On December 19, 2020, from 2-5 p.m., I reviewed the top tracks from some of the best jazz albums that came my way this year on the radio program The Motif: Reimagine a Jazz Sensibility on KBOO, 90.7 FM in Portland, Oregon. Many of these tracks also have been or will be featured on my national program, Jazz In the New Millennium, syndicated through the African American Public Radio Consortium. The aesthetic core of these programs is to help define a modern mainstream for the 21st Century. It does not represent the full range of what I listen to, both within the jazz world and beyond. Here is the playlist:
Set one
Christian McBride, "Sister Rosa," The Movement Revisited (Mack Avenue)
Warren Wolf, "For Ma," Reincarnation (Mack Avenue)
Gregory Porter, "Dad Gone Thing," All Rise (Blue Note)
Christian Sands, "Can't Find My Way Home," Be Water (Mack Avenue)
Set two
Tim Ray, "Paint It Black," Excursions and Adventures (Whaling City Sound)
Charles Lloyd, "La Llorona," 8: Kindred Spirits (Blue Note)
Bill Frisell, "Baba Drame," Valentine (Blue Note)
Tony Allen/Hugh Masekela, "Coconut Jam," Rejoice (World Circuit)
Set three
Joel Ross, "After the Rain," Who Are You? (Blue Note)
Immanuel Wilkins, "The Dreamer," Omega (Blue Note)
Lauren Henderson, "Day by Day," The Songbook Session (Brontosaurus)
Aaron Diehl, "Polaris," The Vagabond (Mack Avenue)
Set four
Doctor Michael White, "Summertime," Live (Basin Street)
Maceo Parker, "Hard Times," Soul Food: Cookin' with Maceo (The Funk Garage)
Christian McBride Big Band, "Road Song," For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver (Mack Avenue)
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, "Hammer Head," The Music of Wayne Shorter (Blue Engine)
Set five
Derrick Hodge, "The Cost," Color of Noize (Blue Note)
Ndudzo Makhathini, "Saziwa Nguwe," Modes of Communication Letters from the Underworlds (Blue Note)
Gerald Clayton, "Rejuvenation Agenda," Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note)
Ambrose Akinmusire, "Yessss," On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment (Blue Note)
Set six
Maria Schneider Orchestra, "The Sun Waited for Me," Data Lords (Artist Share)
Billy Childs, "Leimert Park," Acceptance (Mack Avenue)
John Beasley, "Monk's Mood," Monk'estra Plays John Beasley (Mack Avenue)
Pat Metheny, "Same River," From This Place (Nonesuch)
Set seven
Artemis, "If It's Magic," Artemis (Blue Note)
Rudresh Mahanthappa, "Ring of Fire," Hero Trio (Whirlwind)
Harold Lopez Nussa, "Van Van Meets New Orleans," Te Lo Dije (Mack Avenue)
Derrick Shezbie, "Didn't He Ramble," The Ghost of Buddy Bolden (Clubhouse)
Set eight
Fred Hersh, "Wichita Lineman," Songs from Home (Palmetto)
Warren Wolf, "Do You Hear What I Hear?," Christmas Vibes (Mack Avenue)
Closer
Robert Cray Band, "This Man," That's What I Heard (Nozzle/Thirty Tigers)
