BEST AND NOTABLE RELEASES OF 2013
Nota bene: All of my choices are in alphabetical order by artist or name of group and are to be counted equally as to points, rank, etc. TEN BEST ALBUMS OF 2013
Jane Ira Bloom, Sixteen Sunsets (Outline) Roberta Donnay & The Prohibition Mob Band, A Little Sugar (Motéma) Tommy Flanagan and Jaki Byard, The Magic of 2 (Resonance) Lisa Hilton, Getaway (Lisa Hilton Music/Ruby Slippers Productions) Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd, Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project (PI) Nicole Mitchell’s Ice Crystal, Aquarius (Delmark) Carline Ray, Carline Ray — Vocal Sides (Carlcat) Enrico Rava & Parco della Musica Jazz Lab, Rava On the Dance Floor (ECM) Wadada Leo Smith & Tumo, Occupy The World (TUM) Tierney Sutton, After Blue (BFM Jazz)
TOP THREE REISSUES
Bunny Berigan, Swingin’ & Jumpin’ (Hep) Paul Bley Trio, Closer (ESP) Earl Hines, Classic Earl Hines Sessions 1928-1945 (Mosaic)
BEST VOCAL ALBUM
Carline Ray, Carline Ray — Vocal Sides (Carlcat)
BEST DEBUT ALBUM
Carline Ray, Carline Ray — Vocal Sides (Carlcat)
BEST LATIN JAZZ ALBUM
Luis Muñoz, LUZ (Pelín Music)
BEST BLUES ALBUM
Dayna Kurtz, Secret Canon Vol. 2 (M.C.)
BEST BEYOND ALBUM
Mobtown Moon, Mobtown Moon: Classic Pink Floyd Reimagined in Baltimore (Mobtown Moon)
BEST JAZZ DVDs
Judy Chaikin, The Girls in the Band: The Untold Stories of Female Jazz and Big Band Instrumentalists and their Journeys from the Late 1930's to the Present Day (Artist Tribe/One Step Productions) Woody Herman: Blue Flame: Portrait Of A Jazz Legend (Jazzed Media) The Savoy King: Chick Webb and the Music That Changed America (Floating World Pictures)
BEST JAZZ BOOK OF 2013
Terry Teachout, Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington (Gotham/ Penguin Group)
NOTABLE RELEASES of 2013
NOTABLE INSTRUMENTAL JAZZ CDs OF 2013
John Abercrombie Quartet, 39 Steps (ECM) Howard Alden/Andy Brown Quartet, Heavy Artillery (Delmark) The John La Barbera Big Band, Caravan (Jazz Compass) Geoff Bradfield, Melba! (Origin) Joshua Breakstone, With The Wind And The Rain (Capri) Randy Brecker & Włodek Pawlik Trio, Randy Brecker Plays Włodek Pawlik’s Night in Calisia (Summit) Dewa Budjana, Dawai in Paradise (Moonjune) Dewa Budjana, Joged Kahyangan (Moonjune) Francisco Mora Catlett & Afrohorn, Rare Metal (AACE) Joe Clark Big Band featuring Jeff Hamilton, Lush (Jazzed Media) The Claudettes, Infernal Piano Plot . . . Hatched! (Yellow Dog) Cecilia Coleman Big Band, Who Am I? (Pandakat) Steve Coleman and Five Elements, Functional Arrhythmias (PI) George Colligan, The Endless Mysteries (Origin) George Cotsirilos Trio, Variations (OA2) Davell Crawford, My Gift To You (Basin Street) Anne Drummond, Revolving (Origin) Amir ElSaffar, Alchemy (PI) Kahil El’Zabar Quartet, What It Is! (Delmark) Jonathan Finlayson & Sicilian Defense, Moment and the Message (PI) The Five Play Jazz Quintet, Five & More (Auraline Music) Mimi Fox, Standards, Old & New (Origin) Inbar Fridman, Time Quartet Project (Origin) Satoko Fujii, Gen Himmel (Libra) Roby Glod, Op Der Schmelz Live (Nemu) Andy Goesling & Lindsey Horner, Heyday Maker (Upshot) Ghost Train Orchestra, Book