Best of 2012 (so far)

[gjudd]

Kind of stumped that to date Yosvany Terry's Today's Opinion has only been mentioned in one person's "2012 best" opinion(s).

Second!

[slowshoes]

I haven’t bought much this year, as a minor refit on my boat has laid claim to any extra coin I seem to have at any given moment. Regardless, here’s a few that I’ve really enjoyed from the year.

Yalena Eckenoff: Forget-me not
More wonderfully minimalist music from this pianist/composer. With both jazz and classical influences, it’s recorded with the same care as any ECM release. This is my favorite from 2012.


Simcock, Garland and Sirkis: Lighthouse
Tight,intricate playing that sounds joyful and effortless. Sunny summer jazz.

John moulder: The Eleventh Hour: Live At The Green Mill
I’m always much more surprised when this guitarist doesn’t make someones top ten list that when he does.

Pat Metheny: Unity Band
A master you can always count on.

Kurt Elling: 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project
See Metheny comment above.


Tim Berne: Snakeoil
If this is the kind of stuff that is produced with Berne’s association with ECM, then I hope he’s recording there for a very long time. A great album.

Nils Weinhold: Shapes
A remarkable debut from a guitarist who, for all the world, looks to be fresh out of high school. I hope he continues to find a way to put out albums, as there seems to be a shortage of promising, young guitar talent putting out music today.

Ravi Coltrane: Spirit Fiction
I think I like Blending Times a bit better, but this one is still a winner.

Here’s a few others I’ve been enjoying frm the year:
Guillermo Klein: Carrera
Amit Friedman Sextet: Sunrise
Nikki Iles: Hush
Michael Formanek: Small Places
Ron Miles: Quiver

[LWayne]

My favorite new releases, in no particular order, in 2012 were:

1 Michael Formanek Quartet Small Places ECM Records
2 Frank Kimbrough Trio Live at the Kitano Palmetto Records
3 Tim Berne Snakeoil ECM Records
4 Odean Pope Odean Pope Three In & Out Records
5 Ryan Truesdell-Gil Evans Project Centennial Artist Share
6 Henry Threadgill and Zooid Tomorrow Sunny/ The Revelry Spp Pi Recordings
7 Chick Corea, Paul Motian, Eddie Gomez Further Explorations Concord Records
8 Vijay Iyer Accelerando ACT Records
9 George Cables My Muse High Note
10 Stanley Cowell It's Time Steeplechase

My favorite reissues, archival finds, or new releases of older music:

1 Keith Jarrett Sleeper ECM Records
2 Bill Evans Live at Art D' Lugoff's "Top of the Gate" Resonance Records
3 Bobby Hutcherson Spiral Blue Note Japan
4 Donald Byrd The Creeper Blue Note Japan
5 Stanley Turrentine Aint No Way Blue Note Japan

And, my favorite performances of the year were:

1 Michael Formanek Quartet Windup Space-Baltimore, MD. Saturday, October 06, 2012
2 "The Great Flood"-Bill Frisell Trio Thurber Theater, Ohio State-Columbus, OH. Saturday, March 31, 2012
3 Roy Haynes" Fountain of Youth" Band New Hazlett Theater-Pittsburgh, PA Saturday, September 22, 2012
4 Brad Mehldau Trio Alte Oper, Frankfurt Germany Sunday, November 25, 2012
5 Enrico Rava Tribe Albright Knox Art Gallery-Buffalo, NY Sunday, February 26, 2012

Good year for Jazz!

Regards,

LWayne

[Dr. Sulu]

Apart from all the other great records you've all mentioned:


Not strictly jazz, I know, but truly jazzy! Maybe his best solo-effort IMO.

[jcam_44]

In Order as I see fit:

Mario Castro Quintet - Primavera
Philip Dizack - End Of An Era
Masabumi Kikuchi - Sunrise
Ron Miles - Quiver
Takuya Kuroda - Big Six
Elio Vilafranca - Dos Y Mas
Jeff Parker - Bright Light In Winter
Brad Mehldau - Where Do You Start
Wadada Leo Smith - Ten Freedom Summers
Rob Mazurek - Stellar Pulsations
Christian Scott - Christian aTunde Adluah

Honorable Mention:
Peter Brotzmann - Going All Fancy
Tom Harrell - Number Five
Avishai Cohen - Triveni II
Ulysses Owens Jr - Unanimous
Wallace Roney - Home
Amit Friedman - Sunrise

Old music seeing the light of day:
Charles Gayle - Look Up (recorded in 1994)

[Professor Bop]

I wanted to thank all of the contributors on the forum for helping me to expand in my jazz journey. I'm Glen and I live in northern California (Santa Rosa). I've been listen intently to this music since 1966 and have been a public radio jazz host off and on since 1971. I have lurked here for awhile and now I hope to be involved in some small way on these boards. Jazz is very alive and vital right now, in this moment. Happy New Year one and all.


