I would be very interested to read contributor's thoughts about the best jazz albums of 2016. The first half of the year really seemed to offer the potential for this year to be particularly strong but I have found, for the first time since I started collecting jazz records, some releases are becoming very hard to get hold of without going directly via the label's own websites. As a consequence albums by the likes of Jason Roebke and Nicole Mitchell have so far evaded capture and might have otherwise have featured in my own personal favourites.
In my experience, it seems increasingly the case that the most rewarding albums do not seem to have been produced by big hitting artists this year as a rule. I think the exception is Wynton Marsalis' ambitious "Abyssian Mass" which is pretty impressive and belies the negative associations often meted against the LCJO and the leader in particular. In it's way, it is as fascinating as Ellington's own religious works and I felt that it is probably the best example in 2016 of the jazz mainstream coming up with something hugely creative even if the latest Kenny Barron trio record had a quality about it which most contemporary piano trios remain unable to match.
However, I do think that we are fast approaching an age where the most credible jazz is almost the prerogative of the avant garde and the vibes / tenor duo of Jason Adasiewicz and Keefe Jackson "Rows and rows" seemed to take the baton from Dolphy's "Out to lunch" and refract the ideas in to a hugely satisfying disc that sums up for me why the current Chicago scene is probably the most potent in jazz today. For the first half of the year the most serious competition to this record was Erik Friedlander's homage to Oscar Pettiford called "Oscarlypso." This album is easily the most agreeable jazz album of the year and an absolute joy to listen to - the leader's Downtown histrionics being parked in favour of some fresh takes on the bassist's exceptional compositions which strongly evoke the smoky jazz club atmosphere of the early 1950's. Unfortunately, a record by another cellist, Tomeka Reid, probably falls in to the 2015 category but her approach is fascinating in itself on her eponymous quartet album. This quartet includes Mary Halvorson on guitar and itself recalls the kind of records made by Chico Hamilton at the same time of Pettiford and is another very strong album I acquired this year.
The Friedlander and Adasiewicz / Jackson duo discs were my favourites for most of the year. Peter Hurt's "A New Start" came to my attention a few month's back and is probably the longest I have ever waited for a follow up record having first encountered his exceptional writing for large ensemble around 1984! The latest effort is easily the best thing I have heard in British jazz for many, many years and a record that I would thoroughly recommend, especially if your ears have been jaded by a lot of the more modish British jazz acts of late which have offered an almost cosmetic approach to producing something different. In my opinion, Peter Hurt has re-fashioned the big band and re-established himself as a British Gil Evans.
I am sorely tempted to nominate the Hurt album as it is so good but ultimately I think it is pipped by the live album by altoist Greg Ward, "Touch my beloved's thoughts" which is inspired by Mingus' "Black saint and the sinner lady" but re-cast by a 10-piece band including some stellar names from the Chicago scene. The composition sometimes threatens to tip into freer aspects of the music but this gets my vote as the best of 2016 on the shear strength and energy of the music, the band swinging in a fashion style that recalls the unbounded vigor of the great bassist's finest ensembles. If further proof is needed, Ward's album demonstrates to me that the essential ingredients of jazz that are the sense of swing and a feeling for the blues are still relevant and in a world where so many younger musicians are distancing themselves from calling their music jazz, that the music remains at it's most potent when it remains true to itself. This gets my nod this year.
In my experience, it seems increasingly the case that the most rewarding albums do not seem to have been produced by big hitting artists this year as a rule. I think the exception is Wynton Marsalis' ambitious "Abyssian Mass" which is pretty impressive and belies the negative associations often meted against the LCJO and the leader in particular. In it's way, it is as fascinating as Ellington's own religious works and I felt that it is probably the best example in 2016 of the jazz mainstream coming up with something hugely creative even if the latest Kenny Barron trio record had a quality about it which most contemporary piano trios remain unable to match.
However, I do think that we are fast approaching an age where the most credible jazz is almost the prerogative of the avant garde and the vibes / tenor duo of Jason Adasiewicz and Keefe Jackson "Rows and rows" seemed to take the baton from Dolphy's "Out to lunch" and refract the ideas in to a hugely satisfying disc that sums up for me why the current Chicago scene is probably the most potent in jazz today. For the first half of the year the most serious competition to this record was Erik Friedlander's homage to Oscar Pettiford called "Oscarlypso." This album is easily the most agreeable jazz album of the year and an absolute joy to listen to - the leader's Downtown histrionics being parked in favour of some fresh takes on the bassist's exceptional compositions which strongly evoke the smoky jazz club atmosphere of the early 1950's. Unfortunately, a record by another cellist, Tomeka Reid, probably falls in to the 2015 category but her approach is fascinating in itself on her eponymous quartet album. This quartet includes Mary Halvorson on guitar and itself recalls the kind of records made by Chico Hamilton at the same time of Pettiford and is another very strong album I acquired this year.
The Friedlander and Adasiewicz / Jackson duo discs were my favourites for most of the year. Peter Hurt's "A New Start" came to my attention a few month's back and is probably the longest I have ever waited for a follow up record having first encountered his exceptional writing for large ensemble around 1984! The latest effort is easily the best thing I have heard in British jazz for many, many years and a record that I would thoroughly recommend, especially if your ears have been jaded by a lot of the more modish British jazz acts of late which have offered an almost cosmetic approach to producing something different. In my opinion, Peter Hurt has re-fashioned the big band and re-established himself as a British Gil Evans.
I am sorely tempted to nominate the Hurt album as it is so good but ultimately I think it is pipped by the live album by altoist Greg Ward, "Touch my beloved's thoughts" which is inspired by Mingus' "Black saint and the sinner lady" but re-cast by a 10-piece band including some stellar names from the Chicago scene. The composition sometimes threatens to tip into freer aspects of the music but this gets my vote as the best of 2016 on the shear strength and energy of the music, the band swinging in a fashion style that recalls the unbounded vigor of the great bassist's finest ensembles. If further proof is needed, Ward's album demonstrates to me that the essential ingredients of jazz that are the sense of swing and a feeling for the blues are still relevant and in a world where so many younger musicians are distancing themselves from calling their music jazz, that the music remains at it's most potent when it remains true to itself. This gets my nod this year.
Season
: Alan Barnes - A Christmas Carol
(and very funny
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