Who are the Most Melodic Jazz Artists? What are their Best Works?

as a lover of jazz, but not any sort of musicologist who knows the technical structures of jazz at all, here are some obvious ones that come to mind. using the idea of Melodic on a simplistic level as 'easy to listen to' for the most part'...sometimes 'sweet'......etc. as opposed to atonal, or 'hair-shirt' like.

for instance, i consider Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane both as melodic, but their stuff is more an acquired taste in some ways. so not on my list.

these are the low hanging fruit in my mind. too many to list for each one. so just a few that happen to be my favorites i listen to often. when i first got into jazz these were the ones that were easiest for me to 'get into'. and they are top to bottom great recordings too.

middle period of Miles Davis, KOB (1959) + or - 5 years
Bill Evans, Everyone Digs Bill Evans, Waltz for Debbie
Lee Morgan, Stranger in a Strange Land
Ben Webster, Live at the Renaissance
Chet Baker, Chet
Ella Fitzgerald, Let No Man Write My Epitaph, Songbooks
Louis Armstrong, St. James Infirmary (Satchmo Plays King Oliver)
Duke Ellington, Jazz Party, Blues In Orbit, Masterpiece
Ray Brown, Soular Energy, Midnight Serenade
Nina Simone, Sings
Oscar Peterson, We Get Requests
Billie Holiday, Songs for Distingue Lovers
Harry Belafonte, Sings The Blues

all good ones by ML. I would add Montreux Alexander by Monty Alexander featuring Jeff Hamilton and John Clayton. Monty has many great recordings. A current fav for me is Scott Hamilton Live at Pizza Express. Scott has a ton of Ben Webster in his sound.

Joe Whip said:

all good ones by ML. I would add Montreux Alexander by Monty Alexander featuring Jeff Hamilton and John Clayton. Monty has many great recordings. A current fav for me is Scott Hamilton Live at Pizza Express. Scott has a ton of Ben Webster in his sound.

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love everything Scott Hamilton does. even some recent video's i've seen of his are superb. love this one. Alba Armengou (14 or 15 years old in this 6 year old video) is also melodic.

Saw Scott on 1/2/24 at Pizza Express. Got to chat with him too. Great show.

Maybe the OP should give a few examples of what he likes and we could build on that?

I'll add a few random tracks:

All great selections!

Something else, that I was listening to this week, and that stopped my in my tracks! Ray Nance's first recorded violin solo in 1940, with the Horace Henderson orchestra:


I wonder how they (the Henderson brothers) came up with that enigmatic song title

Some tracks, such as this one, I'll just put on repeat and listen to for quite some time, because I find them so amazing. Not everyone will agree - the point is I think we all have some music that regularly knocks us off our feet.

Sound quality is what you would expect for the early 1940s.


All this to say that one should not overlook early jazz, back to the 1920s. It's all a matter of taste, but there may be something out there that may catch your attention and open up your ears to different sounds, that you can then look for even in more modern music.

Jazz is often perceived as "intellectual" music, hard to get into. There's certainly a lot of jazz music out there that I simply don't enjoy and understand. Maybe that is what the OP is hinting at - I don't know.

John Coltrane has been mentioned a lot lately on this forum. Mike Lavigne mentioned in a post above that it may not be the most "accessible" (though his album with Johnny Hartman may be an exception), especially his later works, which are more "spiritual" (introspective). But Coltrane is quoted as saying that Johnny Hodges was - without a doubt - his favorite musician, and he tried to emulate him. Coltrane, by the way, had a short stint playing in Johnny Hodges' band.

When Johnny Hodges played concerts/shows, it is said that women (perhaps men as well!) would start crying because his "sound" was so beautiful. We only get a hint of it through recordings, but can appreciate also his sense of melody, his sense of rhythm, and view his solos as small works of art within the songs in which he is featured.

Hodges started playing in the mid 1920s. His mentor was Sidney Bechet, who was so influential in the development of jazz and contributed to transform it from simply "entertainment" to a true art form.

