Tag: 1950s Jazz

Live Jazz Albums From The 1950s

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

*** You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk ***

What Are The Best Live Jazz Albums Of All Time

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:

What Are The FIVE Best Live Jazz Albums?

View Results

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*** You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk ***

The Other Decades Of Live Jazz Albums

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 –

Charlie Parker Complete Live Performances on Savoy September 29 1947 to October 25 1950

The Complete Live Performances on Savoy September 29 1947 to October 25 1950 is a collection of live recordings by Charlie Parker.

Many of these were recorded at the Royal Roost in New York in 1948 and 1949. There is also the 1947 Carnegie Hall concert with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and a Chicago concert from 1950.

If you don’t want to get the 4 CD boxset, there is also the option of the Best Of The Complete Savoy Live Performances.

While this is billed as the “complete” I should point out that it misses the Symphony Sid announcements on the Royal Roost sessions, some of which had Parker playing in the background.

Charlie Parker Complete Live Performances on Savoy

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Billie Holiday Jazz at the Philharmonic The Billie Holiday Story vol 1 1945 to 1958

Jazz at the Philharmonic: The Billie Holiday Story vol 1 is a collection of live recordings by Billie Holiday.

Billie Holiday at Jazz at the Philharmonic was originally issued in 1954 collecting together eight songs from 1945 and 1946. Since then it has been massively extended to include 30 tracks going all the way through to 1958.

Billie Holiday Jazz at the Philharmonic The Billie Holiday Story vol 1

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Charlie Parker Chet Baker Bird & Chet Live at the Trade Winds 1952

Bird & Chet Live at the Trade Winds is a live album by Charlie Parker and Chet Baker.

It was recorded at the Trade Winds Club in Inglewood, California on June 16, 1952.

Playing on the album are:

Charlie Parker – alto saxophone
Sonny Criss – alto saxophone
Chet Baker – trumpet
Al Haig – piano
Harry Babasin – double bass
Larance Marable – drums

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Charles Mingus In Wonderland 1959

Jazz Portraits: Mingus In Wonderland is a live album by the Charles Mingus Quintet.

It was recorded at the Nonagon Art Gallery in New York City on January 16, 1959.

Playing on the album are:

John Handy – alto saxophone
Booker Ervin – tenor saxophone
Richard Wyands – piano
Charles Mingus – bass
Danny Richmond – drums

Charles Mingus In Wonderland

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Duke Ellington Live at the Blue Note 1959

Live at the Blue Note is a live album by Duke Ellington.

Ellington and band performed live at the Blue Note club in Chicago with three sets (6pm, 10pm and Midnight) on August 9, 1959.

As bebop and hard bop had taken attention away from swing and more traditional jazz, Ellington’s popularity had faded until it was reinvigorated by his 1956 Newport performance. This builds on that and shows that he had plenty to offer.

Duke Ellington Live at the Blue Note

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The Oscar Peterson Trio At The Stratford Shakespearean Festival 1956

At The Stratford Shakespearean Festival is a live album by The Oscar Peterson Trio.

It was recorded at the festival in Ontario, Canada on August 8, 1956.

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Count Basie At Newport 1957

At Newport is a live album by Count Basie and his orchestra including special guests, the former Basie members, saxophonist Lester Young and singer Jimmy Rushing.

It was recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1957.

Count Basie At Newport

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Sonny Rollins A Night At The Village Vanguard 1957

A Night At The Village Vanguard is a live album by Sonny Rollins.

It was recorded at the Village Vanguard in New York over sessions in the afternoon and evening on November 3, 1957.

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Thelonious Monk In Action 1958

Thelonious In Action is a live album by the Thelonius Monk Quartet with Johnny Griffin.

It was recorded at the Five Spot Cafe in New York City on August 7, 1958.

Playing on the album are:

Johnny Griffin – tenor saxophone,
Thelonious Monk – piano,
Ahmed Abdul-Malik – bass,
Roy Haynes – drums.

Thelonious Monk In Action

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Art Blakey & Clifford Brown A Night At Birdland Vol 1 1954

A Night At Birdland Vol 1 is a live album featuring Art Blakey and Clifford Brown.

It was recorded at Birdland in New York City on February 21, 1954.

Playing on the album are:

Clifford Brown – trumpet,
Lou Donaldson – alto saxophone,
Horace Silver – piano,
Curly Russell – bass,
Art Blakey – drums.

Art Blakey & Clifford Brown A Night At Birdland Vol 1

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