So What
1959 · From Kind of Blue
Two chords and all the space in the world, Davis proving that less was the most radical idea in jazz.
★ 9.2
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1959
Showing 14 songs from 1959
What'd I SayRay Charles
What'd I Say
1959 · From What'd I Say
Twelve minutes left at a Pennsylvania dance, so Charles improvised it on his Wurlitzer and many stations banned it.
★ 9.0
Take Five
1959 · From Time Out
Morello kept soloing in five, so the quartet built him a tune in 5/4; Desmond wrote the theme.
★ 8.7
All Blues
1959 · From Kind of Blue
A twelve-bar blues in 6/8, take two the only complete one, and Paul Chambers' bass figure underneath everything.
★ 7.6
Shout (The Isley Brothers)
1959
Ronald Isley improvised the call and response onstage extending Lonely Teardrops, and RCA packed the room with friends answering.
★ 7.5
Goodbye Pork Pie HatCharles Mingus
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
1959 · From Mingus Ah Um
Lester Young died two months before the session, and Mingus answered with a slow blues named for his hat.
★ 7.4
There Goes My Baby
1959
Strings, timpani and a Brazilian baion; Wexler reportedly dismissed the playback as a radio caught between two stations.
★ 7.3
I Only Have Eyes for You
1959
Terry Johnson dreamed the arrangement, called the group to rehearse at 4 a.m., and Goldner drowned it in reverb.
★ 7.2
Mack the KnifeBobby Darin
Mack the Knife
1959
Richard Wess's arrangement climbs a semitone verse after verse, and Darin rides the tension to his only number one.
★ 6.9
Beyond the Sea
1959
Charles Trenet wrote it about the sea; Jack Lawrence's English lyric made it a love song, and Darin swung it.
★ 6.7
Stagger Lee
1959
An 1895 St. Louis barroom killing, remade by Price into a number one he re-recorded clean for American Bandstand.
★ 6.1
Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair
1959 · From Nina Simone at Town Hall
Sharp and Karpeles collected this Scottish ballad in the Appalachians in 1916; Simone slows it to near-stillness at Town Hall.
★ 5.6
Sea of Love (Phil Phillips)
1959
A Lake Charles bellhop wrote it for a woman, and Khoury's tiny label carried the swooning triplets to number two.
★ 5.6
Dream Lover
1959
Neil Sedaka on piano, Darin's own chord discovery, and a wish for an ideal partner that topped Britain.
★ 5.4