21st Century Modern

Jazz music community with review and forums

As we move into the new century, jazz artists continue to merge and blend pre-existing genres in ways that make it hard to find easy labels. Today's jazz artist is likely to pull from the avant-garde, post bop, 3rd stream and modern fusion all within the same piece. Yet as these artists draw from all these eclectic sources, we begin to see some similarities in a lot of new jazz in the 21st century.

The 21st Century Modern genre at JMA is for artists who do not easily fit into pre-existing genres such as the aforementioned, Post Bop, Avant-Garde, Fusion, or 3rd Stream, but whose music may contain elements of all those genres, as well as other elements from outside the jazz world.

Despite all these eclectic elements, we do find some things in common with many of the artists listed in our 21st Century Modern genre.

1)Many artists in this genre feature arrangements and composition in their music, along with improvisation based on chord progressions, or entirely freely improvised sections as well. Large scale pieces with multiple sections are often a part of this genre. There is an attempt in modern jazz to blend composition and improvisation in ways that make them hard to tell apart.

2)Larger ensembles (5 to 8 pieces) and 'mini-big bands' play a part in a lot of modern jazz. Instruments like the violin, cello and clarinet have made a comeback.

3)Rhythmically, modern jazz is all over the map, sometimes swinging, sometimes drawing on international fusion, and sometimes totally free, almost any style can happen.

4)Harmonically modern jazz is equally eclectic, ranging from the extended harmonies of post bop, to atonal free jazz, to the simple triad based harmonies of folk songs and hymns, once again, anything can happen.

21st century modern top albums

Showing only albums and live's | Based on members ratings & JMA custom algorithm | 24 hours caching

PAUL BLEY Paul Bley / Gary Peacock / Paul Motian : Not Two, Not One Album Cover Paul Bley / Gary Peacock / Paul Motian : Not Two, Not One
PAUL BLEY
4.67 | 3 ratings
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CARLA BLEY Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow : Life Goes On Album Cover Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow : Life Goes On
CARLA BLEY
4.75 | 2 ratings
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ENRICO RAVA Enrico Rava / Stefano Bollani : The Third Man Album Cover Enrico Rava / Stefano Bollani : The Third Man
ENRICO RAVA
4.75 | 2 ratings
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HENRY THREADGILL Henry Threadgill & Make A Move ‎: Where's Your Cup? Album Cover Henry Threadgill & Make A Move ‎: Where's Your Cup?
HENRY THREADGILL
4.52 | 3 ratings
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VIJAY IYER Vijay Iyer / Wadada Leo Smith : A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke Album Cover Vijay Iyer / Wadada Leo Smith : A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke
VIJAY IYER
4.46 | 4 ratings
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THE CLAUDIA QUINTET Royal Toast Album Cover Royal Toast
THE CLAUDIA QUINTET
4.40 | 6 ratings
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CRAIG TABORN Chants Album Cover Chants
CRAIG TABORN
4.45 | 3 ratings
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VIJAY IYER Vijay Iyer Sextet ‎: Far From Over Album Cover Vijay Iyer Sextet ‎: Far From Over
VIJAY IYER
4.43 | 3 ratings
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MYRA MELFORD Snowy Egret Album Cover Snowy Egret
MYRA MELFORD
4.50 | 2 ratings
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TYSHAWN SOREY The Inner Spectrum of Variables Album Cover The Inner Spectrum of Variables
TYSHAWN SOREY
4.50 | 2 ratings
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DAVE DOUGLAS Brazen Heart Album Cover Brazen Heart
DAVE DOUGLAS
4.48 | 2 ratings
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WADADA LEO SMITH America's National Parks Album Cover America's National Parks
WADADA LEO SMITH
4.48 | 2 ratings
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This list is in progress since the site is new. We invite all logged in members to use the "quick rating" widget (stars bellow album covers) or post full reviews to increase the weight of your rating in the global average value (see FAQ for more details). Enjoy JMA!

