Top Albums of 1961

Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers







King of the Delta Blues Singers is a compilation album by American blues musician Robert Johnson, released in 1961 on Columbia Records. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential blues releases ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 27 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

John Coltrane - My Favorite Things







My Favorite Things is the seventh album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1961 on Atlantic Records, catalogue SD-1361. It was the first album to feature Coltrane's playing on soprano saxophone, and yielded a commercial breakthrough in the form of a hit single that gained popularity in 1961 on radio, an edited version of the title song, "My Favorite Things."[2] In 1998, the album was a recipient of the Grammy Hall of Fame award.

Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music







Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American R&B and soul musician Ray Charles, released in April 1962 on ABC-Paramount Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in early to mid-February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and at United Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Production was handled entirely by Charles and renowned conductor Sid Feller. A departure from Charles's previous work, the album features country, folk, and Western music standards covered and redone by Charles in popular song forms of the time, including R&B, pop, and jazz.
As his fifth LP release for ABC-Paramount, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music became a rapid critical and commercial success as it brought Ray Charles further mainstream notice, following his tenure for Atlantic Records. With the help of the album's four charting singles, Charles earned recognition in the pop market, as well as airplay on both R&B and country radio stations. Modern Sounds and its lead single, "I Can't Stop Loving You", were both certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1962, as each record had shipped 500,000 copies in the United States.
Regarded by many critics as Charles's best studio album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music has been considered by several music writers to be a landmark album in American music. The album's integration of soul and country music bent racial barriers in popular music, amid the height of the African-American civil rights struggle. In the process of recording the album, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to exercise complete artistic control over his own recording career. In 2003, the album was ranked number 104 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Etta James - At Last







At Last! is the debut studio album by American blues artist Etta James, which includes the same-named title song "At Last". The album was released on Argo Records in 1961 and was produced by Phil and Leonard Chess. The original release contained four of James' hits on the Rhythm and Blues Records Chart between 1960 and 1961. It was her first of five studio albums James would release on the Argo label.
At Last! was ranked at #116 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby





Waltz for Debby is an album by American jazz pianist Bill Evans and his Trio consisting of Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian, originally released in 1961.
This was Bill Evans' first trio. The album was the fourth and final effort from the unit—LaFaro died in a car accident just ten days after the live date at the Village Vanguard from which Waltz for Debby and its predecessor, Sunday at the Village Vanguard were taken. The loss of LaFaro hit Evans hard, and he went into a brief seclusion. When Evans returned to the trio format later in 1962, it was with Motian and noted bassist Chuck Israels.
The title track, a musical portrait of Evans' niece, became a staple of his live repertoire in later years. It originally appeared as a solo piano piece on Evans' debut album, New Jazz Conceptions. It remains what is likely Evans' most well-known song, one that he would play throughout his career.
The CD reissue of the album contains several outtakes.

Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard





Sunday at the Village Vanguard is a 1961 album by jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. The album is routinely ranked as one of the best live jazz recordings of all time.
Sunday at the Village Vanguard was recorded live on June 25, 1961 at the Village Vanguard in New York City over five recorded sessions (2 matinee and 3 soiree). It is well remembered as the final performance by the Evans trio of the time, which included bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. LaFaro was killed in a car accident ten days after the recording.
Evans and producer Orrin Keepnews reportedly selected the tracks for Sunday at the Village Vanguard to best feature LaFaro's masterful performance on bass, beginning and ending with two tracks (Gloria's Step and Jade Visions) written by LaFaro himself, and with all the others featuring solos by him. This album is routinely ranked as one of the best live jazz recordings of all time.
Additional material from the same day's performance was released in a second album Waltz for Debby (also 1961), as was other material in another LP Bill Evans - More From the Vanguard. The entire day's recordings were released in 2005 as The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961.

