30 Essential jazz Albums (Part II - "The Silver Dozen")
30 ESSENTIAL JAZZ ALBUMS -- ("THE SILVER DOZEN")
1) SONNY ROLLINS PLUS FOUR (1956) (A1)
Click to viewTechnically, the album lists Rollins as a leader. In fact, it's a cooperative band with Clifford Brown on trumpet and Max Roach on the drums. Clifford Brown was the master of an extended middle-of-the-register trumpet solo. Here is 33'30" minutes of pure trumpet greatness.
There are two version of Clifford Brown / Max Roach Quintets that helped to co-defined the "hard-bop" idiom. (Another part of the definition was provided by multiple editions of Art Blakey's "Jazz Messengers"). The first and original version featured Harold Land on the tenor sax. The band released three albums: "Clifford Brown and Max Roach" (1954), "Brown and Roach Incorporated" (1955), and "Study in Brown" (1955). In 1956 Land left the band to stay with his wife in LA and Sonny Rollins, freshly from cleaning his act from heroin addiction, took over the tenor sax chair. The band immediately released "At Basin Street". All four albums are GREAT and there is very little to distinguish between them. Many aficionados prefer "ABS" on the strength of Sonny's playing and also because it has about 30 minutes of additional music (alternate tracks). But I am not one of them.
To me, Land's warmer sound and less angular approach fits really well the original concept of the band. Also, while recording "ABS", Sonny was not yet completely molded into the band's concept. But, if I were to chose only one, it might go with "The Study in Brown". In part it's because I's like to have something with Land and love his warm sound and, in another part, because it was their very first album I owned.
Personally, end especially if you already dig Sonny Rollins, I recommend "Sunny Rollins Plus 4" (aka "Three Giants") as representing the peak of the band. That's when Rollins "takes the next step" and truly shows his full mastery of music and the tenor sax. Not only he has completely molded into the bands concept but also slightly modified it; two of his compositions recorded here ("Valse Hot" and "Pent-Up House" became jazz standards). It's also some of the best drumming by Max Roach I know. (To put things in context, Roach was the main drummer on Charlie Parker's seminal "Savoy and Dial Masters" and he also plays drums on Miles's "Birth of the Cool" to mention but two jazz classics). And Clifford Brown is at his very best and in a complete harmony with Sonny. This is the very best album by this band and also, unfortunately, their very last album they.
A few month later, while still only 25 years old and already one of the greatest trumpet player in the history of jazz, Clifford Brown was killed in a car accident. It took Max Roach, and Sonny, and the entire jazz world quite a while to recover from this tragic death.
2) THELONIOUS MONK QUARTET with JOHHNY GRIFFIN, "MISTERIOSO" &"IN ACTION" (1958) A2
This came to me as a twofer in a vinyl form that, for no apparent reason, has a truncated version of "Misterioso". The CD version restore the cut to full splendor and includes additional tracks. "In Action" is the same band and date, also includes few bonus tracks. So, I recommend CDs. The only difference between the albums is that "Misterioso" has more seminal Monk's standards.
I do not know it's necessarily my favorite Monk's album; hence a "close call". My favorites are probably his solo albums -- "Thelonious Alone in San Francisco" and "Thelonious Himself" (the GD, #9). But it's the album that open me to Monk.
There is a story behind it. For quite a few years I was trying to get into Monk's world, and I could not. Something always was missing for me. At one moment I discovered and fell in love with Johnny Griffin aka "The Little Giant" (perhaps the best Thelonious sideman ever; yes, I would give him the node over Coltrane and Sonny Rollins). At one time, when I lived in Detroit, I learned on NPR that Griffin is playing at the famous Joe Segal's Chicago Jazz Sowcase. And since it lived but few hours drive from Chicago, I jumped into a car to hear him live and, also, to visit whit my good friend from grad school Mark Stone. And, lo and behold, almost every cut on every set I listened to was a Monk's tune. (I listened to 6 shows in a row.) And the entirely new world opened up for me.
