John Coltrane, Miles Davis, or Charles Mingus?

[DJTommy]

These three are the most usual picks for the best jazz artists ever, which is totally understandable: They have all made some of the best and most beloved jazz albums (and just albums in gemeral) ever: Blue Train, Kind of Blue, Mingus Ah Um, Giant Steps, My Favourite Things, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (my favourite jazz album), A Love Supreme, In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, I could go on and on. So my question is: Who of the "big 3" is your favourite?
The way I see them:
John Coltrane is the most virtuous and is all about insane musicianship and lots of feeling (some call it spirituality).
Miles Davis can do all sorts of moods and styles: Rock (Jack Johnson), funk (On the Corner), orchestral spanish sounding stuff (Sketches of Spain), chill classic jazz (Kind of Blue), chill electric jazz (In a Silent Way, which you could also call a little ambient), he even did a (not so good) attempt at hip hop on his very last album (Doo-Bop). And he usually does all these styles and moods exceptionally well.
Charles Mingus is the brilliant composer who always comes up with interesting melodies and sounds. He has put out some very creative records and is my favourite out of the three because of this. He just always know to keep it interesting and strange in a way I think it is.

And as a bonus question:
What are your top 5 jazz albums (or top 10 or top howmanyyalike)?
Mine would go:
1. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
2. Pharoah Sanders - Karma
3. Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
4. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
5. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

[albumceleste]

It's a very interesting and difficult question.
I didn't listened to those three complete recordings so I might be missing something that would change my mind in the future, but the way I see it:

Coltrane is the most unique with his instrument, and in a sense all his music is devoted to that sax. More or less what Hendrix was for the electric guitar. Coltrane's music is very tied to his sax playing style, and in this sense narrower than the other two musicians in question. A love supreme is a complete masterpiece, and half of Giant steps is up there at the same height IMO.

Mingus' is IMO the most fun to listen to. If someone asked me to answer what jazz is with only one album I would pick Ah um or Blues and roots. His energetic crescendos, his orchestral textures, that magnificent sense of rythm. It's currently my favourite.

But IMO Davis is bigger. Maybe not as a musician -or maybe he was but that's outside the point-, but he is the KEY figure in modern jazz. It's impossible to overlook him. For fifty years every time something game changing appeared in Jazz music he was there at the frontline.


In the end three giants.

[Tha1ChiefRocka]

Miles Davis, because of his fusion albums like Bitches Brew and On The Corner.

Here is 5 from my jazz list.


Way Out West by Sonny Rollins


Miles Smiles by Miles Davis


Out To Lunch! by Eric Dolphy


Go by Dexter Gordon


The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volu... by Sun Ra

[Onater]

Miles, partially for the amount of variety in his discography and partially for his simple yet tasteful soloing. I can't help but get a bit bored when listening to most Coltrane since he plays so fast that most of it just goes over my head (although A Love Supreme is my favourite jazz album, but that's just as much because of Tyner, Jones and Garrison as it is him).

[AfterHours]

Charles Mingus, who is also the greatest composer in Jazz history, and possibly of all music post-1950.

My Top Jazz Albums - All Time:

1. The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus (1963)
2. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (1964)
3. Unit Structures - Cecil Taylor (1966)
4. Ascension - John Coltrane (1965)
5. Escalator Over The Hill - Carla Bley (1971)
6. The Jazz Composer's Orchestra - Michael Mantler (1968) [aka, "Communications - The Jazz Composer's Orchestra"]
7. Variations in Dream-time - Anthony Davis (1982)
8. Seeds, Visions & Counterpoint - Ivo Perelman (1996)
9. Even the Sounds Shine - Myra Melford (1994)
10. Improvisie - Paul Bley (1971)
11. Afternoon of a Georgia Faun - Marion Brown (1970)
12. Crystals - Sam Rivers (1974)
13. Lady of the Mirrors - Anthony Davis (1980)
14. Saxophone Improvisations, Series F - Anthony Braxton (1972)
15. Spiritual Unity - Albert Ayler (1964)
16. Bitches Brew - Miles Davis (1969)
17. The Survivor's Suite - Keith Jarrett (1976)
18. Barbed Wire Maggots - Borbetomagus (1983)
19. Art & Aviation - Jane Ira Bloom (1992)
20. Streams - Sam Rivers (1973)
21. For Alto - Anthony Braxton (1968)
22. Ptah, the El Daoud - Alice Coltrane (1970)
23. Extensions - McCoy Tyner (1970)
24. Conference of the Birds - Dave Holland (1972)
25. Let My Children Hear Music - Charles Mingus (1972)
26. Sahara – McCoy Tyner (1972)
27. Les Stances a Sophie – Art Ensemble of Chicago (1970)
28. The Koln Concert - Keith Jarrett (1975)
29. Silent Tongues - Cecil Taylor (1974)
30. Atlantis - Sun Ra (1967)
31. Steve Lacy - Saxophone Special (1974)
32. Mu - Don Cherry (1969)
33. Free Jazz - Ornette Coleman (1960)
34. Epitaph - Charles Mingus (1962)
35. The Magic City - Sun Ra (1965)
36. A Genuine Tong Funeral - Carla Bley/Gary Burton (1967)
37. Out to Lunch - Eric Dolphy (1964)
38. Sound - Roscoe Mitchell (1966)
39. Dimensions & Extensions - Sam Rivers (1967)
40. Karma - Pharoah Sanders (1969)
41. New York Eye & Ear Control - Albert Ayler (1964)
42. Liberation Music Orchestra - Charlie Haden (1969)
43. We Insist! Freedom Now Suite - Max Roach (1960)
44. Symphony For Improvisers - Don Cherry (1966)
45. Cantos I-IV - Franz Koglmann (1992)
46. People in Sorrow - Art Ensemble of Chicago (1969)
47. Intents and Purposes - Bill Dixon (1967)
48. The Long View - Marty Ehrlich (2002)
49. Disappeared - Spring Heel Jack (2000)
50. Fluxations - Denman Maroney (2001)
51. Amassed - Spring Heel Jack (2002)
52. Cobra - John Zorn (1986)
53. Episteme - Anthony Davis (1981)
54. Fear Death By Water - Franz Koglmann (2003)
55. The Bandwagon - Jason Moran (2003)
56. Nefertiti, the Beautiful One - Cecil Taylor (1962)
57. Blood Sutra - Vijay Iyer (2003)
58. Chasing Paint - Jane Ira Bloom (2003)
59. Live - Spring Heel Jack (2003)
60. Vade Mecum (Part I and II) - Bill Dixon (1993)
61. Quartet - Marion Brown (1966)
62. Another Mind - Hiromi Uehara (2003)
63. 6 - Supersilent (2003)
64. In A Silent Way - Miles Davis (1969)
65. Hemispheres - Anthony Davis (1983)
66. Fractured Fairy Tales - Tim Berne (1989)
67. Before We Were Born - Bill Frisell (1988)
68. The Psyche - Revolutionary Ensemble (1975)
69. Instrumentals - The Nels Cline Singers (2002)
70. Bring Yr Camera - The President (Wayne Horvitz) (1988)
71. Blues For the New Millenium - Marcus Roberts (1997)
72. City of Glass - Stan Kenton (1951)
73. In Our Lifetime - Dave Douglas (1994)
74. Brilliant Corners - Thelonious Monk (1956)
75. Kind of Blue - Miles Davis (1959)
76. Tijuana Moods - Charles Mingus (1957)
77. Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy - Sun Ra (1963)
78. Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature - George Russell (1969)
79. Reese And The Smooth Ones - Art Ensemble Of Chicago (1969)
80. Impressions - John Coltrane (1961)
81. Mama Too Tight - Archie Shepp (1966)
82. Complete Communion - Don Cherry (1965)
83. Presents Charles Mingus - Charles Mingus (1960)
84. As Wichita Falls, So Falls Wichita - Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays (1981)
85. Freedom Suite - Sonny Rollins (1958)
86. Filles de Kilimanjaro - Miles Davis (1968)
87. Psalm - Paul Motian (1982)
88. I Sing the Body Electric - Weather Report (1972)
89. Monkey Pockie Boo - Sonny Shamrock (1970)
90. Machine Gun - Peter Brotzmann (1968)
91. New And Old Gospel - Jackie McLean (1967)
92. Conquistador! - Cecil Taylor (1967)
93. Oh Yeah - Charles Mingus (1962)
94. Circular Temple - Matthew Shipp (1990)
95. The Use of Memory - Franz Koglmann (1990)
96. The Shape of Jazz to Come - Ornette Coleman (1959)
97. Orgy in Rhythm, Vol. 1 & 2 - Art Blakey (1957)
98. Jazz in Silhouette - Sun Ra (1958)
99. The Red Quartets - Jane Ira Bloom (1999)
100. Easily Slip into Another World - Henry Threadgill (1987)
101. Undine - Anthony Davis (1987)
102. Creative Music Orchestra, Chicago 2001 - Scott Rosenberg (2003)
103. Legend of Ai Glatson - Leroy Jenkins (1978)
104. Far Cry - Eric Dolphy (1960)
105. Point of Departure - Andrew Hill (1964)
106. Revealing - James Blood Ulmer (1977)
107. Saxophone Colossus - Sonny Rollins (1956)
108. Harmonious Creature - Sarah Manning (2014)
109. Ornette! - Ornette Coleman (1961)
110. Pithecanthropus Erectus - Charles Mingus (1956)
111. True Blue - Tina Brooks (1960)
112. Fontessa - Modern Jazz Quartet (1956)
113. New York, NY - George Russell (1959)
114. Mingus Ah Um - Charles Mingus (1959)
115. Giant Steps - John Coltrane (1959)
116. Jazz Mood - Yusef Lateef (1957)
117. My Favorite Things - John Coltrane (1961)
118. Birth of the Cool - Miles Davis (1950)
119. Blue Train - John Coltrane (1957)

