2018 'Best of Jazz' Selected by JJA Members

 Here’s my top ten albums that I reviewed in 2023, in alphabetical order…

- “Contrast of Opposites” by Galumphing Duo (AMP Records).
- “Conversation #8 Ablaze” by Florian Arbenz (Hammer).
- “Estrellero” by Leo Genovese, Demian Cabaud and Marcos Cavaleiro  (Sunnyside).
- “fractus” by fractus (Independent).
- “Incantation” by Emma Rawicz (Independent).
- “Neon” by Arina Fujiwara (Independent).
- “Shimmer Wince” by Anna Webber (Intakt Records).
- “Spam Likely” by Jessica Pavone (577 Records).
- “The Engine” by The Green Mean Machine (Independent).
- “The Last Quiet Place” by Ingrid Laubrock (Pyroclastic).

Noteworthy Jazz and Jazz-Adjacent Artists who Appeared on the Spotlight On podcast in 2023. 

Javon Jackson gives Peter Bradley's art a swinging soundtrack

Benjamin Koppel plays jazz with a novelist's narrative

Simon Berz creates art with drums, sound, and trash

Joe Mills (Aver) of Move 78 decodes jazz from the algorithms

EMBER are a jazz trio with a collective mindset

Brandon Seabrook’s magic clusterf**k of merciless banjo torture

Brian McCarthy blends jazz, astronomy, and the AfterLife

LILAMORS electronically redefine the jazz trio

Danny Fox loves good jazz and great pizza

Bruno Råberg pushes the boundaries of acoustic bass

Marijus Aleksa

Dominic Miller

Monika Herzig

Jane Ira Bloom & Mark Helias

Christopher Hale

Conic Rose

Bart Wirtz and Emiel van Rijthoven of WAAN

GEOFFREY HIMES’S 25 BEST JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2022:

 

1. Immanuel Wilkins: The 7^th Hand (Blue Note)
2. Charles Lloyd: Chapel Trio (Blue Note)
3. Cecile McLorin Salvant: Ghost Song (Nonesuch)
4. Bill Frisell: Four (Blue Note)
5. The Dave Douglas Quintet: Songs of Ascent (Greenleaf)
6. The Todd Marcus Jazz Orchestra: In the Valley (Stricker Street)
7. Grdina/Helias/Shipp: Pathways (Attaboygirl)
8. Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Orchestra: Community Music  (RPF)
9. Erik Friedlander: The Queen's Firefly (Skiptone)
10. Frank Catalano: Live at Birdland (Ropeadope)
11. Miguel Zenon: Musica de las Americas (Miel)
12. Julian Lage: View with a Room (Blue Note)
13. Joel Ross: The Parable of the Poet (Blue Note)
14. John Yao’s Triceratops Off-Kilter (See Tao)
15. Dierk Peters: Spring (Sunnyside)
16. Fred Hersch & Esperanza Spalding: Alive at the Village Vanguard (Palmetto)
17. J.D. Allen: Americana, Vol. 2 (Savant)
18. Bad Plus: The Bad Plus (Edition)
19. Jakob Bro & Joe Lovano: Once Around the Toom: A Tribute to Paul Motian (ECM)
20. Matt Carmichael: Marrow (Edition)
21. Cyrus Chestnut: My Father's Hands (HighNote)
22. Andrew Cyrille: Blues for Cecil (ECM)
23. Ricky Ford: The Wailing Ricky Ford (Whaling City)
24. Hilario Duran & David Virelles: Front Street Duets (Alm)
25. Eugenie Jones: Players (Openmic)

 

GEOFFREY HIMES’S 25 BEST NON-JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2022:

 

