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Best Jazz Albums of 2024: All-Star Break Edition

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By AAJ Staff
July 15, 2024
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As we hit the halfway mark of 2024, All About Jazz has adopted Major League Baseball's All-Star break approach but with albums instead of homers. Our team gathered to pick their top three albums of the year so far, and Charles Lloyd's The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow along with Vijay Iyer's Compassion, Tomeka Reid's 3+3 and Julian Lage's Speak to Me are the early frontrunners for album of the year. To learn more about staff preferences, click their corresponding link here. A special thank you goes out to our AAJ Italia staff for their full participation. Grazie, gents!

Staff picks in order by first name...

String Planes
Collin Sherman
Ex-tol Recordings

Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris
JMood Records

David A. Orthmann's Picks

Measured Response
Josh Lawrence
Posi-Tone Records

Stick Together
Behn Gillece
Posi-Tone Records

Boss Baritones
Gary Smulyan
SteepleChase Records

Doug Collette's Picks

Cloudward
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records

Rhapsody In Blue
Bela Fleck
Self Produced/Thirty Tigers

Compassion
Vijay Iyer
ECM Records

Gareth Thompson's Picks

Lord, when you send the rain
Byron Asher
Sinking City Records

The 10000 Things: PRAISE SONGS for the iRiligious
Mazz Swift
New Amsterdam Records

Amen
Joy Guidry
Whited Sepulchre Records

Geno Thackara's Picks

Stream
Fergus McCreadie
Edition Records

As Time Passes
Daniel Sommer
Self Produced

Plays Ellington & Strayhorn
Brian Landrus
Palmetto Records

Glenn Astarita's Picks

Laugh Ash
Ches Smith
Pyroclastic Records

Slow Water
Stephan Crump
Papillon Sounds

Shiver Meets Matthew Bourne Volume 2
Matthew Bourne
Discus Music

Giuseppe Segala's Picks

Cloudward
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records

The Mighty Warriors
Mal Waldron
Elemental Music

Off The End
Brandon Ross
Sunnyside Records

Ian Patterson's Picks

Northbound
Pernille Bevort
Gateway Music

Live Album
Nout
Gigantonium

All Black Everything
Amyna Gadiaga
Jazz Re:freshed

Jack Bowers' Picks

Nimble Digits
Geoff Stradling
Origin Records

Keep Swingin'
Garry Dial
Outside in Music

Life Songs
Marshall Gilkes
Alternate Side Records

Jerome Wilson's Picks

Life Is Funny That Way
Fay Victor
Tao Forms

Elegy for Thelonious
Frank Carlberg
Sunnyside Records

The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
Charles Lloyd
Blue Note Records

John Chacona's Picks

Smash and Grab
Dave Rempis
Aerophonic Records

Speak to Me
Julian Lage
Blue Note Records

Enhlizweni -song stories from my heartland
Steve Dyer
Ropeadope

John Sharpe's Picks

Afro Blue
Sten Sandell
Trost

Caught In My Own Trap
Kirke Karja
BMC Records

Immense Blue
Olie Brice
West Hill Records

Joshua Weiner's Picks

LaFaro
Brian Bromberg
Be Squared Productions

Sahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group
Sahib Shihab
OKTAV Music

Poppin In Paris: Live At L'Olympia 1972
Cannonball Adderley
Elemental MusicRecords

Jua Howard's Picks

Shadow
Lizz Wright
Blues & Greens

À Fleur de Peau
Cyrille Aimée
Whirlwind Recordings

Wonderful!
Mike LeDonne
Cellar Music Group

Karl Ackermann's Picks

Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens
Wadada Leo Smith
Red Hook Records

Gjenskinn
Nils Okland
Hubro

Ex Machina
Steve Lehman
Pi Recodings

Katchie Cartwright's Picks

What Times Are These
Jamie Baum
Sunnyside Records

Pra você, Ilza
Hermeto Pascoal
Rocinante Records

Exuberance
Christopher Zuar
Tonal Conversations

Ken Laster's Picks

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Edition Records

Recorda Me -Remembering Joe Henderson
Lori Bell
Self Produced

Moment Of Departure
Tim Garland
Ubuntu Music

Kyle Simpler's Picks

Speak to Me
Julian Lage
Blue Note Records

September Night
Tomasz Stańko
ECM Records

Boundaries
Jake Baldwin
Shifting Paradigm Records

Libero Farnè's Picks

Axes
Andrea Grossi Blend 3 + Jim Black
We Insist! Records

Musho
Alexander Hawkins, Sofia Jernberg
Intakt Records

Captivity
Caroline Davis
Ropeadope

Mark Corroto's Picks

Elegy for Thelonious
Frank Carlberg
Sunnyside Records

Circles
Friends & Neighbors
Clean Feed

Intercept Method
Ghost Trees
Self Produced

Mark Sullivan's Picks

Catharsis
Michiel Stekelenburg
Challenge Records

Between Hope and Despair
Avishai Darash
Self Produced

Momentarily
Jon Durant
Alchemy Records

Mario Calvitti's Picks

Words Unspoken
John Surman
ECM Records

Orchestras
Bill Frisell
Blue Note Records

Høvikodden 1971
Soft Machine
Cuneiform Records

Maurizio Zerbo's Picks

Giant Beauty
[Ahmed]
Fönstret

3
Abdullah Ibrahim
Gearbox Records

Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens
Wadada Leo Smith
Red Hook Records

