Dan Bilawsky's Best Releases Of 2015
A theme for this year's list? How about "Jazz Unbound?" I initially planned on placing my picks into different categories, as I've often done in the past. But I thought better of it. The releases that caught my ear in 2015 cover the entire spectrum of possibilitywinning straight-ahead outings, audacious affairs, dynamic debuts, intimate encounters, stellar suites, extravagant aural feasts, sublime solo statements, everything else in betweenso why box them all up in separate places? I had the pleasure of covering more than one hundred and fifty albums for All About Jazz this year. Thesein no rank, order, or categoryare the two dozen that made a lasting impact:
Tags
Best of / Year End
Dan Bilawsky
Maria Schneider Orchestra
Chris McNulty
Ryan Truesdell
Mike Holober
Oded Lev-Ari
David Berkman
Fred Hersch
Joe Locke
Marshall Gilkes & The WDR Big Band
Brian Landrus
Duduka Da Fonseca
charles lloyd
Mary Halvorson
Joyce Moreno
Kenny Werner
Curtis Nowosad
Katie Thiroux
Liberty Ellman
Jeff Cosgrove
Frank Kimbrough
Martin Wind
Henry Threadgill
Rudresh Mahanthappa
Zhenya Strigalev
Laurie Antonioli
Richie Beirach
Sullivan Fortner