• 1.      The Drive-By Truckers: Welcome to Club XIII (ATO)
• 2.      Beyonce: Renaissance (Columbia)
• 3.      The Delines: The Sea Drift (El Cortez)
• 4.      Craig Finn: A Legacy of Rentals (Partisan)
• 5.      Taylor Swift: Midnights (Republic)
• 6.      Kendrick Lamar: Mr. Morale & the Big-Steppers (Aftermath/Interscope)
• 7.      Charley Crockett: The Man from Waco (Son of Davy)
• 8.      The Dropkick Murphys: This Machine Still Kills Fascists (Dummy Luck)
• 9.      Bonny Light Horseman: Rolling Golden Holy (37d03d)
• 10.  Miranda Lambert: Palomino (RCA)
• 11.  Willi Carlisle: Peculiar, Missouri (Free Dirt)
• 12.  Mary J. Blige: Good Morning, Gorgeous (300 Entertainment)
• 13.  Lizzo: Special (Atlantic)
• 14.  Maggie Rogers: Surrender (Debay/Capitol)
• 15.  The Tedeschi-Trucks Band: I Am the Moon (Fantasy)
• 16.  Bad Bunny: Un Verano sin Ti (Rimas)
• 17.  Lee Fields: Sentimental Foot (Daptone)
• 18.  Trombone Shorty: Lifted (Blue Note)
• 19.  The North Mississippi Allstars: Set Sail (New West)
• 20.  Adeem the Artist: White Trash Revelry (Four Quarters/Thirty Tigers)
• 21.  Susanna Malkki and the Los Angeles Philharmonic: Steve Reich: Music for Ensemble and Orchestra (Nonesuch)
• 22.  Charlie Treat: Into the Wild Mystic Mountain (Treat)
• 23.  Courtney Marie Andrews: Loose Future (Fat Possum)
• 24.  Weyes Blood: And in the Darkness Hearts Aglow (Sub Pop)
• 25.  Sunny Sweeney: Married Alone (Aunt Daddy/Thirty Tigers)

John Chacona

Erie (PA) Times-News, All About Jazz, PostGenre Media and blogger at let's call this

Ten favorite new releases

1. Amyrillis and Belladonna Mary Halvorson (Nonesuch)
2. Ghost Song, Cécile McLorin Salvant (Nonesuch)
3. For The Love Of Fire And Water, Myra Melford's Fire And Water Quintet (RogueArt)
4. Other Zones, Michael Formanek Quartet (Circular File Records)
5. Séances, Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant avec Folie à Quatre (Pyroclastic Records)
6. The Bottom, Luke Stewart's Silt Trio (Cuneiform)
7. Terri Lyne Carrington, New Standards Vol. 1 (Candid)
8. John Escreet, Seismic Shift (Whirlwind Records)
9. Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra with Catherine Russell, Good Time Music: Community Music, Vol. 2 (Royal Potato Family)
10. Dan Weiss Trio, Dedication (Cygnus)
    

Reissues or Historical albums

1.     Cecil Taylor, The Complete, Legendary, Live Return Concert (Oblivion Records)
2.     Albert Ayler, Revelations (Elemental Music)
3.     Ahmad Jamal, Emerald City Nights: Live At The Penthouse 1963-1964 (Jazz Detective Records)

Best vocal album

Cécile McLorin Salvant, Ghost Song, (Nonesuch)

Best debut album

Julieta Eugenio,  JUMP (Greenleaf Music)

Best Latin jazz CD

Miguel Zenón, Música de Las Américas (Miel Music)

2021's chosen dozen:

John Coltrane - A LOVE SUPREME LIVE IN SEATTLE - Impulse

Miles Davis - THE LOST CONCERT - Sleepy Night

Chet Doxas - YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU - Whirlwind

Harold Land - WESTWARD BOUND - Reel to Real

Chris Laurence - KEN WHEELER: SOME GNU ONES - Jazz in Britain

Jeff Lederer/Sunwatcher - EIGHTFOLD PATH - Little Music

Charles Lloyd & the Marvels - TONE POEM - Blue Note

Charles Mingus - AT CARNEGIE HALL, DeLUXE EDITION - Rhino

Wes Montgomery - NDR HAMBURG STUDIO RECORDINGS - Jazzline/NDR

Lee Morgan - COMPLETE LIVE AT THE LIGHTHOUSE - Blue Note

Oregon - 1974 - Moosicus

Eberhard Weber - ONCE UPON A TIME - ECM

Laurence Donohue-Greene (Managing Editor, The New York City Jazz Record) BEST OF 2019....

