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Ludovico Granvassu's Garden of Jazzy Delights 2024

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By Ludovico Granvassu
December 31, 2024
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Have you noticed how many "best of the year" listicles start with an apologetic preamble ("these are not necessarily 'the best albums of the year' but 'my favorites';" "it's all subjective;" "tomorrow I might have chosen different titles;" "I could only select ten albums" etc.)? Those disclaimers channel the writer's discomfort of having to summarize a vast artistic ecosystem by selecting a "fateful ten" out of thousands of albums, a choice that, supposedly, should provide readers with a balanced, fair, and comprehensive snapshot of a scene that, year after year, becomes more intricate and vaster. Oh my...

I can relate to that discomfort. I have been there. The pleasure of including ten favorites in the year-end listicle is rendered painfully meaningless by the inescapable awareness of having left out so many equally deserving albums. Ouch...

This year—I think—I have turned a corner. How have I come around? By focusing on how I approach the "year in review" articles as a reader. If I look forward to reading these articles, with the prescribed grain of salt, there must be something good about them, right? At the very least, there has got to be something fun about them. What is it? What is it?

Since music is not sport, it cannot possibly be the competitive compulsion to find out which album received the most accolades. How many masterpieces were disregarded and misunderstood at the time of their release? What these listicles really do is offer an opportunity not to oversee albums well worth listening to. At least for me. Yes, because at the end of every year I realize that, despite having devoted an inordinate amount of time to scavenging all the corners of the jazzosphere, there are still hundreds of records I did not listen to, for all sorts of reasons. I didn't know they had been released. They fell through the cracks. They were set aside for a moment and were then buried by the avalanche of daily new releases, etc...

So what listicles really do, at least for me, is to remind me to stop looking forward, for a change. They make me look back and bask in the sunshine of all the aural beauty the year brought. And that, my friends, is the best way to rebuild the energy for the new year. Well aware that, as jazz fans, we can rely on a jazz world that feels friendlier than the real world, a place where progressive and conservative music, music played by people of all persuasions and backgrounds, jazz performed by musicians of all ages from all over the world come together to build something greater than the sum of its parts, like the ultimate ensemble cast. And that is why for a year retrospective to be significant one has to cast the net wide (I tried to cast it as wide as I could, but I am fully aware it is still not as wide as it should be, as both trad and fully improvised albums rarely made it to the my pile of CDs).

In that vein, I've listed the many albums that I will be happy to return to in the future. Because another aspect of these listicles is that they act like breadcrumbs, through which—down the road—we can retrace our steps and remind ourselves how we were, and how our world sounded like.

If you have not had a chance to check out these albums—give them a spin. If you don't have enough time, listen to the episodes of my radio show compiling some of the best songs of 2024 cherry-picked from these albums (and more): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6. As always, my hope is that you'll like them too!

Must Haves

Melissa Aldana
Echoes of the Inner Prophet
Blue Note Records

Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas, Ted Nash
Tell the Birds I Said Hello
Sonic Camera

Karl-Martin Almqvist, Nduduzo Makhathini, Magne Thormodsæter, Ayanda Sikade
The Travelers
Ropeadope

Roxana Amed
Becoming Human
Sony Music

Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra
Tension
Batov Records

Adam Bałdych, Leszek Mozdzer
Passacaglia
ACT Music

Jamie Baum Septet +
What Times Are These
Sunnyside Records

Francesco Bearzatti, Federico Casagrande
And Then Winter Came Again
CAM Jazz

Francesco Bearzatti, Stefano Risso, Mattia Barbieri
Behind Anatomy
Auand

Black Lives
People of Earth
Jammin' Colors

Matthieu Bordenave
The Blue Land
ECM Records

Borderlands Trio (Stephan Crump, Kris Davis, Eric McPherson)
Rewilder
Intakt Records

Patricia Brennan
Breaking Stretch
Pyroclastic Records

Rosa Brunello
Sensless Acts of Love
Domanda

Anna Butterss
Mighty Vertebrate
International Anthem

Frank Carlberg
Elegy for Thelonious
Sunnyside Records

Layale Chaker
Radio Afloat
In the Circle

Etienne Charles
Creole Orchestra
Culture Shock Music

Trish Clowes, Ross Stanley
Journey to Where
Stoney Lane Records

Natalie Cressman, Ian Faquini
Guinga
GroundUP Music

Franco D'Andrea Trio with Gabriele Evangelista and Roberto Gatto
Something Bluesy and More
Parco Della Musica