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21st century modern New Releases

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Tsuki - Piano Solo
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SATOKO FUJII
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Pith
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TOMAS FUJIWARA
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Trabajadores De Energia
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DANIEL CARTER
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Tough Love
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ARRIGO CAPPELLETTI
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Look For Water
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JEFF COFFIN
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The House Keeper
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MATT LAVELLE
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Harmolodic Duke
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MATT LAVELLE
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Conversation #9 - Targeted
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FLORIAN ARBENZ
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Quinteto Capital
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JAVIER MORENO
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The Intrinsic Nature Of Shipp
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MATTHEW SHIPP
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Protect Your Light
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IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS
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Alternate Side Parking Music
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RUSS LOSSING
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Russ Johnson Quartet : Reveal
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RUSS JOHNSON
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Caught in the Rhythm
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BENJAMIN BOONE
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The Speed Of Time
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Umbra
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MATT OTTO
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Frozen Silence
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Wild Awake
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Outlines
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Meditations For Clarinets
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PAUL DUNMALL
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Beauty is Enough
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AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE
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Estrellero
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LEO GENOVESE
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The Glass Hours
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LINDA MAY HAN OH
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Unclosing
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ILLEGAL CROWNS
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Polar Waters
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JOSHUA JASWON
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biome i.i
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KATE GENTILE
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ICI
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MARC DUCRET
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Harlem Rhapsody
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DAVE BURRELL
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Carta
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DAVID VIRELLES
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Pilc Moutin Hoenig : You Are the Song
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JEAN-MICHEL PILC
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Continuing
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TYSHAWN SOREY
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Buoyancy
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PABLO HELD
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Time Took Care of It
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DANNY FOX TRIO
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Powerful Vulnerability
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JULIA KADEL
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Avi Granite 6 : Operator
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AVI GRANITE
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Aria
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TINEKE POSTMA
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Tonpoem 2021​-​2022
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EMIL STRANDBERG
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The Berlin Sessions
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ANAT FORT
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Playing With Standards
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SEPPE GEBRUERS
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Letters to George
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GEORGE (JOHN HOLLENBECK - ANNA WEBBER - CHIQUITA MAGIC - AURORA NEALAND)
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Ain't No Saint
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JIM BLACK
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It's Always Now
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RALPH ALESSI
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Emerald
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JACOB ANDERSKOV
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What Place Can Be For Us?
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ANTHONY BRANKER
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in-Visibility
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ORBIT (STÉPHAN OLIVA - SÉBASTIEN BOISSEAU - TOM RAINEY)
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Song For Alice
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DAVE SCOTT
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Sun Ra's Journey
Live album
TYLER MITCHELL
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Christoph Irniger Pilgrim : Ghost Cat
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CHRISTOPH IRNIGER
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The Fourth Way
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JOHN ZORN
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Christian McBride's New Jawn : Prime
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CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE
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Nobody's Heart
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KASPER TRANBERG
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21st century modern Music Reviews

LINDA MAY HAN OH The Glass Hours

Album · 2023 · 21st Century Modern
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snobb
Malaysian-Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh came to the international jazz scene a decade ago as a comet, with her groovy, melodious and fresh contemporary jazz songs. On her new album, "The Glass Hours", the bassist continues exploring the more composition-based side of her music, characteristic for Oh's most current works.

Leading a strong electroacoustic quintet, Linda offers complex compositions with a lot of tension, filled with rising Portuguese star Sara Serpa's wordless vocals.

What looks interesting on paper doesn't always work all that well in real recording. So attractive Oh's earlier work's playfulness is gone here, these composition's complexity and borrowed classical elements add a lot of heaviness and dryness, which often sounds quite formal and a bit repetitive. Lyric-less Serpa's vocals vary from neo-classical to early 70s jazz fusion inherent and not always fits together. The album doesn't sound as a complete work, more like a collection of musical sketches and sometimes underdeveloped ideas from different times.

Ambitious work, which has its moments, but doesn't realize the potential in full.

MASABUMI KIKUCHI Hanamichi - The Final Studio Recordings

Album · 2021 · 21st Century Modern
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snobb
"Hanamichi" is Japanese pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, who was living in New York for decades, last studio recording. Kikuchi has been known by his collaborations with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, and his original piano playing techniques.

"Hanamichi..." (what is the bridge-way that allows the actor to exit the stage by crossing the auditorium through the audience in Japanese Kabuki theatre) was recorded on a vintage Steinway at Klavierhaus in New York City in December 2013, the pianist passed away in July of 2015 at the age of 75. The recording sessions, which were organized by former ECM producer Sun Chung and lasted two days, were done while Kikuchi was already sick. It's known that he slept two hours in the middle of one session. His music here is a bit more fragile and meditative than usual.

Surprisingly enough, the album's material isn't what one would usually expect from Kikuchi. Besides of his own quite free "Improvisation", and one of his most popular originals, "Little Abi"(a song of rare beauty, dedicated to his daughter), Kikuchi plays "Ramona", originally a Latin-ballad from the late 20s, unorthodox, 11+minutes long version of "Summertime" and two radically different versions of "My Favorite Things". Recorded sound is perfectly crisp, in ECM tradition, just slightly warmer.

