Thelonious Monk - Genius of Modern Music (1951)

"'Round About Midnight" by the Thelonious Monk Quintet

Thelonious Monk worked to convince his record label Riverside to sign Johnny Griffin but lost out to the sentinels of modern jazz, Blue Note Records (Monk's own first label.)  One of the pioneers of bebop, Thelonious Monk started recording as a bandleader in 1947 and releasing several singles that Blue Note Records eventually compiled into his 1951 debut album Genius of Modern Music.

Here is the discography surrounding Thelonious Monk's debut album:

Evonce (1948 single with his Sextet and Trio)

In Walked Bud (1948 single with his Quintet and Quartet)

'Round About Midnight (1948 single with his Quintet and Trio)

Thelonious (1948 single with his Sextet)

Who Knows (1948 single with his Quintet)

Humph (1949 single with his Sextet and Quartet)

Ruby My Dear (1949 single with his Trio and Quartet)

April in Paris (1950 single with his Trio)

Genius of Modern Music

Genius of Modern Music, Volume 1 (1956 expanded album re-release)

"Epistrophy" by the Thelonious Monk Quartet

"In Walked Bud" by the Thelonious Monk Quintet

"Thelonious" by the Thelonious Monk Sextet

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Johnny Griffin - Introducing Johnny Griffin (1957)

"Mil Dew" by Johnny Griffin

Alongside several dozen singles, Parrot Records managed to release only one LP (that would be Ahmad Jamal Plays) before folding.  They sold their master tapes to the Chess label which then re-released Jamal's record as the more portentous Chamber Music of the New Jazz.  Parrot recorded a couple more albums by other rookie bandleaders but never managed to release them: tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin was one of those rookies.  He eventually saw his debut leading on wax with Blue Note's Introducing Johnny Griffin in 1957.

Here is the discography surrounding Johnny Griffin's debut album:

Nice and Easy (1956 single)

Mil Dew (1956 single)

Introducing Johnny Griffin

"Nice and Easy" by Johnny Griffin

"It's All Right with Me" by Johnny Griffin

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Ahmad Jamal - Ahmad Jamal Plays (1955)

"All of Me" by Ahmad Jamal

Erroll Garner brings us away from the Boston jazz scene to the Pittsburgh jazz incubator.  Where Garner attended George Westinghouse High School so, eventually, did fellow pianist Ahmad Jamal.  Ahmad Jamal started his recording career as one of "Three Strings" setting singles for OKeh Records.  He then, still as one of a trio, released his debut album Ahmad Jamal Plays in 1955 on Parrot Records.

Here is the discography surrounding Ahmad Jamal's debut album:

A Gal in Calico (1952 single as Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings)

Perfidia (1952 single as Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings)

The Surrey with the Fringe on Top (1952 single as Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings)

Will You Still Be Mine (1953 single as Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings)

Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings (1953 EP as Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings)

Seleritus (1954 single)

Excerpts from the Blues (1955 single)

Ahmad Jamal Plays

Chamber Music of the New Jazz (1956 album re-release)

"I Get a Kick Out of You" by Ahmad Jamal

"The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" by Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings

"Rica Pulpa" by Ahmad Jamal's Three Strings

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Erroll Garner - The Chronological Classics: Erroll Garner 1944 (1944)

"Autumn Mood" by Erroll Garner

Jaki Byard's debut featured the song "Garnerin' a Bit," his own homage to jazz pianist Erroll Garner.  Erroll Garner cut his first recordings at the apartment of Danish jazz promoter Timme Rosenkrantz.  The Chronological Classics: Erroll Garner 1944 collects this first batch of recordings.

Here is the discography surrounding Erroll Garner's debut recordings:

The Chronological Classics: Erroll Garner 1944

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Jaki Byard - Here's Jaki (1961)

"To My Wife" by Jaki Byard

It's still a Boston affair as we highlight Worcester native Jaki Byard who played piano in Charlie Mariano's Jazz Group and with Herb Pomeroy.  After over a decade of playing around Boston, he moved to New York City.  There, he played with and arranged for some of the most advanced jazz groups of the era and got the chance to lead his own sessions.  His first LP Here's Jaki, which highlights his versatility and an approachable experimentation, released in 1961 on the New Jazz division of Prestige Records.

Here is the discography surrounding Jaki Byard's debut album:

Here's Jaki

"Bess You Is My Woman/It Ain't Necessarily So" by Jaki Byard

"Garnerin' a Bit" by Jaki Byard

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Charlie Mariano - Charlie Mariano with His Jazz Group (1950)

"Sweet and Lovely" by Charlie Mariano

To find success in jazz, Herb Pomeroy never had to go far from his hometown of Gloucester.  After giving up on studying dentistry at Harvard, he studied music at Schillinger House (future: Berklee,) played a short stint with Charlie Parker and set his horn to wax for the first time playing with fellow Schillinger schtudent Charlie Mariano (not in that order.)  The album was also Mariano's first: Charlie Mariano with His Jazz Group released in 1950 on Imperial Records.

Here is the discography surrounding Charlie Mariano's debut album:

Charlie Mariano with His Jazz Group

Charlie Mariano with His Jazz Group (1950 EP)

"Ryan's Love" by Charlie Mariano

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Herb Pomeroy - Jazz in a Stable (1956)

Jazz in a Stable by Herb Pomeroy

When it came time to record their album, Ill Wind caught the attention of Tom Wilson who had a lot of experience with the genres they were mixing (folk, jazz, rock) but lacked the strong hand they were looking to guide them through their studio inexperience.

Tom Wilson jumped into music production and publishing right out of college when he turned a loan into Transition Records, a record label dedicated to recording the players of the most "advanced jazz" of the day. (So in the mid-50s, that'd be bebop, hard bop and the beginnings of free jazz.)  TRLP-1 went to Herb Pomeroy's Jazz in a Stable released in 1955.

Here is the discography surrounding Herb Pomeroy's debut album:

Jazz in a Stable

Jazz in Transition (1956 compilation song)

"Moten Swing" by Herb Pomeroy

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