DESERVING OF THE ABOVE LIST, BUT NEED TO BE RE-EVALUATED TO DETERMINE RANKING:
Crosscurrents - Lennie Tristano (1949)
Liberian Suite - Duke Ellington (1949)
The Third World - Herbie Nichols (1955)
Western Suite - Jimmy Giuffre (1958)
Free Form - Joe Harriott (1960)
Jazz Abstractions - Gunther Schuller [John Lewis] (1960)
Explorations - Bill Evans (1961)
Free Fall - Jimmy Giuffre (1962)
Movement - Joe Harriott (1963)
Black Fire - Andrew Hill (1963)
Speak No Evil - Wayne Shorter (1964)
Empyrean Isles - Herbie Hancock (1964)
Fuchsia Swing Song - Sam Rivers (1964)
Witches and Devils - Albert Ayler (1964)
Interstellar Space - John Coltrane (1967)
Eternal Rhythm - Don Cherry (1968)
Natural Black Inventions - Root Strata - Roland Kirk (1971)
Pangaea - Miles Davis (1975)
Solo Trombone Record - George Lewis (1976)
Wilde Senoritas - Irene Schweizer (1976)
Air Time - Air (1977)
Mass on the World - Leo Smith (1978)
Removal of Secrecy - Rova Saxophone Quartet (1979)
Current Trends in Racism - Butch Morris (1985)
Flying Vegetables of the Apocalypse - Guy Klucevsek (1991)
Citi Movement - Wynton Marsalis (1992)
Evanescence - Maria Schneider (1992)
Testament - Butch Norris (1995)
Approximately - Guillermo Gregorio (1996)
Ellipsis - Guillermo Gregorio (1997)
The Allegory of Hearing - Roy Montgomery (2000)
Going To Church - Joe Maneri (2000)
Largo - Brad Mehidau (2002)
Suite for Helen F - Ivo Perelman (2003)
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[AAL2014]

I do love Miles of course, and I agree wholeheartedly with the comments on his eclectic nature from album to album. In A Silent Way is one of my favorite albums ever, Kind Of Blue, Sketches of Spain, Round About Midnight...on and on and on. I like Bitches Brew more and more on subsequent listens (2nd and 3rd listens are required for that album though if you ask me).

Mingus is also an absolute giant, Black Saint is an anomaly, I've never heard anything quite like it, and Ah Um would make my top 10 jazz albums. Mingus might have the best pure compositional ability of these 3 and that says a fucking lot.

However, my choice is John Coltrane. He was the one who pushed the door to the world of jazz open for me. I connect to his music and his style more than pretty much any other jazz artist. As a drummer, hearing the chemistry he had with Elvin Jones on a number of his classic releases was so important. They really pushed each other and made art that will last forever.
_________________
Attention all planets of the solar federation: We have assumed control.

[AfterHours]

[Mercury]

Miles by miles.


(I am sorry. I'll see myself out)
_________________
-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[Hayden]

Despite everything, Miles.

But man that would've been a slick trio.

[bobbyb5]

My favorite jazz album would have to be;

Jazz. by Queen.