By the time we get to the 1950s, there are a lot of live jazz albums featuring many of the all time great jazz artists.
Below, you’ll find a list of the live albums featured on this website together with a readers poll to find the best live jazz albums.
Live Jazz Albums recorded in the 1950s include:
The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco 1959
Louis Armstrong The Columbia & RCA Victor Live Recordings 1947 1956
Louis Armstrong Satchmo At Pasadena 1951
Louis Armstrong Live at the University of North Carolina 1954
Louis Armstrong At The Crescendo 1955 Complete Edition
Louis Armstrong The Great Chicago Concert 1956 Complete
Louis Armstrong Live At The 1958 Monterey Jazz Festival
Count Basie Class of 54
Count Basie Lester Young And The Stars Of Birdland On Tour 1955
Count Basie At Newport 1957
Count Basie The Atomic Band Live In Europe 1959
Count Basie Complete Live At The Americana Hotel 1959
Count Basie The Complete Roulette Live Recordings of Count Basie and His Orchestra 1959-1962
Count Basie Corner Pocket
Art Blakey & Clifford Brown A Night At Birdland Vol 1 1954
Art Blakey Live in Zurich 1958
Clifford Brown Live at Music City 1955 & More
Clifford Brown / Max Roach Quintet More Live At Bee Hive Chicago June 30 1955
Dave Brubeck Quartet In Europe Live in Copenhagen March 5 1958
Ornette Coleman Complete Live at The Hillcrest Club 1958
Miles Davis Live Recordings 1948-1957
Miles Davis Birdland 1951
Miles Davis John Coltrane Miles & Coltrane 1955 1958
Miles Davis Live In St Louis 1956
Miles Davis John Coltrane Live In New York 1957 to 1963
Miles Davis At Newport 1958
Miles Davis Jazz At The Plaza Vol 1 1958
Duke Ellington Live At The Blue Note 1952
Duke Ellington The 1952 Seattle Concert
Duke Ellington Rare Live Recordings 1952 – 53
Duke Ellington The 1953 Pasadena Concert
Duke Ellington At Newport 1956
Duke Ellington Live at the Blue Note 1959
Ella Fitzgerald Ella In Rome The Birthday Concert 1958
Ella Fitzgerald Billie Holiday Carmen McRae At Newport 1957
Ella Fitzgerald At the Opera House 1957
Ella Fitzgerald Live At Mister Kelly’s 1958
Erroll Garner Concert by the Sea 1955
Stan Getz Chet Baker Quartet Live At The Haig 1953
Dizzy Gillespie At Newport 1957
Dizzy Gillespie A Night in Tunisia Big Band Live 1957
Dizzy Gillespie Cool Breeze Big Band Live 1957
Coleman Hawkins Roy Eldridge At Newport 1957
Coleman Hawkins Jamestown NY 1958
Billie Holiday Gee Baby Ain’t I Good To You Live Radio TV and Film Recordings 1934-1958
Billie Holiday Rare Live Recordings 1934 – 1959
Billie Holiday Jazz at the Philharmonic The Billie Holiday Story vol 1 1945 to 1958
Billie Holiday Banned From New York City Live 1948-1957
Billie Holiday At Storyville 1951 1953
Billie Holiday Lady Love Live in Basel 1954
Billie Holiday The Essential Billie Holiday Carnegie Hall Concert 1956
Billie Holiday At The Stratford Shakespearean Festival 1957 1958
Charles Mingus at the Bohemia 1955
Charles Mingus In Wonderland 1959
The Charles Mingus Quintet & Max Roach 1955
Modern Jazz Quartet At Music Inn Guest Artist Sonny Rollins 1958
Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane At Carnegie Hall 1957
Thelonious Monk John Coltrane Complete Live At The Five Spot 1958
Thelonious Monk In Action 1958
The Gerry Mulligan Quartets in Concert 1957 1962
Charlie Parker Complete Live Performances on Savoy September 29 1947 to October 25 1950
Charlie Parker Liveology 1948 to 1952
Charlie Parker Bird At St. Nick’s 1950
Charlie Parker Complete Live at Cafe Society 1950
Charlie Parker Complete Live at Birdland May 17 1950
Charlie Parker Live with the Big Bands 1951-1954
Charlie Parker At Jirayr Zorthian’s Ranch, 14 July 1952
Charlie Parker Boston 1952 1954
Charlie Parker The Washington Concerts 1953
Charlie Parker Complete Bird at The Open Door 1953
Charlie Parker At Storyville 1953
Charlie Parker Complete Live At The Rockland Palace 1950 to 1952
Charlie Parker The Washington Concerts 1953
Charlie Parker Chet Baker Bird & Chet Live at the Trade Winds 1952
Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie Complete Live at Birdland
The Oscar Peterson Trio At The Stratford Shakespearean Festival 1956
The Oscar Peterson Trio at Zardi’s 1955
Bud Powell Jazz At Massey Hall Vol 2 1953
The Quintet Jazz At Massey Hall 1953
Sonny Rollins A Night At The Village Vanguard 1957
Nina Simone At Town Hall 1959
Lester Young Boston 1950
Lester Young In Washington DC 1956 Vol 1
Lester Young In Washington DC 1956 Vol 2
Lester Young In Washington DC 1956 Vol 3
Lester Young In Washington DC 1956 Vol 4
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I don’t have a readers poll to find the best live albums of the 1950s but there is a poll to find the all time best live jazz albums with plenty of albums from the 1950s included:
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1930s – 1940s – 1950s – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s – 1990s – 2000s – 2010s
Live Album Polls For The Great Jazz Artists
I have polls for the following artists: – Louis Armstrong – Count Basie – John Coltrane – Miles Davis – Eric Dolphy – Duke Ellington – Dizzy Gillespie – Billie Holiday – Charles Mingus – Thelonious Monk – Charlie Parker – Lester Young –
At Storyville is a live album by Billie Holiday.
