50 Great Jazz Albums From 1974

From free to funk to the indescribable, and back again

Ramsey Lewis - Sun Goddess (Columbia, 1974)

I know we’re in the middle of year-end list season, but this is better than that. What follows is a list 50 jazz albums, all of which turn 50 this year. The list is alphabetical, and you’re gonna get a sentence or two about each one. Some are easy to find on streaming services and the like, others are not. Ready? Let’s go!

The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Fanfare for the Warriors: Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Malachi Favors Maghostut and Famoudou Don Moye (joined by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams) spend Atlantic Records’ money on one of their best-sounding, most creatively expansive studio releases. An excellent starting point for newcomers.

George Benson, Bad Benson: Backed by Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Steve Gadd, and Phil Upchurch, plus harp and strings, this is an absolute master class in taut, funky jazz guitar that includes versions of some standards (“Take the ‘A’ Train”, “Take Five”). But the 13-minute “Serbian Blue” is the album’s heart.

Lester Bowie, Fast Last!: The first of Bowie’s two albums for Muse, this one is a sort of AACM/BAG collaboration featuring Julius Hemphill and John Stubblefield on saxes, younger brother Joseph Bowie on trombone, John Hicks on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and several drummers: Jerome Cooper, Charles “Bobo” Shaw, and Phillip Wilson.

Anthony Braxton, Trio and Duet and Anthony Braxton/Leroy Jenkins/Leo Smith, Silence: Two very different records. The first has Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith, and synthesist Richard Teitelbaum playing a single Braxton composition on Side A, and Braxton and bassist Dave Holland essaying three standards on the flip. The second offers two long pieces from 1969 by the trio of Braxton, Smith, and violinist Leroy Jenkins.

Ron Carter, All Blues: The legendary bassist is joined by saxophonist Joe Henderson, pianist Roland Hanna, and drummer Billy Cobham for a program of four R.C. originals, the title track (from Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue, of course), and the standard “Will You Still Be Mine”.

Stanley Clarke, Stanley Clarke: Fusion as orchestral funk-prog. The virtuoso bassist leads keyboardist Jan Hammer, guitarist Bill Connors, and drummer Tony Williams through some hard-ass jams; on the disc’s second half, strings and brass come in and things get lush.

Billy Cobham, Crosswinds: Another all-star fusion blowout, this one featuring George Duke on keys, John Abercrombie on guitar, and John Williams on bass. The Brecker brothers and trombonist Garnett Brown are the horn section.

Stanley Cowell, Musa — Ancestral Streams: A brilliant solo set from a pianist who pushed the instrument forward as much as anybody in the 1970s. On Strata-East, the label he co-founded with equally brilliant trumpeter Charles Tolliver.

Miles Davis, Get Up With It and Big Fun: Two compilations disguised as albums. Get Up With It has the half-hour elegy for Duke Ellington, “He Loved Him Madly”, and the electronic assault of “Rated X”; Big Fun has the searing “Go Ahead John” (that would be McLaughlin, soloing like a wasp trapped under a glass).

George Duke, Feel and Faces in Reflection: While touring with Frank Zappa’s band, Duke brought the boss in for two guest solos on Feel. Airto Moreira and Flora Purim show up, too. The core band — bassist John Heard and drummer Leon “Ndugu” Chancler — are heard on both albums.

Duke Ellington, The Pianist: A posthumous compilation (Ellington died May 24, 1974) of two piano trio sessions, the first from 1966 and the second from 1970. Always better known as a composer than a pianist, Ellington was in fact a brilliant and totally recognizable voice at the keyboard, and he sounds great in this context.

Jan Garbarek/Bobo Stenson Quartet, Witchi-Tai-To: Saxophonist Garbarek teams up with pianist Stenson, bassist Palle Danielsson, and drummer Jon Christensen for one of the greatest European jazz albums of all time, a landmark in the development of the ECM Records sound.

Carlos Garnett, Black Love and Journey to Enlightenment: This Panamanian saxophonist was one of Miles Davis’s pool of collaborators in the early ’70s; he’s on On the Corner, In Concert: Live at Philharmonic Hall, Get Up With It and Big Fun. His first two albums as a leader offered funky spiritual jazz and featured collaborators like guitarist Reggie Lucas, pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs, bassist Buster Williams and drummers Billy Hart and Norman Connors, as well as vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Ayodele Jenkins.

Herbie Hancock, Thrust and Death Wish: Thrust was the second album by Hancock’s funk band, the Headhunters, and features the often-covered “Butterfly”. The opening track, “Palm Grease”, was reworked as the opening theme to the Charles Bronson movie Death Wish, which is as dark and eerie as Thrust is deep in the groove. They make surprisingly good counterparts.

