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2008 Top Ten


Guest Bill Barton

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Guest Bill Barton

A few minutes ago I sent my 2008 Top Ten list to CODA. Here it is (in alphabetical order):

Daniel Barry - Walk All Ways - OA2

Satoko Fujii Trio - Trace A River - Libra

Gordon Grdina's Box Cutter - New Rules for Noise - Spool Line

Mary Halvorson Trio - Dragon's Head - Firehouse 12

The Royal Hartigan Ensemble - Blood Drum Spirit: LIve in China - Innova (2 CDs)

Jason Kao Hwang/Edge - Stories Before Within - Innova

Mark Masters Ensemble - Farewell Walter Dewey Redman - Capri

Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of BreathEclipse At Dawn - Cuneiform

Cuong Vu - Vu-Tet - artistShare

Tony Wilson 6tet - Pearls Before Swine - Drip Audio

_____________________________________________________

And the runners-up in completely random order:

John Butcher/Torsten Muller/Dylan van der Schyff - Way Out Northwest - Drip Audio

Hadley Caliman - Gratitude - Origin

Joe Locke - Force of Four - Origin

Reptet - Chicken or Beef? - Monktail Records

Organissimo - Groovadelphia - Big O Records

Francois Carrier & Michel Lambert - Kathmandu - FMR

Francois Carrier/Michel Lambert/Jean-Jacques Avenel - Within - Leo

Ben Allison - Man Size Safe - Palmetto

Jane Ira Bloom - Mental Weather - Outline

Tim Warfield - One for Shirley - Criss Cross

Mark O'Leary/Eyvind Kang/Dylan van der Schyff - Zemlya - Leo

Carla Kihlstedt & Satoko Fujii - Minamo - Henceforth

Vijay Ayer - Tragicomic - Sunnyside

Bill Dixon - 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur - AUM Fidelity

James Carter - Present Tense - EmArcy

Idit Shner - Tuesday's Blues - OA2

Thomas Marriott - Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson - Origin

McCoy Tyner - Guitars - Half Note

Charmaine Clamor - Flippin' Out - FreeHam

Dawn Clement - Break - Origin

Matt Ulery's 'Loom' - Music Box Ballerina - Woolgathering

Shakers 'n Bakers - Yearning for Zion - little (i) music

Royal Hartigan - Ancestors - Innova (2 CDs)

Charlie Haden - Rambling Boy - Decca

Elio Villafranca Quartet - The Source in Between - Ceiba Tree Music

Francisco Mela - Cirio - Half Note

Michael Moore & Fred Hersch - This We Know - Palmetto

Mostly Other People Do the Killing - This Is Our Moosic - Hot Cup

Junk Box - Sunny Then Cloudy - Libra

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Guest Bill Barton

Hoping to nab a copy of that Halvorson. Looks like my kinda shit.

I'm withholding my top ten for the moment, but this is the first year I've actually had one. Or two, because reissues/unearthed deserve a ten of their own.

Yes indeed, I'll bet that Dragon's Head will meet with your approval.

The arbitrary number ten cut-off is always a challenge. Because of CODA's deadline it always has to be a couple of months before the year ends too. The Jane Ira Bloom and the Bill Dixon were the ones I had the hardest job finally "weeding" from the list...

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Bill, many thanks for the list. I see that many of them are available at emusic, and I've already sampled and tagged many for download. I really appreciate recommendations like these since I'm open-eared/minded, but pretty weak when it comes to actually hearing many of these artists (most of whom seem to be on indie labels).

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Guest Bill Barton

man, just reminded me how far behind I am in my listening <_<

I know the feeling... :o

Bill, many thanks for the list. I see that many of them are available at emusic, and I've already sampled and tagged many for download. I really appreciate recommendations like these since I'm open-eared/minded, but pretty weak when it comes to actually hearing many of these artists (most of whom seem to be on indie labels).

You're welcome. And the recs of the Ari Brown and Dewey Redman releases are seconded by yours truly too. I didn't include any reissues per se on my list although the BoB counts as a "discovery." As you may have guessed, my tastes tend to run toward the "edgier" and overtly adventurous material. Plenty of more "mainstream" stuff in the "runners up" though... The Hadley Caliman is a real gem, for instance.

Yes, thanks for the list Bill. Lots of stuff to mine there, and I've already started.

My focus this year has not been with new releases, so I'll be watching this thread closely. :tup

You're welcome!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a Top 8 so far:

Marcin Wasilewski– January

Avashi Cohen – Gently Disturbed

Jeremy Pelt - November

Nik Bartsch – Holon

Charles Lloyd – Rabo Du Nube

Ben Allison – Little Things Run The World

William Parker – Petit Ouseau

Marc Copeland – Another Place

I need to spend more time with the following, they are all very fine records but I have yet to have the same connection with them as the ones above:

Dave Holland – Pass It On

Brad Mehldau Trio – Live

Cantando - Bobo Stenson Trio

Kurt Rosenwinkel – The Remedy

The Door - Mathias Eick

Roy Hargrove – Ear Food

Paul Bley – Nothing To Declare

Misha Alperin – Her First Dance (maybe not really Jazz but if you liked the Dino Saluzi from last year with Anja Lechner you will like this)

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I've not been getting many review copies this year after withdrawing from three of the 5 mags I wrote for, but a few things to mention that came in nonetheless, or which I purchased--

Free Zone Appleby 2007, Psi

Mary Halvorson, Dragon's Head, Firehouse 12

Fred Hess, Single Moment, Allison

Chris McGregor, Up to Earth, Fledg'ling

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Eclipse at Dawn, Cuneiform

Alex von Schlippenbach, Piano Solo '77, FMP

Bik Bent Braam, Extremen, BBB

Jim McAuley, The Ultimate Frog, Drip Audio (personal involvement in this one duly noted)

Empty Cage Quartet, Stratostrophic, Clean Feed

John Butcher/Torsten Mueller/Dylan van der Schyff, Way Out Northwest, Drip Audio

There are other ones that I liked or that I think would go on if I listened to them a few times more, but for now just those 10.

Edited by Nate Dorward
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  • 1 month later...
Guest Bill Barton

Here are three "just in under the wire" additions to my list:

Jim McAuley - The Ultimate Frog - Drip Audio

Peggy Lee Band - New Code - Drip Audio

Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition - Apti - Innova

And the more I listen to The Royal Hartigan Ensemble - Blood Drum Spirit: Live in China - Innova the more I like it. This is a kick-butt collection.

Edited by Bill Barton
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Here's my Top Ten list for 2008, ten new ones plus four oldies, listed in the order I got them.

Carla Bley and the Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu

Maynard Ferguson - A Message from Birdland (reissue)

Nik Bartsch's Ronin - Holon

James Carter - Present Tense

Marcin Wasilewski - January

Art Pepper - The Croyden Concert (vault)

Norma Winstone - Distances

Nicolas Bearde - Live at Yoshi's/A Salute to Lou

Mathias Eick - The Door

Carla Bley Big Band - Appearing Nightly

Dave Holland - Pass It On

Sonny Rollins - Road Shows, Vol. 1

Enrico Rava - The Pilgrim and the Stars (reissue)

Stan Getz - Sweet Rain (reissue)

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