JAZZITUDE BEST OF 2002
See our Best of 2001
list
See our Best of 2003 list
See our Best of 2004 list
See our Best of 2005 list
See our Best of 2006 list
Patricia
Barber/Verse (Blue Note/Premonition)
Chicago’s very own Patricia Barber managed a huge breakthrough
with this release, the first to feature her own songs exclusively. While
a lot of attention has been focused on songs like “I Could Eat
Your Words”, a clever take on cooking and having an affair with
your college professor, there is much beauty in songs like “Moon”,
which builds from a spare meditation to a full-fledged assault on the
senses with the help of a great rhythm section and the trumpet accents
of Dave Douglas. Barber says this album is her homage to Joni Mitchell,
and believe it or not, she goes beyond homage to join her mentor as
one of the best singer-songwriters of all time.
Charles Lloyd/Lift
Every Voice (ECM)
Lloyd
crafted this meditative album as a response to the events of 9/11, but
what emerges isn’t some kind of patriotic jingoism or a soliloquy
of grief a la Springsteen, but rather a series of performances that
both honor the pain and confusion listeners are likely to have felt
as well as finding ways to heal and move on. Lloyd is supported by a
couple of different configurations of musicians on these tracks, with
pianist Geri Allen and guitarist John Abercrombie offering standout
performances of their own.
Jane
Bunnett, Dewey Redman, Dean Bowman, Larry Cramer, Stanley Cowell, etc./Spirituals
& Dedications (Justin Time)
More music as celebration, healing, and release. Bunnett offers her
usual tasteful contributions on soprano sax and flute, while husband
Larry Cramer gets to step out and offer some great trumpet contributions
as well. Pianist Cowell is in fine form, turning in one transcendent
performance after another. And tenor sax man Dewey Redman, who I don’t
believe gets nearly enough credit for an inventive and energetic body
of work, proves again that he is one of the great tenors of our time.
Dean Bowman’s voice take’s a little getting used to, but
he can really rock the house, as he does on a performance of the traditional
“Shadrack”, accompanied only by Redman and drummer Mark
McLean. This recording honors the spirit of jazz the way it should be
done—honoring the past by embracing the future.
Jason
Moran/Modernistic (Blue Note)
Moran is the real deal—a pianist who can recall the greatness
of professors like Willie “The Lion” Smith and James P.
Johnson while examining and deconstructing Afrika Bambaataa’s
“Planet Rock”. In short, Moran is the kind of unique encyclopedia
of American & European music that Duke Ellington was: able to convey
complete modernity while somehow incorporating every bit of the past
available to him. Modernistic is a solo piano album the likes of which
one never expected to hear at the start of the 21st Century. I can’t
wait to hear what Moran does next.
Von
Freeman/The Improvisor (Premonition)
For years, Von Freeman was Chicago’s best-kept jazz secret, a
tenor sax player who had influenced all kinds of young musicians, but
who had not been widely recorded himself. Every Von Freeman CD is a
revelation, but this one is particularly good, as it runs the gamut
of styles. From the opening solo tenor rendition of “If I Should
Lose You” to the breakneck bebop of “Ski-Wee” and
the romantic beauty of “Darn That Dream” and “Blue
Bossa” all the way to Duke Ellington’s “I Like the
Sunrise”, performed with pianist Jason Moran and his rhythm section,
everything about this CD is perfect. And perfectly Vonski.
Cassandra
Wilson/Belly of the Sun (Blue Note)
Cassandra Wilson has led the fight to expand the repertoire available
to the modern jazz singer beyond the Great American Songbook and the
work of a few ‘60s songwriters. On this, her “bluesy”
album, she covers Robbie Robertson’s “The Weight”,
Bob Dylan’s “Shelter From the Storm”, the ballad “Wichita
Lineman”, and James Taylor’s “Only A Dream In Rio.”
She also works up some sparks on a few traditional blues numbers, duets
with neo-soul singer India.Arie, and offers a few of her own superb
compositions all without batting an eye. This is the reason Wilson stands
as jazz music’s most important and gifted singer as well as an
antidote to the neo-classic jazz fringe that has tried to take the music
over and put it in a museum.
Spring
Heel Jack/Amassed (Thirsty Ear)
Some might argue that Matthew Shipp’s Nu-Bop album was
the better offering from Thirsy Ear’s Blue Series of improvised
music (of which Shipp is the guiding force), but I think this CD proved
so amazing simply because it comes from a perspective other than jazz.
