Best Of 2009

[WorldB3]

I think everybody knows by now I am obviously not a street teamer, so I thought we could have a thread on 09 Jazz releases worth talking about and checking out as the year 2009 progresses.

Continuation - Alex Cline

This one has been talked about a lot over at the Myra Melford thread but in addition to Alex Cline the contributions by Cellist Peggy Lee also need to be mentioned. Fantastic record.

October Trio + Brad Turner - Looks Like It's Going to Snow

Sax Trio with Turmpet player Brad Turner. Excellent inside/outside Ornette/Wayne Shorter inspired music. The Compositions are very good, a nice surprise as I wasn’t familiar with them at all.

Brad Shepik - Human Activity Suite

From the Songlines label that is also putting out the October Trio. This disc also features Drew Grees, Gary Versace and Raplph Alessi. Wide-ranging soundscapes from Indian to Arabic and Oriental. Shelpik was a guitarist I was not familiar with but this disc really impressed me.

Enrico Rava – New York Days

It’s ECM so don’t expect a blowing session but I really enjoy Mark Turner on this a lot. Boliani is fantastic as always.

Jeff "Tain" Watts – Watts

W/ Terence Blanchard, Branford Marsalis and Christian McBride. Lives up to the hype.

Good as expected but haven’t spent a lot of time with them yet:

Jack Dejohnette – Music We are

W/ John Patitucci and Danilo Perez

More structured than expected but still has amazing playing.

Christian McBride – Kind Of Brown

A 60’s retro Blue Note sound with vibraphone, a nice return to straight ahead jazz for him.

Haven’t got to yet but will eventually:

Chick Corea and John McLauglin – Five-Piece Band

Keith Jarrett – Yesterdays

Edited May 11, 2009 by WorldB3

[ejp626]

I think everybody knows by now I am obviously not a street teamer, so I thought we could have a thread on 09 Jazz releases worth talking about and checking out as the year 2009 progresses.

Christian McBride – Kind Of Brown

A 60’s retro Blue Note sound with vibraphone, a nice return to straight ahead jazz for him.

Who's on vibes? Warren Wolf? Should I have heard of him?

Anyway I thought I would look up McBride and see if he is gigging locally. It turns out that he is in Chicago next week with Sting, but that the rest of the spring/summer he is touring with Inside Straight -- but not in Chicago. Rats.

[save0904]

Two of my absolute favorites in 2009:

Gary Husband's Drive Hotwired

Review by John Kelman

Fly Trio Sky & Country

The consequent democratic approach of all three players adds a new facet to the sax trio imho

[Guest Bill Barton]

...

Continuation - Alex Cline

This one has been talked about a lot over at the Myra Melford thread but in addition to Alex Cline the contributions by Cellist Peggy Lee also need to be mentioned. Fantastic record.

October Trio + Brad Turner - Looks Like It's Going to Snow

Sax Trio with Turmpet player Brad Turner. Excellent inside/outside Ornette/Wayne Shorter inspired music. The Compositions are very good, a nice surprise as I wasn’t familiar with them at all.

Brad Shepik - Human Activity Suite

From the Songlines label that is also putting out the October Trio. This disc also features Drew Grees, Gary Versace and Raplph Alessi. Wide-ranging soundscapes from Indian to Arabic and Oriental. Shelpik was a guitarist I was not familiar with but this disc really impressed me.

Enrico Rava – New York Days

It’s ECM so don’t expect a blowing session but I really enjoy Mark Turner on this a lot. Boliani is fantastic as always.

...

Nice choices! I agree completely.

Roswell Rudd - Trombone Tribe

Rakalam Bob Moses - Father's Day B'hash

Charlie Kohlhase's Explorer's Club - Adventures

Satoko Fujii & Myra Melford - Under the Water

Jon Irabagon's Outright!

Sean Noonan - Being Brewed by Noon

[WorldB3]

Who's on vibes? Warren Wolf? Should I have heard of him?

Anyway I thought I would look up McBride and see if he is gigging locally. It turns out that he is in Chicago next week with Sting, but that the rest of the spring/summer he is touring with Inside Straight -- but not in Chicago. Rats.

Correct Warren Wolf Jr. I don't know who he is but he sounds good on this.

I have the advance, it comes out June 16th on Mack Avenue records.

Inside Straight (I love the name) is:

McBride - Bass

Carl Allen - Drums

Eric Scott Reed - Piano

Steve Wilson - Sax

Warren Wolf Jr. - Vibes

Edited May 12, 2009 by WorldB3

[CJ Shearn]

I gotta still check out Fly, and looking forward to McBride's new one.

[Soulstation1]

Dr Lonnie Smith - Rise Up!

[LWayne]

Thanks for the recommendations as it has been, IMHO, an exceptionally SLOW year so far for new releases. No real "must-haves" so far for me.

Very Good

Fly- Sky and Country"

Enrico Rava-"New York Days"

Good

Sean Jones "The Search Within"

Charles Tolliver "Emperor March"

Not So Good

Just about everything else I have heard. Discretion prevents me from naming specific CDs.