of Rhapsodies (Accurate) Brad Goode, Chicago Red (Origin) Ken Hatfield, For Langston (Ken Hatfield/Arthur Circle Music) Thomas Heberer & Achim Kaufmann, Knoten (Red Toucan) Steve Heckman, Born to be Blue (Jazzed Media) Fred Hersch & Julian Lage, Free Flying (Palmetto) Marsha Heydt and The Project Of Love, Diggin’ the Day (Blujazz) Brad Hoyt, Far Away From Everyday (Harp Guitar Music) Hush Point, Hush Point (Sunnyside) I Know You Well Miss Clara, Chapter One (Moonjune) The Kandinsky Effect, Synesthesia (Cuneiform) Tom Kennedy, Just Play (Capri) Marty Krystall, Quartet, Moments Magical (K2B2) B. D. Lenz, Ready or Not (Jade Buddah) Joe Locke, Lay Down My Heart: Blues & Ballads, Volume 1 (Motéma) Mike Longo and the New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble, Live From New York (Consolidated Artists Productions) Joe Lovano & The Brussels Jazz Orchestra (Halfnote) Roberto Magris, Cannonball Funk’n Friends (JMood) Roberto Magris, One Night In With Hope and More . . . Vol.2 (JMood) Roberto Magris, Sam Reed Meets Roberto Magris (JMood) Bob Mazurek Octet, Skull Sessions (Cuneiform) Brian McCarthy, This Just In (Brian McCarthy) Tom McDermott, Bamboula (Minky) Cava Menzies & Nick Phillips, Moment To Moment (Nick Phillips Music) Pete Mills, Sweet Shadow (Cellar Live) Dom Minasi & Hans Tammen, Alluvium (Straw To Gold) Meg Okura and the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Music of Ryuichi Sakamoto (Meg Okura) Nicholas Payton, #BAM Live at Bohemian Caverns (BMF Music) Ken Peplowski, Maybe September (Capri) Ivo Perlman, One (Rare Noise) Frank Potenza, For Joe (Capri) Noah Preminger, Haymaker (Palmetto) The Dave Rempis Percussion Quartet, Phalanx (Aerophonic) The Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra, A Tribute To Stan Kenton (MAMA) RJ & The Assignment, The Stroke of Midnight (JK Melody Productions) Scott Robinson & Frank Kimbrough, Afar (ScienSonic) Frank Rosaly , Cicada Music (Delmark) Kermit Ruffins, We Partyin’ Traditional Style (Basin Street) Ali Ryerson’s Jazz Flute Big Band, Game Changer (Capri) Wolfgang Schalk, The Second Third Man (Frame Up Music) Maria Schneider, Winter Morning Walks (ArtistShare) Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, In the Spirit of Duke (Spartacus) Mansur Scott’s Harlem Quartet, Sometimes Forgotten, Sometimes Remembered (Blujazz) Bryan Shaw and the Hot Shots, The Bluebird of Happiness (Arbors) The Sign of Four, Hammer, Anvil and Stirrup (Jazzman) Simak Dialog, The 6th Story (Moonjune) Asaf Sirkis Trio, Shepherd’s Stories (Asaf Sirkis) Spyro Gyra, The Rhinebeck Sessios (Crosseyed Bear Productions) Norbert Stein, Pata On the Cadillac (Pata Music) Steve Swallow Quintet, Into the Woodwork (ECM) Natsuki Tamura, Dragon Nat (Libra) 3 Cohens, Tightrope (Anzic) Tiger Hatchery, Sun Worship (ESP) The Michael Treni Big Band, Pop-Culture Blues (The Bell Production Company) Fernando Ulibarri, Transform (Fernando Ulibarri) Hristo Vitchev & Liubomir Krastev, Rhodopa (First Orbit Sounds Music) The Wammies, The Wammies Play the Music of Steve Lacy Vol. 2 (Driff) The Wee Trio, Live at the Bistro (Bionic) Frank Wess, Magic 201 (IPO) Wheelhouse, Boss of the Plains (Aerophonic) Matt Wilson Quartet + John Medeski, Gathering Call (Palmetto)