MUSICIANS OF THE YEAR (2019)

1) Kris Davis

2) Jaimie Branch

3) Joe Lovano

4) Michael Leonhart

5) Evan Parker

RECORD LABELS OF THE YEAR (2019)

1) ECM

2) Sunnyside

3) Intakt

4) International Anthem

5) NoBusiness

BEST NEW RELEASES (2019)

1) Joe Lovano - Trio Tapestry (ECM)

2) Michael Leonhart Orchestra - Suite Extracts, Vol.1 (Sunnyside)

3) Jaimie Branch - Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise (International Anthem)

4) James Brandon Lewis - UnRuly Manifesto (Relative Pitch)

5) Alex Harding/Lucian Ban - Dark Blue (Sunnyside)

6) Per Texas Johansson - Stråk på himlen och stora hus (Moserobie)

7) Red Kite - Red Kite (RareNoise)

8) Steph Richards - Take The Neon Lights (Birdwatcher)

9) Gebhard Ullmann/Hans Ludemann/Oliver Portratz/Eric Schaefter - mikroPULS (intuition)

10) Phil Slater - The Dark Pattern (Earshift Music)

BEST VOCAL RELEASES (2019)

1) Mary Stallings - Songs Were Made To Sing (Smoke Sessions)

2) Jazzmeia Horn - Love and Liberation (Concord)

3) Tomeka Reid/Kyoko Kitamura/Taylor Ho Bynum/Joe Morris - Geometry of Distance (Relative Pitch)

4) Veronica Swift - Confessions (Mack Avenue)

5) Dwight Trible - Mothership (Gearbox)

BEST REISSUES (2019)

1) Mal Waldron - Free at Last (ECM)

2) Erroll Garner - Campus Concert (Mack Avenue-Octave Music)

3) ICP Tentet - Tetterettet (ICP - Corbett vs. Dempsey)

4) Charles Tolliver All Stars - Right Now... and Then [Paper Man] (Strata-East)

5) Art Pepper - Promise Kept: The Complete Artists House Recordings (Artists House-Omnivore)

BEST BOXED SETS (2019)

1) Nat “King” Cole - Hitting’ The Ramp: The Early Years (1936-1943) (Resonance)

2) John Coltrane - 1963: New Directions (Impulse!)

3) The Quintet [Paal Nilssen-Love, et al.] - Events 1998-1999 (Not Two)

4) Art Pepper - The Complete Artists House Recordings (Artists House-Omnivore)

5) DKV Trio & Joe McPhee - The Fire Each Time (Not Two)

BEST LATIN JAZZ (2019)

1) Preservation Hall Jazz Band - A Tuba to Cuba (Sub Pop)

2) Jiggs Whigham BuJazzO - Cuban Fire (Doublemoon)

3) Michele Rosewoman New Yor-Uba - Hallowed (Advance Dance Disques)

4) Poncho Sanchez - Trane’s Delight (Concord)

5) Michel Camilo - Essence (Resilience Music Alliance)

BEST LARGE ENSEMBLE RELEASES (2019)

1) Michael Leonhart Orchestra - Suite Extracts, Vol.1 (Sunnyside)

2) Wayne Horvitz European Orchestra - Live at the Bimhuis (NovarraJazz)

3) Ralph Peterson Gen-Next Big Band - Listen Up! (Onyx)

4) Jiggs Whigham BuJazzO - Cuban Fire (Doublemoon)

5) Tom Pierson Orchestra - Last Works (Auteur)

BEST DEBUT RELEASES (2019)

1) Larry Grenadier - The Gleaners (ECM)

2) Lisa Hoppe’s Third Reality - The Mighty Unlikely (Jazzhaus Musik)

3) Junius Paul - Ism (International Anthem)

4) Nick Dunston - Atlantic Extraction (Out Of Your Head)

5) Jamile - If You Could See Me Now (s/r)

