What happens when you put three of jazz's biggest personalities in a studio for a day? You get Money Jungle: Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach. Can it work? Miles Davis hated it. Others revere it. And the story behind this album is WILD.It's perhaps the most tense album we've ever listened to. And this episode of You'll Hear It is possibly the most we have ever disagreed about an album! Listen for the music, the hot takes, or just to see what all the fuss is about. No matter your reason for listening to this episode, you'll never hear Money Jungle the same way again.-------------------------------Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs:https://openstudiojazz.com/yhi-------------------------------Related You'll Hear It episodes:Mingus Ah Um: https://youtu.be/XYeRZ0Awui4Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington: https://youtu.be/Z5YJr2iLG74-------------------------------About You'll Hear It:In this popular music series, Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again.-------------------------------Sign up for the You'll Read It newsletter for little known stories about the artists you love:https://youllhearit.com/newsletter -------------------------------00:00 - Money Jungle: Ellington, Mingus, Roach01:00 - Can This Record Work?05:06 - "Money Jungle": Mingus is Menacing!09:15 - What Was Really Happening That Day12:17 - Musical Context Leading Up to Money Jungle14:15 - "Fleurette Africaine": Stunning Bass Work17:00 - Must Great Artists Make Great Art? Not Always20:18 - Why Money Jungle Keeps Showing Up on "Greatest" Lists23:45 - "Very Special": Can This Song Win Over Peter?27:07 - One Week Later: Duke Ellington & John Coltrane29:32 - Adam's Hot Take: Duke's Magnificent Final Act36:43 - "A Warm Valley": That Piano Sound!39:35 - "Wig Wise": Sounding Like Monk. Can You Hear It?42:59 - We Don't Talk About This Enough In Jazz45:27 - "Caravan": Best Moment on Money Jungle48:18 - Or Is THIS the Best Moment on Money Jungle?52:25 - Want to Learn to Play Like Duke? Join Open Studio!55:55 - "Solitude": A Musical F-You to End the Album1:02:42 - Is This a "Emperor Has No Clothes" Situation?1:03:40 - Desert Island Tracks + Bespoke Playlists01:05:40 - Quibble Bits ... Do We Even Need to Ask?01:08:48 - How Snobby Is This Album?01:10:35 - What to Listen to Next01:11:18 - Have We Ever Disagreed This Much? Wrap-Up

We're looking at the best jazz releases of March 2026! Listen with pianist Adam Maness as he breaks down and reacts to these great tracks.Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs: https://osjazz.link/yhi

Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington: The musicians on this album were already legends when it came out in 1955. Each of them completely reinvented how people play their instruments. Drummer Kenny Clarke: the originator of so much of modern drumming language. Bass player Oscar Pettiford: possibly the greatest bass soloist in the history of the instrument. And then there's Monk, one of the singular greatest pianists of all time. And here they are playing the music of Duke Ellington: an untouchable legend. The result is an album that brought Monk's genius to the masses. And it may just be one of his best. In this LIVE episode of You'll Hear It, jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin break down this remarkable moment in music history, playing Monk's interpretations next to Duke's originals. If you've never really got Monk, this album is your gateway into his music. And if you're already a fan, you'll never hear this album the same way again.-------------------------------Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs: https://openstudiojazz.com/yhi-------------------------------About You'll Hear It:In this popular music series Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again.-------------------------------Sign up for the You'll Read It newsletter for little known stories about the artists you love: https://youllhearit.com/newsletter -------------------------------0:00 - "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"2:07 - You'll Hear It Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center6:02 - The Story of Thelonious Monk8:24 - First Official Recording: Coleman Hawkins Quartet (1944)10:21 - Keepnews Big Idea to Bring Monk to the Masses14:46 - "It Don't Mean a Thing": Duke's original vs. Monk's version20:40 - Bassist Oscar Pettiford's Sophisticated Musical Language24:10 - Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald's Version27:38 - "Sophisticated Lady"31:44 - "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" 35:08 - Bet You Can't Guess This Singer39:10 - "Black and Tan Fantasy": Duke (1927) vs. Monk42:30 - Oscar Pettiford Plays "Basso Profundo" with Duke Ellington45:00 - "Tricotism" - Oscar Pettiford 45:55 - Kenny Clarke deep dive47:48 - "Mood Indigo" 49:50 - "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart": Duke's original vs. Monk's version52:30 - "Solitude"55:00 - "Caravan": Duke's original vs. Monk's version 58:35 - Categories: Desert Island, Apex Moments, Bespoke Playlists, Quibble Bits59:50 - Drummer Kenny Clarke's Brush Master Class1:04:00 - Is This Better than Kind of Blue?1:04:55 - What to Listen to Next

