You Must Hear 7

avant-garde jazz

Last updated: Tue Oct 28 2025 08:51:27 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Description

Avant-garde jazz emerged in the 1950s-60s as musicians pushed beyond traditional jazz structures, embracing dissonance, free improvisation, and unconventional techniques. The genre challenges listeners with complex rhythms, extended instrumental methods, and experimental compositions that blur boundaries between jazz, classical, and contemporary music. It reflects cultural movements toward artistic freedom and innovation, often addressing social themes while prioritizing creative expression over commercial accessibility.

100 chronological releases

Place	Cover	Date	Artist	Album	Tags	Other places
36		1957	Sun Ra	Jazz By Sun Ra	avant-garde jazz
40		1958	Ornette Coleman	Something Else!!!!	avant-garde jazz jazz
55		1959-10	Ornette Coleman	The Shape of Jazz to Come	jazz	jazz # 10
24		1960-06	Ornette Coleman	Change of the Century	jazz	harmolodic # 95
66		1961	Eric Dolphy	Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot	avant-garde jazz
100		1963-07	Charles Mingus	The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady	jazz avant-garde jazz	jazz # 56
22		1964	Albert Ayler	My Name Is Albert Ayler	jazz
30		1964	Archie Shepp	Four For Trane	jazz
88		1965	John Coltrane	Ascension	jazz	spiritual jazz # 50
69		1965	Sun Ra	Cosmic Equation	avant-garde jazz jazz
90		1965-01	John Coltrane	A Love Supreme	jazz	spiritual jazz # 72 post-bop # 73 hard bop # 80 jazz # 94
4		1966	Charles Mingus	Right Now: Live At The Jazz Workshop	avant-garde jazz jazz post-bop	post-bop # 20
98		1966	Herbie Hancock	Empyrean Isles (Expanded Edition)	avant-garde jazz hard bop post-bop	hard bop # 99 post-bop # 100
68		1966	Sun Ra	The Magic City	avant-garde jazz
81		1967	John Coltrane	Om	avant-garde jazz jazz	spiritual jazz # 70
13		1967	Sam Rivers	Contours	jazz
35		1968	Eddie Gale	Eddie Gale’s Ghetto Music	avant-garde jazz
50		1969	Pharoah Sanders	Karma	jazz	spiritual jazz # 79
76		1969	Sonny Sharrock	Black Woman	jazz	spiritual jazz # 57
41		1971	Alice Coltrane	Journey in Satchidananda	jazz	jazz # 26 harp # 60 spiritual jazz # 96
47		1971	Herbie Hancock	Mwandishi	jazz jazz fusion	jazz fusion # 1 jazz-funk # 47 fusion jazz # 77
20		1971	John Coltrane	Sun Ship	jazz
39		1971	Pharoah Sanders	Thembi	jazz
48		1971	Sun Ra	Outer Spaceways Incorporated	avant-garde jazz
16		1971-10-04	Ornette Coleman	Twins	avant-garde jazz
12		1972	Charles Mingus	The Great Concert of Charles Mingus	avant-garde jazz jazz piano jazz post-bop	post-bop # 26 piano jazz # 36
7		1972	Julius Hemphill	Dogon A.D.	avant-garde jazz jazz
49		1972	Pharoah Sanders	Black Unity	jazz
74		1972	Max Roach	We Insist!: Freedom Now Suite	avant-garde jazz
70		1973	Sun Ra	Space Is The Place	jazz	post-bop # 6
73		1974	Pharoah Sanders	Love In Us All	jazz	spiritual jazz # 86
14		1974	Miles Davis	Dark Magus	jazz fusion
64		1974	Sun Ra	Supersonic Jazz	avant-garde jazz
43		1975	Marion Brown	Vista	avant-garde jazz instrumental jazz jazz-funk post-bop soul jazz spiritual jazz	jazz-funk # 12 post-bop # 55 spiritual jazz # 74 soul jazz # 86
58		1975	Komeda Quintet	Astigmatic (Polish Jazz)	avant-garde jazz