Bobby Bland - Two Steps from the Blues





Two Steps from the Blues is a 1961 album by Bobby Bland. The album was featured at number 215 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Patsy Cline - Showcase





Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963), born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who was successful in pop music crossovers during the early 1960s era of the Nashville Sound. Prior to her death at the age of 30 in a private plane crash, she was at the height of her career. She is considered to be one of the most influential, successful, and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century.
Cline was best known for her rich tone, emotionally expressive and bold contralto voice, and her role as a pioneer in the country music industry. She helped pave the way for headlining women in country music. Prior to the early 1960s, so-called "girl singers" were seen by the male-dominated realm of country music as mere "window dressing", only necessary to attract male listeners to their shows. Cline's rise to popularity changed that, and she has been cited as an inspiration by singers in several music genres.[citation needed] There are books, movies, documentaries, articles and stage plays documenting her life and career.
Some of the more notable big hits she had during her lifetime began in 1957 with Donn Hecht's "Walkin' After Midnight", Harlan Howard's "I Fall to Pieces", Hank Cochran's "She's Got You", Willie Nelson's "Crazy", and ended in 1963 with Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams".
Posthumously, millions of her records were sold over a 50-year span. As a result, she has been given numerous awards and accolades, leading some fans to view her as an icon similar to legends such as Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Ten years after her death, in 1973, she became the first female solo artist inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1999, she was voted number 11 on VH1's special, The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll, by members and artists of the rock industry. In 2002, artists and members of the country music industry voted her as Number One on CMT's The 40 Greatest Women of Country Music and ranked 46th in the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" issue of Rolling Stone magazine. According to her 1973 Country Music Hall of Fame plaque, "Her heritage of timeless recordings is testimony to her artistic capacity."

Judy Garland - Judy at Carnegie Hall





Judy at Carnegie Hall is a two-record live recording of a concert by Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in New York.
This concert appearance, on the night of April 23, 1961, has been called "the greatest night in show business history". Garland's live performances were big successes at the time and her record company wanted to capture that energy onto a recording. The double album became a hit, both critically and commercially.
Judy Garland's career had moved from movies in the 1940s, to elaborate vaudeville stage shows in the 1950s. During this period, she broke many box office records, making her concert appearances events unto themselves. She also suffered from extreme drug and alcohol abuse, and had become overweight, and very ill, by 1959. After a long convalescence, weight loss, and vocal rest, she returned to the concert stage with a simple program of 'just Judy.' Garland's 1960-1961 tour of Europe and North America was a success, and her stage presence was highly regarded; eventually she was billed as 'The World's Greatest Entertainer'. Garland's concert mania was on the rise when she visited Carnegie Hall in Manhattan, and many reviews of her shows commented on her showmanship, vocal maturity, and the emotional effects that her performances delivered. Audiences often called her back for encore after encore, even asking her to repeat a song after her book of arrangements was completed.
On the evening of the Carnegie show, after a bombastic overture that built high emotion, Judy appeared, looking remarkably healthy, and well-groomed, to a very loud ovation from the audience. The recorded applause proves the energetic connection between Garland and her fans. Her audience that night included theatre performers on their usual Sunday night off, and the celebrities were as wild with adoration towards Garland as the rest of the audience. Photographs on the liner notes show the audience, in evening dress, lining the stage as was indicative of a Garland performance. Hedda Hopper, reviewed Garland's ability to embrace her concert audience by saying of the show, "..I never saw the likes of it in my life." All reviews of the show gave Garland high marks, and commented on her healthy appearance, exuberance, energy, vocal power, and the uplifting emotional power that Garland has on her audience. By all accounts, the evening's performance was a resounding success, even if it had not been recorded. The release of Garland's record set, only two months after the concert, cemented her comeback from illness, and brought her a new public acclaim.
The double album was a huge best seller—charting for 73 weeks on the Billboard chart, including 13 weeks at number one, and being certified gold. It won four Grammy Awards, for Album of the Year (The first live album and the first album by a female performer to win the award.), Best Female Vocal Performance, Best Engineered Album, and Best Album Cover. The album has never been out of print.
In 2003, the album was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

Frank Sinatra - Ring-a-ding ding!





Ring-a-Ding-Ding! is a 1961 album by Frank Sinatra.[3] It was Sinatra's first for Reprise, and, as the initial concept was "an album without ballads", included only uptempo swing numbers.[4]
The title track was written specifically for Sinatra by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. The song "Have You Met Miss Jones?" was recorded for the album, though left off the final track listing. Ring-a-Ding-Ding! reached No. 4; it was given favorable reviews by Stereo Review, and, although a similar album (Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!) was released by Capitol a mere two months prior, Ring-A-Ding-Ding! managed to maintain a 35 week stay on the charts. In the UK, the album reached No. 8 and stayed for 9 weeks on the chart.
The album was reissued by Concord Records on June 7, 2011 to mark its 50th Anniversary.