In his book on Coltrane, Lewis Porter suggests that Coltrane took up the soprano saxophone in hommage to Hodges (who played both soprano and alto) and Bechet... He quotes Coltrane saying: "I ask myself if, today, I only play the soprano saxophone to stay in the lineage of Johnny Hodges...".

Completely different from all the other suggestions is a German trio ( mostly) , Triosensce. Certainly doesn't fit in the OP's stated fav period of 50's' to 60's but , IMO, quite melodic.


And I'd like to mention Manu Katche, especially


This would also lead in to recommendation for both Tord Gustavsen and Marcin Wasliewski..

caesar said:

Gentlemen, greatly appreciate the replies!!!

My favorite jazz period is mid-fifties to mid-sixties. For what it's worth, one of my favorite albums is Jazz Goes to College by Brubeck (musically sublime, but it's not audiophile quality).

Thank you again

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Maybe you will like Vince Guataldi (known for Peanuts) - not a joke, I love his trio album, for example:


This one is really good as well:


I am not suggesting him because he's another white jazz musician!

Maybe Google "West Coast Jazz" and you could get some good suggestions.

I'll add this one, very good as well:

Mike Lavigne said:

love everything Scott Hamilton does. even some recent video's i've seen of his are superb. love this one. Alba Armengou (14 or 15 years old in this 6 year old video) is also melodic.

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They also feature on this album:

Listening now to Scott Hamilton with the Bill Charlap Trio - album is "Back in New York":



Nothing ground breaking, but definitely very pleasant.

Bill Charlap may be of interest for those who like more "mainstream" jazz. His album "All Through The Night" is very nice (but there are many others):

Another sax player that people may be interested in checking out is Houston Person. He's been playing for years (he is 89). His "Live in Paris" set is good, as are his collaborations with the singer Etta Jones (some of which are only on LP) - but there are so many...

Great one Hopkins! Even has the fantastic Ben Paterson. His parents even live down tge street from my mom.

Joe Whip said:

Great one Hopkins! Even has the fantastic Ben Paterson. His parents even live down tge street from my mom.

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A Philadelphia native? My mother's hometown (I went to college there as well). A city with a strong musical tradition.

His organ playing is very nice on that album. I'm not familiar with him, but will listen to his albums.

Yeah, I know Ben a little. Yep, Philly area native, lives now in NYC but performs a ton in the Chicgo area. Plays piano on the Samara Joy album before her Christmas EP. He sings too.

As someone has previously said, so called 'west coast jazz' might be a first place to start looking for a 'melodic' jazz. Op, since you like Brubeck, will post some obvious suggestions, first of his quartet, than some of Paul Desmond's work. Hope you will like them, just say when its enough, since there so many, many of them (meaning melodic, not only Brubeck or Desmond)
Here are some well known albums (in jazz context, otherwise its an oximoron) that should be in any jazz collection






https://youtu.be/YA1TUorltBE?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/Wf02V8AtMag?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/eZGYa8uiVH0?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/vnzyQf5NSCI?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/GCfHiHglsD4?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/Jnd_s8EcQ9Q?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/N_EBBJF-0qs?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/E95STK2tnoM?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/UKrAXUcJXHo?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/JvhGVHGfuCg?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/IKayR1oqC7w?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/UPB9UdJ6SDA?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/g0AiG4zFEMk?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/JsnCKaKmt70?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/B7uflUVGptU?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/GDMBSlpui3Y?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/9SHdqD077yY?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/aq0m0hbCjFQ?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/HrftSxNCsAQ?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/tg3CBBkSss4?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/rYO7ShqgHzI?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/CtoTJbthUMY?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/36yTn9kqx-I?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/1jK2j32ngFA?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/DyUbQoxULGo?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/stx5VIHAr_k?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/DMgwWAaxQQ4?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/ZS8tEZUaNKE?feature=shared


These are just a few, there are dozens and dozens more...if you wish, just ask...hope you will enjoy some of them