Best of 2011: J Hunter’s Top 10 Jazz Albums
From my home office in Clifton Park, NY (“A Great Place to Live, Work and Play”), my 10 best jazz discs of 2011! Drum roll, please… NOTE: Readers without drums may bang on their desks – unless you’re at work, in which case you should try to restrain yourself:
NYC’s aptly named Small’s Jazz Club is about as Downtown and experimental as it gets, while Barth is as trad as the day is long. However, this amazing pianist works like a charm in this on-the-edge space for one reason: Quality always wins! Barth’s compositions never fail to entrance, and his solos are absolutely knockout. This is how jazz moves forward – by respecting the past, but not being tied down to it.
Every family reunion should be this much fun! The Cohen kids – trumpeter Avishai and reed players Anat and Yuval – inject new life into standards like Ellington’s “The Mooch” and NOLA classic “Tiger Rag,” while bringing monster originals that leap out of the speakers and grab you by the mojo. Special-guest vocal icon Jon Hendricks drops in to put a glistening cherry on top of “On the Sunny Side of the Street.”
For the last eight years, this rotating cast of demons has proved you don’t have to treat tributes to jazz legends like High Mass at the Vatican. For this new 3-disc set (recorded live at NYC’s Jazz Standard), SFJAZZ steps outside the box to laud R&B stalwart Stevie Wonder, with the result being their most satisfying package to date. The originals are hot, but SFJAZZ’s takes on “Superstition” and “Sir Duke” just rock!
Four composers and three leaders on one CD should equal a monumental train wreck. But these four outstanding players have worked together – in various groups & combinations – for almost a decade, and chemistry overcomes math (or so I’ve heard). Every piece may have a single composer, but all the tracks have an undeniable air of collaboration. In the end, the whole IS greater than the sum of its parts.
6. Pilc Moutin Hoenig’s “Threedom” (Motema)
“Groupthink” usually entails a single direction without individuality or creativity. “Threedom” blows that definition up real good as pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, bassist Francois Moutin and drummer Ari Hoenig show you can act as one unit and still craft unique visions. The group improvisations are indescribable, and the trio’s listening skills are on a black-belt level as they re-work classics by Monk, Miles and Coltrane.
Lage is the most interesting guitarist since Pat Metheny, with a sound that is equal parts jazz, folk, Latin and blues. He and his stellar group use all these styles – with some bluegrass and classical thrown in – to create an ornate, nuanced soundscape for a woman’s return to her old home town. The imaginary town’s not a perfect place, but that just makes Lage’s concept more truthful – and more interesting.
Until now, Mahanthappa’s East-meets-West musical efforts have been (primarily) acoustic; for “Samdhi,” the altoist does the full Dylan-at-Newport and totally plugs in, complete with computer-driven effects and devastating guitar from shred-master David Gilmore. It’s Weather Report does World Music, and it brings new meaning to the word “intense!” If this is Mahanthappa’s new direction, I say, “Keep on going!”
Strickland and his partners – drummer/brother E.J. Strickland and bassist Ben Williams – have been re-defining what sax-trio jazz should sound like. You get plenty of that on “Heavy,” courtesy of a live disc recorded in New Haven last year. But that’s only half of “Heavy;” the trio becomes a quartet on Disc One, as pianist David Bryant lets the trio get even more interstellar while adding his own glowing “voice” to the mix.
Some say it’s impossible to improve on Duke Ellington’s work; some say you shouldn’t even try. Well, some people should shut their pie holes and listen to the least-known Marsalis’ awesome re-working of Duke Ellington’s tribute to William Shakespeare. Cutting down Ellington’s suite from a big-band to an octet lets Marsalis present new insights into both the music and the Shakespeare characters that inspired Ellington. Sublime.
…and the Number One Jazz CD of 2011
An African-American community in Tulsa was basically wiped out over two days in 1921, and then the riots were promptly wiped from state history books. JFJO slide guitarist Chris Combs’ epic suite harnesses every emotion that could come from such a horrific act. Jacob Fred’s unique neo-fusion gets more muscle from a heavyweight horn section featuring Jeff Coffin and Steve Bernstein. A required “history listen.”
There’s plenty more where this came from. See you next year!
by J Hunter, Nippertown contributor
MORE BEST OF 2011 LISTS…
Fred Rudofsky’s Top 10 Theater Concerts
Paste Magazine’s Top 20 New Bands
J. Eric Smith’s Top Album
Rolling Stone’s Top 10 Albums
Brian Patneaude’s Top 5 CDs
American Film Institute’s Top 10 Movies
Stanley Johnson’s Top 10 Concerts
Richard Brody’s Top Books
Sebastien Barre’s Best of the Year
New York Magazine’s Top 10 TV Shows
Fred Rudofsky’s Top 10 Bar/Club Gigs
Steve Nover’s Top 10 CDs
Greg Haymes’ Top Music Video
Paste Magazine’s Top 10 Albums
The New York Times’ Top 10 Books
Mike Hotter’s Top 10 Albums
Kirsten Ferguson’s Top 10 Live Cover Songs
The A.V. Club’s Top 10 Comedy Albums
Ed Conway’s Top 10 Concerts
The Los Angeles Times’ Top 10 Pop Albums
J Hunter’s Top 10 Live Shows
Mr. Eck’s Top 10 Albums
Richard Brody’s Top 10 Concerts
Mike Hotter’s Top 5 Songs
Fred Rudofsky’s Top 20 Albums
Greg Haymes’ Top 15 Theater Productions
Tim Livingston’s Top 5 Music DVDs
David Brickman’s Top 11 Art Exhibitions
I know that reading this is going to cost me some $$$. Thanks for the list.