20 of my Favorite Jazz Recordings of 2012

(alphabetical order by artist)

1. J.D. Allen -- The Matador and the Bull (Savant)
2. Omer Avital -- Suite of the East (Anzic)
3. Tim Berne -- Snakeoil (ECM)
4. Ravi Coltrane -- Spirit Fiction (Blue Note)
5. Orrin Evans -- Flip The Script (Posi-Tone)
6. Karin Hammar/Chris Jennings/Ingrid Jensen/Patrick Goraguer -- Land (Skip)
7. Billy Hart -- All Our Reasons (ECM)
8. Fred Hersch -- Alive At The Vanguard (Palmetto)
9. Vijay Iyer -- Accelerando (ACT Music & Vision)
10. Darius Jones -- Book of Mae'Bul (Aum Fidelity)
11. Steve Lehman -- Dialect Fluorescent (Pi)
12. Todd Marcus -- Inheritance (Hipnotic)
13. Brad Mehldau -- Ode (Nonesuch)
14. Ron Miles -- Quiver (Enja)
15. Jason Robinson -- Tiresian Symmetry (Cuneiform)
16. Kurt Rosenwinkel -- Star of Jupiter (Wommusic)
17. Henry Threadgill -- Tomorrow Sunny/The Revelry, Spp (Pi)
18. Ryan Truesdell/Gil Evans Project -- Centennial (Artistshare)
19. Federico Ughi -- Songs For Four Cities (Skycap Records)
20. Eri Yamamoto -- The Next Page (Aum Fidelity)

[Alypius]

Originally Posted by Professor Bop

I wanted to thank all of the contributors on the forum for helping me to expand in my jazz journey. I'm Glen and I live in northern California (Santa Rosa). I've been listen intently to this music since 1966 and have been a public radio jazz host off and on since 1971. I have lurked here for awhile and now I hope to be involved in some small way on these boards. Jazz is very alive and vital right now, in this moment. Happy New Year one and all.


20 of my Favorite Jazz Recordings of 2012

(alphabetical order by artist)

1. J.D. Allen -- The Matador and the Bull (Savant)
2. Omer Avital -- Suite of the East (Anzic)
3. Tim Berne -- Snakeoil (ECM)
4. Ravi Coltrane -- Spirit Fiction (Blue Note)
5. Orrin Evans -- Flip The Script (Posi-Tone)
6. Karin Hammar/Chris Jennings/Ingrid Jensen/Patrick Goraguer -- Land (Skip)
7. Billy Hart -- All Our Reasons (ECM)
8. Fred Hersch -- Alive At The Vanguard (Palmetto)
9. Vijay Iyer -- Accelerando (ACT Music & Vision)
10. Darius Jones -- Book of Mae'Bul (Aum Fidelity)
11. Steve Lehman -- Dialect Fluorescent (Pi)
12. Todd Marcus -- Inheritance (Hipnotic)
13. Brad Mehldau -- Ode (Nonesuch)
14. Ron Miles -- Quiver (Enja)
15. Jason Robinson -- Tiresian Symmetry (Cuneiform)
16. Kurt Rosenwinkel -- Star of Jupiter (Wommusic)
17. Henry Threadgill -- Tomorrow Sunny/The Revelry, Spp (Pi)
18. Ryan Truesdell/Gil Evans Project -- Centennial (Artistshare)
19. Federico Ughi -- Songs For Four Cities (Skycap Records)
20. Eri Yamamoto -- The Next Page (Aum Fidelity)

Glen, Welcome to the board. Great list! There's a few items there I've not seen before (Allen, Hammar, Ughi, Marcus), and so I look forward to exploring them. Hope you'll continue to contribute.

[Alypius]

One of the forum's regulars, Dave Sumner (aka DSSChicago), has been posting his "Best of 2012" over on his website "Bird Is the Worm". Here's the link.
Bird is the Worm.
He's posted #2-#24, and tomorrow will post his top pick of the year. One advantage is that if you follow the links on his website, Dave lets you stream one or more complete tracks or guides you to a bandcamp page where you hear a complete record.