Here is what Wikipedia says about this album:
"In the All Music Guide to Jazz (2002), Lindsay Planer wrote that Monk's quartet "continually reinvented" their strong, cohesive sound with "overwhelming and instinctual capacities" throughout Misterioso. He especially praised Griffin, saying he "consistently liberated the performances".[21] Monk biographer Robin Kelley felt because he had mastered Monk's songs at that point, his solos on Misterioso and Thelonious in Action were excursive and spirited.[9] Jazz critic Scott Yanow found Misterioso to be the superior record because of what he said was Griffin's unforgettable solo on a passionate rendition of "In Walked Bud", while music historian Ted Gioia listed Monk and Griffin's "freewheeling" performance on the title track as one of his recommended recordings of the composition.[34] According to Robert Christgau, both this record and Brilliant Corners (1957) represented Monk's artistic peak.[13] He cited Misterioso as his favorite album and, in a 2009 article for The Barnes & Noble Review, wrote that Griffin's tenor solo during "In Walked Bud" remained his "favorite five minutes of recorded music".[35] Liam McManus from PopMatters was less enthusiastic about Griffin's playing, which he believed was occasionally heavy-handed and detracted from the music, but still recommended Misterioso as an exceptional Monk record featuring him in a casual performance with his quartet.[30]"
I will add to it just one thing -- two unaccompanied tenor sax solos on this album are the best these sorts of solos I know. This is definitely 5 stars in my book, and my favorite album of Monk's playing with a small band.
To be fair, however, Monk's live recording with Trane is just as good even if it lacks a bit in spontaneity:
Ah, this one comes with a poem...
Ask Me About the Silence
For Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982) and Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 90)
Ask me now
about Thelonious Sphere Monk and Vincent Van Gogh
their walk along the Hudson river, or was it the Rhone?
I am not sure where they hang out these days
Maybe at a sidewalk cafe on the Place du Forum, in Arles
or at the Five Spot Cafe, in New Amsterdam
listening to blues
Thelonious in a pin stripe suit, a flask of burbon in his pocket
wearing one of his funny hats
(perhaps a “rogatywka” he got while touring Poland)
and a diamond ring that would scratch the keys of a piano
Vincent in a green coat, buttoned up
takes a puff from a pipe, a sip of absinthe
his ear covered by a bandage
a furry hat on his head
They talk about blossoming almond trees
olive groves and irises, sunflowers on blue and pink
roses and white roses as if flashes of light
in Monk’s tunes: “Light Blue” and “Ask Me Now”
and “Coming on the Hudson.”
Yes, coming on the Hudson or was it the Rhone?
I am not sure where they hang out these days
They trade chords full of colors
palettes filled with bent notes
broad strokes
and steps
in which the silence comes home
Why was Monk silent?
For 6 years he had not touched a piano
no music at all (at least, none we could hear)
then death
Doctors say he was ill and burned out.
True, and so was Vincent.
But the illness does not shed light
on what they really heard, saw, carried
from the previous lives perhaps
from the hills of Arles
along the path with willows and cypresses
to a yellow house, a bedroom with pale violet walls
a green window, a night table, a water carafe, a vase
a bed covered with light greenish citron sheets and
something red
and two chairs almost collapsed under the heavy burden
of shades and yet standing
standing firm not falling
Ask me about Monk’s dream
in which, on a starry night
Vincent is painting round lights?
What happens between one stroke of a brush
and a note played on a piano?
What holds it all together?
Ask me now
‘round midnight
while we are watching starlight over the Rhone.
Ask me
about the ...
3) THE EMINENT J.J. JOHNSON, Vol. I & Vol. II(1993) (A1 - A2)
There is no better jazz trombonist than Jay Jay and there is no better album by Jay Jay. Here he plays with several other jazz giants including Clifford Brown on trumpet, Kenny Clarke (from the original Modern Jazz Quartet and Dizzy's big bands) on drums, both John Lewis (from MJQ), Horace Silver, and Wynton Kelly (who later joined MIles) on piano, Hank Mobley and Jimmy Heath on tenor, and Percy Heath and Charles Mingus on bass. These are stellar combos of players. The "Penguin Guide" gives it a very rare "crown" and I concur. To put things simply, this is one of the greatest jazz (double-)albums ever and it's a classic, too.
https://www.npr.org/2011/06/20/4541365/j-j-johnson-the-eminent-jay-jay-johnson-vol-1-the-eminent-j-j-johnson-vol-2?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social
4) SONNY ROLLINS, VOL II (A1 - A2)
This one is a very close call. I was thinking about something quintessential representing Sony and his minimalist bands. One option were very open-ended (pianoless) trios. I especially recommend "A Way Out West" (a rare "crown" from the "Penguin Guide to Jazz") and "A Night at the Village Vanguard" (a twofer featuring a spectacular Elvin Jones on drums; also a "crown".