Eddie Henderson, Inside Out: Henderson was the trumpet player in Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi, and every member of that band except trombonist Julian Priester appears on this funky, adventurous disc: reeds player Bennie Maupin, Hancock, synth player Patrick Gleeson, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Billy Hart (joined by Eric Gravatt, and Bill Summers on congas).

Joe Henderson, The Elements: This funky, spiritual album is notable because it reunites Henderson with Alice Coltrane; he’d played on her 1970 album Ptah, The El Daoud. Violinist Michael White is also present, along with bassist Charlie Haden, drummer Leon “Ndugu” Chancler, and percussionists Kenneth Nash and Baba Duru Oshun.

Bobbi Humphrey, Satin Doll: Silky jazz-funk, with Humphrey’s gentle flute up front, produced by the Mizell Brothers, who were doing similar work with trumpeter Donald Byrd at the time. This album was a Top 40 hit, and no wonder — the title track reworks Duke Ellington for the dance floor brilliantly.

Bobby Hutcherson, Cirrus: Vibraphonist Hutcherson had a very productive relationship with tenor saxophonist Harold Land in the early ’70s, making seven albums together. This one also features trumpeter Woody Shaw, whose composition “Rosewood” opens the disc.

Ahmad Jamal, Jamal Plays Jamal: Hard to find these days but beloved of hip-hop producers (“Swahililand” and “Pastures” have been sampled dozens of times each), this album finds Jamal switching from piano to Fender Rhodes to synth, with his long-term rhythm section of bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Frank Gant keeping the grooves tight and supple at once.

Bob James, One: Speaking of samples… how many times have you heard a DJ chop up “Nautilus”? The lush arrangements and James’ slick but adventurous keyboard work make this an essential, pioneering smooth jazz disc, but it’s funky as hell, too, thanks to Steve Gadd’s and Idris Muhammad’s locked-in drumming and Gary King’s deep bass.

Keith Jarrett, Treasure Island: The first studio album by pianist Jarrett’s “American Quartet” with saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Paul Motian (guitarist Sam Brown and percussionists Guilherme Franco and Danny Johnson are guests). An intriguing mix of experimental/free material and tunes so ’70s they could have been Norman Lear sitcom themes.

Clifford Jordan, Glass Bead Games: An astonishing double LP of deeply felt post-bop from tenor saxophonist Jordan, recorded with two different rhythm sections. Pianist Stanley Cowell and bassist Bill Lee (Spike’s father) are on half the tracks, with Cedar Walton and Sam Jones on the rest. Billy Higgins is the drummer throughout.

Azar Lawrence, Bridge into the New Age: The debut album by a saxophonist who worked with McCoy Tyner and famously auditioned for Miles Davis’s band during the concert released as Dark Magus, this is spiritual jazz halfway between Tyner and Pharoah Sanders, with loads of percussion, female vocals, heavy sax riffs and extended solos.

Ramsey Lewis, Sun Goddess: This is almost a secret Earth, Wind & Fire album, as Lewis collaborated with the band on the title track and “Hot Dawgit”, and the rest of the material — including a version of Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City” — has that patented EW&F lush, almost symphonic soul-funk sound. Glorious.

Hugh Masekela, I Am Not Afraid: A hard-charging Afro-jazz-funk record from the legendary South African trumpeter, mostly performed by the Ghanaian band Hedzoleh Soundz, with guest electric piano by Joe Sample of the Crusaders. It’s never been reissued on CD on its own, but all the tracks are included in the 3CD set Masekela ’66-’76. Happy searching!

Bennie Maupin, The Jewel in the Lotus: This is another almost-Mwandishi album, with several of reed player Maupin’s bandmates from that group — keyboardist Herbie Hancock, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Billy Hart — present. But Charles Sullivan, rather than Eddie Henderson, is on trumpet, and there’s an extra drummer (Freddie Waits, doubling on marimba) and a percussionist, Bill Summers. The music is drifty and abstract, more about multi-directional interplay than groove or solos.

Cecil McBee, Mutima: This album opens with a nearly 12-minute piece for two overdubbed basses, but the rest is astonishing, Anthony Braxton-level chamber jazz from a brilliant composer.

Charles Mingus, Mingus at Carnegie Hall and Mingus Moves: The studio album inaugurates Mingus’s last great band, with tenor saxophonist George Adams and pianist Don Pullen; the live set was originally just two side-long jams featuring multiple guest saxophonists (Charles McPherson, John Handy and Rahsaan Roland Kirk) one-upping each other at length, but the full concert was released in 2021 and we’re all better for it.

Roscoe Mitchell, The Roscoe Mitchell Solo Saxophone Concerts: Exactly what the title implies — 40 minutes of solo sax (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) from three concerts in Kalamazoo, Michigan; Montreal, Quebec; and Pori, Finland. It begins and ends with two short but bracing versions of Mitchell’s signature piece, “Nonaah”, and journeys through the full range of reed sounds in between. Mesmerizing.

