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This is a chronological listing of the top 100 Hard Bop albums of all time.
The albums span several decades and represent various styles within the genre.

See our new ongoing list of The Second Hundred albums, the best of the rest.

	Artist	Album	Date	Label
1	Wardell Gray	Los Angeles All-Stars	Jan. 21, 1952	Prestige
2	J.J. Johnson	The Eminent J.J., Vol. 1	June 22, 1953	Blue Note
3	Miles Davis	Walkin'	April 29, 1954	Prestige
4	Elmo Hope	Elmo Hope Quintet	May 9, 1954	Blue Note
5	Art Farmer	When Farmer Met Gryce	May 19, 1954	Prestige
6	Sonny Rollins	Movin' Out	Aug. 18, 1954	Prestige
7	Horace Silver	The Jazz Messengers	Dec. 13, 1954	Blue Note
8	Clifford Brown	Study In Brown	Feb. 23, 1955	EmArcy
9	Kenny Dorham	The Jazz Prophets	April 4, 1956	Chess
10	Art Blakey	The Jazz Messengers	April 6, 1956	Columbia
11	Johnny Griffin	Introducing Johnny Griffin	April 17, 1956	Blue Note
12	Max Roach	Max Roach Plus Four	Sept. 17, 1956	EmArcy
13	The Lighthouse All-Stars	Music For Lighthousekeeping	Oct. 2, 1956	Contemporary
14	J.R. Monterose	J.R. Monterose	Oct. 21, 1956	Blue Note
15	Clifford Jordan	Blowing In From Chicago	March 3, 1957	Blue Note
16	Clark Terry	Serenade To A Bus Seat	April 1, 1957	Riverside
17	Ray Bryant	Ray Bryant Trio	April 5, 1957	Prestige
18	John Coltrane	Blue Train	Sept. 15, 1957	Blue Note
19	Lee Morgan	The Cooker	Sept. 29, 1957	Blue Note
20	Ornette Coleman	Something Else	Feb. 10, 1958	Contemporary
21	Jimmy Smith	The Sermon	Feb. 25, 1958	Blue Note
22	Cannonball Adderley	Portrait of Cannonball	July 1, 1958	Riverside
23	Lou Donaldson	The Blues Walk	July 28, 1958	Blue Note
24	Thelonious Monk	Misterioso	Aug. 1, 1958	Riverside
25	Dizzy Reece	Blues In Trinity	Aug. 24, 1958	Blue Note
26	Jerome Richardson	Midnight Oil	Oct. 10, 1958	Prestige
27	Art Blakey	Moanin'	Oct. 30, 1958	Blue Note
28	Frank Rosolino	Free For All	Dec. 22, 1958	Specialty
29	Horace Silver	Finger Poppin'	Jan. 31, 1959	Blue Note
30	Art Blakey	At The Jazz Corner of the World	April 15, 1959	Blue Note
31	John Coltrane	Giant Steps	May 4, 1959	Atlantic
32	Charles Mingus	Mingus Ah Um	May 5, 1959	Columbia
33	Curtis Fuller	Blues-ette	May 21, 1959	Savoy
34	Donald Byrd	Byrd In Hand	May 31, 1959	Blue Note
35	Harold Land	The Fox	Aug. 1, 1959	Contemporary
36	Walter Davis, Jr.	Davis Cup	Aug. 2, 1959	Blue Note
37	Benny Golson	Groovin' With Golson	Aug. 28, 1959	Prestige
38	Jimmy Heath	The Thumper	Sept. 1, 1959	Riverside
39	Bobby Timmons	This Here is Bobby Timmons	Jan. 13, 1960	Riverside
40	The Jazztet	Meet The Jazztet	Feb. 6, 1960	Chess
41	Hank Mobley	Soul Station	Feb. 7, 1960	Blue Note
42	Art Blakey	The Big Beat	March 6, 1960	Blue Note
43	Barry Harris	At The Jazz Workshop	May 15, 1960	Riverside
44	Freddie Redd	The Connection	June 13, 1960	Felsted
45	Tina Brooks	True Blue	June 25, 1960	Blue Note
46	Teddy Edwards	Teddy's Ready	Aug. 17, 1960	Contemporary