D'Angelo's Brown Sugar sounded like nothing else in 1995. R&B was slick, polished, and built for clubs. D'Angelo later said the "deeper consciousness" had gone out of contemporary music. Questlove later wrote that contemporary R&B had become "trite" and "soulless" ... and then there was Brown Sugar, D'Angelo's debut album. It sounded more like the '70s than the '90s. More like church than the club. On this episode of You'll Hear It, jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin go track by track through D'Angelo's debut, pulling apart the vocal stems, naming the jazz chords underneath the soul, and tracing every influence back to its root. They also bring in the archival recordings you might have missed: a live set from the Jazz Café London that gives the album a whole second life, and a J Dilla remix.-------------------------------Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs: https://openstudiojazz.com/yhi -------------------------------Related You'll Hear It episodes:Voodoo: https://youtu.be/AYqmFNF2s0U-------------------------------About You'll Hear It:In this popular music series Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again.-------------------------------Sign up for the You'll Read It newsletter for little known stories about the artists you love: https://youllhearit.com/newsletter -------------------------------00:00 - D'Angelo's Brown Sugar01:11 - Let's Go Back to 1995 05:35 - "Brown Sugar"08:30 - Engineer Bob Power's Influence 09:13 - "Brown Sugar" Felt Different From Anything Else in 199516:57 - D'Angelo on Why He Picked Bob Power19:30 - "Alright" 28:57 - Isolated Vocal Stems on "Alright"31:27 - "Jones in My Bones" 33:20 - The Little-Known D'Angelo Album36:25 - "Me & Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine"40:30 - The J Dilla Remix (1997)44:18 - "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker" 46:30 - Live at the Jazz Cafe - "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker"48:10 - "Smooth" 50:20 - D'Angelo Could Have Been a Jazz Pianist53:04 - D'Angelo and Peter's Ellis Marsalis Connection56:21 - "Cruisin'" 59:25 - Ad Break: Learn To Play Like D'Angelo1:00:37 - "When We Get By"1:04:44 - "We Were Just Mocking Dilla": Raphael Saadiq on How "Lady" Was Made1:06:20 - "Lady"1:11:02 - "Higher"1:15:28 - "Brown Sugar" Hits Different 30 Years Later1:17:00 - Our Favorite Moments1:23:45 - Quibble Bits, Snob-O-Meter & Accoutrements1:27:26 - Up Next + Listener Reviews1:29:45 - Open Studio Plays "Lady"

Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959) may be the most controversial album in jazz history, and one of the most important.In 1959, a broke musician from Fort Worth, Texas arrived in New York City with a plastic saxophone and a band that didn't play by the rules. And EVERYONE had an opinion about it.Jazz legends hated it. Miles Davis said Ornette was "all screwed up inside." Max Roach punched him in the mouth. Dizzy Gillespie said Ornette's music wasn't even jazz. Meanwhile, Leonard Berstein and John Coltrane celebrated him.So what exactly is The Shape of Jazz to Come, and why was it so radical? Jazz pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness break down every track, from "Lonely Woman" to "Chronology". They dig into harmolodics, free jazz, and how Ornette shaped everyone from Miles Davis (who eventually came around) to the '80s burnout crew, including Wynton Marsalis, who personally recommended this record to Peter.Dig into The Shape of Jazz to Come with us, and learn why this soft spoken saxophonist inspired both criticism and awe.-------------------------------Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs:https://openstudiojazz.com/yhi-------------------------------Related You'll Hear It episodes:Mingus Ah Um: https://youtu.be/XYeRZ0Awui4Giant Steps: https://youtu.be/8umC2yZlPHcKind of Blue: https://youtu.be/ShzSnjP8bSgTime Out: https://youtu.be/-_qPhFSJeQUNina Simone at Town Hall: https://youtu.be/2PDjN5_2y5Q-------------------------------About You'll Hear It:In this popular music series Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again.-------------------------------Sign up for the You'll Read It newsletter for little known stories about the artists you love:https://youllhearit.com/newsletter-------------------------------0:00:00 - Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come0:01:42 - 1959: A Pivotal Year0:03:06 - Ornette Coleman: The Backstory0:04:44 - Ornette's Earlier Sound0:06:18 - Lore of the Five Spot0:07:00 - "Lonely Woman"0:12:27 - Harmolodics Explained (Charlie Haden + Don Cherry)0:13:27 - "Eventually"0:14:42 - The '80s Jazz Connection (Wynton, Branford, Kirkland)0:17:21 - "Peace"0:23:50 - Ad: Open Studio0:24:57 - Mingus Said THIS About Coleman0:27:47 - "Focus on Sanity"0:29:40 - When Peter Played with Charlie Haden0:32:43 - Don Cherry's Kids: Neneh Cherry + Eagle-Eye Cherry0:34:22 - "Congeniality"0:36:28 - "Chronology"0:37:23 - Technical Technique vs. Artistic Vision0:42:13 - Categories: Desert Island Tracks, Apex Moments0:48:55 - You'll Read It Newsletter + Ambies