Also there are a number of fine listings on the main AAJ website, with each editor giving his "Best of ..." list:
John Kelman's Best of 2012
Dan McClenaghan's Best of 2012
Dan Bilawsky's Best of 2012
Troy Collins' Best of 2012
Mark Corroto's Best of 2012
John Sharp's Best of 2012
Eyal Hareuveni's Best of 2012
R.J. DeLuke's Best of 2012
National Public Radio's Top 10 Jazz Records of 2012-PATRICK JARENWATTANANON

[dsschicago]

My Top 30 of 2012:

1. Adam Fairhall – The Imaginary Delta
2. Amit Friedman – Sunrise
3. Omer Avital – Suite of the East
4. Matt Ulery – By a Little Light
5. Jeremy Siskind – Finger-Songwriter
6. Lynne Arriale – Solo
7. Peggy Lee Band – Invitation
8. Erik Jekabson – Anti-Mass
9. Marc Bernstein – Good People Music
10. Blommor Inomhus – Blommor Inomhus
11. Pete Robbins – Live in Basel
12. Todd Bishop Group – Little Played Little Bird
13. Martin Hoper – The Bride
14. Andy Clausen – Wishbone Suite
15. Jesse van Ruller Chambertones Trio – The Ninth Planet
16. Todd Marcus – Inheritance
17. Jacob Garchik – The Heavens
18. Jessica Lurie – Megaphone Heart
19. Florian Hoefner Group – Songs Without Words
20. Rebecca Trescher’s Hochzeit Null11 – Sud
21. Jeremy Udden – Folk Art
22. Sunny Kim – Painters Eye
23. Piet Verbist – Zygomatik
24. Jean Lapouge – Des Enfants
25. Chambr – Freewheel
26. Motian Sickness: The Music of Paul Motian – For the Love of Sarah
27. Miguel Zenon / Laurent Coq Quartet – Rayuela
28. Dialogues Trio w/Julian Siegel – Twinkle Twinkle
29. Threads Orchestra – Ranch
30. Beppe di Benedetto 5tet – See the Sky

Follow the link below to the master list page on my site, which will take you to album reviews, personnel listings, embedded audio, links to artist, label, and retail sites, and whatever else floated my boat at the time.

http://www.birdistheworm.com/bird-is...thus-far-list/

Cheers.

[HutchFan]

I just stumbled across JazzTimes' "Top 50 CDs of 2012: Individual Ballots" list.

More interesting reading.

[Mark of Cenla]

Originally Posted by HutchFan

I just stumbled across JazzTimes' "Top 50 CDs of 2012: Individual Ballots" list.

More interesting reading.

Thanks for that link, which was very interesting. Peace and goodwill.

[Mark of Cenla]

Originally Posted by Mark of Cenla

My budget for buying music is not what it used to be. These are the only 2012 albums I have bought, but they are all great.

Corea/Gomez/Motian - Further Expolorations
Brad Mehldau Trio - Ode
Brad Mehldau Trio - Where Do You Start
Pat Metheny - Unity Band

I may update this after Christmas. Peace and goodwill.

I am adding Kenny Garrett - Seeds from the Underground. Is track 5, "Detroit," supposed to sound like a scratchy vinyl record?

[HutchFan]

Still catching up with last year's releases?

Here's a link to another annual critic's poll. This one is compiled by Francis Davis and published on Rhapsody. (This is the poll that was formerly published in "The Village Voice.")

[robmid]

Originally Posted by HutchFan

I just stumbled across JazzTimes' "Top 50 CDs of 2012: Individual Ballots" list.

More interesting reading.

This might be the most conservative collection of top 10 albums of the year I've ever read!

Not much outside the mainstream or very innovative. Compare this to Dave's very out of the box list, or many of the lists on this thread. AAJ rules!

Cheers, Robert

[KBerube80]

Mark Solborg - 4+4+1

On this record, recorded live in 2007, the line-up is made up of two quartets: Anders Banke (tenor sax/bass clarinet), Solborg (gtr), Jeppe Skovbakke (bass), Bjørn Heebøll (drums) + Gunnar Halle (tmpt), Laura Toxværd (alto sax), Torben Snekkestad (tenor:soprano saxes/clarinet), Jakob Munck (tuba/trombone) + Chris Speed (tenor/clarinet) = 4+4+1.

Just found out about this album a couple of weeks ago. Fantastic stuff!!