47	Jackie McLean	Jackie's Bag	Sept. 1, 1960	Blue Note
48	Booker Ervin	Cookin'	Nov. 26, 1960	Savoy
49	Kenny Drew	Undercurrent	Dec. 11, 1960	Blue Note
50	Stanley Turrentine	The Blue Hour	Dec. 16, 1960	Blue Note
51	Freddie Hubbard	Hub Cap	April 9, 1961	Blue Note
52	The Jazz Crusaders	Best of the Jazz Crusaders	May 1, 1961	Pacific Jazz
53	Dexter Gordon	Doin' Allright	May 6, 1961	Blue Note
54	Horace Silver	Doin' The Thing	May 20, 1961	Blue Note
55	Gene Ammons	Boss Tenors	Aug. 27, 1961	Verve
56	Sonny Clark	Leapin' & Lopin'	Nov. 13, 1961	Blue Note
57	Don Byas	Tribute To Cannonball	Dec. 15, 1961	Columbia
58	Herbie Hancock	Takin' Off	May 28, 1962	Blue Note
59	Wes Montgomery	Full House	June 25, 1962	Riverside
60	Blue Mitchell	The Cup Bearers	Aug. 28, 1962	Riverside
61	Kenny Burrell	Midnight Blue	Jan. 7, 1963	Blue Note
62	Joe Henderson	Page One	June 3, 1963	Blue Note
63	Lee Morgan	The Sidewinder	Dec. 21, 1963	Blue Note
64	Grant Green	Solid	June 12, 1964	Blue Note
65	Wayne Shorter	Speak No Evil	Dec. 24, 1964	Blue Note
66	Hank Mobley	Dippin'	June 18, 1965	Blue Note
67	Lee Morgan	Cornbread	Sept. 18, 1965	Blue Note
68	Horace Silver	Cape Verdean Blues	Oct. 1, 1965	Blue Note
69	Larry Young	Unity	Nov. 10, 1965	Blue Note
70	Joe Henderson	Mode For Joe	Jan. 27, 1966	Blue Note
71	George Benson	George Benson Cookbook	Aug. 1, 1966	Columbia
72	Sonny Criss	This Is Criss!	Oct. 21, 1966	Prestige
73	Lee Morgan	The Procrasitnator	July 14, 1967	Blue Note
74	Duke Pearson	The Right Touch	Sept. 13, 1967	Blue Note
75	Lonnie Smith	Think!	July 23, 1968	Blue Note
76	Rusty Bryant	Rusty Bryant Returns	Feb. 17, 1969	Prestige
77	Les McCann	Swiss Movement	June 22, 1969	Atlantic
78	Houston Person	Goodness!	Aug. 25, 1969	Prestige
79	Louis Hayes	Ichi-Ban	May 5, 1976	Timeless
80	Nick Brignola	L.A. Bound	Oct. 17, 1979	Night Life
81	Art Blakey	Straight Ahead	June 1, 1981	Concord
82	David "Fathead" Newman	Still Hard Times	April 14, 1982	Muse
83	Joanne Brackeen	Fi-Fi Goes To Heaven	Oct. 1, 1986	Concord
84	Marvin "Smitty" Smith	Keeper Of The Drums	March 1, 1987	Concord
85	Bobby Hutcherson	Cruisin' The 'Bird	April 15, 1988	Landmark
86	Ray Brown	Bam Bam Bam	Dec. 1, 1988	Concord
87	Ricky Ford	Hard Groovin'	Feb. 24, 1989	Muse
88	Erica Lindsay	Dreamer	March 3, 1989	Candid
89	Roy Hargrove	Diamond In The Rough	Dec. 1, 1989	Novus
90	Benny Green	Lineage	Jan. 30, 1990	Blue Note
91	Ralph Moore	Furthermore	March 3, 1990	Landmark
92	Ray Brown	Moore Makes Four	May 22, 1990	Concord
93	Mike Smith	On A Cool Night	Jan. 1, 1991	Delmark
94	T.S. Monk	Take One	Oct. 16, 1991	Blue Note
95	Tom Scott	Born Again	March 1, 1992	GRP
96	Travis Shook	Travis Shook	Jan. 1, 1993	Columbia
97	Kenny Barron	Other Places	Feb. 1, 1993	Verve
98	Jimmy Smith	Damn!	Jan. 24, 1995	Verve
99	Horace Silver	The Hardbop Grandpop	Feb. 29, 1996	Impulse!
100	Jake Langley	Doug's Garage	Nov. 10, 1999	Radioland

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