John Coltrane - Live at the Village Vanguard






Live at the Village Vanguard is the tenth album by jazz musician John Coltrane and his first live album, released in 1962 on Impulse Records, catalogue A-10. It is the first album to feature the members of the classic quartet of himself with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. In contrast to his previous album for Impulse!, this one generated much turmoil among both critics and audience alike with its challenging music.
In 1961, Coltrane created controversy both with the hiring of Eric Dolphy and with the kind of music his band was playing. In reaction to the Quintet's residency at the Village Vanguard in New York City starting in late October 1961, Down Beat critic John Tynan described the group as "musical nonsense being peddled in the name of jazz" and "a horrifying demonstration of what appears to be a growing anti-jazz trend." European critics and audiences also had difficulty with appearances earlier in the year, finding the group's music, especially that of Coltrane and Dolphy, puzzling and difficult to follow. Down Beat magazine editor Don DeMichael took the step of inviting the pair to defend themselves, a piece appearing in the April 12, 1962 issue entitled "John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy Answer the Critics."
It was the idea of new producer Bob Thiele to record Coltrane live over four nights in early November, Thiele meeting the saxophonist for the first time face-to-face at the club. This commenced a close working relationship between Thiele and Coltrane that would last for the rest of his time at Impulse, Thiele producing virtually every subsequent album. Thiele secured Coltrane's trust right away by not insisting he record his most popular song, "My Favorite Things," during these shows. Sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder set up his equipment at a table by the stage, and for these concerts Coltrane would often enhance the Quintet by adding tampura, contrabassoon, oboe, or a second bass.

Roy Orbison - Sings Lonely and Blue






Lonely and Blue is the first music album recorded by Roy Orbison for Monument Records, released in 1961.
The track entitled "Come Back to Me (My Love)" features an almost identical intro to "Only the Lonely". In 1957, Frank Sinatra recorded a song of the same name for the album Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (not related to Orbison's recording).

Jimmy Reed - Carnegie Hall







Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall is a double LP album by Jimmy Reed, released in 1961. Though the title suggests that the record was recorded live, it consists of a studio recreation of a Carnegie Hall performance on one disc and a second disc that is identical to an LP released separately as The Best of Jimmy Reed.
Reed's recordings of "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Big Boss Man" were voted two of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth







The Blues and the Abstract Truth is a jazz album by Oliver Nelson recorded in February 1961. It remains Nelson's most acclaimed album and features a lineup of notable musicians: Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy (his last appearance on a Nelson album following a series of collaborations recorded for Prestige), Bill Evans (his only appearance with Nelson), Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes. Baritone saxophonist George Barrow does not take solos, but still remains a key feature in the subtle voicings of Nelson's arrangements.
The album is an exploration of the mood and structure of the blues, though only some of the tracks are structured in the conventional 12-bar blues form. In this regard, it may be seen as a continuation of the trend towards greater harmonic simplicity and subtlety via reimagined versions of the blues that was instigated by Miles Davis's Kind of Blue in 1959 (Evans and Chambers played on both albums). Among the pieces on the album, "Stolen Moments" is the most famous: a sixteen-bar piece in an eight-six-two pattern, even though the solos are in a conventional 12-bar minor-key blues structure in C minor. "Hoe-Down" is built on a forty-four-bar structure (with thirty-two-bar solos based on "rhythm changes"). "Cascades" modifies the traditional 32-bar AABA form by using a 16-bar minor blues for the A section, stretching the form to a total of 56 bars. The B-side of the album contains three tracks that hew closer to the 12-bar form: "Yearnin'", "Butch and Butch" and "Teenie's Blues" (which opens with an essential 12-bar bass solo by Chambers).
Nelson's later 1964 album, More Blues and the Abstract Truth, features an entirely different band and bears little resemblance to this record.
In 2008, pianist Bill Cunliffe released The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Take 2, featuring new arrangements of the pieces featured on the album as a tribute.