21		1976	George Russell	Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature	avant-garde jazz jazz post-bop spiritual jazz	post-bop # 35 spiritual jazz # 69
38		1981	The Lounge Lizards	The Lounge Lizards	no wave jazz	no wave # 89
72		1985	Sun Ra	The Night of the Purple Moon	avant-garde jazz bebop jazz soul jazz	bebop # 65 soul jazz # 94
53		1986	Max Roach	We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite (Remastered)	avant-garde jazz hard bop jazz vocal jazz	hard bop # 28
92		1986	Max Roach	We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite	avant-garde jazz
93		1986	Max Roach	We Insist! - Freedom Now Suite	avant-garde jazz
67		1988	Fire! Orchestra	Enter	avant-garde jazz big band jazz noise vocal jazz	big band # 56
78		1989-04-07	Eric Dolphy	Out There (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster)	avant-garde jazz
3		1991	Fire!	Testament	avant-garde jazz
56		1991	Sun Ra	Atlantis	jazz
25		1992-12	Charles Gayle	Repent	avant-garde jazz jazz spiritual	spiritual # 10
1		1996	John Coltrane	Expression (Expanded Edition)	acoustic avant-garde jazz improvisation instrumental post-bop spiritual	post-bop # 16 improvisation # 71
9		1997	Naked City	Torture Garden	jazzcore grindcore	jazzcore # 99
29		1997-02-19	Joe Lovano	Trio Tapestry	avant-garde jazz jazz spiritual	spiritual # 16
52		1998-02	Dave Holland	Conference of the Birds	jazz avant-garde jazz
11		1999-10-05	Eric Dolphy	The Illinois Concert	jazz	post-bop # 24
18		2001	Sun Ra	Strange Strings	avant-garde jazz
71		2001-09-25	John Coltrane	The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording	jazz	spiritual jazz # 85
8		2003	Sun Ra Arkestra	Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt	avant-garde jazz jazz
65		2004-07-27	Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant	Sister Phantom Owl Fish	avant-garde jazz jazz jazz metal metal	jazz metal # 91
10		2004-10-11	Triosk	1+3+1	avant-garde jazz electronic glitch jazz minimalism nu jazz
19		2007-10-24	Oprachina	The jazz farm	avant-garde jazz contemporary jazz jazz	european jazz # 52
89		2008	Sun Ra	Sleeping Beauty	jazz
46		2008-12-09	John Zorn	The Crucible	avant-garde jazz avant-garde metal avant-prog experimental rock noise	avant-prog # 72
2		2009-07-21	Sax Ruins	Yawiquo	avant-garde jazz jazz
82		2010-07	jizue	Bookshelf	avant-garde jazz instrumental japanese jazz
37		2010-08-23	Supersilent	10	avant-garde jazz jazz
28		2011	Eric Dolphy	Out There	jazz	post-bop # 45
5		2011	Craig Taborn	Avenging Angel	avant-garde jazz jazz jazz piano
91		2011-02-22	Colin Stetson	New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges	jazz avant-garde jazz
51		2011-05-10	Matana Roberts	Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres	spiritual jazz	spiritual jazz # 92
97		2012	Eric Dolphy	Out To Lunch (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition)	avant-garde jazz jazz	post-bop # 91
26		2012-11-30	Jack DeJohnette	Special Edition	jazz post-bop avant-garde jazz fusion	post-bop # 74
27		2013	Sun Ra	Celestial Love	avant-garde jazz jazz swing
57		2013-02-05	Fire! Orchestra	Exit!	jazz
33		2013-03-25	Portico Quartet	Live/Remix	avant-garde jazz
85		2014-04-22	Sun Ra	Lanquidity (Definitive Edition)	avant-garde jazz fusion jazz jazz fusion	fusion # 19
15		2015	Komara	KOMARA	avant-garde jazz experimental rock