Emiliano D'Auria
The Baggage Room
Via Veneto Jazz

Kris Davis
Run the Gauntlet
Pyroclastic Records

Dave Douglas
Gifts
Greenleaf Music

Julieta Eugenio
Stay
Cristalyn Records

Orrin Evans
Walk A Mile In My Shoe
Imani / 88 Keys Productions

Peter Evans
Extra
WeJazz

Paolo Fresu
Legacy
Tuk Music

Bill Frisell
Orchestras
Blue Note Records

Larry Goldings, John Sneider
Chinwag
Sticky Mack Records

Arve Henriksen, Harmen Fraanje
The Touch of Time
ECM Records

Robin Holcomb
One Way or Another -Volume 2
Westerlies

Wayne Horvitz, Bill Frisell
Live Forever, Vol. 3: Frankfurt, Knitting Factory 1989-1990
(Other Room Records)

Abdullah Ibrahim
3
Gearbox Records

Ayumi Ishito
Wondercult Club
577 Records

Vijay Iyer
Compassion
ECM Records

The Jazz Passengers
Big Large: In Memory of Curtis Fowlkes
FOOD Records

Josh Johnson
Unusual Object
Northern Spy

Goran Kajfes Tropiques
Tell Us
We Jazz

Das Kapital
One Must Have Chaos Inside to Give Birth to a Dancing Star
Label Bleu

Ryan Keberle
Bright Moments
Posi-tone Records

Oan Kim
Rebirth of Innocence
Artwork Records

Cassie Kinoshi
Gratitude
International Anthem

Julian Lage
Speak to Me
Blue Note Records

Timo Lassy, Jukka Eskola
Nordic Stew
Dox Records

Bill Laurance, Michael League
Keeping Company
ACT Music

Sean Lennon
Asterisms
Tzadik

Dongfeng Liu, Gonzalo Rubalcaba
China Afro Cuba
Zoho

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

Jake Long
City Swamp
New Soil

Godwin Louis
Psalms and Proverbs
Blue Room Music

Mikael Mani
Guitar Poetry
Act Music

Fergus McCreadie
Stream
Edition Records

Brad Mehldau
Après Fauré
Nonesuch Records

Elan Mehler
Trouble In Mind
Sunnyside Records

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

Riley Mulherkar
Riley
Westerlies

Wolfgang Muthspiel
Etudes / Quietudes
Clap Your Hands

Nacka Forum
Peaceful Piano
Moserobie

Milton Nascimento, Esperanza Spalding
Milton + esperanza
Concord Music Group

MeShell NdegeOcello
No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin
Blue Note Records

Elsa Nilsson
Atlas of Sound -Quila Quina
ears&eyes Records

Matt Pavolka
Disciplinary Architecture
Sunnyside Records

Audrey Powne
From the Fire
BBE Records

Joel Ross
Nublues
Blue Note Records

Julie Sassoon
Inside Colours Duo/Trio Live
Jazzwerkstatt

Jenny Scheinman
Inside Colours Duo/Trio Live
Royal Potato Family

Brad Shepik
Human Activity: Dream of the Possible
Shifting Paradigm Records

Harry Skoler
Red Brick Hill
Sunnyside Records

Simona Severini, Daniele Richiedei, Giulio Corini
Fedra
Parco della Musica Records

Ches Smith
Laugh Ash
Pyroclastic Records

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

Walter Smith III
three of us are from Houston and Reuben is not
Blue Note Records

