GEOFFREY HIMES: BEST ALBUMS OF 2021

 

TWENTY BEST JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2021:

• 1.      Charles Lloyd & the Marvels: Tone Poem (Blue Note)
• 2.      Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas Soundprints: Other Worlds (Greenleaf)
• 3.      Matthew Shipp: Codebreaker (Tao Forms)
• 4.      Vijay Iyer: Uneasy (ECM)
• 5.      Amir El Saffar Rivers of Sound The Other Shore (Out Note)
• 6.      East Axis: Cool with That (ESP-Disk)
• 7.      David Sanford Big Band featuring Hugh Ragin: A Prayer for Lester Bowie (Greenleaf)
• 8.      Henry Threadgill: Zooid Poof (Pi)
• 9.      Johnathan Blake: Homeward Bound (Blue Note)
• 10.  Abdullah Ibrahim: Solotude (Gearbox)
• 11.  Allison Miller & Jane Ira Bloom: Tues Days (Outline)
• 12.  Jihye Lee Orchestra: Daring Mind (Motema)
• 13.  Arturo O'Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra: Virtual Birdland (Zoho)
• 14.  William Parker: Painters Winter (AUM Fidelity)
• 15.  Julian Lage: Squint Blue Note
• 16.  Gonzalo Rubalcaba Ron Carter Jack DeJohette Skyline (Passion)
• 17.  James Brandon Lewis: Jesup Wagon Tao
• 18.  Lionel Loueke: Close Your Eyes (Sounderscore)
• 19.  Pat Metheny Side Eye: NYC V1.IV (Metheny Group)
• 20.  Esperanza Spalding: Songwrightsapothecarylab (Concord Jazz)

 

TWENTY BEST NON-JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2021:

 

• 1.      James McMurtry: The Horses and the Hounds (New West)
• 2.      Charley Crockett: Music City USA (Son of Davy/Thirty Tigers)
• 3.      Valerie June: The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers (Fantasy)
• 4.      Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi: They're Calling Me Home (Nonesuch)
• 5.      Robert Plant / Alison Krauss: Raise the Roof  (Rounder)
• 6.      Hayes Carll: You Get It All (Dualtone)
• 7.      Mickey Guyton: Remember Her Name (Capitol Nashville)
• 8.      Olivia Rodrigo: “Driver's License” from Sour (Geffen)
• 9.      Lindsey Buckingham: Lindsey Buckingham (Reprise)
• 10.  Lil Nas X: Montero (Columbia
• 11.  Taylor Swift: Red (Taylor’s Version) (Republic)
• 12.  Billie Eilish: Happier than Ever (Inerscope)
• 13.  Julien Baker Little Oblivions (Matador)
• 14.  The Black Keys: Delta Kream (Nonesuch)
• 15.  The Hold Steady: Open Door Policy (Partisan)
• 16.  Yasmin Williams Urban Driftwood (Spinster)
• 17.  Lucy Dacus: Home Video (Matador)
• 18.  Eric Church: Heart & Soul (EMI Nashville/Big EC)
• 19.  The Dropkick Murphys: Turn Up That Dial (Born & Bred)
• 20.  Lady Blackbird: Black Acid Soul (Foundation)

 

THE FIVE BEST HISTORICAL JAZZ ALBUMS:

• 1.      Sam Rivers Quartet: Braids (No Business)
• 2.      Hasaan Ibn Ali: Metaphysics and Retrospect in Retirement of Delay: The Solo Recordings (Omnivore)
• 3.      John Coltrane: A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle (Impulse)
• 4.      Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings (Blue Note)
• 5.      Sheila Jordan: Comes Love: Lost Session 1960 (Capri)

THE FIVE BEST HISTORICAL NON-JAZZ ALBUMS:

• 1.      The Beach Boys: Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions: 1969-1971 (Universal/Capitol/Brother)
• 2.      Bob Dylan: Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16, 1980-1985 (Columbia/Legacy)
• 3.      Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concert (Columbia/Legacy)
• 4.      Various Artists: It's a Good Feeling: The Latin Soul of Fania Records, The Singles (Craft Latino)
• 5.      Buck Owens: The Capitol Albums (Omnivore)

 

33third.org's Top ten Albums for 2021

Another banner year for Jazz made all the more remarkable given COVID and the polarized response to the pandemic in the US.

