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)

This is the time of year where jazz critics clammer to contribute their favorite albums of the passing year. This year has been particularly fruitful for jazz musicians as the pandemic continues to create opportunities to explore and release new bodies due to the lessening of live performances and tours, specifically at the beginning of 2021 when the live venues were unable to open their doors to full capacity.

The end of 2021 has offered many more opportunities as many jazz clubs completed successful fundraising campaigns to keep their doors open and have reverted back to full offering capacity shows with the condition that attendees show their vaccination cards. I personally attended an Artemis performance at Birdland in New York City last week and was able to enjoy the show maskless because I had proof of vaccination. 

I have my opinions of the Best Jazz Albums of 2021 which I am sure reflects similar sentiments from several jazz critics yet, of course, is also arguable and may invite differing outlooks and choices. This list is a culmination of my choices for Year-End Polls for a number of publications and from notable albums, I wanted to highlight during my chat with Nate Chinen and Greg Bryant for the taping of the Jazz United podcast, which will be released later this month.

I’ve listened, enjoyed and learned so much on my continuing journey as a busy jazz critic who has published nearly 30 reviews, articles and columns this year. I am thankful for these artists’ courageousness and ingenuity during these uncertain times. I look forward to hearing more music in 2022.

• Makaya McCraven, Deciphering the Message (November 2021)

• Brandee Younger, Somewhere Different (August 2021)

• Jamie Branch, Fly or Die Live (May 2021)

• Amirtha Kidambi & Lea Bertucci, End of Softness & Phase Eclipse (June 2021)

• Steph Richards, Zephyr (October 2021)

• Vijay Iyer Trio, Uneasy (April 2021)

• Terence Blanchard, Absence - tribute to Wayne Shorter (August 2021)

• Alice Coltrane,  Kirtan: Turiya Sings (July 2021)

• John Coltrane, Live in Seattle (October 2021)

• Luke Stewart, Works for Electric Bass Guitar (September 2021)

• Luke Stewart & Jarvis Earnshaw Quartet, Self-titled (October 2021)

• Brad Linde with Wendy Eisenberg/Erika Dohi/Luke Stewart/Allison Miller, Into Thin Air (October 2021)

• Irreversible Entanglements, Open the Gates (Nov 2021)

• Sara Serpa and Emmanuel Iduma, Intimate Strangers (December 2021)

• Esperanza Spalding, Songwrights Apothecary Lab (September 2021)

• William Parker, Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World (January 2021)

• Roxana Amed, Ontology (April 2021)

• James Brandon Lewis, Jesup Wagon (May 2021)

• Branford Marsalis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2021)

• James Brandon Lewis – Molecular (October 2021)

• Jazzmeia Horn, Dear Love (September 2021)

• Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, & The London Symphony Orchestra, Promises (2021)

For convenience, I've followed the template of the Davis-Hull poll, but for honesty of my enjoyments, I've added albums beyond its proscription.. When the year ends and these lists are compiled, I learn of how much I missed. It's not gone, I'll try to catch up, but (gladly) there's so much more to come.

XXXX (ACT) - Wollny-Parisien-Lefebvre-Lillinger

The Other Shore (El Saffar Music) – Amir ElSaffar Rivers of Sound

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

Everything Happens to Me (BAG Production Records) – Ben Goldberg

Kimbrough (Newvelle Records) – Various Artists

Skyline, Gonzalo Rubalcaba-Ron Carter-Jack DeJohnette

A Love Suite for Billie Holiday (Tum) – Wadada Leo Smith

Homeward Bound (Blue Note) – Johnathan Blake

Angels Over Oakanda – Burnt Sugar

The News (ECM) – Andrew Cyrille Quartet

Reissues/Historical

Corona (FMP) Cecil Taylor and Sunny Murray

The Summer House Sessions (Blank Forms Editions) – Don Cherry

A Love Supreme Live in Seattle (Impulse!) – John Coltrane 

Best Boxed Set

Julius Hemphill (1938 – 1995): The Boyé Inter-National Crusade for Harmony (New World Records)

Vocal

Dear Love (Empress Legacy) – Jazzmeia Horn

Petite Fleur (Storyville)- Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra featuring Cyrille Aimée 