62		2015-01-16	Vijay Iyer Trio	Break Stuff	avant-garde jazz post-bop	post-bop # 72
87		2015-04-18	Sun Ra	Sleeping Beauty (Expanded Edition)	avant-garde jazz improvisation jazz fusion spiritual spiritual jazz	spiritual # 84 improvisation # 93 spiritual jazz # 94
94		2016-02-03	Ibrahim Maalouf	Red & Black Light	avant-garde jazz jazz fusion	jazz fusion # 20
96		2017-04-28	Colin Stetson	All This I Do for Glory	avant-garde jazz
61		2017-05-05	Arve Henriksen	Towards Language	avant-garde jazz
23		2017-11-03	Maciej Obara Quartet	Unloved	avant-garde jazz post-bop	post-bop # 38
75		2018-08-31	Trygve Seim	Helsinki Songs	avant-garde jazz
77		2018-10-12	Eli Keszler	Stadium	ambient avant-garde jazz electroacoustic field recordings improvisation	electroacoustic # 79 field recordings # 84 improvisation # 90
95		2020-02-07	Colin Stetson	never were the way she was	avant-garde jazz
84		2020-06-05	Ambrose Akinmusire	on the tender spot of every calloused moment	avant-garde jazz jazz modern jazz post-bop romance	romance # 80 post-bop # 93 modern jazz # 97
60		2020-06-26	NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM	Éons	avant-garde metal avant-garde jazz drone	avant-garde metal # 36 avant-prog # 43 spiritual jazz # 62
99		2020-09-23	Clown Core	Van	avant-garde jazz avant-garde metal breakbeat electronic experimental rock metal synth punk	metal # 27 experimental rock # 89 breakbeat # 90 avant-garde metal # 96 synth punk # 97
59		2021-10-28	Underworld	DRIFT Episode 1 "DUST"	acid techno ambient avant-garde jazz electronica field recordings progressive house spoken word techno	acid techno # 59 field recordings # 68
42		2021-11-12	ILL CONSIDERED	Liminal Space	jazz fusion	spiritual jazz # 73
54		2022-03-18	Broadcast	Microtronics - Volumes 1 & 2	avant-garde jazz electronic glitch indietronica jazz neo-psychedelia space age pop	space age pop # 84
6		2022-04-01	Niechęć	Unsubscribe	avant-garde jazz jazz fusion polish polish jazz	polish jazz # 84
44		2022-04-01	Niechęć	[self-titled]	avant-garde jazz dark jazz instrumental jazz fusion polish	dark jazz # 51
63		2022-05-13	Mary Halvorson	Amaryllis	avant-garde jazz contemporary jazz jazz
17		2023	Damon Locks	New Future City Radio	avant-garde jazz jazz
45		2023-03-31	London Brew	London Brew	avant-garde jazz jazz jazz fusion
79		2024-04-26	Thom Yorke	Confidenza (Original Soundtrack)	ambient avant-garde jazz jazz
86		2024-09-06	Nala Sinephro	Endlessness	ambient jazz jazz fusion space ambient avant-garde jazz progressive electronic	jazz fusion # 54 progressive electronic # 62 spiritual jazz # 81 space ambient # 99
32			カヒミ・カリィ	Trapeziste	ambient ambient techno avant-garde jazz chanson female vocalists field recordings french pop sound collage spoken word	ambient techno # 7 sound collage # 28 field recordings # 53
80			Patty Waters	Sings	avant-garde jazz jazz vocal jazz	vocal jazz # 21
83			Bremer/McCoy	Utopia	avant-garde jazz contemporary instrumental ethereal instrumental rock jazz new age post-rock	instrumental rock # 63 contemporary instrumental # 98
31			The Peter Brötzmann Octet	The Complete Machine Gun Sessions	jazz
34			Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto	Love, Love

Related genres

• jazz
• post-bop
• jazz fusion
• noise
• ambient
• contemporary jazz
• spiritual jazz
• electronic
• experimental rock
• instrumental