NOTABLE JAZZ VOCAL CDs OF 2013
Clipper Anderson, Ballad of the Sad Young Men (Origin) Marc Bernstein & Good People, featuring Sinne Eeg, Hymn For Life (Origin) Kenny Blake featuring Maria Shahee, Go Where the Road Leads (Summit) Tina Bruhn & Johnny O’Neal, Nearness, (Burner) Philip Chaffin and others, Noël and Cole: Celebrating the Songs of Coward and Porter (PS Classics) Philip Chaffin, Somethin’ Real Special: The Songs of Dorothy Fields (PS Classics) Chicago Jazz Orchestra, featuring Cyrille Aimée, Burstin’ Out! (Origin) Barbara Levy Daniels, Love Lost and Found (Bldproductions Inc) Les DeMerle Band, featuring Bonnie Eisele, Feelin’ Good (Origin) Lisa Engelken, Little Warrior (e13 music/Little Angel) Nancy Harms, Dreams in Apartments (Gazelle) Nicole Henry Live, So Good, So Right (Banister) Jitterbug Vipers, featuring Sarah Sharp, Phoebe’s Dream (Jitterbug Vipers) Eugenie Jones, Black Lace Blue Tears (Open Mic) Lisa Kirchner, Umbrellas In Mint (Verdant World) Annie Kozuch, Mostly Jobim (Annie Kozuch) Deborah Latz, Fig Tree (June Moon Productions) Rebecca Luker, I Got Love: Songs of Jerome Kern (PS Classics) Pete McGuinness, Voice Like A Horn (Summit) Beata Pater, Red (B&B) Miki Purnell, Swingin’ To The Sea (Sweet and Lovely Music) Ed Reed, I’m a Shy Guy: A Tribute to the King Cole Trio & Their Music (Blue Shorts) Barbara Rosene, Nice and Naughty: Sweet & Saucy Songs From The 1920s & ’30s (Stomp Off) Cathy Segal-Garcia and The Moment, Live at the Blue Whale (Dash Hoffman) Gary Smulyan and Dominic Chianese, Bella Napoli (Capri) Marlene Ver Planck, Ballads . . . mostly (Audiophile) Judy Wexler, What I See (Jazzed Media) Nicole Zuraitis, Pariah Anthem (Nicole Zuraitis)
NOTABLE LATIN JAZZ CDs OF 2013
Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet, Cuidad De Los Reyes: Música AfroPeruana Para El Mundo (Saponegro) Sérgio Galvão, Phantom Fish (Pimenta Music) David Manson, A Kiss for Rio: O Som Do Jazz (Isospin Labs) Sofia Rei, De Tierra Y Oro (Lilihouse Music) Pete Rodriguez, Camunando Con Papi (Destiny) Michele Rosewoman, New Yor-Uba: A Musical Celebration of Cuba in America (Advance Dance Disques) Salsa De La Bahia: A Collection of SF Bay Area Salsa and Latin Jazz (Patois) Manuel Valera & New Cuban Express, Expectativas (Mavo) Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet, Latin Jazz/Jazz Latin (Patois)
BEST DEBUT JAZZ CDs OF 2013
Gabrielle Agachiko, Yes! (Accurate) Molly Holm, Permission (Rinny Zin) Billy Mintz, Mintz Quatet (Thirteenth Note) Matt Parker, Worlds Put Together (BYNK) Jussi Reijonen, Un (Unmusic) Rotem Sivan, Enchanted Sun (SteepleChase) 10³²K, That Which Is Planted: Live in Buffalo and Rochester (Passin’ Thru)
NOTABLE JAZZ REISSUES OF 2013
Ran Blake, Plays Solo Piano (ESP) Art Hodes, I Remember Bessie (Delmark) Roscoe Mitchell Quartet, Live At “A” Space 1975 (Sackville/Delmark) Zoot Siims, Compatibility (Delmark) Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions 1934-41 (Mosaic)
NOTABLE BLUES & BEYOND CDs OF 2013