Mike Jacobs' Picks

III
Nir Felder
La Reserve

Shorter Days
Eran Har Even
World Citizen Music Records

Karnevel!
Scott Henderson
Mango Prom Music

Mike Jurkovic's Picks

Compassion
Vijay Iyer
ECM Records

uNomkhubulwane
Nduduzo Makhathini
Blue Note Records

The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
Charles Lloyd
Blue Note Records

Neil Duggan's Picks

Compassion
Vijay Iyer
ECM Records

Moment Of Departure
Tim Garland
Ubuntu Music

Stream
Fergus McCreadie
Edition Records

Neri Pollastri's Picks

One Foot in the Air
Elisabeth Harnik, Zlatko Kaućić
Not Two Records

Let Us Recount Our Dreams
Dino Betti van der Noot
Audissea

Half Black Half White Half Yellow. Suite For Charles Mingus
Matteo Mosolo, Flavio Zanuttini
Caligola Records

Nicholas F. Mondello's Picks

Horizons
Alex Sipiagin
Blue Room Music

To Whom I Love
Summer Camargo
Blue Engine Records

Through the Passages
Nancy Erickson Lamont
Self Produced

Paolo Peviani's Picks

Our Way
Samuel Blaser
Self Produced

Laugh Ash
Ches Smith
Pyroclastic Records

Wishing Flower
Jeremy Udden
Sunnyside Records

Paul Rauch's Picks

Plays
Nicole Glover
Savant Records

The Door is Open: The Music of Gregg Hill
Randy Napoleon
OA2 Records

Good Trouble
Matt Wilson
Palmetto Records

Pierre Giroux's Picks

Live At Mezzrow
Roger Kellaway
Cellar Music Group

Panoply
Denny Zeitlin
Sunnyside Records

Timing Is Everything
Eric Alexander
Cellar Music Group

Richard J Salvucci's Picks

For Real!
Hampton Hawes
Craft Recordings

Shelly Manne and His Men at the Black Hawk 1
Shelly Manne
Craft Recordings

The Fox
Harold Land
Craft Recordings

Scott Lichtman's Picks

What Times Are These
Jamie Baum
Sunnyside Records

The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
Charles Lloyd
Blue Note Records

Compassion
Vijay Iyer
ECM Records

Stefano Merighi's Picks

The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
Charles Lloyd
Blue Note Records

Cloudward
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records

3+3
Tomeka Reid
Cuneiform Records

Thomas Conrad's Picks

Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions
Ryan Truesdell
ArtistShare

September Night
Tomasz Stańko
ECM Records

Suite For Africa
Amina Figarova
Amfi Records

Vic Albani's Picks

The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
Charles Lloyd
Blue Note Records

Legacy
Paolo Fresu
Tuk Music

Fearless Five
Enrico Rava
Parco Della Musica

Vincenzo Roggero's Picks

Compassion
Vijay Iyer
ECM RecordsRecords

The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
Charles Lloyd
Blue Note Records

Stars and Constellations
Quinsin Nachoff
Adhyâropa Records

Radio & Podcast Hosts and Photo Journalists

Bob Osborne's Picks

Candid
Sunny Five
Intakt Records

Telepathic Mysteries, Vol. 2
Daniel Carter
577 Records

Wondercult Club
Ayumi Ishito
577 Records

Cheryl K.'s Picks

uNomkhubulwane
Nduduzo Makhathini
Blue Note Records

Louis The First
Louis Stewart
Livia Records

Smash and Grab
Dave Rempis
Aerophonic Records

Hobart Taylor's Picks

Songs My Mom Liked
Anthony Branker
Origin Records

Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens
Wadada Leo Smith
Red Hook Records

Stay
Julieta Eugenio
Cristalyn Records

Lawrence Peryer's Picks

The Fate of the Tenor
Kevin Sun
Endectomorph Music

A Monster Is Just An Animal You Haven't Met Yet
Angelica Sanchez
Intakt Records

Sea of Hopeless Angels
Markus Reuter
Flatiron Recordings

Len Davis' Picks

III
Nir Felder
Ropeadope

Cross Currents
Mark Egan
Wavetone Records

Karnevel!
Scott Henderson
Mango Prom Music

Luciano Rossetti's Picks

Transfiguration
James Brandon Lewis
Intakt RecordsRecords

Sax QT (Lorraine) 2022
Anthony Braxton Saxophone Quartet
I Dischi Di Angelica

The Data
Matthew Shipp
Rogue Art

Ludovico Granvassu's Picks

Asterisms
Sean Ono Lennon
Tzadik

The Messthetics And James Brandon Lewis
The Messthetics And James Brandon Lewis
Impulse! Records

Rebirth of Innocence
Oan Kim
Artwork Records

Mary Foster Conklin's Picks

Being Human
Lynne Arriale
Challenge Records

On the Trail With the Lonesome Pines
Hilary Gardner
Anzic Records

Creole Orchestra Featuring René Marie
Etienne Charles
Culture Shock Music

Maurice Hogue's Picks

Transfiguration
James Brandon Lewis
Intakt Records

New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz
Matthew Shipp
ESP-Disk

Come Down Here
Luis Vicente
Clean Feed Records

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