BEST TRIBUTES (2019)

1) Joe Fiedler - Open Sesame (Clean Feed) *Sesame Street tribute

2) Iro Haarla/Ulf Krokfors/Barry Altschul - Around Again (The Music of Carla Bley) (TUM)

3) Ralph Peterson’s Messenger Legacy - Legacy Alive, Vol.6 at The Side Door (Onyx)

4) Paul Dunmall Sun Ship Quartet - John Coltrane 50th Memorial Concert at Café Too (Confront)

5) Dick Hyman/Ken Peplowski - Counterpoint: Lerner & Loewe (Arbors)

BEST UNEARTHED GEMS/PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED ARCHIVAL RECORDINGS (2019)

1) Bill Dixon/Cecil Taylor - Duets 1992 (Triple Point)

2) Sam Rivers Quintet - Archive Project, Vol.2: Zenith (NoBusiness)

3) Francois Tusques - Alors Nosferatu Combina Un Plan Ingénieux (Finders Keepers)

4) Ella Fitzgerald - Ella at The Shrine (Verve)

5) Charles Lloyd Quartet - Montreuex Festival 1967 (Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series 46) (TCB)

BEST JAZZ PUBLICATIONS (2019)

1) Sweet Thunder: Duke Ellington’s Music in Nine Themes by Jack Chambers (Milestones Music & Art)

2) Rabbit’s Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges by Con Chapman (Oxford University Press)

3) Jason Moran - Jason Moran (Walker Arts Center)

4) Cloud Arrangers by Ziga Kortnik (Pega Society)

5) Jazz From Detroit by Mark Stryker (University of Michigan Press)

BEST SOLO ALBUMS (2019)

1) Brian Charette - Beyond Borderline (SteepleChase)

2) Peter Brötzmann - Solo: I Surrender Dear (Trost)

3) Ed Neumeister - One and Only (Meisteromusic)

4) Ahmad Jamal - Ballades (Jazzbook/Jazz Village)

5) Fred Frith - Woodwork (Klang Galerie)

BEST LIVE ALBUMS (2019)

1) Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton - Concert in Vilnius (NoBusiness)

2) Torbjörn Zetterberg & The Great Question - Live (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

3) Ed Neumeister - One and Only (Meisteromusic)

4) Eve Risser - Après un Rêve (Clean Feed)

5) Mars Williams - An Ayler Xmas, Vol.3: Live in Krakow (Not Two)

BEST LIVE CONCERTS (NYC) (2019)

*Ghost Train Orchestra "Plays Moondog” @Winter Jazzfest, Le Poisson Rouge (1/5/19)

*Gary Bartz "Another Earth 50th Anniversary” w/Pharoah Sanders, Charles Tolliver, James King, Bruce Edwards, Nasheet Waits, Eric Berryman @Winter Jazzfest, Le Poisson Rouge (1/10/19)

*Arooj Aftab w/Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily @Joe's Pub (4/28/19)

*Barre Phillips solo @Zürcher Gallery (5/20/19) 

*Andrew Cyrille w/Tomeka Reid, Beatrice Capote @Vision Festival, Roulette (6/11/19)

*Kris Davis Trio w/William Parker, Jeff "Tain” Watts @Vision Festival, Roulette (6/14/19) 

*Michael Leonhart Orchestra @Jazz Standard (7/16/19) 

*David Tronzo solo and w/Stomu Takeishi, Ned Rothenberg @Ibeam Brooklyn (8/10/19) 

*Ravi Coltrane Quartet w/David Virelles, Dezron Douglas, Johnathan Blake @Summerstage Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, Marcus Garvey Park (8/24/19)

*Pat Metheny Side-Eye Trio w/James Francies, Marcus Gilmore @Sony Hall (9/11/19) 

Favorite Releases of 2019

John Chacona, Erie (PA) Times-News and blogger at Let's Call This

Another strong year.  My list (in Delicious Library, an essential organizing tool) of potential Top Ten releases was 76 items out of a total number of jazz or jazz-ish releases for the period of 369.  Even at that number, I didn't hear everything, and the period in question is the one requested by Francis Davis for the NPR poll. So significant yearend releases like the Teri-Lyn Carrington date didn't make it to my ears in time.

