Top tens & lists

For earlier years I’ve included the lists I submitted for journals; for more recent vintage, I’ve not confined myself to the usual 10 titles and instead given a more flexible best-of.

This year’s list-in-progress is available here.

2006

The ordering is somewhat arbitrary, but the best stuff is in the first two-dozen entries. I have deleted some late-2006 entries & shifted them to 2007.

  1. Simon Fell, Compilation IV, Bruce’s Fingers
  2. Trio BraamDeJoodeVatcher, Change This Song, BBB
  3. Bobby Zankel and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, Ceremonies of Forgiveness, Dreambox Media
  4. Kent Carter String Trio, Intersections, Emanem
  5. Andrew Rathbun, George Colligan, Renderings: The Art of the Duo, Fresh Sound New Talent
  6. Misha Mengelberg, Afijn, ICP/Data Images (DVD)
  7. Nels Cline, New Monastery, Cryptogramophone
  8. Trio 3 (Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille), Time Being, Intakt
  9. Roy Nathanson, Sotto Voce, AUM Fidelity
  10. Buck Hill, Relax, Severn
  11. Fred Hess, How ’Bout Now, Tapestry
  12. Ran Blake, All That is Tied, Tompkins Square
  13. Paul Flaherty, Chris Corsano, The Beloved Music, Family Vineyard
  14. Simon Nabatov, A Few Incidences, Leo
  15. Andrew Hill, Time Lines, Blue Note
  16. Jesse Zubot, Dementia, Drip Audio
  17. Billy Stein, Hybrids, Barking Hoop
  18. Ornette Coleman, Sound Grammar, Sound Grammar
  19. Rudresh Mahanthappa, Codebook, Pi
  20. Trio Continuo, Authentic Basics, WLJWC
  21. Ab Baars, Kinda Dukish, Wig
  22. Evan Parker, Crossing the River, Psi
  23. Lee Konitz/Ohad Talmor String Project, Inventions, OmniTone
  24. ROVA, Totally Spinning, Black Saint
  25. John Butcher/Christof Kurzmann, The Big Misunderstanding Between Hertz and Megahertz, Potlatch
  26. Howard Riley, Two is One, Emanem
  27. Peter Evans, More is More, Psi
  28. Tony Bevan, John Edwards, Orphy Robinson, Mark Sanders, Ashley Wales, Derek Bailey, Bruise with Derek Bailey, Foghorn
  29. Alex Ward, Luke Barlow, Simon Fell, Steve Noble, Help Point, Copepod
  30. George Lewis, Sequel (For Lester Bowie), Intakt
  31. Conjure, Bad Mouth, American Clavé
  32. São Paulo Underground, Sauna: Um, Dos, Três, Aesthetics
  33. Fond of Tigers, A Thing to Live With, Drip Audio
  34. Jeff Kaiser, Andrew Pask, G.E. Stinson, Steuart Liebig, The Choir Boys with Strings, pfMentum
  35. Stefano Battaglia, Raccolto, ECM
  36. John Ettinger, Kissinger in Space, self-released
  37. Johnny Valentino, Stingy Brim, OmniTone
  38. Thom Gossage/Other Voices, 5, Effendi
  39. Achim Kaufman, Michael Moore, Dylan van der Schyff, Kamosc, Red Toucan
  40. Robert Marcel Lepage, Pee Wee et Moi, Ambiances Magnétiques
  41. Phil Nimmons/David Braid, Beginnings, self-released (NNB)
  42. Michiel Braam’s Wurli Trio, Hosting Changes, BBB
  43. Tony Wilson, Horse’s Dream, Drip Audio
  44. Temperamental Trio, Raw and the Cooked, Kadima Collective Recordings
  45. Dave Liebman/Bobby Avey, Vienna Dialogues, Zoho
  46. Jorrit Dijkstra/John Hollenbeck, Sequence, Trytone
  47. Reuben Radding, Fugitive Pieces, Pine Ear
  48. Billy Hart, Billy Hart Quartet, HighNote
  49. Jack DeJohnette/Bill Frisell, The Elephant Sleeps but Still Remembers, Golden Dreams
  50. Johnny la Marama, “…Fire!”, Traumton
  51. Jack Wright, Tom Djll, Bhob Rainey, Tim Feeney, Road Signs, Soul on Rice
  52. Jack Wright, As Is: Solos from Beirut & Barcelona, Spring Garden Music
  53. Badland (Simon Rose/Simon H Fell/Steve Noble), The Society of the Spectacle, Emanem
  54. Agusti Fernandez/Mats Gustafsson, Critical Mass, Psi
  55. Free Zone Appleby 2005, Psi
  56. Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Streaming, Pi
  57. Roscoe Mitchell, No Side Effects, RogueArt
  58. Mujician, There’s No Going Back Now, Cuneiform
  59. Omer Avital, Asking No Permission, Smalls Records
  60. Polwechsel, Archives of the North, Hatology
  61. Miles Perkin, Common Thread, Ombu
  62. Lindsey Horner, Don’t Count on Glory, Cadence
  63. Matt Steckler, Persiflage, Innova

