Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool
Few albums have altered the course of jazz as profoundly as Birth of the Cool. Although the recordings were made between 1949 and 1950…
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Sabu – Palo congo
When discussions turn to the greatest jazz albums of the 1950s, names like Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and Charles Mingus usually dominate the conversation.…
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Fats Domino – This Is Fats
Few artists helped shape the sound of early rock and roll as profoundly—or as effortlessly—as Fats Domino. While some of his contemporaries built their…
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Little Richard – Here’s Little Richard
If rock and roll had a heartbeat in the mid-1950s, it was probably pounding somewhere inside Here’s Little Richard. Released in 1957, this explosive…
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The Crickets – The Chirping Crickets
When people think of the birth of rock and roll, names like Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry usually dominate the conversation. Yet…
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Duke Ellington – Ellington at Newport
Few live albums have altered the course of a musician’s career quite like Ellington at Newport. Recorded on July 7, 1956, at the legendary…
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Louis Prima – The Wildest!
Few entertainers have ever embodied pure joy quite like Louis Prima. A singer, trumpeter, bandleader, comedian, and consummate showman, Prima built his reputation on…
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Frank Sinatra – Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!
Just one year after exploring heartbreak and loneliness on In the Wee Small Hours, Frank Sinatra made a dramatic change in mood with Songs…
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Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley
When Elvis Presley was released in March 1956, popular music was in the middle of a revolution. Rock and roll was still in its…
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The Louvin Brothers – Tragic Songs of Life
Country music has never shied away from heartbreak, loss, or hardship, but few albums embrace those themes as completely—or as beautifully—as Tragic Songs of…
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Frank Sinatra – In the Wee Small Hours
By the middle of the 1950s, Frank Sinatra had already experienced more highs and lows than most artists encounter in an entire lifetime. Once…
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