6. Shirley Scott: Great Scott! (Prestige, 1958)
Shirley Scott was consistently underrated throughout her career, surely because she was a woman. And we’ll admit it: Number six on this list is really too low for her. She had to follow Wild Bill Davis, however, because one of Scott’s signatures was the way she reasserted Davis’ uproarious sense of swing in the new hard-bop organ tradition. Her energy all but leaps bodily out of the keys. “All of You,” for example, has a churchy feel, but it’s of the holy-roller, get-up-and-move variety. “Four” is a somewhat unexpected piece for jazz organ repertoire, but when Scott plays it one is hard-pressed to imagine it was ever intended for any other instrument. If she’s not quite as commanding on “Cherokee,” she does make it work—and makes it fun too. (Note: This album is Scott’s debut, but only one of three albums she released under the same title.)
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