Reissues/Vault issues

“Vault issue” is the term for issues of previously unreleased older material. I’m defining “older” as “ten years or more” (hence the Chapin).

  1. Roswell Rudd, Blown Bone, Emanem
  2. John Butcher, Phil Durrant, Paul Lovens, Radu Malfatti, John Russell, News from the Shed, Emanem
  3. Barry Guy/London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Study II, Stringer, Intakt
  4. Thomas Chapin, Ride, Playscape
  5. Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, The Topography of the Lungs, Psi
  6. Warne Marsh, Ne Plus Ultra, Hatology
  7. Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Biosystem, Psi

2005

I wasn’t terribly happy with the lists I submitted to various magazines in 2005, in part because virtually nothing I wanted to include on the Cadence list was eligible (though some of it may be eligible at the end of 2006) because it hadn’t yet been reviewed in its pages. So, instead, recognizing that 10 or 20 are arbitrary numbers, I’ve simply included my original “shortlist”; items near the top are ones I recommend most highly, but they’re all strong items. Reissues & archival discoveries are listed separately at the end. I realize that this is a pretty long shortlist, but it was a pretty strong year for releases…

The 2005 shortlist

  1. Sal Mosca, Thing-Ah-Majig, Zinnia
  2. The Respect Sextet, Respect in You, Roister
  3. Neal Caine, Backstabber’s Ball, Smalls Records
  4. Frank Hewitt, Four Hundred Saturdays, Smalls Records
  5. Frank Hewitt, Not Afraid to Live, Smalls Records
  6. Anthony Braxton/Matt Bauder, 2 + 2 Compositions, 482 Music
  7. Olaf Ton, Das dunkle Vermächtnis der goldenen Kuh, 2nd Floor
  8. ROVA/Orkestrova, Electric Ascension, Atavistic
  9. Tim Berne/Paraphrase, Pre-emptive Denial, Screwgun
  10. Simon Fell, Compilation IV, Bruce’s Fingers
  11. Alex Ward, Luke Barlow, Simon Fell, Steve Noble, Help Point, Copepod
  12. Simon Nabatov, A Few Incidences, Leo
  13. Carl Maguire, Floriculture, Between the Lines
  14. Badland (Simon Rose/Simon H Fell/Steve Noble), The Society of the Spectacle, Emanem
  15. James Finn, Inside Eye, Gingko Leaf
  16. Roscoe Mitchell, Turn, RogueArt
  17. Joey Sellers’ Jazz Aggregation, El Payaso, Nine Winds
  18. Agusti Fernandez/Mats Gustafsson, Critical Mass, Psi
  19. Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings, Other Stories (Three Suites), 482 Music
  20. MTKJ Quartet, Day of the Race, Nine Winds
  21. Lindsey Horner, Don’t Count on Glory, Cadence
  22. Sacha Perry, Eretik, Smalls Records
  23. Vijay Iyer, Reimagining, Savoy
  24. Unstable Ensemble, Embers, Family Vineyard
  25. Bill Frisell, East/West, Elektra/Nonesuch
  26. Keith Rowe, Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura, Otomo Yoshihide, Erstlive 005, Erstwhile
  27. Fred Hess, Crossed Paths, Tapestry
  28. Jim McAuley, Gongfarmer18, Nine Winds
  29. Adam Lane, Vinny Golia, Vijay Anderson, Zero Degree Music, CIMP
  30. Simon H. Fell/SFQ, Four Compositions, Red Toucan (mostly for the 2nd disc)
