Top Ten Jazz Releases 2016

Esperanza Spalding, Emily’s D+Evolution (Concord)

Mike Moreno, Lotus (World Culture)

Dan Weiss, Sixteen: Drummers Suite (Pi)

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Real Enemies (New Amsterdam)

Tony Moreno Quintet, Short Stories (Mayimba)

Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau, Nearness (Nonesuch)

Rez Abbasi & Junction, Behind the Vibration (Cuneiform)

Nels Cline, Lovers (Blue Note)

Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus, The Distance (ECM)

Stephan Crump, Rhombal (Papillon)

Top Historical Jazz Releases 2016

The Savory Collection, Volume 1 - Body & Soul: Coleman Hawkins & Friends (NJMH)

Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, All My Yesterdays: The Debut 1966 Recordings at the Village Vanguard (Resonance)

Miles Davis Quintet, Freedom Jazz Dance: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 5 (Sony)

Sissle & Blake Sing Shuffle Along (Harbinger)

Bill Evans, Some Other Time: The Lost Session from The Black Forest (Resonance)

Charlie Parker, Unheard Bird: The Unissued Takes (Verve)

Other Important Releases 2016

Matt Wilson’s Big Happy Family, Beginning of a Memory (Palmetto)

Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, Time/Life: Songs for the Whales and Other Beings (Impulse!)

Renee Rosnes, Written in the Rocks (Smoke Sessions)

Orrin Evans, #knowingishalfthebattle (Smoke Sessions)

Will Vinson, Perfectly Out of Place (5Passion)

Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke (ECM)

Henry Threadgill’s Ensemble Double-Up, Old Locks and Irregular Verbs (Pi)

Steve Lehman, Sélébéyone (Pi)

Tyshawn Sorey, The Inner Spectrum of Variables (Pi)

Black Art Jazz Collective (Sunnyside)

Logan Richardson, Shift (Blue Note)

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis, Azul Infinito (Greenleaf)

Jeremy Pelt, #jiveculture (HighNote)

Alexis Cuadrado, Poètica (Sunnyside)

The Bad Plus, It’s Hard (OKeh/Sony)

Andrew Cyrille Quartet, The Declaration of Musical Independence (ECM)

Adam O’Farrill, Stranger Days (Sunnyside)

Noah Preminger, Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground (ind.)

Donny McCaslin, Beyond Now (Motéma)

Oran Etkin, What’s New: Reimagining Benny Goodman (Motéma)

Pat Metheny, The Unity Sessions (Nonesuch)

Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny (Nonesuch)

Marcus Strickland, Nihil Novi (Blue Note)

Jack DeJohnette/Ravi Coltrane/Matthew Garrison, In Movement (ECM)

Eric Revis Trio, Crowded Solitudes (Clean Feed)

Guillermo Klein, Los Guachos V (Sunnyside)

Tom Harrell, Something Gold, Something Blue (HighNote)

Boris Kozlov, Conversations at the Well (Criss Cross)

Ethan Iverson, The Purity of the Turf (Criss Cross)

Fresh Cut Orchestra, Mind Behind Closed Eyes (Ropeadope)