But "Volume II" takes the cake. First, it features brilliant Jay Jay Johnson on trombone. Second, it features two brilliant pianists -- Thelonious Monk and a hard-bop virtuoso Horace Silver. Just to put things in perspective, numerous be-bop and hard-bop musicians graduated from Monk's university. This includes read players like Coltrane and Rollins and also piano players like an iconic be-bop pianist Bud Powel (Monk's blues "In Walked Bud" is dedicated to Powell). Yet, though Monk was teaching them be-bop and hard-bop idioms, he himself always played Thelonious. So, here is a very rare opportunity to compare two completely different styles of playing piano. On Monk's composition "Misterioso", Monk takes the first piano solo and comps behind Rollins's solo while Silver takes the second piano solo and comps behind Jay Jay. This is by far my favorite version of Monk's classic (with the possible exception of Monk's playing solo piano). Monk also plays on his composition "Reflections". Silver plays on all other tunes.
So, why does not this album appear earlier among top 12? I think "Saxophone Colossus" may be slightly better and also, so far as I am concerned, at least just as influential.
5) ART BLAKEY, "FREE FOR ALL" (1964) (A1 - A2)
There are two bands that defined hard-bop: Clifford Brown / Max Roach quintets (with either Harold Land or Sonny Rollins on tenor, see above) and the multiple versions of Art Blakey's "Jazz Messengers". Blakey was an amazing drummer. Describing him, Max Roach said what follows:
"Art was an original… He's the only drummer whose time I recognize immediately. And his signature style was amazing; we used to call him 'Thunder.' When I first met him on 52d Street in 1944, he already had the poly-rhythmic thing down. Art was the perhaps the best at maintaining independence with all four limbs. He was doing it before anybody was".
And he was also an amazing band leader and mentor able to discover talent like nobody else and able to incorporate numerous young musicians into his bands. If you go through the list of musicians graduating from Blakey's university it reads like who-is-who in modern jazz.
The multiple editions of Messengers produced so much great music that it is border line impossible to settle on but one particular album. Early versions featured Clifford on trumpet and Horace Silver on piano (Silver co-founded the band). But I already introduced each of them playing in other contexts (e.g., with Max Roach, Sarah Vaughan, Jay Jay Johnson, and Sonny Rollins). Thus, I decided to go with a later versions of the band featuring either Freddie Hubbard or Lee Morgan on trumpet and Wayne Shorter on tenor (later stolen by Miles to feature in his second great quintet). "Free For All" is a sextet featuring a three horns front with Freddie, Wayne and Curtis Fuller on trombone. This allowed band to play much more complex harmonies. This is pure hard-bop energy and beauty!
Anything by sextet versions of Messengers is (almost) equally good. "Art Blakey!!!!! Jazz Messengers!!!!!" features Lee Morgan and includes a few gorgeously mellow tunes. A quintet version with Lee and Benny Golson (Blue Note 4003) includes two incredible takes of "Moaning" that became the greatest Messengers' hit (links in the comments).
6) BILL EVANS TRIO, "SUNDDAY AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD" & "WALTZ FOR DEBBY" (1961) (A1 - A2)
"Technique is the ability to translate your ideas into sound through your instrument. This is a comprehensive technique . . . a feeling for the keyboard that will allow you to transfer any emotional utterance into it. What has to happen is that you develop a comprehensive technique and then say, forget that. I’m just going to be expressive through the piano" (Bill Evans).
On these two albums, recorded in 1961, Bill Evans (another "Kind of Blue" alumnus) is accompanied by Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums. Many critics and aficionados think this was the best Evans's band and these two are among the best live jazz recordings of all time. In 2006, Riverside issued a three-CD box set containing virtually all the material recorded at the Village Vanguard.
Incidentally, the video posted is by a different Bill Evans Trio (Larry Bunker is on drums and Chuck Israels plays bass.
