6. Cannonball Adderley Quintet Featuring Nat Adderley: Them Dirty Blues (Riverside, 1960)
Like so many of the records on this list, Them Dirty Blues opens with one of the iconic tracks of the hard-bop era: “Work Song,” a lowdown groover (by Adderley’s cornet-playing brother Nat) so irresistible that no less than Paul Simon ripped it off. It’s just the beginning. Alto saxophonist Adderley and company—including Nat, pianists Barry Harris and Bobby Timmons, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Louis Hayes—breathe fire into Duke Pearson’s “Jeannine,” Jones’ “Del Sasser,” and Timmons’ “Dat Dere” (another emblematic tune that, like “Work Song,” entered Adderley’s permanent repertoire). They also distill everything but the title sentiment out of “Them Dirty Blues,” a performance that deserves to be far better known than it is. Adderley uses Charlie Parker’s celebrated “Parker’s Mood” solo as his starting point but digs even deeper into the gutbucket, and brings his brother, Harris, and (in his comp) Jones in with him.

Find Them Dirty Blues on Amazon and Apple Music.