Rankings are invidious, but I'm on record in the NPR poll with the one below, so here goes.

Ten favorite new releases

1.     Kris Davis:  Diatom Ribbons (Pyroclastic Records)
2.     Tomeka Reid Quartet:  Old New (Cuneiform)
3.     Tyshawn Sorey & Marilyn Crispell: The Adornment Of Time (Pi Recordings)
4.     Jaimie Branch: Fly Or Die Ii: Bird Dogs Of Paradise (International Anthem)
5.     Anthony Braxton: Quartet (New Haven) 2014 (Firehouse 12)
6.     The Art Ensemble Of Chicago: We Are On The Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration (Pi Recordings)
7.     Greg Ward and his Rogue Parade Ensemble:  Stomping Off From Greenwood (Greenleaf Music)
8.     Mark Dresser Seven:  Ain't Nothing but a Cyber Coup & You (Clean Feed)
9.     Moppa Elliott:  Jazz Band/Rock Band/Dance Band (Hot Cup Records)
10.  Mark Lomax, II:   400: An Afrikan Epic (CFG Multimedia)

Reissues or Historical albums

1.     The Art Ensemble Of Chicago And Associated Ensembles (ECM)
2.     Nat King Cole: Hittin' The Ramp: The Early Years 1936-1943 (Resonance Records)
3.     Allen Lowe: An Avant Garde of Our Own (ESP Disk)

Best vocal album

Jeanne Lee/Ran Blake: The Newest Sound You Never Heard (A-Side Records)

Best debut album

Harish Raghavan:  Calls for Action (Whirlwind Recordings)

Best Latin jazz CD

Miguel Zenón: Sonero: The Music of Ismael Rivera (Miel Music)

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FAVORITE JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2018 (by Mirian Arbalejo)

Both Directions At Once. John Coltrane. (Impulse!) 

Close Up. Sara Serpa. (Clean Feed Records)

CODE GIRL. Mary Halvorson. (Firehouse 12 Records)

Concentric Circles. Kenny Barron Quintet. (Blue Note)

Dirt . . . and More Dirt. Henry Threadgill 14 or 15 Kestra: Agg. (Pi)

DORAVANTE. Abe Rábade Trío. (Nuba + Karonte Records)

Emanon. Wayne Shorter. (Blue Note Records)

En Dag I Oktober. Hvalfugl. (Hvalfugl Music)

Harmony. Sam Harris (self-released)

Kennedy Meets Gershwin. Nigel Kennedy. (Warner Classics)

Lebroba. Andrew Cyrille. (ECM)

Live In Healdsburg. Anat Cohen y Fred Hersch. (Anzic Records)

Music IS. Bill Frisell. (OKeh)

Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions. Eric Dolphy. (Resonance)

Origami Harvest.  Ambrose Akinmusire. (Blue Note Records)

Ours/Theirs. Thumbscrew. (Cuneiform)

Presence. Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band. (Smoke Sessions)

Seymour Reads The Constitution!. Brad Mehldau Trio. (Nonesuch Records)

Standards In Dublin. Gonzalo del Val with Dave Liebman and Ronan Guilfoyle. (Quadrant Records)

Still Dreaming. Joshua Redman, Ron Miles, Scott Colley, Brian Blade (Nonesuch)

Temporary Kings. Mark Turner and Ethan Iverson. (ECM)

The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Associated Ensembles. (ECM)

The Influencing Machine. Elliot Galvin. (Edition Records)

The Other Side Of Air. Myra Melford's Snowy Egret. (Firehouse 12 Records)

The Window. Cecile McLorin Salvant. (Mack Avenue)

Tokyo '81. Woody Shaw. (Elemental)

Universal Beings. Makaya McCraven. (International Anthem)

Vientos Cruzados. Luis Verde Quartet. (self-released)

WORK. The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Monk. Miles Okazaki. (self-released)

*Mirian has shared these titles in the Francis Davis / NPR Jazz Critics Poll, It Don't Mean A Thing and Cuepoint.

