My favorite albums of the year.
1. Paul Bley, Gary Peacock, Paul Motian, "When will the Blues Leave?" To listen to this 1999 live album by one of the great (and most under-recorded) piano trios is to hope the blues will never leave.
2. Kris Davis, "Diatom Ribbons." Davis, one of the sharpest composer-pianists at work today, joined by an extraordinary ensemble, and summoning the spirits - and sampled voices - of Cecil Taylor and Olivier Messiaen.
3. Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, "Mandatory Reality." Playing guimbri and flute with his "natural information society," Abrams explores the pleasures of repetition and slow motion in soundscapes reminiscent of Don Cherry's symphonies for improvisers.
4. Raphael Saadiq, "Jimmy Lee." Saadiq reflects on family, criminal injustice, mass incarceration and devastated lives in a work of radiant, heart-breaking beauty.
5. Ahmad Jamal, "Ballades." Aside from a few tracks recorded with the bassist James Cammack, this album features the soon-to-be 90 pianist by himself - for the 1st time in his 60-plus year career. Better late than never: this ruminative recital by a master is one for the ages.
6. Eric Dolphy, "Musical Prophet." Dolphy's 1963 recordings, one year before we lost one of the most influential - & by all accounts one of the sweetest - musicians in modern jazz. He did not simply play the alto sax, bass clarinet & flute; he revolutionized their sound.
7. Tyshawn Sorey & Marilyn Crispell, "The Adornment of Time." I've written about the magical evening that brought these two improvisors together at The Kitchen.
8. Philip Thomas, "Morton Feldman Piano." A luminous recording of Feldman's complete music for solo piano. Thomas, who has performed Feldman's work for a quarter century, has an exquisite feel for the importance of touch and timber, and his liner notes are remarkably discerning.
9. Joe Lovano, "Trio Tapestry," with Marilyn Crispell and Carmen Castaldi. One of the great tenor men in the Hawkins/Rollins/Gordon tradition, Lovano shifts register here, in a trio of enigma and delicacy, with echoes of Jimmy Giuffre's trio with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow.
10. Cecil Taylor & Bill Dixon, 1992 Duets. Jazz DJ/historian/archivist Ben Young gets massive props for unearthing this incredible duet by two masters who often got on each other's nerves but never forgot each other's value - or how dynamite they sounded together.