As I do every year, this Podcast is "A Few of My Favorite Things" from 2021. It is not intended on being a Top Ten list - I do that for the Jazz Journalist Association, where I posted a list of 14 - but rather a grouping of recordings that got repeat play in my house, making me take notice among the many recordings I receive. While 2021 got off to a very rocky start here in the USA, there was much to be optimistic about in jazz recordings that came across my desk during the past twelve months. Further, music and musicians seem to have returned to our stages and clubs, and regardless of mutating viruses, perhaps to stay.
This year, I had the pleasure of hearing and rehearing the following stellar albums:
New Things From Old Friends:
Andrew Cyrille Quartet - The News
Charles Lloyd & the Marvels - Tone Poem
Kenny Garrett - Sounds of the Ancestors
Todd Cochran TC3 - Then & Again, Here & Now
Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas Soundprints - Other Worlds
Players Rising and Coming Into Their Own:
Johnathan Blake - Homeward Bound
Veronica Swift - The Bitter Earth
Brandee Younger - Somewhere Different
Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future
James Brandon Lews/Red Lily Quintet - Jesup Wagon
Collaborations and One-Offs:
Troy Roberts & Tim Jago - Best Buddies
Archie Shepp & Jason Moran - Let My People Go
Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
Jane Ira Bloom and Allison Miller - Tues Days
Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge with Gary Bartz - JID006 (Jazz is Dead)
Archival or Reissues:
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle
Roy Hargrove & Mulgrew Miller - In Harmony
Roy Brooks - Understanding
Bill Evans - Behind the Dikes: The 1969 Netherlands Recordings
Lee Morgan - The Complete Live at the Lighthouse
Tributes or Reimagination of Older Material:
Harold Mabern - Mabern Plays Coltrane
Terence Blanchard featuring E-Collective & Turtle Island Quartet - Absence
Nigel Price Organ Trio - Wes Reimagined
Chris Pattishall - Zodiac
Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio - Songs From My Father
Musical selections appearing in the Podcast include:
Charles Lloyd & the Marvels - "Anthem"
Johnathan Blake - "Abiyoyo"
Allison Miller & Jane Ira Bloom - "Tues Day"
Lee Morgan - "Speedball"
Terence Blanchard featuring E-Collective & Turtle Island Quartet - "The Elders"
