What were the best jazz albums released this year? Everyone has an opinion but it’s always interesting to compare. Here are some lists from sources in Australia, the US and the UK.
John McBeath, jazz writer, The Australian.
Australian releases (in no order)
- Andrew Robson Trio – Radiola (Lamplight Records)
- Tina Harrod – Work Songs (Vitamin)
- Oehlers, Grabowsky & Beck – Lost and Found (Jazzhead)
- Wanderlust – When In Rome (Rufus Records)
- Tim Stevens Trio – Mickets (Rufus Records)
John Shand, jazz critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and author ofJazz: The Australian Accent.
Australian releases
1 Andrew Robson – Bearing the Bell (ABC)
2 Tina Harrod – Worksongs (Vitamin)
3 Paul Grabowsky – Ten Healing Songs (Hush)
4 Converging Paths – Shades of There (Feeling to Thought)
5 Greg Coffin Trio – It’s neither either or. It’s both and. (Jazzgroove)
6 Antripodean Collective – Funcall (Extreme)
Overseas releases
1 Paul Motian – Village Vanguard Vol II (W&W/Birdland)
2 Lowell Davidson – Trio (ESP, reissue)
3 Don Cherry – Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966 vol. 2 (ESP/Planet)
4 Charles Lloyd Quartet – Rabo de Nube (ECM)
5 Marilyn Crispell – Vignettes (ECM)
6 Keith Jarrett Trio – Setting Standards (ECM, reissue)
[Honourable mentions for Billy Bang Quartet – Above & Beyond (Justin Time/Planet) Henry Grimes – The Call (ESP, reissue) and Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet (Tabligh – Cuneiform)]
National Public Radio
This top 10 features new names, veterans such as Joe Lovano and Dave Holland, and singer Cassandra Wilson.
The New York Times
Want to spend up big on another edition of Kind of Blue? Perhaps Lester Young is more your speed. Here are some box sets suggestions.
Amazon
Strictly speaking, this isn’t an official Amazon compilation but rather the considered judgment of R. Hutchinson, one of the site’s many avid list makers. William Parker, Anthony Braxton and Dave Douglas each get a guernsey.
Howard Mandel
Anthony Braxton seems a common element in this year’s lists. The eight disc reissue—The Complete Arista Recordings (Mosaic)—might be more of a commitment than many of us are up for (not to mention the wallet) but we should nonetheless applaud producer Michael Cuscuna for his ongoing project to save great music from fading into analog obscurity. Pianist Lafayette Gilchrist, here recently with David Murray, also gets a mention. George E. Lewis’s book—A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music (University of Chicago Press)—is recommended for those who might like to read as well as listen.
