Friday, December 5, 2014

NOTES ON JAZZ The Best of Jazz 2014

This year was an interesting one the wide diversity of music that was offered from a myriad of artists all operating under the all inclusive umbrella that is known as jazz. Like always, for one to try to limit one's appreciation of such diverse musical richness to a "top ten" is an exercise in futility and speciousness.

Here is my list of some of the most interesting and in my opinion worthy offerings that were released this year. There very well maybe some deserving artists and releases that for whatever reason I was not able to get a chance to listen to, so my apologies.This is a very subjective listing, but I believe an inclusive one making room for different genres; for new as well as established artists.

Here in no particular order is my list of the best " JAZZ" of 2104 :

Ernie Watts Quartet : A Simple Truth- Flying Dolphin Records A masterful album from a masterful musician whose sound is all his own.


Dr. John  Ske De Dat De Dat The Spirit of Louis Armstrong- Proper Records


Jane Ira Bloom Sixteen Sunsets- Outline records



Joe Beck -Get me- Whaling City Sound


Adam Unsworth/Byron Olson/John Vancore- Balance   A brilliant compositional tour de force.


Michael Blake-Tiddy Boom- Sunnyside Records. Just a wonderful album.


David Ullman 8 Corduroy- Little Sky Records   A great new work by the ambitious guitarist/composer

Click here for a sample of  Corduroy 

Matt Wilson Quartet with john Medeski : Gathering Call - Palmeto Records


Dan Weiss Fourteen- PI Records


Denny Zeitlin Trio Stairway tot the Stars- Sunnyside


Dewa Budjana Joged Kahyangan- MoonJune Records


Ben Allison: The Stars Look Very Different Today- Sonic Camera Records


Pete Robbins: Pyramid- Hate Laugh Music


Janis Siegel : Nightsongs- Palmetto Records


Jimmy Cobb: The Original Mob- Smoke Sessions


Freddy Bryant-Dreamscape-GJK Sound

Jeff Ballard Trio: Time's Tales- Okeh/Sony Masterworks


Elizabeth Sheppard- Rewind- Linus Entertainment


Dhafer Yousef: Birds Requiem-Okeh


Steven Richman's Harmonie Ensemble/New York: Henry Mancini Music for Peter Gunn - Harmonia Mundi USA


Michael Wollny Trio- Weltentraum- ACT Music


Zara McFarland: If You Knew Her - Brownswood Recordings


Sammy Figueroa/Glaucia Nasser: Talisman- Savant Records


David Bixler's Auction Project: Slink-Bixler Music


Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden: Last Dance: ECM Records


Marc Weinstien: Latin Jazz Underground: Zoho 

Click here for a sample of Latin Underground



Enjoy all of this great music and support the musicians by buying their cds and going to see them "live" whenever you get the chance. Have a wonderful holiday and keep listening and reading!



















No comments:

Post a Comment