Isaac Stern doesn't have to put up with this shit.

Just realised that it's 31 years to the day that Charles Mingus died. Mingus was the first avant-jazz artist i really got into after doing a 'blind buy' in Virgin ('Let My Children Hear Music' was the record) and from there i was subsequently led on to all sorts of artists like Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman etc. I've been gorging on the genre all day and i've left some of my favourites below for you to download. Enjoy.

The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) - Ornette Coleman.

Download.

This album was absolutely pivotal to the avant-garde and free-jazz movement. It has no chord structure and stunned critics at the time of it's release. Ornette also precedes the American Apparel merchandising aesthetic with his shirt and sweater look in the album cover.

Blue Train (1957) - John Coltrane.


Download.

Just one of the coolest fucking albums ever. Quite an achievement considering this was Coltrane's first foray into leading and composing on his own. Hard bebop that isn't for the light of heart.

Sketches of Spain (1960) - Miles Davis.

Download.

This is a masterpiece of modern art. 'Kind of Blue' would have been the most obvious Miles Davis album to upload, but I think Sketches of Spain is his most interesting piece. This is the only record in his catalog which critics hesitate to call jazz (it's been classed as 'Third Stream', a genre which synthesises classical music and jazz improv). The track 'Saeta' features one of the most amazing techincal solos of Davis' career.

Nuclear War (1984) - Sun Ra Arkestra.

Download.

Sun Ra recorded over 1000 songs throughout the course of his career and has one of the largest discographys in music, so finding a good place to start with him isn't easy. 'Jazz in Silhouette' is generally regarded as the best entry point to his work, but i don't think there's a record that encapsulates what he was about more than Nuclear War and it's title track in particular. It's fun, irregular and ultimately ridiculous at points, but so was Sun Ra.