Welcome back to this special retrospective music-posting feature. The gimmick is simple — each week, you post a list (ranked or unranked) of your favourite 25 (or however many) albums of a given year (or, occasionally decade). We are now moving backwards through the early days of the LP era. See previous posts for more information about how the 33 1/3 RPM 12″ record came to define the album format.

My personal list is alphabetical Asterisks (*) indicate post publication edits or additions.

[spoiler title=1956]

Clifford Brown and Max Roach: At Basin Street

Paul Chambers: Chambers’s Music

Paul Chambers: Whims of Chambers

Duke Ellington: Ellington At Newport

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong: Ella and Louis

Glenn Gould: The Goldberg Variations (Bach)

Elmo Hope: Informal Jazz

The Jazz Messengers: At The Café Bohemia, Vol. 1 *

The Jazz Messengers: At The Café Bohemia, Vol. 2 *

The Jazz Messengers: The Jazz Messengers

Julie London: Calendar Girl

Julie London: Lonely Girl

The Louvin Brothers: Tragic Songs of Love

Shelly Manne: My Fair Lady

Jackie McLean: Lights Out!

Charles Mingus: Pithecantropus Erectus

Modern Jazz Quartet: Django

Thelonious Monk: The Unique

Oscar Peterson: Oscar Peterson at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival

The Platters: The Platters

Elvis Presley: Elvis

Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley

Prestige All Stars: All Day Long (a.k.a. Kenny Burrell: All Day Long)

Max Roach: Max Roach + 4

Sonny Rollins: Sonny Rollins Plus Four

Sonny Rollins: Tenor Madness

Frank Sinatra: Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!

Jo Stafford: Ski Trails

Cecil Taylor: Jazz Advance

Lennie Tristano: Lennie Tristano

Various Artists: The Complete Porgy and Bess

[/spoiler]