7) MILES DAVIS, "MILES SMILES" (1966) & "NEFERTITI" (1968) (alternatively, "The Perfect Miles Davis Collection") (A1 - A3)
Towards the late 1950s, Coltrane started to record outside the context of Miles' First Great Quintet. Gradually, it became obvious that he wanted to form his own band and that's what happened after the 1960 European tour (review of the recent bootlegs here: https://slate.com/…/miles-davis-and-john-coltranes-the-fina…).
While leaving, Trane recommended to Miles a young saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Unfortunately, being under a contract with Art Blakey's "Jazz Messengers" (see #6), Shorter became available only in 1964, when they released "E.S.P.". Only then he was able to join Mile's band with already Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. "E.S.P." (1965) is their first release. That's when Miles' Second Great Quintet is formed.
Stylistically, the band continued the tradition of modal jazz that originated with "Kind of Blue" (The Golden Dozen, #1). But the music is heavily influenced by hard-bop idiom, too (after all, Shorter was Art Blakey's alumni). And it also includes occasional forays into much more free playing (after all, Miles listened to Trane very carefully and was surely assimilating Trane's ideas). Virtually everything by the Second Quintet is great. (That's why I would recommend "The Perfect Miles Davis Collection" that also includes his earlier music recorded for Columbia, e.g., "Kind of Blue").
For a number of reasons, "Miles Smiles" is my personal favorites. First, it was one their first two albums I acquired (the other one is "Nefertiti"); so, I listened to them more than to anything else. Second, Miles actually smiles on "Miles Smiles"; that is, the music has a bit lighter feel than many other Miles's recordings. Third, it has a fabulous take of Wayne's composition "Footprints" with an amazing drumming by Tony Williams; from the very first listen, I was completely taken by it. Technically, Williams never takes a solo. But he very subtly shifts his figures and rhythmic patterns from bar to bar. In a sense, it is one extended solo. And just recently I found this: "Wayne Shorter's composition "Footprints" appears on his earlier album Adam's Apple, but on Miles Smiles, the correlation between African-based 12/8 (or 6/8), and 4/4 is playfully explored. Drummer Tony Williams freely moves from swing, to the three-over-two cross rhythm-and to its 4/4 correlative. The rhythmic approach of Williams, and bassist Ron Carter, strongly suggests compound quadruple meter (12/8), rather than triple meter (3/4), because the ground of four main beats is maintained throughout the piece. The bass switches to 4/4 at 2:20. Carter’s 4/4 figure is known as ‘’tresillo’’ in Afro-Cuban music and is the duple-pulse correlative of the 12/8 figure. This may have been the first overt expression of systemic, African-based cross-rhythm used by a straight ahead jazz group. During Davis’s first trumpet solo, Williams shifts to a 4/4 jazz ride pattern while Carter continues the 12/8 bass line." I understand maybe half of it. But I surely love Williams's (no-)solo. Thus I will post this tune in the first comment.
I love "Nefertiti" for its very unusual compositions (all by by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter) and a style of playing. Per Wikipedia (again), "Nefertiti is best known for the unusual title track, on which the horn section repeats the melody numerous times without individual solos while the rhythm section improvises underneath, reversing the traditional role of a rhythm section.[3]" And since the albums came to me at about the same time, they are kind of interlocked in my mind.
So, why did not any of these albums make the Golden Dozen? Because, first, "Kind of Blue" is already overall #1. Second, Shorter's "Speak No Evil" is already out; here Miles adds his genius to already existing genius. Furthermore, I think that recorded and released at about the same time Komeda's "Astigmatic" is very slightly better. But I can see that someone might legitimately debate my assessment. Either way, I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.
8) JOHN COLTRANE, "ASCENSION" VOLUME I & VOLUME II (1965) (A4)
We might roughly divide Trane's career into three slightly overlapping periods: his "early" work (1955-1960, including recordings with Monk's quartet and Miles's first quintet); recordings with his classic quartet (beginning in 1959 and culminating in "A Love Supreme" 1964); and his later more experimental "free" stuff. If we were to base his contributions to jazz on but one of these periods, he would be in a category of giants. So, he is a giant three times over.
