This month we are focusing two young ladies, Ciara Moser and Kinga Glyk, both who are essentially releasing their debut albums. Both albums focus on fresh ideas both musically and socially.
So that got me to thinking, what other debut albums were like a fresh slap in the face, like a gauntlet being thrown down and saying, “What are you going to do with THIS?!?”
Obviously, there have been debuts on 78s that took the world by storm, from recordings by Armstrong, Goodman, Basie, Parker, Gillespie, etc. But, with sincere apologies, we need to narrow the list down to a completely crafted album of songs.
Here is a list of debut albums that definitely have influenced and challenged the ears that first encountered them , in no particular order.
- Pat Metheny: Bright Size Life. Metheny’s 1976 debut with Jaco Pastorius and Bob Moses was almost completely initially ignored. It took a few years of word getting around that something new was in the air, and that a new way of playing the guitar did not have to include a machine gun approach.
- Joao Gilberto: Chega de Saudade. You could argue that this 1959 release of 23 minutes essentially started bossa nova, and you won’t get any arguments here.
- Michael Brecker: Michael Brecker. Although he’d been on countless albums as a sideman, this 1987 session is Brecker’s first in charge. In so doing, he became the most influential post-Coltrane tenor saxist.
- Weather Report: Weather Report. Miles Davis alumni Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul took Bitches Brew to its next step in 1971, and it was a big one.
Antonio Carlos Jobim: The Composer of Desifinado Plays. There isn’t a single song on this 1963 debut, craftily orchestrated by Claus Ogerman, that isn’t a jazz standard.
- Bill Evans: New Jazz Conceptions. Not yet known for his work with Miles Davis, this 1957 debut with TeddyKotick and eventual long time partner Paul Motian sold about 700 copies, eventually appreciated in retrospect.
- Return To Forever: Return To Forever. Pianist Chick Corea, also a Miles Davis alumnus, created a fresh mix of electric jazz with Brazilian ideas, a recipe that still sounds tasty.
- Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame. This 1971 album made John McLaughlin, another Davis alumnus, a
household name, and made every jazz rock band that heard them realized that they need to rehearse a lot more
- Stanley Jordan: Touch Sensitive. While not inventing the “touch” style of guitar, Jordan perfected it and showed that many colors it can produce on his 1982 debut.
- Jaco Pastorius: Jaco Pastorius. OK, this 1976 release is not “technically” Pastorius’ debut, but the opening bass work on “Donna Lee” became the “Giant Steps” for electric bassists.
- Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers: A Night At Birdland. Hard bop essentially began with this 1954 gig, as did the tradition of The Jazz Messengers, which at this stage included future giants Horace Silver and Clifford Brown
- Ornette Coleman: Something Else!!! A more aptly titled debut could not be given to the alto saxists 1958 opening salvo, as Coleman with Don Cherry and Billy Higgins changed the direction, style and harmonics of jazz forever.
