Marc Fendel sent me a great list to put on the blog a while back, and I'm just now getting to posting it. The list is the twenty-one recordings that Marc learned from as a young student of jazz music in his first eight years of playing. You'd be hard pressed to find another list that provides such a solid foundation for becoming a jazz improvisor.

Marc Fendel's 21 Jazz Recordings from Which I Learned:

• Cannonball Adderley “What Is This Thing Called Soul”
• Cannonball Adderley “and Nancy Wilson”
• Cannonball Adderley “In New York”
• Cannonball Adderley “Nippon Soul”
• Cannonball Adderley “Just Friends”
• Cannonball Adderley “Know What I Mean”
• John Coltrane “Blue Train”
• John Coltrane “Giant Steps”
• Miles Davis “Miles and Coltrane”
• Miles Davis “Kind of Blue”
• Kenny Dorham “Quiet Kenny”
• Dexter Gordon “Go”
• Dexter Gordon “Great Encounters”
• Dexter Gordon “Manhattan Symphonie”
• Dexter Gordon “The Jumpin Blues”
• Gerry Mulligan "with Chet Baker"
  
• Art Pepper “Meets the Rhythm Section”
• Sonny Rollins “Live In Denmark vol. 1 & vol.2”
• Sonny Rollins “Sonny Side Up”
• Sonny Rollins “Worktime”
• Sonny Stitt “Sits In with Oscar Peterson Trio”