Unlike Ornette Colemane, who entered jazz scene playing "free", it took Trane a while to get here. "Ascension" is a collective free improvisation by a medium size band consisting of 11 musicians. So, in a sense, it follows into the footsteps of Ornette's "Free Jazz, by a double-quartet. Many critics and aficionados consider it to be one of Trane's signature album. But sometimes the album is thought to be "inaccessible". I find it helpful to mix listening to it with "A Love Supreme" (1964), "Alabama", "Spiritual", " First Meditations (for quartet)" (1965), and "Meditations (for sextet) (1966). It's good to remember, sometimes it's not easy to find balance and harmony in Trane's playing. But they are always there. And whatever tension he creates, it is always resolved. The "Penguin Guide to Jazz" gives this album a very rare "crown".
9) OLIVER NELSON, "BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT TRUTH" (19. ) (A1 - A2)
The band is stellar: Oliver Nelson (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, composer), Eric Dolphy (flute, alto saxophone), George Barrow (baritone saxophone, no solos though), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet, some of his best playing ever), Bill Evans (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Roy Haynes (drums). The compositions and arrangements (all by Nelson) are fabulous and influential, including on rock idiom (Frank Zappa recorded "Stolen Moments", I hope you are going to see it, Jason Shaggy, Steely Dan used "Teenie's Blues" for his show opener). And the final product is uniformly great. Per wiki:
"Writing in the December 21, 1961 issue of Down Beat magazine jazz critic Don DeMicheal commented: "Nelson's playing is like his writing: thoughtful, unhackneyed, and well constructed. Hubbard steals the solo honors with some of his best playing on record. Dolphy gets off some good solos too, his most interesting one on "Yearnin'."[3]"
There is but one problem with this album -- it's only 36 minutes of great music. I wish it was twice or three times as long.
10) INCREDIBLE JAZZ GUITAR OF WES MONTGOMERY (1960) (A1 - A2)
My favorite guitar player accompanied by Tommy Flanagan, Percy Heath and Albert Heath. Per Wikipedia:
"The album is considered by many fans and critics to be the pinnacle of Montgomery's recorded studio work. The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection", calling it "probably the best Montgomery record currently available".[4] Writing for Allmusic, music critic Michael G. Nastos praised the album, writing: "Setting him apart from the rest, this recording established Montgomery as the most formidable modern guitarist of the era, and eventually its most influential... Montgomery is clearly talented beyond convention, consistently brilliant, and indeed incredible in the company of his sidemen, and this recording-an essential addition to every jazz guitarist fan's collection-put him on the map."[2]
Tommy Flanagan definitely had a knack at appearing at the right place at the right time, e.g., on Sonny Rollins's "Saxophone Colossus", on Coltrane's "Giant Steps" and also, on numerous occasion, backing up Ella Fitzgerald.
I think Wes Montgomery's recordings with Wynton Kelly are just as good; for no one swings harder than Wyn. So, here are links to two classic line albums ("Full House" with Johnny Griffin on tenor):
11) STAN GETZ QUARTETS "SWEET RAIN" (1967) / WITH BILL EVANS (1973) (A1 - A2)
Soft and warm as the lover's embrace but full of strong swing and syncopation like good love making. And no one has more beautiful sound than Stan Getz. They came to me as a twofer and for a while I only had them on a tape, each of them on one side of a tape. The CD release of the album with Bill Evans has extra tracks.
Here is what Wikipedia says about the "Sweet Rain":
"The Allmusic review by Steve Huey states that Sweet Rain is "one of Stan Getz's all-time greatest albums," and "the quartet's level of musicianship remains high on every selection, and the marvelously consistent atmosphere the album evokes places it among Getz's very best. A surefire classic."
And about "Stan Getz / Bill Evans":
"The Allmusic review by Ken Dryden awarded the album 4 stars and states: "It is peculiar that Verve shelved the results for over a decade before issuing any of the music, though it may have been felt that Getz and Evans hadn't had enough time to achieve the desired chemistry, though there are memorable moments."
If I could have only one, I would go with SG/BE because it's more music and also because I love Bill Evans and Elvin Jones so much. But it's really a toss up.
