Jazz Fact of the Month
Each year the Library of Congress inducts 25 recordings into its National Recording Registry. The Registry "works to ensure the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America's audio heritage." The LOC does this by committing to transfer recordings on the list to any new media formats that arise. The 2023 inductees include a few jazz recordings such as "St. Louis Blues" by W.C. Handy (1922), "Sugar Foot Stomp" by Fletcher Henderson (1925), and Black Codes (from the Underground) by Wynton Marsalis (1985). You can listen to the whole list here.
Listen on streaming services here.
The complete list of jazz inductees in the National Recording Registry contains some of the most historically significant recordings in our history, and serves as an excellent introduction to the recorded history of jazz.
Ain’t Misbehavin’—Fats Waller
A Love Supreme—John Coltrane (album)
Artistry in Rhythm—Stan Kenton
Audience with Betty Carter—Betty Carter (album)
Black Bottom Stomp—Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers
Black Codes—Wynton Marsalis
Blanton-Webster era recordings—Duke Ellington
Body and Soul—Coleman Hawkins (album)
Bright Size Life—Pat Metheny (album)
Brilliant Corners—Thelonious Monk (album)
Canal Street Blues—King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band
Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert—Benny Goodman (album)
Castles in Europe One-Step—Europe’s Society Orchestra (album)
A Charlie Brown Christmas—Vince Guaraldi Trio (album)
Complete Village Vanguard Recordings—Bill Evans Trio (album)
Crescent City Living Legends Collection (album)
Ellington at Newport—Duke Ellington (album)
Giant Steps—John Coltrane (album)
GO—Dexter Gordon (album)
Harlem Strut—James P. Johnson
Headhunters—Herbie Hancock (album)
Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings—Louis Armstrong
Hottest Women’s Band of the 1940s--International Sweethearts of Rhythm (album)
How High the Moon—Les Paul and Mary Ford
Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (album)
In the Mood—Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
Jazz at the Philharmonic -- Nat “King” Cole, Les Paul et. al. (album)
Jazz Scene—various artists (album)
Kind of Blue—Miles Davis, et.al. (album)
Ko Ko—Charlie Parker, et.al.
Live in Japan—Sarah Vaughan (album)
Lovey’s Trinidad String Band (album)
Maria Schneider’s Concert in the Garden—Maria Schneider (album)
Mingus Ah-Um—Charles Mingus (album)
Minnie the Moocher—Cab Calloway
My Funny Valentine—Gerry Mulligan Quartet featuring Chet Baker
New Orleans’s Sweet Emma and her Preservation Hall Jazz Band (album)
Night at Birdland (Vol. 1 and 2)—Art Blakey (album)
Night Life—Mary Lou Williams
One O’Clock Jump—Count Basie and His Orchestra
Ory’s Creole Trombone—Kid Ory
Saxophone Colossus—Sonny Rollins (album)
Shape of Jazz to Come—Ornette Coleman (album)
Singin’ the Blues—Frankie Trumbuer and His Orchestra
Strange Fruit—Billie Holiday
Sugar Foot Stomp—Fletcher Henderson
Sweet Lorraine—Art Tatum
Tiger Rag—Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Time Out—Dave Brubeck Quartet (album)
Uncle Sam Blues
We Insist!—Max Roach (album)
When the Saints Go Marching In—Louis Armstrong