Superblue (Edition Records) – Kurt Elling with Charlie Hunter 

Debut

Ruminate: Improvisations for Fretless Guitar and Dutar (Worlds Within Worlds) - Gabriel Ahkmad Marin

Jazz with prominent Afro-Caribbean characteristics and marketing: Chapter 10: Breaking Cover (Picaro Records) -- Papo Vasquez and the Latin Troubadours

Here are twenty recommended tracks featured on my radio shows, Jazz In the New Millennium (syndicated nationally through the African American Public Radio Consortium) and KBOO-FM in Portland, Oregon. The first ten are from my top albums ballot, though not necessarily in this order. Obviously, no one can listen to everything; what I heard was in part dictated by what came my way. 

Top Ten Albums and Tracks

Charles Lloyd and the Marvels, "Ramblin'" (Tone Poem, Blue Note)

Dr. Lonnie Smith, "Why Can't We Live Together," (Breathe, Blue Note)

Lauren Henderson, "I Concentrate on You," (Musa, Brontosaurus) 

Kenny Garrett, "Sounds from the Ancestors" (Sounds from the Ancestors, Mack Avenue) 

Pat Metheny, "Time Line" (Side Eye NYC V1.1V, Metheny Group)

Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trios, "Tango for Terry" (Songs From My Father, Whaling City Sound) 

Vijay Iyer, "Drummer's Song" (Uneasy, ECM) 

Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas, "The Transcendentalists" (Other Worlds, Greenleaf)

Arturo O'Farrill The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble, "Del Mar" (Dreaming In Lions..., Blue Note) 

Johnathan Blake, "Steppin' Out" (Homeward Bound, Blue Note) 

Ten More for the Radio

Joe Chambers, "Samba de Maracatu" (Samba de Maracatu, Blue Note) 

Leon Lee Dorsey, "Freedom Jazz Dance" (Freedom Jazz Dance, Jazz Avenue) 

Julian Lage, "Saint Rose" (Squint, Blue Note) 

Kurt Elling, "Manic Panic Epiphanic" (SuperBlue, Edition)

John Patitucci/Vinnie Colaiuta/Bill Cunliffe, "Ana Maria" (Trio, Le Coq) 

Terence Blanchard feat. the E! Collective and Turtle Island Quartet, "Diana" (Absence, Blue Note) 

Noah Haidu, "Chambers of Tain" (Doctone, Sunnyside) 

Brandee Younger, "Love & Struggle" (Somewhere Different, Impulse) 

James Francies, "My Favorite Things" (Purest Form, Blue Note) 

Makaya McCraven, "Wail Bait" (Deciphering the Message, Blue Note) 

Three Very Cool Reissues

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost Recordings (Blue Note): Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons, Jymie Merritt, Art Blakey. We now have proof. On January 14, 1961, this was the greatest band in the world. 

Sheila Jordan, Comes Love: Lost Session 1960 (Capri): She can't remember who was in the band but they sound great. She does, too. 

Oscar Peterson Quartet, A Time for Love (Mack Avenue): Oscar is Oscar, Joe Pass is shredding... 

Three Very Cool Non-Jazz Albums

Robert Plant/Alison Krauss, Raise the Roof (Rounder) 

Allison Russell, Outside Child (Fantasy)

Charley Crockett, The Valley (Son of Davy/Thirty Tigers) 

The 10 best new jazz releases of 2021

1. Yoko Miwa, Songs of Joy (Ubuntu)

2. Greg Abate, Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron (Whaling City Sound)

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

4. Paxton/Spangler Septet, Anthem for the New Nation (Eastlawn)

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

6. Graham Dechter, Major Influence (Capri)

7. Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Skyline (Passion)

8. Diego Rivera, Indigenous (Posi-Tone)

9. Dan Wilson, Vessels of Wood and Earth (Brother Mister)

10. Out To Dinner, Play On (Posi-Tone)

2021’s best vocal recordings:

1. Veronica Swift, This Bitter Earth (Mack Avenue)

2. Samara Joy, Samara Joy (Whirlwind)

3. Roderick Harper, Evolving (RHM Entertainment)

4. Anaïs Reno, Lovesome Thing (Harbinger)

5. Roxana Amed, Ontology (Sony Latin)

The best historical/reissues of 2021 (includes any recordings made over 10 years ago, whether newly released or reissued):