Here's is my write up of the very best for 2021

Enjoy!

Michael Ambrosino / 33third.org

• Top 30 Jazz Albums for 2021

  Stephen Braunginn

  Producer/Host – Strictly Jazz Sounds: WORT89.9-FM, Madison, WI

  Not in particular order:

• As I compiled this list while preparing for my annual "Jazz in Retrospective" show, I realized the different strategies jazz musicians used to advance their music, to just play music with someone else. Trends reflect the times. I'm mostly moved by the passion exhibited through the music. I spent more time with smaller and indie labels this year. One final observation, the British are coming. Innovative jazz is springing from the UK!

• 1)    Benito Gonzalez: Sing to the World
• 2)    Joe Chambers: Samba de Maracatu
• 3)    Pierrick Pedron: Fifty-Fifty (New York Sessions)
• 4)    Miguel Zenón: Long Years: The Music of Ornette Coleman
• 5)    Joe Lovano, Marilyn Crispell, Carmen Castaldi: Trio Tapestry: Garden of Expression
• 6)    Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Joe Lovano: Arctic Riff
• 7)    Isaiah Collier& The Chosen Few: Cosmic Transitions
• 8)    Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas Sound Prints: Other Worlds
• 9)    Alchemy Sound Project: Afrika Love
• 10) Dennis Mitcheltree: Nevermind the Circus
• 11) Nicole Glover: Strange Lands
• 12) Ches Smith and We All Break: Path of Seven Colors
• 13) Terence Blanchard: Absence
• 14) Johannes Wallmann: Elegy for an Undiscovered Species
• 15) Chick Corea Akoustic Band: Live
• 16) Christian McBride and Inside Straight: Live at the Village Vanguard
• 17) Brandee Younger: Somewhere Different
• 18) Sons of Kemet: Black to the Future
• 19) Frank Kimbrough: Ancestors
• 20) Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey: Uneasy
• 21) Carlos Henriquez: The South Bronx Story
• 22) Victor Gould: In our Time
• 23) Renee Rosnes: Kinds of Love
• 24) Pat Metheny: Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV)
• 25) Kenny Garrett: Sounds From the Ancestors
• 26) James Brandon Lewis Quartet: Code of Being
• 27) Remy Le Boeuf’s Assembly of Shadows: Architect of Storms
• 28) Jihye Lee Orchestra: Daring Mind
• 29) Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra: Virtual Birdland
• 30) The Cookers: Look Out!

Historical:

Hal Galper Quintet: Live at the Berlin Philharmonic 1977

Ella Fitzgerald: The Berlin Tapes

Alice Coltrane: Turiya Sings

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers: First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings

Lee Morgan: The Complete Live at the Lighthouse

SOME OF MY “BEST OF 2021”

GREGORI HOLLIS - LANDING

MIGUEL ZENON - EL ARTE DEL BOLERO

ROY HARGROVE & MULGREW MILLER - IN HARMONY

JOCELYN GARTH - TELL HIM I SAID HELLO

WILD BLUE HERONS - Darlene Cooper & Bill Sample - YOU & I

CONNIE HAN - PRETTY WOMAN

PAU MOLTO - FRENCH HORN JAZZ PROJECT

MICHAEL STEPHENSON - meets ALEXANDER CLAFFY TRIO

DAN WILSON - VESSELS OF WOOD AND EARTH

BILL CHARLAP - STREET OF DREAMS

CARLOS HENRIQUEZ - THE SOUTH BRONX STORY

ALEXANDER BROTT - THE AESTHETIC ATTITUDE

TONY BENNETT - LOVE FOR SALE

LUCY YEGHIAZARYAN & VANISHA GOULD - IN HER WORDS

JARED SCHONIG - TWO TAKES VOL 2

ROSA PASSOS - DUNAS, LIVE IN COPENHAGEN 

MADS MATHIAS - I’M ALL EARS

ANTHONY WONSEY - LORRAINE’S LULLABYE

JOHANNA PATTERSON - THE SHOW MUST GO ON

SHANNON GUNN - ON A MOUNTAIN

50 Favorite Recordings of 2021*

Artifacts. Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Mike Reed. ... And Then There's This. Astral Spirits

