” (1960)
Solo starts: 3:05
7. Hank Mobley
Soloist: Hank Mobley
Song: Remember
Album: Hank Mobley “Soul Station” (1960)
Solo starts: 0:43
8. Sonny Rollins
Soloist: Sonny Rollins
Song: Mysterioso
Album: Sonny Rollins “Vol. 2” (1957)
Solo starts: 1:17
9. Cannonball Adderley
Soloist: Cannonball Adderley
Song: Toy
Album: Cannonball Adderley With Bill Evans “Know What I Mean?” (1961)
Solo starts: 1:08
10. Freddie Hubbard
Soloist: Freddie Hubbard
Song: You’re My Everything
Album: “Hub Tones” (1962)
Solo starts: 0:51
11. Art Farmer
Soloist: Art Farmer
Song: The Touch of Your Lips
Album: “Modern Art” (1958)
Solo starts: 1:03
12. Jim Hall
Soloist: Jim Hall
Song: Without a Song
Album: Sonny Rollins “The Bridge” (1962)
Solo starts: 4:01
https://www.youtube.com/embed/7hP3snBSzYU
13. Clark Terry
Soloist: Clark Terry
Song: Mack the Knife
Album: “Oscar Peterson Trio +1” (1964)
Solo starts: 2:08
14. Bill Evans
Soloist: Bill Evans
Song: My Romance
Album: Bill Evans Trio“At The Village Vanguard” (1961)
Solo starts: 1:39
15. Joe Henderson
Soloist: Joe Henderson
Song: Beatrice
Album: “State of the Tenor” (1985)
Solo starts: 2:03
16. Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt
Soloist: Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt
Song: There Is No Greater Love
Album: “Boss Tenors” (1961)
Solo starts: Ammons: 1:06 Stitt: 2:07
17. Charlie Parker
Soloist: Charlie Parker
Song: Embraceable You
Album: Charlie Parker Quintet (1947)
Solo starts: 0:14
https://www.youtube.com/embed/tqQfX4j6Mi0
18. Warne Marsh
Soloist: Warne Marsh
Song: Broadway
Album: Ted Brown Sextet “Free Wheeling” (1956)
Solo starts: 0:47
19. Wes Montgomery
Soloist: Wes Montgomery
Song: Gone With The Wind
Album: “The Incredible Jazz Guitar Of Wes Montgomery” (1960)
Solo starts: 0:51
20. Joe Pass
Soloist: Joe Pass
Song: Limehouse Blues
Album: “For Django” (1964)
Solo starts: 0:25
21. Miles Davis
Soloist: Miles Davis
Song: Jam Session
Album: “Dingo” (1991)
Solo starts: 3:40
22. Oscar Peterson
Soloist: Oscar Peterson
Song: Nighttime
Album: Oscar Peterson Trio“Saturday Night at the Blue Note” (1990)
Solo starts: 0:44
23. Charlie Parker
Soloist: Charlie Parker
Song: Just Friends
Album: “Charlie Parker With Strings” (1950)
Solo starts: 1:21
24. Lester Young
Soloist: Lester Young
Song: Lady Be Good
Album: “Lester Young With Count Basie” (1936)
Solo starts: 0:40
25. Sonny Stitt
Soloist: Sonny Stitt
Song: Surfin’
Album: Sonny Stitt’s & Paul Gonsalves“Salt & Pepper” (1963)
Solo starts: 0:28
26. Paul Chambers
Soloist: Paul Chambers
Song: Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool
Album: “Red Garland Revisited” (1957)
Solo starts: 3:10
27. Ella Fitzgerald
Soloist: Ella Fitzgerald
Song: Take The A Train
Album: “Sings The Duke Ellington Songbook” (1957)
Solo starts: 1:41
28. Michael Brecker
Soloist: Michael Brecker
Song: Trains
Album: Steps Ahead“Magnetic” (1986)
Solo starts: 2:18
29. Michel Petrucciani
Soloist: Michel Petrucciani
Song: Caravan
Album: “Jazz Baltica 1996”
Solo starts: 1:00
30. Chris Potter
Soloist: Chris Potter
Song: Pop Tune #1
Album: Chris Potter Underground“Follow The Red Line”
Solo starts: 6:27