Hope that the remaining seven months pick up because this has been the slowest year in recent memory

LWayne

[GA Russell]

I like Charles Tolliver's Emperor March and Diana Krall's Quiet Nights, which I think is her best since All For You.

[NIS]

I like Charles Tolliver's Emperor March and Diana Krall's Quiet Nights, which I think is her best since All For You.

I thought Quiet Nights was a good title, it put me right to sleep. I guess I will give it another listen.

I've only bought one 2009 album, Udentity by Denman Maroney but I think it is a terrific one.

[WorldB3]

Thanks for the recommendations as it has been, IMHO, an exceptionally SLOW year so far for new releases. No real "must-haves" so far for me.

Hope that the remaining seven months pick up because this has been the slowest year in recent memory

LWayne

I was thinking the same a month or two ago, thinking maybe due to the economy and that jazz is becoming such a niche market. There is stuff out there its just not getting the exposure or I am not as actively looking for it due to that I probably have too much music which is why I started the thread.

Has anybody heard the Tony Malaby Cello Trio release Warblepeck with the Cellist FRed Lonberg-Holm and drummer John Hollenbeck? The reviews look good and its on the Songlines label which is putting out some nice stuff this year.

Edit, the Malaby comes out next week. It might be worth a look.

Edited May 16, 2009 by WorldB3

[robert h.]

There is LOTS of great jazz in 2009, this is truly a golden age of recorded music - as the CD format winds down there is still plenty of great music being recorded, if one cares to look.

First, probably the best label in business over the last several years is Smalls Records, and they continue to pump out simply great jazz, well recorded, and not lite or smooth jazz like the majors do.

Teddy Charles - Dances With Bulls (exceptional return of this great vibraphonist with a great band)

Zaid Nasser - Off Minor (anyone who misses Zaid is just depriving themselves of one of the most exciting altoists of the century)

Stacey Dillard - One (a great tenor in a fender Rhodes quartet!)

Fat Cat Big Band - Angels Praying For Freedom (the modern big band lives, and is it ever a good one!)

High Note continues to be the Blue Note of the 21st Century:

David Newman - The Blessing (his last date is almost certinly his best)

Jerry Bergonzi - Simply Put (Bergonzi looks to be the best tenor of the era, and his playing has, over his last few records, gone to a higher dimension)

There are tons of indie labels putting out hot stuff:

Azar Lawrence returned with Prayers For My Ancestors, a return to the spirit of his 1970's work with Tyner, and a great return at that!

Billy Harper - Blueprints of Jazz V.2 - despite the attempt with the title to get completists to buy the others in the series, and despite some rather cheesy voice-overs on two tracks, any Billy Harper is cause for celebration, and this is no exception.

David S. Ware - Shakti - Ware's best in years.

William Parker - Petit Oiseau - another great AUM Fidelity recording from one of the few great artists still pushing the frontiers. Even available on vinyl!

Charles Tolliver - Emperor March - far, far better than the atrociously mastered Blue Note date, this is Tolliver's Big Band they way it is supposed to sound, and it's dynamite!

Fly - Sky & Country - a bit of a disappointment, a bit too arty for my tastes, but good. Much better on ECM this year - the Jarrett, the Rava, and the upcoming Andy Sheppard and Egberto Gismonit titles.

Gary Burton's Quartet Live returns to the ECM - Pat Metherny era and is Burton's best in over a decade. Not to be missed.

On the reissue front, this is truly an unprecedented ara. There are signs that the labels will break out of the pre-1965 catering to conservative boomers mentality and rediscover the 70's.

In Japan, Billy Harper's The Believer and Marion Brown's Novermber Cotton Flowers have been well remastered and reissued, in very good sound, and these are both exceptional classic dates.

Also from Japan, a number of classics not deemed worthy by their domestic label - Oliver Nelson's great Main Stem, Harold Mabern's Greasy Kid Stuff featuring a rare tenor appearance by Hubert Laws.

Verve is doing a pretty good job these days - Stan Getz - Dynasty is superb, as Getz was really playing at his best in the mid 60's to mid 70's, Art Blakey's Soul Fingers, Ella In Hollywood, Gato Barbieri's Chapter Two - and all very well remastered.

On the vinyl front, we are in a golden age.

The Blue Note reissues from Music Matters and Analogue Productions, despite the participation of the reputationally challenged Steve Hoffman, is outstanding. Even better is the Impulse series, remastered by the great Bernie Grundman, on ORG. Speakers Corner continue to pump out great stuff, as do Pure Pleasure who have stepped up their game with exceptional sounding versions of Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite and Stanley Turrentine's Sugar.

Not much to complain about from my end. There's lots, and lots of great music out there if you look for it.

Edited May 21, 2009 by robert h.

[clifford_thornton]

MVP LSD - Joe Morris, Jon Voigt, and Tom Plsek play the Graphic Scores of Lowell Skinner Davidson (Riti)

Rob Mazurek - Sound Is (Delmark)

Paul Giallorenzo - Go In to Get Out (482 Music)

Phil Hey & Kelly Rossum - Conflict! (forthcoming on 612-Sides)

Halvorson/Radding/Wooley - Crackleknob (Hatology)

The Nu Band - Lower East Side Blues (Porter)

I think Bill Dixon's 2 CD/1 DVD set for Firehouse12 is gonna be a hell of a set. Should be out in September.