Arborea, Fortress of the Sun (ESP) Sandy Carroll, Unnaturally Blonde (Catfood) Copernicus, L’Etérnité Immédiate (Moonjune) Copernicus, Worthless! (Nevermore) Guy Davis, Juba Dance (M.C.) Dialeto, The Last Tribe (Moonjune) Chris Grant, It’s Not About War (359 Music) Fiction Family, Reunion (Rock Ridge Music) Tina Thing Helseth, 10 by Tenthing (Warner Classics) Sara Hickman, Shine (Kirtland) The Howlin’ Brothers, Howl (Readymade) Infectious Garage Disease, Igo (Negative Reaction) Sarah Jarosz, Build Me Up From Bones (Sugar Hill) Kulcha Shok Muzik, Reggae Kulcha Volume 1 (Kulcha Shok Muzik) John Lennon McCullagh, North South Divide (359 Music) Mineral, Plastic Ekphrastic (359 Music) Angeline Morrison, Are You Ready Cat? (Freestyle) Mumpbeak, Mumpbeak (RareNoise) Mark Orton, Music From the Motion Picture Nebraska (Milan) Johnny Rawls, Remembering O. V. (Catfood) Soft Machine Legacy, Burden of Proof (Moonjune) Soul Spectrum, Volume 1: 21 Cuts of Dancefloor Soul, Rare Boogie and Soulful Disco (Jazzman) Cassie Taylor, Out Of My Mind (Yellow Dog) Hope Wechkin, Leaning Toward the Fiddler: Music For Voice and Violin (Ravello) Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators, Tortured Soul (Timmion) The Wrong Object, After The Exhibition (Moonjune)
NOTABLE MUSICAL CAST CDs OF 2013
Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, Far From Heaven (PS Classics) Stephen Sondheim, Passion: New York Cast Recording (PS Classics)
BEST CHRISTMAS JAZZ CDs OF 2013
Jack Furlong & Sean Gough, Charity (Bridge and Tunnel) Lynne Jackson & Mike Palter, Christmas In Your Heart (Cabaret Consortium) New York Voices, Let It Snow (Five Cent)
NOTABLE JAZZ AND POPULAR MUSIC DVDs OF 2013
Randy Becker, The Brecker Brothers Band Reunion (includes Live Concert DVD) (Piloo) The Clash, Judas Priest, Stevie Nicks, and others, ’83 US Festival: Days 1-3 (MVD Visual) Europe, Live At Sweden Rock: 30th Anniversary Show (MVD Visual) Iggy & The Stooges + Special Guests, Tribute to Ron Asheton (MVD Visual) Rob Mazurek and His Exploding Star Electro Acoustic Ensemble, The Space Between (Delmark) Scissor Sisters, Live In Victoria Park London 2011 (Wienerworld)
W. Royal Stokes has been observing the jazz, blues, and popular music worlds since the early 1940s. He was editor of Jazz Notes (the quarterly journal of the Jazz Journalists Association) from 1992 to 2001 and has participated in the annual Down Beat Critics Poll since the 1980s. He hosted his weekly “I thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say . . . .” and Since Minton’s on public radio in the 1970s and ’80s. He has been the Washington Post's jazz critic and editor of JazzTimes and is the author of The Jazz Scene: An Informal History from New Orleans to 1990 (Oxford University Press, 1991), Swing Era New York: The Jazz Photographs of Charles Peterson (Temple University Press, 1994), Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz (Oxford University Press, 2000), and Growing Up With Jazz: Twenty-Four Musicians Talk About Their Lives and Careers (Oxford University Press, 2005). His trilogy of novels Backwards Over will see publication in early 2014. He is currently at work on a memoir and A W. Royal Stokes Jazz, Blues & Beyond Reader.