  31. Keith Rowe/Burkhard Beins, ErstLive 001, Erstwhile
  32. Randy Sandke and the Inside Out Band, Outside In, Evening Star
  33. Bobo Stenson, Goodbye, ECM
  34. Randy Sandke, Trumpet After Dark, Evening Star
  35. Michaël Attias, Renku, Playscape
  36. John Tchicai, Garrison Fewell, Tino Tracanna, Paolino Dalla Porta, Massimo Manzi, Big Chief Dreaming, Soul Note
  37. James Finn, Plaza de Toros, Clean Feed
  38. David Borgo, Ubuntu, Cadence
  39. Stan Tracey, Evan Parker, Crevulations, Psi
  40. Marco Kaeppeli, Fredi Luescher, Daniel Studer, Nomis, Altrisuoni
  41. Hans Ulrik, Steve Swallow, Jonas Johansen, Tin Pan Aliens, Stunt
  42. Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mother Tongue, Pi
  43. Jon Easton with Don Messina and Bill Chattin, Cadence
  44. Veryan Weston, John Edwards, Mark Sanders, Gateway to Vienna, Emanem
  45. Urs Leimgruber, Jacques Demierre, Barre Phillips, LDP – Cologne, Psi
  46. Harris Eisenstadt, The Soul and Gone, 482 Music
  47. Aram Shelton, Arrive, 482 Music
  48. Matt Steckler, Persiflage, Innova
  49. Jimmy Ghaphery, Jason Bivins, Ian Davis, Impermanence, Umbrella
  50. Tony Bevan, Orphy Robinson, Ashley Wales, John Edwards, Mark Sanders, Bruised, Foghorn
  51. Frédéric Blondy, Jean-Sebastien Mariage, Dan Warburton, L’écorce dans la forêt, Creative Sources
  52. Scott Rosenberg, Jim Baker, Anton Hatwich, Tim Daisy, New Folk, New Blues, 482 Music
  53. Dino Saluzzi/Jon Christensen, Senderos, ECM
  54. Ståhls Blå, Schlachtplatte, Moserobie
  55. Kazue Sawai, Michel Doneda, Kazuo Imai, Lê Quan Ninh, Tetsu Saitoh, Une chance pour l’ombre, Victo

Reissues & discoveries

  1. Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, At Carnegie Hall, Blue Note
  2. John Coltrane, One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note, Impulse
  3. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945, Uptown
  4. Clifford Thornton, The Panther and the Lash, America/Universal
  5. Derek Bailey and Evan Parker, The London Concert, Psi
  6. Pat Metheny/Ornette Coleman, Song X: Twentieth Anniversary, Nonesuch
  7. SME, A New Distance, Emanem
  8. Jackie McLean, Consequence, Blue Note
  9. Andrew Hill, Andrew!!!, Blue Note
  10. John Stevens, New Cool, Emanem
  11. Irène Schweizer, Live at Taktlos, Intakt

***
Coda top tens have no restrictions on eligibility. Cadence top tens must only include CDs reviewed in the magazine between December of the previous year to November of the present year. This is why the same disc is often listed in the top ten for Coda a year before it appears in the top ten for Cadence (because the review took a while to appear). The absence of reissues is largely because I don’t usually receive these to review, & many of the major-label reissues (Columbia, Blue Note/RVG, Verve) aren’t reviewed by Cadence.

These top tens are what I sent – in a few cases this isn’t what actually appeared in print. All lists are in alphabetical order rather than a countdown.

Coda, 2004

Cadence, 2004

Reissues

Coda, 2003

Cadence, 2003

Coda, 2002