12a) JACKIE McLEAN, "JACKNIFE" (1965) (A1 - A2)
In objective term, "One Step Beyond" (1963), "Destination Out" (1963), and "Evolution" (1963, released by Graham Moncur III) may be slightly better; or maybe just slightly more original and opening new terrains. All three feature the same front line of Jackie McLean (alto), Graham Moncur III (trombone), and Bobby Hutcherson (vibes) and stellar rhythm sections. In addition, "Evolution" includes also Lee Morgan on trumpet. But all three albums are slightly on the outside (A2 - A3). So, in huge part on the strength of accessibility, I am going with "Jacknife".
The energy of this album is steady and uplifting (rather than strictly high). So, there is no other album to which I listened more when I need this sort of strong sustained energy (e.g., when I am on my way to a poetry slam or a feature).
12b) LEE MORGAN, "SIDEWINDER" (1963) (A1 - A2)
Lee Morgan is one of the greatest trumpet players ever. He had appeared earlier on my "lists" playing as a "sideman" with Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, and others. This is one of his signature albums as a leader and, probably, his greatest "hit".
And it is one of my three favorites, the other two being a bit more abstract "Search for the New Land" (February 1964), with Wayne Shorter on tenor and Grant Green on guitar, and "Cornbread" (1965), with a three-horns front line of Jackie McLean on alto and Hank Mobley on tenor (boy, I love three-horns front lines). All three albums have the great Billy Higgins on drums. Per Wiki:
"The title track, "The Sidewinder", was one of the defining recordings of the soul jazz genre, becoming a jazz standard. ... The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" (with a crown), calling the title track "a glorious 24-bar theme as sinuous and stinging as the beast of the title. ... The album was identified by Scott Yanow in his Allmusic essay "Hard Bop" as one of the 17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings".
Enjoy!
12c) BOBBY HUTCHERSON, "DIALOGUE" (1965) (A2-A3)
I started to love vibraphone oriented jazz through listening to Modern Jazz Quartet. I thought that, for sure, MJQ is bound to make one of my top lists. But when I started to revisit my Golden and Silver Dozens it slowly dawned on me that, as gorgeous as their music is, I never had them on continuous playing.
And that's very different than Bobby Hutcherson. Sometimes I would sink into his world for weeks if not months occasionally branching into his work as a sideman playing with Dexter Gordon (e.g., on "Gettin' Around" and "Round Midnight"), Grant Green (e.g., "Idle Moments"), Jackie McLean, (e.g., "One Step Beyond" and "Destination... Out!") and Eric Dolphy (e.g., "Iron Mand" and "Out to Lunch"). I have introduced some oif these albums earlier.
I do not really have a single most influential or favorite album of his. But this is one of them. I decided to share it on the strength of many accolades it received from both jazz critics and aficionados. Per Wiki: "The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded it the maximum five stars, as well as the special "crown" accolade in the first and second editions. According to the authors: "Dialogue stands head and shoulders above [Hutcherson's other classic Blue Note dates]. Drawing on some of the free-harmonic and -rhythmic innovations developed on Eric Dolphy's "Out to Lunch" (on which Hutcherson played), he began to develop a complex contrapuntal style that involved parallel melodies rather than unisons and complex rhythmic patterns which he conceived... as focal points round which the musicians operated."[3] AllMusic's Steve Huey gave the album five stars as well writing: "Dialogue remains Hutcherson's most adventurous, "outside" album, and while there are more extensive showcases for his playing, this high-caliber session stands as arguably his greatest musical achievement".
For an even measure, one or two more in the comments. Please enjoy!
BONUS: DIZZY GILLESPIE, SONNY ROLLINS & SONNY STITT "SESSIONS" ("SONNY SIDE UP" / "DUETS", 1957)
COLEMAN HAWKINS ENCOUNTERS BEN WEBSTER (1957)
These are firmly in the pocket, bluesy, make you feel good blowing jams including some of the best tenor sax players ever. In objective terms Dizzy's "The Complete RCA Victor Recordings" are better. It's an absolute classic of bebop and Latin jazz. And, I have a feeling, Hawk and Frog (the Brute) might have cut "better" sides, too. (Sadly, I do not know Hawkins' and Webster's music that well). But these are their albums to which I listened more than to anything else. I put them on the record many many times when I needed some steady uplifting energy.
Enjoy!