1. Lee Morgan, The Complete Live at the Lighthouse (Blue Note, 1970)

2. Roy Hargrove & Mulgrew Miller, In Harmony (Resonance, 2006-7)

3. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle (Impulse!, 1965)

4. Oscar Peterson, A Time For Love ((Two Lions/Mack Avenue, 1987)

5. Bill Evans, Behind the Dikes: The 1969 Netherlands Recordings (Elemental, 1969)

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

7. Miles Davis, Merci Miles! Live at Vienne (Rhino, 1991)

8. Roy Brooks, Understanding (Reel to Real, 1970)

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

10. Juan Carlos Quintero, Caminando [originally The Way Home] (Moondo, 1997)

2021’s top debut recording:

Emma-Jean Thackray, Yellow(Movementt/Warp)

2021’s best Latin/Brazilian jazz recordings:

1. Carlos Henriquez, The South Bronx Story (Tiger Turn)

2. Miguel Zenón and Luis Perdomo, El Arte Del Bolero (Miel Music)

3. Antonio Adolfo, Jobim Forever (AAM Music)

4. Lunar Octet, Convergence (Summit)

5. Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet, Social Distancing (Saponegro)

6. Iván Melon Lewis, Voyager (Cezanne Producciones)

7. Roxana Amed, Ontology (Sony Latin)

8. Carlos Barbosa-Lima and Johannes Tonio Kreusch, Manisero (Zoho)

9. Mauricio J. Rodriguez, Luz (self-produced)

10. Various arists, CHANGÜÍ - The Sound of Guantánamo (Petaluma)

The 10 best new compositions from CDs released in 2021, listed alphabetically:\

• Gabriel Alegria, “The New Normal” from Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet, Social Distancing (Saponegro)

• Rahsaan Barber, “Quarantine Queens” from Mosaic (Jazz Music City)

• Ollie Dudek, “Children of the Sun” from The Scenic Route Trio, Flight of Life (Crosscurrent Jazz)

• Giveton Gelin, “Armageddon” from Out To Dinner, Play On (Posi-Tone)

• Cameron Graves, “Seven” from Seven (Mack Avenue)

• Lisa Hilton, “So This Is Love” from More Than Another Day (Ruby Slippers)

• Aron Kaufman, “Norm’s Nambo” from Lunar Octet, Convergence (Summit)

• Chuck Owen, “American Noir” from Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge, Within Us (Summit)

• Lukasz Pawlik, “Indian Garden” from Long-Distance Connections (Summit)

• Diego Rivera, “Sombras Del Pasado” from Indigenous (Posi-Tone)

21 for '21 -- the albums that topped my jazz pile this year
(in alphabetical order)

+ The Baylor Project, Generations (Be a Light)
+ Stephen Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra, Community Music, Vol. 1: Tinctures in Time (Royal Potato)
+ The Cookers, Look Out! (Gearbox)
+ Chick Corea Akoustic Band, Live (Concord Jazz)
+ Joey DeFrancesco, More Music (Mack Avenue)
+ Kurt Elling feat. Charlie Hunter, SuperBlue (Edition)
+ Orrin Evans, The Magic of Now (Smoke Sessions)
+ Joe Farnsworth, Time to Swing (Smoke Sessions)
+ Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trios, Songs From My Father (Whaling City Sound)
+ Carlos Henriquez, The South Bronx Story (Blue Engine)
+ Vincent Herring, Preaching to the Choir (Smoke Sessions)
+ Dave Holland, Another Land (Edition)
+ Samara Joy, Samara Joy (Whirlwind)
+ Remy Le Boeuf's Assembly of Shadows, Architecture of Storms (Soundspore)
+ John McLaughlin, Liberation Time (Abstract Logix)
+ Pat Metheny, Side Eye NYC (V1.IV) (Modern)
+ Arturo O’Farrill The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble, …dreaming in lions… (Blue Note)
+ Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge Within Us (Summit)
+ Nicholas Payton, Smoke Sessions (Smoke Sessions)
+ Chris Potter There is a Tide (Edition)
+ Nate Smith, Kinfolk 2: See the Birds (Edition)