Patricia Brennan. Maquishti. Valley of Search

Roy Brooks. Understanding. Reel To Real

George Cables. Too Close For Comfort. HighNote Records

Caminero Trio. Al Toque. Karonte

Àlex Cassanyes. Composició II. UnderPool

Bill Charlap Trio. Street Of Dreams. Blue Note Records

Clasijazz Valparaíso Big Band. Casijazz Fundación Valparaíso

John Coltrane. A Love Supreme - Live In Seattle. Impulse!

Sylvie Courvoisier - Mary Halvorson. Searching for the Disappeared Hour. Pyroclastic

Dr. Lonnie Smith. Breathe. Blue Note

Scott DuBois. Summer Water. Watertone Music

Bill Evans Trio. On a Friday Evening. Craft

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra. Promises. Luaka Bop

Michael Formanek - Peter Formanek. Dyads. Out Of Your Head

María Grand. Reciprocity. Biophilia Records

Roy Hargrove - Mulgrew Miller. In Harmony. Resonance

Abdullah Ibrahim. Solotude: My Journey, My Vision. Gearbox Records

Ethan Iverson & Umbria Jazz Orchestra, Bud Powell in the 21st Century. Sunnyside

Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey. Uneasy. ECM

Jazz Worms. Squirmin'. Capri

Sheila Jordan, Comes Love: Lost Session 1960. Capri

Charlotte Keefe. Right Here, Right Now. Discus Records

Martín Leiton. Desde a Bajo. UnderPool

James Brandon Lewis - Red Lily Quintet. Jesup Wagon. TAO Forms

Charles Lloyd & the Marvels. Tone Poem. Blue Note

Jean-Marie Machado Quartet. Majakka. La Buissonne

Georgia Mancio - Alan Broadbent. Quiet Is The Star. Roomspin Records

Ossi Maristo. Arc. Eclipse Music / Supersounds Music Oy

Marco Martínez. NOI. Errabal

Makaya McCraven. Deciphering the Message. Blue Note

Tomoko Omura. Branches Vol. 2. Outside In Music

Moisés P. Sánchez. Bach (Re)Inventions. MarchVivo

Gretchen Parlato. Flor. Edition Records

Marcelo Peralta. Northwest Wind. Mariana Potenza y Juan Calvi

Guillem Plana, Aleix Forts, David Viñolas. NUCLI TRIO. Errabal

Alex Riel, Bo Stief, Carsten Dahl. Our Songs. Storyville Records

Sara Serpa. Intimate Strangers. Biophilia Records

Fran Serrano Quintet. 0202. ESMUC

Archie Shepp / Jason Morán. Let My People Go. Archieball

Ches Smith & We All Break. Path of Seven Colors. Pyroclastic Records

Sons Of Kemet. Black To The Future. Impulse!

Kevin Sun. <3 Bird. Endectomorph Music

Arthur Taylor, Marc Cary, Tyler Mitchell, Abraham Burton, Willie Williams. Taylors Wailers [sic] Live In NYC (Birdland, 1992). The Harlem Sessions / Marc Cary

UNDP Collective. Esto Sí Se Llama Querer. UnderPool

UNDP Collective. UNDERPOOL 5  Vol 2. UnderPool

Angel Unzu Cuarteto. Orain. Moskito Rekords

Wadada Leo Smith’s Great Lakes Quartet. The Chicago Symphonies. TUM

Wadada Leo Smith, Jack DeJohnette, Vijay Iyer. A Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday. TUM

Anna Webber. Idiom. Pi

Mareike Wiening. Future Memories. Greenleaf Music

*As published by Mirian Arbalejo on December 31st 2021.

A shorten list was presented to the Jazz Critics Poll (The Arts Fuse).

