Originally Posted by SATCHMO

The Art Blakey Quintet - A Night at Birdland double-live album that Janzoon cited in his first post is undeniably one of the quintessential hardbop albums, if not one of the best and most underrated jazz albums, period. Another of Blakey's albums that, for some reason, goes without much credit (which is a shame, because it swings so damn hard) is Free for All. I probably listen to it more than any other jazz album in my collection.