TOP TWENTY JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2018 BY GEOFFREY HIMES

1. Charles Lloyd & the Marvels + Lucinda Williams: Vanished Gardens (Blue Note)

2. Henry Threadgill: Double Up, Plays Double Up Plus (Pi)

3. Steve Coleman: Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (Pi)

4. Wayne Shorter: Emanon (Blue Note)

5. Todd Marcus: On These Streets (A Baltimore Story) (Stricker Street)

6. Jason Moran & Bandwagon: Looks of a Lot (Yes)

7. Brad Mehldau Trio: Seymour Reads the Constitution! (Nonesuch)

8. Bill Frisell: Music Is (Okeh)

9. Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band: Presence (Smoke Sessions)

10. SFJazz Collective: Live: SFJazz Center 2017 (SFJazz)

11. Kat Edmonson: Old Fashioned Girl (Spinnerette)

12. Michael Leonhart Orchestra: The Painted Lady Suite (Sunnyside)

13. Allison Miller Carmen Staaf: Science Fair (Sunnyside)

14. Matthew Shipp Quartet: Sonic Fiction (ESP)

15. Jonathan Finlayson: 3 Times Round (Pi)

16. Anat Cohen/Fred Hersch: Live in Healdsburg (Anzic)

17. Jason Palmer: Rhyme and Reason (Giant Steps)

18. Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas Soundprints: Scandal (Greenleaf)

19. Hamid Drake, Ralph M. Jones, Adam Rudolph: Karuna (Meta)

20. Cyrus Chestnut: Kaleidoscope (HighNote)

TOP TWENTY NON-JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2018 BY GEOFFREY HIMES

1. Kevin Gordon: Tilt & Shine (Crowville)

2. Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed (Verve)

3. Alejandro Escovedo & Don Antonio: The Crossing (Yep Roc)

4. The Decemberists: I’ll Be Your Girl (Capitol)

5. Rosanne Cash: She Remembers Everything (Blue Note)

6. Ashley McBryde: Girl Going Nowhere (Atlantic)

7. Meshell Ndegeocello: Ventriloquism (Naive)

8. Ashley McBryde: Girl Going Nowhere (Warner Bros. Nashville)

9. Pistol Annies: Interstate Gospel (RCA/ShopKeeper)

10. Courtney Marie Andrews: May Your Kindness Remain (Mama Bird)

11. Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis: Wild! Wild! Wild! (Bloodshot)

12. Paul McCartney: Egypt Station (Capitol)

13. Charley Crockett: Lonesome as a Shadow (Thirty Tigers)

14. Lonnie Holley: Mith (Jagjaguway)

15. Paul Kelly: Nature (Cooking Vinyl/Gawd Aggie)

16. Old Crow Medicine Show: Volunteers (Columbia)

17. Blood Orange: Negro Swan (Domino)

18. Lucero: Among the Ghosts (Liberty & Lament/Thirty Tigers)

19. Elvis Costello & the Imposters: Look Now (Concord)

20. The Bottle Rockets: Bit Logic (Bloodshot)

TOP TEN HISTORICAL ALBUMS OF 2018 BY GEOFFREY HIMES

1. Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series Vol. 6 (Columbia/Legacy)

2. The Beatles: The Beatles (White Album) Super Deluxe Edition (Capitol)

3. John Coltrane: Both Directions at Once (Impulse)

4. Bobbie Gentry: The Girl from Chickasaw County (Capitol)

5. The Kinks: Village Green Preservation Society (BMG)

6. Neil Young: Roxy: Tonight's the Night (Reprise)

7. The Louvin Brothers: Love and Wealth: The Lost Recordings (Modern Harmonic)

8. Bob Dylan: More Blood, More Tracks (Columbia/Legacy)

9. Woody Shaw: Tokyo ’81 (Elemental)

10. Maggie Roche: Where Do I Come From: Selected Songs (Storysound)