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Bruce Lindsay's Best Releases of 2012

By Bruce Lindsay
January 2, 2013
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The year of 2012 proved once again that jazz remains a wonderfully diverse and diverting art form. Here are ten of my favorite albums, in no particular order.

Christine Tobin

Sailing To Byzantium

(Trail Belle)

A joy from first note to last, this is a majestic and beautiful work.

Ian Shaw

A Ghost In Every Bar

(Splash Point Records)

Just voice and piano—and some of the finest song lyrics in the English language.

Orrin Evans

Flip The Script

(Posi-Tone Records)

New ways with an old lineup—Evans' piano trio album is stylish and lovely.

GoGo Penguin

Fanfares

(Gondwana Records)

Speaking of new ways with an old lineup... GoGo Penguin takes the piano, bass and drums trio to craft one of the year's finest debuts.

Joe Alterman

Give Me The Simple Life

(Miles High Records)

Piano trio number three (with a little help from the mighty Houston Person on tenor sax). Old school, I guess. A great reminder of how marvelous old school can be.

Nils Landgren

Christmas With My Friends III

(ACT Music)

A Christmas album that'll bring joy throughout the whole year.

Larry Stabbins

Transcendental

(Noetic Records)

Maybe the finest list of UK-based musicians to grace any album in 2012. The resulting music moves like a very groovy thing.

Iñaki Sandoval

Miracielos

(bebyne records)

Piano trio number four. Living and working in Barcelona, Sandoval is a wonderfully reflective and considered player and this album contains many moments of real beauty.

Nicky Schrire

Freedom Flight

(Circavision Productions)

The debut album from Schrire, who's now based in New York. She's confident and inventive and not averse to drawing new writers into the jazz canon.

Neil Welch

Boxwork

(Table and Chairs Music)

No Best Of list is complete without an album of solo saxophone improvisations. Welch's ability to take the saxophone to its limits is exceptional.

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