The Top Ten: 

1. Henry Threadgill, Poof (Pi Recordings)               

2. Charles Lloyd & the Marvels, Tone Poem (Blue Note)                                     

3. Terence Blanchard, Absence (Blue Note)                                                                 

4. Andrew Cyrille Quartert, The News (ECM)                                                    

5. Dave Holland, Another Land (Edition)                                                                      

6. Brian Lynch, Songbook, Vol. 1: Bus Stop Serenade (Hollistic Music Works)         

7. Dave Stryker, As We Are (Strikezone)                                                                       

8. Alex Conde, Descarga for Bud (SedaJazz Records)                                            

9. Michael Feinberg, Hard Times (Fresh Sound)                                               

10. Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra, Community Music, Vol. 1: Tinctures in Time (Royal Potato Family) 

The Other Forty:

11. Miguel Zenon, Law Years: The Music of Ornette Coleman (Miel Music)

12. Eric Wyatt, A Song of Hope (Whaling City Sound)

13. Dan Wilson, Vessels of Wood (Mack Avenue)

14. Kurt Elling w/Charlie Hunter, Super Blue (Edition)

15. Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trios, Songs From My Father (Whaling City Sound)

16. John McLaughlin, Liberation Time (Abstract Logix)    

17. Renee Rosnes, Kinds of Love (Smoke Sessions) 

18. Pasquale Grasso, Pasquale Plays Duke (Sony Music Masterworks)

19. Dave Stryker, Baker’s Circle (Strikezone)

20. Rale Micic, Only Love Will Stay (Whaling City Sound)

21. Orrin Evans, The Magic of Now (Smoke Sessions)

22. Nicole Glover, Strange Lands (Savant)

23. Charged Particles w/Tod Dickow, Live at the Baked Potato! (Summit)

24. Don Braden/Joris Teepe Quartet, In the Spirit of Herbie Hancock (O.A.P.)

25. Fred Hersch, Breath By Breath (Palmetto)

26. John Pizzarelli, Better Days Ahead (Ghostlight Deluxe)

27. Lorne Lofsky, This Song Is New (Modica Music)

28. Greg Belisle-Chi, Koi: Performing the Music of Tim Berne (Relative Pitch)

29. Alex Sipiagin, Upstream (Posi-Tone)

30. Fay Claassen & David Linx w/WDR Big Band Köln, And Still We Sing (Jazzline)                                                                 

31. Franco Ambrosetti, Lost Within You (Unit Records)     

32. Reggie Quinerly, New York Nowhere (Redefinition)    

33. Dr. Lonnie Smith, Breathe (Blue Note)        

34. David Kikoski/Boris Kozlov, Sure Thing (HighNote)       

35. Frank Kimbrough, Ancestors (Sunnyside)       

36. Martin Wind Quartet, My Astorian Queen (Laika Reocrds)    

37. Leon Lee Dorsey/Manuel Valera/Mike Clark, Freedom Jazz Dance (Jazz Avenue  1)                 

38. Alex Norris, Fleet from the Heat (SteepleChase)        

39. Dafnis Prieto, Transparency (Dafnison Music)          

40. Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge, Within Us (Summit)         

41. Bill Charlap, Street of Dreams (Blue Note)  

42. Johnathan Blake, Homeward Bound (Blue Note)  

43. Brian Charette, Power from the Air (SteepleChase)       

44. Steve Slagle, Nascentia (Panorama Records)  

45. Eliane Elias, Mirror Mirror (Candid)       

46. Mark Masters, Masters and Baron Meet Blanton and Webster (Capri)    

47. Jeff Lederer, Eightfold Path (little i music)  

48. Graham Dechter, Major Influence (Capri)     

49. Roseanna Vitro, Sing a Song of Bird (Skyline)        

50. Mike Neer, Keepin' It Real (Mike Neer Music)

Best Historical Recordings/Reissues:

1. Hasaan Ibn Ali, Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album (Omnivore)

2. Roy Brooks, Understanding (Reel to Real)

3. Sheila Jordan, Comes Love: Lost Session 1960 (Capri)

4. Larry Coryell & Philip Catherine, The Last Call (ACT)

5. Roy Hargrove & Mulgrew Miller, In Harmony (Resonance)

6. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle (Impulse!)