NTU with Gary Bartz, Singerella: A Ghetto Fairy Tale: This was alto saxophonist Gary Bartz’s final studio album with NTU Troop, a follow-up to their masterpiece, 1973’s live I’ve Known Rivers and Other Bodies. Keyboardist Hubert Eaves, guitarist Maynard Parker, bassist James Benjamin and drummer Howard King lay down thick, funky grooves, and Bartz plays and sings (as its title suggests, this is kind of a concept album).

Julian Priester, Love, Love: Priester had only recently left Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi band when this album was recorded, and its trance-like basslines and swooping, zapping synths are occasionally reminiscent of their final release, Sextant, but this is simultaneously more cosmic and more grounded music. Drummers Leon “Ndugu” Chancler and Eric Gravatt keep things in a head-nodding funk zone as the horns and synths whirl above like comets.

Return To Forever, Where Have I Known You Before: The debut of the classic RTF lineup, with guitarist Al Di Meola (just 19 at the time), Chick Corea on keyboards, Stanley Clarke on bass, and Lenny White on drums. This is fusion as instrumental prog-rock; there’s very little about this that screams “jazz”, but it rules.

Sam Rivers, Crystals and Hues: Hues, long out of print, is a collection of live recordings with several different rhythm sections (Arild Andersen, Richard Davis or Cecil McBee on bass; Barry Altschul, Norman Connors or Warren Smith on drums); Crystals is a free jazz orchestra/big band album with more than 60 musicians credited, though most were only part of the rehearsals, not the record.

Sonny Rollins, The Cutting Edge: a live album from the Montreux Jazz Festival on which the famously chordal-instrument-averse Rollins is backed by both guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo, and pianist Stanley Cowell. Bagpipe virtuoso — yes, you read that right — Rufus Harley guests on a nearly 15-minute version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” that’s like nothing you’ve ever heard in your life.

Terje Rypdal, What Comes After and Whenever I Seem to Be Far Away: Guitarist Rypdal has more in common with Robin Trower or David Gilmour than Jim Hall or Wes Montgomery. The first of these albums features oboe and English horn, and paired electric and acoustic bass; the second is half jamming jazz-rock and half guitar plus orchestra. Both are as beautiful as an Arctic sunrise.

Pharoah Sanders, Love In Us All and Elevation: Sanders’ final two albums for Impulse! can feel like “more of the same”; if you enjoy his lengthy vamps and hoarse, roaring sax (and vocals), there are two of them on Love In Us All. Elevation, half studio and half live, is better, and includes a rousing version of Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey’s “Ore-Se-Rere.”

Carlos Santana/Alice Coltrane, Illuminations: Deep into his early ’70s spiritual journey, Carlos Santana recruited Alice Coltrane, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, saxophonist Jules Broussard, and a 16-piece string orchestra for this amazing album. His own solos are minimalist and deeply felt; the players around him surge in free-jazz ecstasy as drones underpin it all.

Lonnie Liston Smith, Cosmic Funk: The title track features Leon Thomas-esque vocals from Smith’s brother Donald, but this album of electric piano-driven grooves also includes versions of Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” and John Coltrane’s “Naima” (the latter with lyrics) that blur the line between free squall and psychedelic soul jazz. Not as chill an album as its cover art suggests.

Cecil Taylor, Spring of Two Blue-J’s: A self-released set recorded live at New York’s Town Hall with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, bassist Sirone, and drummer Andrew Cyrille — one track of solo piano, one with the quartet. But these are just the two encores from a concert that began with a 90-minute piece, “Autumn/Parade”, that was finally brought to light in 2022 under the title The Complete, Legendary, Live Return Concert at the Town Hall, NYC, November 4, 1973. That’s a must-hear, too.

McCoy Tyner, Sama Layuca: This album, the eighth of 20(!) Tyner would record between 1970 and 1979 (though not all would be released at the time), features a nine-piece band including John Stubblefield on flute and oboe; Gary Bartz on alto sax; Azar Lawrence on tenor and soprano saxes; Bobby Hutcherson on vibes and marimba; Buster Williams on bass; Billy Hart on drums; and Guilherme Franco and Mtume on percussion. The music is varied and busy, and the louder you play it, the more you’ll hear.

Weather Report, Mysterious Traveller: A transitional album for Wayne Shorter and Josef Zawinul’s avant-fusion laboratory/band, this is their last disc to feature original bassist Miroslav Vitous, and he’s only on two tracks; electric bassist Alphonso Johnson gives the album most of its pulse. Opening track “Nubian Sundance” is one of the wildest things you’ll ever hear, in any genre.

That’s it for now. See you on Friday, when I will ask you for money.