Spring Heel Jack have moved solidly from a drum ‘n’ bass
outfit to a group that is experimenting with a new language for jazz
and electronic music that will result in a true fusion of the two rather
than the mere grafting of one onto the other. There are contributions
here from a wide array of European jazz heavyweights including Evan
Parker, Kenny Wheeler, Paul Rutherford, Han Bennink, and Jason Pierce
of Spritualized. The results are sure to rankle traditionalists in both
jazz and electronic camps, which is exactly how you can tell just how
admirably these folks have succeeded in finding a new path.
Dave
Holland/What Goes Around (ECM)
Look, Dave Holland is simply brilliant, whether leading his quintet
or a larger band featuring talents like Antonio Hart, Chris Potter,
Robin Eubanks, Earl Gardner, and Steve Nelson. Holland owes a debt to
bassist-composer-bandleader Charles Mingus, with arrangements that manage
to make the band sound even bigger than it is. There’s no question
that Holland is one of the best composers working in jazz now, and his
arrangements on this disc are equally admirable.
Keith
Jarrett-Gary Peacock-Jack DeJohnette/Always Let Me Go: Live In Tokyo
(ECM)
The music of Jarrett’s trio is not for everyone. It is challenging,
cerebral, and sometimes fairly opaque, but it is also emotional, soulful,
and dream inspiring. The trio has been working together for twenty years
or so, but they don’t fall back on any kind of formula. Here they
are completely improvising together, communicating freely and openly
with a live audience listening in. Jarrett and DeJohnette were both
part of Miles Davis’ touring band around 1970 and, though they
don’t play the kind of supercharged Afro-rock that made that group
famous, they obviously learned a whole lot about listening to each other
and taking risks.
Julian
Priester/In Deep End Dance (Conduit)
Another disc that demands something of the listener—in other words,
you won’t be humming these tunes around the house anytime soon.
But Priester’s first recording as a leader in 25 years is a gem,
with compositions that help showcase his inventive playing as well as
the energetic work of his young group, comprised of pianist Dawn Clement,
bassist Geoff Harper, and drummer Byron Vannoy. While indie label Conduit
Records (for whom this was the inaugural release) doesn’t have
the marketing budget of Universal or Blue Note, this quality recording
is every bit as deserving of attention as more well known jazz releases
this year.
Honorable Mention:
Wayne Shorter/Footprints Live
(Verve)
Karrin Allyson/In Blue
(Concord)
Mingus Big Band/Tonight At Noon
(Dreyfus)
Rene Rosnes/Life on Earth (Blue
Note)
Thomasz Stanko/Soul of Things (ECM)
Eddie Palmieri/La Perfecta II (Concord)
Erik Truffaz/Mantis (Blue Note)
Tom Harrell/Live at the Village Vanguard (Bluebird)
Jean-Michel Pilc Trio/Welcome Home (Dreyfus)
Record Label of the Year:
ECM Records The quality of their releases this year
speak for themselves: Charles Lloyd’s Lift Every Voice,
Jarrett’s Always Let Me Go, Dave Holland’s What
Goes Around, Tomasz Stanko’s Soul of Things, John
Abercrombie’s Cat ‘n’
Mouse, Jack DeJohnette & John Surman’s Invisible
Nature, and Steve Tibbetts’ A Man About A Horse
(to name a few) were all recordings that pushed the boundaries of improvised
music beyond what could comfortably be relegated to the “jazz”
bin. In addition, their rarum series of reissues—“greatest
hits” packages of artists who have never had anything like a hit,
chosen by the artists themselves—is truly inspired and worth the
cost of each and every one of the eight volumes released thus far.
Reissues of the Year:
Chick Corea/Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (Blue Note)
Bill Evans & Jim Hall/Undercurrent (Blue Note)
John Coltrane/A Love Supreme (Deluxe Edition) (Verve)
Charlie Parker/Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes (Savoy)
Thad Jones-Mel Lewis/Confirmation (Blue Note)
Best Box Sets:
Miles Davis/The Complete Miles
Davis at Montreux (Sony/Columbia)
Grant Green/Retrospective (Blue Note)
Herbie Hancock/Herbie Hancock Box (Sony/Columbia)