Just reviewed Rocco John's new one on COCA for Bagatellen, which is quite nice "free bop", and a cool little one by drummer Vinnie Sperrazza for Fresh Sound New Talent (for AAJ).

And don't even get me started on the reissues and unearthed gems!

[kh1958]

Several 2009 releases I like are:

Billy Harper--Blueprints of Jazz

Tom Harrell--Prana Dance (High Note)

Lonnie Smith--Rise Up (High Note)

Magos Herrera--Distancia (Sunnyside).

Looking forward to hearing the new Chico Hamilton (ordered) and the soon to be released Otis Taylor with Jason Moran and Bandwagon.

[kh1958]

Charnett Moffett--The Art of Improvisation. This one returns to the high level of For the Love of Peace. Fantastic.

Chico Hamilton--Twelve Tones of Love. El Chico's recent torrent of creativity continues unabated--he sounds as good as ever and has a wonderful band--guitarist Cary Denegris has been in the band for something like 20 years; Paul Ramsey on fender bass (he has a rich and refined tone); Evan Schwam and Eddie Barbash on saxophones; plus guest appearances by George Bohanan, Jose James and Jack Kelso.

[dukesantos]

Lot's of nice picks, and I have to agree that it has been a pretty strong year so far (and hopefully it'll get even better with the new McBride album, and the one I'm really looking forward to: "Stolas", the Masada + Lovano album ).

Speaking of Joe Lovano his new album "Folk Art" is starting to grow on me,

I'll second Fly's "Sky & Country, and Rava's "New York Days",

"Watts" (though one track walks down a trail Jason Moran already blazed- to put it nicely),

and (one that perhaps not many will agree with me on) "Radiolarians II", which IMO is MM&W's best since "Tonic".

cheers and keep'em coming!

Edited May 26, 2009 by dukesantos

[WorldB3]

Have a new one to add to the list.

Calima - Diego Barber

Guitarist Diego Barber w/ saxophonist Mark Turner, drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier.

Fans of Egberto Gismonti and Ralph Towner will want to check this out. Beautiful stuff. Some of it uptempo also. On Sunnyside Records.

Edited June 20, 2009 by WorldB3

[kh1958]

Azar Lawrence, with Nate Morgan, Henry Franklin and Alphonse Mouzon--Prayer for My Ancestors (Furthermore)--Strong saxophone playing, with a fine group.

The Jazz Tribe (Bobby Watson, Jack Walrath, Ray Mantilla, Victor Lewis, Curtis Lundy, Xavier Davis)--Everlasting (Red)--The third fine album by this excellent group organized for Italian jazz festival performances, featuring a very strong and distinctive front-line pairing.

[A Lark Ascending]

Have a new one to add to the list.

Calima - Diego Barber

Guitarist Diego Barber w/ saxophonist Mark Turner, drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier.

Fans of Egberto Gismonti and Ralph Towner will want to check this out. Beautiful stuff. Some of it uptempo also. On Sunnyside Records.

Looks right up my street. Have added to my e-music 'Save for Later' so I can pick it up when my credits reload next week. Many thanks.

[Drew Peacock]

I rarely give best of recordings because I find that even over short periods of time my choices change. Regardless;

Steve Kuhn has just released a recording called Mostly Coltrane, on ECM. It's getting a lot of buzz right now and I bet makes many top 10 lists this year. I haven't listened to it yet but hope to before the year is out.

Flying under the radar is this:

George Garzone has the hidden gem for 2009 with his Among Friends recording. With Steve Kuhn, Paul Motain, and Anders Christensen. It's mostly original ballads with some standards and a freeish tune.

[ghost of miles]

Great thread. Mentioned elsewhere on the board, but have to put in a plug for Josh Berman, OLD IDEA (on Delmark).

[clifford_thornton]

And Alexander Hawkins' No Now Is So on FMR

Review here.

[bluesForBartok]

Thanks all for posting all of these titles. Listening to the Christian McBride now and digging it. However I'm really looking forward to listening to some of the artists I'm not familiar with. The beauty of discovering new music is something I never tire of. BTW the new Louis Sclavis release Lost On The Way is pretty nice if you haven't heard.

[okierambler]

This one from Tom Harrell sounds fine -

And I really like these too:

Christian McBride - Kind of Brown

Diego Barber - Calima

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Infernal Machines

Gary Burton / Pat Metheny - Quartet Live

George Garzone - Among Friends

Guillaume de Chassy - Songs from the Last Century

Still haven't made my mind up about the new releases by Dave Douglas and Joe Lovano, but I haven't given up on them. Will probably download Steve Kuhn's new one (with Lovano) soon. Samples sound fine.

Edited July 9, 2009 by okierambler

[bluesForBartok]

Just checking out the new one from Daniel Levin - Live At Roulette and it sounds mighty fine. In fact, all of the titles from the Clean Feed label look pretty interesting. Any of you have any knowledge of these titles or artists?

Edited July 9, 2009 by bluesForBartok