It was recorded at Storyville Club in Boston:
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In Washington DC 1956 Vol 3 is the third in a series of five live albums of Lester Yiung playing with the Bill Potts Trio.
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The Gerry Mulligan Quartets in Concert is a live album with performances from two concerts in different years:
Playing on the album are:
At the Hollywood Bowl in 1957 :
Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone,
Bob Brookmeyer – valve trombone,
Joe Benjamin – bass,
Donald Bailey – drums.
In Paris in 1962:
Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone,
Bob Brookmeyer – valve trombone, piano on track 11,
Bill Crow – bass,
Gus Johnson – drums.
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At The Crescendo 1955 Complete Edition is a live album by Louis Armstrong.
It was recorded at the club in Hollywood, Los Angeles on 21 January 1955.
It has previously been issued as At The Crescendo volume 1 and volume 2 and has now been combined and extended with 18 extra tracks, many of them alternative versions.
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Complete Live At The Five Spot is a live album by the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane.
It was recorded at the Five Spot Café in New York on September 11, 1958.
Playing on the album are:
John Coltrane – tenor saxophone,
Thelonious Monk – piano,
Ahmed Abdul-Malik – bass,
Roy Haynes – drums.
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At The Stratford Shakespearean Festival is a collection of live recordings by Billie Holiday.
It has performances from six different venues and dates.
1-6 Stratford Shakespearean Festival 1957
7-17 Monterey Jazz Festival on October 5, 1958
18-19 New York on December 9, 1956
20-21 Persian Room, Plaza Hotel, New York on September 9, 1958
22-23 FM broadcast, Mister’ Kelly’s in Chicago in March 1957
24-26 TV Broadcast “Tracheal At Nine” February 24, 1959
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The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco is a live album.
It was recorded at The Jazz Workshop in San Francisco on October 18 & 20, 1959.
Playing on the album are:
Julian “Cannonball” Adderley – alto saxophone,
Nat Adderley – cornet,
Bobby Timmons – piano,
Sam Jones – bass,
Louis Hayes – drums.
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Corner Pocket is a live album by Count Basie.
It was recorded sometime in the late 1950s.
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The Essential Billie Holiday: Carnegie Hall Concert is a live album by Billie Holliday.
It was recorded in New York in 1956.
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1. Reading from Lady Sings the Blues
2. Lady Sings the Blues
3. It Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do
4. Travelin’ Light With Reading
5. Reading from Lady Sings the Blues
6. Billie’s Blues
7. Body and Soul
8. Reading from Lady Sings the Blues
9. Don’t Explain
10. Yesterdays
11. Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone
12. I’ll Be Seeing You
13. Reading from Lady Sings the Blues
14. My Man
15. I Cried for You
16. Fine and Mellow
17. I Cover the Waterfront
18. Oh, What a Little Moonlight Can Do
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These links will help you get to the albums quickly and easily but I recommend that you still search for the best deal.
What Do You Think?
Is this a great live album?
Is this one of the best live albums by Billie Holiday?
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Please vote in my poll to find the best live jazz albums. While you may not have heard all of them, I see a vote as a recommendation to other readers.
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What great live jazz albums have I missed?
You may also be interested in the poll to find the best light jazz, Rat Pack crooners and easy listening live albums.
You can see the complete list of readers polls at Live Album Polls.
In Europe: Live in Copenhagen March 5 1958 is a live album by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
Tracks 7 to 13 are from a performance in New York in September 1956.
Playing on the 1958 concert:
Paul Desmond – alto sax,
Dave Brubeck – piano,
Eugene Wright – bass,
Joe Morello – drums.
Playing on the 1956 concert:
Paul Desmond – alto sax,
Dave Brubeck – piano,
Norman Bates – brass,
Joe Dodge – piano.
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