The Everly Brothers - A Date with the Everly Brothers







A Date with The Everly Brothers is an album by the rock and roll duo The Everly Brothers, released in 1961. It peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Pop albums charts and reached No. 3 in the UK.
The song "Love Hurts" appears here for the first time. It would subsequently be covered by numerous other artists. Other than the "Cathy's Clown"/"Always It's You" single, all of the tracks on A Date with the Everly Brothers were recorded in just four sessions during July 1960.

The Genius Sings the Blues is an album by Ray Charles, released in October 1961 on Atlantic Records.[6] The album was his last release for Atlantic, but one of his most memorable, compiling twelve blues songs from various sessions during his tenure for the label. The album showcases Charles's stylistic development with a combination of piano blues, jazz, and southern R&B. The photo for the album cover was taken by renowned photographer Lee Friedlander. The Genius Sings the Blues was reissued in 2003 by Rhino Entertainment with liner notes by Billy Taylor.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Further Out






Time Further Out is a 1961 release by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. It features the "Classic Quartet": pianist Dave Brubeck, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright, and drummer Joe Morello. The album was recorded by engineer Fred Plaut and produced by Teo Macero.

Cannonball Adderley And Bill Evans - Know What I Mean






Know What I Mean? is a 1961 album by jazz musician Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, accompanied by Bill Evans and the rhythm section of the Modern Jazz Quartet. It was released on Riverside label as RLP-433.
Barely noticeable on the album cover is a small picture of Bill Evans, directly underneath the sculpture to Adderley's right.

Miles Davis - Someday my Prince will come







Someday My Prince Will Come is the seventh studio album by Miles Davis for Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1656 and CS 8456 in stereo, released in 1961. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in Manhattan, it marked the only Miles Davis Quintet studio recording session to feature saxophonist Hank Mobley.
Keeping to his standard procedure at Columbia to date of alternating small group records and big band studio projects with Gil Evans, Davis followed up Sketches of Spain with an album by his working quintet. In 1960, however, the jazz world had been in flux. Although Davis had garnered acclaim for Kind of Blue, the entrance of Ornette Coleman and free jazz via his fall 1959 residency at the Five Spot Café and his albums for Atlantic Records had created controversy, and turned attention away from Davis.
Similarly, Davis' touring band had been in flux. In 1959, Cannonball Adderley left to form his own group with his brother, reducing the sextet to a quintet. Drummer Jimmy Cobb and pianist Wynton Kelly had been hired in 1958, but most difficult for Davis was the departure of John Coltrane, who stayed on for a spring tour of Europe but left to form his own quartet in the summer of 1960. In 1960, Davis went through saxophonists Jimmy Heath and Sonny Stitt before settling on Hank Mobley in December, the band re-stabilizing for the next two years.

George Russell - Ezz-thetics







Ezz-thetics is an album by a sextet led by the jazz composer and music theorist George Russell. It features a re-reading of Russell's title composition and a radical reworking of Thelonious Monk's standard "Round Midnight" with an extended solo by Eric Dolphy. The title song, "Ezzthetic", was dedicated to, in Mr. Russell's own words, "the late, great heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Ezzard Charles".
The recording features trombonist Dave Baker whose trombone career was cut short causing him to take up the cello. He went on to become a major composer of jazz and modern classical music. Don Ellis went on to lead his own successful big band. George Russell was awarded the MacArthur "Genius" Award in 1989 and is captured here in a rare piano appearance. Eric Dolphy was a major artist in the "New Thing" branch of jazz but also appeared with Charles Mingus in one of his greatest small groups. Dolphy died a few years later due to complications of diabetes in Europe while on tour and was quickly elected to the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. Steve Swallow went on to become a major practitioner of the electric bass and is close associated with the music of Carla Bley. Joe Hunt is a well known drummer associated with Mr Russell's groups, as well as Stan Getz and Bill Evans, who rose to fame with George Russell for his famous solo on Russell's "All About Rosie".

Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (1961)






Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane is a 1961 album by Thelonious Monk issued on Jazzland Records, a subsidiary of Riverside Records. It consists of material recorded four years earlier when Monk worked extensively with John Coltrane, issued after Coltrane had become a leader and jazz star in his own right.
The album was assembled by the label with material from three different sessions. The impetus for the album was the discovery of three usable studio tracks recorded by the Monk Quartet with Coltrane in July of 1957 at the beginning of the band's six-month residency at New York's legendary Five Spot club near Cooper Square. To round out the release, producer Keepnews included two outtakes from the Monk's Music album recorded the previous month, and an additional outtake from Thelonious Himself recorded in April. The latter selection, "Functional," is a solo piano piece by Monk.
It was reissued in 2000 on Fantasy Records as part of its series for back catalogue using the JVC 20-bit K2 coding system. Because of the historical significance of this album it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007.

Eric Dolphy - At the Five Spot Vol.1 (1961)






At the Five Spot volumes one and two is a pair of jazz albums documenting one night (16 July 1961) from the end of Eric Dolphy and Booker Little's two-week residency at the Five Spot in New York. This was the only night to be recorded; the engineer was Rudy Van Gelder.
A third volume from this session was released, titled Memorial Album, containing "Number Eight (Potsa Lotsa)" and "Booker's Waltz". These two tracks were later released on the Rudy Van Gelder remaster of Volume 2. Two other tracks, Mal Waldron's "Status Seeking" and Dolphy's solo rendition of Billie Holiday's "God Bless The Child", were released on the Dolphy compilation Here And There. Dolphy and Little were backed by a rhythm section consisting of pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Ed Blackwell.
Dolphy's composition "The Prophet" is a tribute to the artist Richard Jennings, who had designed the covers of Dolphy's earlier albums, Outward Bound and Out There.

Booker Little - Out Front (1961)






The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 5 stars and stated "His seven now-obscure originals (several of which deserve to be revived) are challenging for the soloists and there are many strong moments during these consistently challenging and satisfying performances".

Elmore James - Blues After Hours (1961)

Nat King Cole - The Nat King Cole Story (1961)






The Nat King Cole Story is a 1961 album by Nat King Cole. The album was a retrospective of Cole's recording career, designed to present many of his earlier hits in new recordings featuring stereo sound. Cole is accompanied on the re-recordings by many of the notable arrangers and bands that had appeared with him on the original records.
Of particular note is Cole's re-recording of "The Christmas Song". This was Cole's fourth, and final, recording of the song, and also the first version recorded in stereo. This recording of the song was subsequently added to a 1963 reissue of Cole's 1960 LP The Magic of Christmas (the album concurrently retitled The Christmas Song and given new cover art), and remains one of Cole's best-known recordings and among the most-played Christmas tunes on radio each December.
At the 4th Grammy Awards, The Nat King Cole Story was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Bill Evans - Explorations







Explorations is an album by jazz musician Bill Evans originally released on Riverside label in 1961. The album won the Billboard Jazz Critics Best Piano LP poll for 1961.
Explorations was the second album Evans recorded with his trio of Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums. Evans considered it one of his favorites from this period. Keepnews in the liner notes talks about the two extra pieces released on CD, "Beautiful Love (take 1)" and "The Boy Next Door"; the first version of "Beautiful Love" to be included in the original LP was a second take, in fact as Keepnews specifies, "it is not the usual case of a second attempt that immediately followed the first. Early in this date, he played this number once; we both approved, and he moved on to something else. Much later, he decided to try a second "Beautiful Love", which he later preferred." "The Boy Next Door" was instead set aside, at the time, because of the limited space of LP support.

Hank Mobley - Roll Call (1961)






Roll Call is an album by jazz tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley. Considered one of his best alongside Soul Station (also recorded in 1960), Roll Call features some of the most prominent musicians of the hard bop era, specifically Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Art Blakey, and Freddie Hubbard.

Abbey Lincoln - Straight Ahead (1961)






The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 5 stars and stated "this is one of Abbey Lincoln's greatest recordings"

Gil Evans - Out of the CooL (1961)






The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" calling it "Evans' masterpiece under his own name and one of the best examples of jazz orchestration since the early Ellington bands".

Charles Aznavour - Je M`voyais deja (1961)