Writer and vocalist Lisa Ellex combed her collection for the top three best jazz albums for your sexy night in, whether you’re behind closed doors or going solo, here are her favorites.
Jazz was the first music I ever recall hearing. On any given day, Carmen McRae, Stan Getz, Sergio Mendez, or Antonio Carlos Jobim would be playing in our home, on my father’s car radio, or in my grandmother’s Greenwich Village luncheonette. My parents always began their Saturday date night at the famed Village Vanguard, and Sunday nights meant I would get to hear the music pouring from its doors on our walk home from dinner at my grandmother’s apartment.
It seemed that jazz was everywhere then, and even at my young age, I instinctively knew it was romantic and sexy, and I knew I would sing it one day. And much like the best sex, it’s always a thrill to be immersed in it, while experiencing the element of surprise, and the anticipation of what’s to come.
Getz/Gilberto (1964)
When Brazilian musician/composer Antonio Carlo Jobim brought his band of bossa to Carnegie Hall in 1962, he invited American tenor saxophonist Stan Getz to join the lineup. This single night of music set off the bossa nova craze in the United States that spread the world over. Getz and Jobim’s guitarist/singer, Joao Gilberto, went on to record the now classic Getz/Gilbert and forged this dreamy Brazilian sound that is the bossa we still can’t get enough of -- 57 years later!
The album offers the perfect balance of instrumental and vocal selections and features Gilberto’s wife, Astrud, better known as the “Girl From Ipanema.” Though I’ve heard it for decades, I never tire of Getz’s gorgeous, breathy solo on this cut.
Every offering on this record is a stand-out, but you’ll especially love the classic “Corcovado” (“Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars”) with vocals provided by Mr. and Mrs. Gilberto in both English and Portuguese. It just doesn’t get much sexier than bossa nova.
Watch: Astrud Gilberto perform “Corcovado” on YouTube
Kind of Blue (1959)
I often wonder if Miles Davis knew he was making the best jazz album of all time when he assembled the rhythm section of pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, and completed the sextet with saxophonists Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane. Bill Evans sat out on the “Freddie the Freeloader” track to give the bench to gone-too-soon pianist Wynton Kelly, making for a personnel of seven jazz giants. With no charts and no rehearsal, these men changed the sound of jazz.
Watch: Miles Davis and John Coltrane perform “So What” on YouTube
SPARK (2014)
Vocalist/bandleader/composer Marianne Solivan offers the full range of her gifts here with Spark, her second LP release. Leading a killer band comprised of pianist Xavier Davis, bassist Matthew Parish, and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, Solivan delivers every note with a vocal emotion that cuts right to your core. From her original composition of the title track to the record’s finale, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve”, this is a must for your ‘Sexy Night In’ collection.
Watch: “The Making of Spark” on YouTube
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