In same way as his once collaborator Paul Motian, Kikuchi pays a lot of attention to how each single note sounds, the silence is an important component of his music. Slightly less energetic and a bit more philosophical, than Kikuchi's music from some last years, this album is a perfect soundtrack for a matured master exit, Zen-meditative and non-melancholic cool at the same time.

INGRID LAUBROCK Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House : Strong Place

Album · 2013 · 21st Century Modern
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snobb
German-born Brooklyn-based sax player Ingrid Laubrock's Anti-House combines three of the brightest NY Downtown female jazz musicians of the last decade - herself, American guitarist Mary Halvorson and Canadian-born pianist Kris Davis - plus an excellent rhythm section of drummer Tom Rainey and double bassist John Hébert. The band's second album, "Strong Place", offers a seamless mix of Laubrock's tightly composed contemporary classical music combined with the highest-class of free jazz improvisation from all of the band's members.

Aptly named opener, "An Unfolding", is a quite static drone-influenced piece. It opens the door towards more dynamic compositions, the tension is growing from song to song. Still, the whole album is radiating a chamber feel, and it is far not so raw and explosive as some of Laubrock's earlier, more free jazz rooted, works. There are a lot of melodic snippets in the album's music, and it generally sounds quite accessible, but after repeated listening, the dedicated listener will find new layers and ideas again and again.

From a distance of a decade, "Strong Place" most probably can be listed as one among the best NY Downtown creative jazz of the New Millennium defining albums.

ROB MAZUREK Rob Mazurek Quartet : Father's Wing

Album · 2022 · 21st Century Modern
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snobb
American trumpeter / multi-instrumentalist Rob Mazurek is a significant figure on the US contemporary jazz scene, and a prolific recording artist as well. He has offered a lot of unusual cross-genre musical experiments, mixing jazz with electronics and free improvs, adding Latin rhythms to bold techno, etc.

The main problem with Mazurek's music is that he often offers some interesting ideas and songs, but then mixing them with lots of raw material and less attractive pieces, sometimes just fillers. Almost any of his album would be best served with some editing. "Father's Wing", dedicated to his late father, is a rare exemption, really for the good.

Recorded with the excellent multi-national quartet of American drummer Chad Taylor, Canadian pianist Kris Davis and Norwegian acoustic bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (it's already this quartet's second album, after 2019's "Desert Encrypts Vol. 1"), it contains much better organized, executed and, what is really important, - composed music. Mazurek himself plays piccolo trumpet and adds lots of analog synth sounds.

The album's music is airy, almost minimalistic, with many beautiful tunes and complex, but quite ascetic arrangements. This release is worth hearing just for its almost 13-minutes long opener, "Crimson Song". Flying melody, full of optimism, played by the trumpeter over tasteful synth loops and framing rhythms of the drummer and pianist. This will stay in the listener's head for hours, or even days ahead. More rhythmic pieces, such as "Amber Wing" or "Spooled" are knotty, but don't destroy the beauty of the opener at all.

Coming after "Sun Ohm 3", is a ballad, but without even a trace of melancholy. "From Here To There" and "Sun Ohm 1" and the short "Signal Frame" are all more energetic, but still blessed with melodic snippets and varying complex rhythms. "Father’s Wing" is another of the album's beauty, sensual piano-based ballad, full of sunlight. "Ice Castles of Saturn", the closer, is a true free jazz piece, still quite bright and meditative, perfectly framing all of the album's conceptual music.

"Father's Wing" is Rob Mazurek at his best, in some of the best company he has ever had.

ARUÁN ORTIZ Serranias : Sketchbook for Piano Trio

Album · 2023 · 21st Century Modern
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snobb
Cuban-American pianist Aruan Ortiz, on his new album, demonstrates similar qualities as almost any other leading Cuban jazz pianist of his generation - precise techniques and strong feel of classical music education. Leading an acoustic trio, he bravely mixes Caribbean themes with European non-jazz tradition and New York avant-garde jazz experience.

The music on "Serranias..." is complex, but with clear lines, Aruan plays as if he is a surgeon, the piano keys are his scalpel. It is him pushing the supportive capable rhythm section ahead. High energy muscular compositions shout "take no prisoners", this music is obviously not for the faint-hearted. Still...

As many other fans, I really like Cuban pianists for their very special emotional vibe, a combination of passion and soul. "Serranias...", besides of cold-calculated energy and great techniques, offers lot of passion too, but what about soul?

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Artists with 21st Century Modern release(s)

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
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The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
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Blue Train Hard Bop
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My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
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