7. Oscar Peterson, A Time For Love (Two Lions/Mack Avenue)

8. Bill Evans, Everybody Still Digs Bill Evans: A Career Retrospective (1956-1980) (Craft Recordings)

9. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings (Blue Note)

10. Harvie S w/Mike Stern and Alan Dawson, Going For It (Savant)

TOP JAZZ PICKS FOR 2021

New Releases-

1. Joe Farnsworth- City of Sounds (Smoke Sessions)

2. Donald Edwards- The Color of Us Suite (Criss Cross)

3. Orrin Evans- The Magic of Now (Smoke Sessions)

4. Pat Metheny- Side-Eye NYC (Modern Recordings)

5. Bill Charlap- Street of Dreams (Blue Note)

6. Mike LeDonne- It's All Your Fault (Savant)

7. John Pizzarelli- Better Days Ahead: Solo Guitar Takes on Pat Metheny (Ghostlight)

8. Brian Lynch- Songbook Vol.1: Bus Stop Serenade (Hollistic Music)

9. Renee Rosnes- Kinds of Love (Smoke Sessions)

10. Brian Charette- Power From the Air (SteepleChase)

Historical Releases-

1. Louis Armstrong- The Complete Columbia and RCA Victor Sessions 1946-1966 (Mosaic)

2. Lee Morgan- The Complete Live at the Lighthouse (Blue Note)

3. Roy Brooks- Understanding (Reel to Real)

4. Thelonious Monk- Palo Alto (Impulse)

5. Harold Land- Westward Bound (Reel to Real)

In alpha order by artist name, my favorite recordings of creative music

in the Black American tradition.

Artifacts Trio, …and then there’s this

Roy Brooks, Understanding 

Steve Coleman and Five Elements, Live at the Village Vanguard Volume II (MDW NTR)

Mark Feldman, Sounding Point

Irreversible Entanglements, Open The Gates

David Leon, Aire De Agua

James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet, Jesup Wagon

Dave Liebman Expansions, Selflessness

William Parker, Migration of Silence Into & Out of the Tone World

Diego Rivera, Indigenous

Ches Smith and We All Break, Path Of Seven Colors

Sons Of Kemet, Black To The Future

Stringers and Struts, Stringers and Struts

Kevin Sun, <3 Bird

Craig Taborn, Shadow Plays

Henry Threadgill Zooid, Poof

Thumbscrew, Never Is Enough

Miguel Zenón, Law Years: The Music of Ornette Coleman

various artists, John Zorn's Bagatelles

I'm founder and editor of Jazz Artistry Now. Our Contributing Writers lists follow:

• READ: Christopher Burnett
• READ: David R. Adler - part 1 and part 2
• READ: Scott Yanow

Here are my top ten for 2021. I also list another 15, with commentary on the whole twenty-five, over at PostGenre.

NEW RELEASES

1. Kaidi Tatham, An Insight to All Minds(First Word)
2. Kenny Garrett, Sounds From the Ancestors (Mack Avenue)
3. Natural Information Society & Evan Parker, Descension (Out of Our Constrictions) (Aguirre/Eremite)
4. Wadada Leo Smith-Jack DeJohnette-Vijay Iyer, A Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday (TUM)
5. Archie Shepp & Jason Moran, Let My People Go (Archieball)
6. Pino Palladino and Blake Mills, Notes With Attachments (Impulse!)
7. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Searching for the Disappeared Hour(Pyroclastic)
8. James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet, Jesup Wagon (Tao Forms)
9. Terence Blanchard, Absence (Blue Note)
10. Brandee Younger, Somewhere Different (Verve)

REISSUES/HISTORICAL

1. Marcos Resende & Index, Marcos Resende & Index (1976, Far Out)
2. Khan Jamal, Infinity (1982, Jazz Room)
3. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle (1965, Impulse)

VOCAL

• Jen Shyu & Jade Tongue, Zero Grasses: Ritual for the Losses (Pi)

DEBUT

• Sara Schoenbeck, Sara Schoenbeck(Pyroclastic)

LATIN

• Arturo O'Farrill, . . . Dreaming in Lions . . . (Blue Note)