Tyshawn Sorey Trio
The Suceptible Now
PI Recordings

Kika Sprangers Large Ensemble
(in)finity
Dox Records

John Surman
Words Unspoken
ECM Records

Jacky Terrasson
Moving On
Earth-Sounds

Various Artists
Transa
Red Hot Organization

Jimmy Villotti
Jimmy Villotti
Universal

Luzia von Wyl
Lockdown Circus
Lu Records

Immanuel Wilkins
Blues Blood
Blue Note Records

Kathrine Windfeld
Aldebaran
Stunt Records/Sundance Music

Lucy Woodward & The Rocketeers
Lucy Woodward & The Rocketeers
GroundUP Music

Debut albums

Altus: Mythos (Biophilia Records)
Nicola Caminiti: Vivid Tales of a Blurry Self-Portrait (Self-produced)
Ivanna Cuesta Gonzalez: A Letter to the Earth (Orenda Records)
divr: Is This Water (We Jazz)
Alden Hellmuth: Good Intentions (Fresh Sound/New Talent)
Anni Kiviniemi Trio: Eir (We Jazz)
Julian Knowles: As Many as One (Biophilia Records)
Neta Raanan: Unforeseen Blossom (Giant Step Arts)
Willy Rodriguez: Seeing Sounds (Self-produced)
Sliders: Sliders (Hora Records)
Marco Ullstein: Detached Views (Emme Records)
April Varner: April (Cellar Music)
Debby Wang: Aftertaste (Self-produced)
Amy Aileen Wood: The Heartening (Colorfield Records)

Revelations (for me, at least)

Andrew Bird Trio: Sunday Morning Put-On (Loma Vista)
Devin Daniels: LesGo! (Sam First)
Amy Gadiaga: All Black Everything (Jazz Re:freshed)
Louise Knobil: KnoBisous (Unit Records)
Peter Lenz: Breathe (gambsART)
Enzo Pietropaoli, Andrea Viterbini: Gorgo (Parco della Musica Records)
Søren Skov Orbit: Adrift (Frederiksberg Records
Staples Jr. Singers: Searching (Luaka Bop)
Joe Webb: Collblanc (Edition Records)

Previously unreleased (including reissues with extra material)

Cannonball Adderley Quintet: Poppin In Paris: Live at L'Olympia 1972 (Elemental Music)
Gato Barbieri: Standards Lost and Found 1 (Red Records)
Ran Blake, Dave Fabris: Live Amsterdam 2006—First Visit (ezz-thetics)
Jakob Bro: Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Thomas Morgan, Andrew Cyrille: Taking Turns (ECM Records)
Alice Coltrane: The Carnegie Hall Concert (Impulse! Records)
Miles Davis: Quintet Miles In France 1963 & 1964: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 (Columbia/Legacy)
Roy Hargrove's Crisol Grande-Terre (Verve Records)
Andrew Hill: A Beautiful Day, Revisited (Palmetto Records)
Al Jarreau: Wow! Live at the Childe Harold (Resonance Records)
Ron Miles: Old Main Chapel (Blue Note)
Joni Mitchell: Archives -Volume 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980) (Rhino Records)
Emily Remler: Cookin' at the Queens: Live in Las Vegas 1984 & 1988 (Resonance Records)
Kurt Rosenwinkel: The Next Step Band (Live at Smalls, 1996) (Heartcore Records)
Slow Poke: At Home (P&M)
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (WEWANTSOUNDS)
Tomasz Stańko: September Night (ECM Records)
Sun Ra: Pink Elephants on Parade (Modern Harmonic)
Charles Tolliver Music Inc: Live at the Captain's Cabin (Reel to Real)
McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson: Forces Of Nature: Live at Slugs' (Blue Note Records)
Mal Waldron, Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors -Live in Antwerp (Elemental Music)
Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (') 50th Anniversary Edition (Zappa Records)

Reissues

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Impulse! Records)
Harold Land: Choma (WEWANTSOUNDS/Mainstream)
Eric Person: Rhythm Edge (Distinction Records)
Patrice Rushen: Prelusion (Prestige Records)
Spirits Rejoice: Spirits Rejoice! (Frederiksberg Records)
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (WEWANTSOUNDS)

Ubridled Fun

Fabrizio Bosso, Julian Oliver Mazzariello: Il Cielo è Pieno di Stelle (Warner Italia)
Massimiliano Cignitti: Quella stanza segreta (Dodicilune Records)
Cotonete: Victoire de la musique (Heavenly Sweetness)
Bela Fleck: Rhapsody in Blue (Thirty Tigers)
Sam Fribush: Organ Trio Please People (Flybird Music)
Ghost-Note: Mustard n'Onions (Artistry Music/Mack Avenue)
Larry Goldings, Melinda Sullivan: Big Foot (Colorfield Records)
Les Hommes: Sì, così (Sudden Hunger Records)
The Jazz Defenders: Memory in Motion (Haggis Records)
Pedro Kouyaté: Following (Quai Son Records)
Nation Beat: Archaic Humans (Ropeadope)
New Jazz Underground: cook/swing/work/relax (Self-produced)
Nout: Live Album (Trost Records)
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp: Ventre Unique (Bongo Joe)
Luke Carlos O'Reilly: Leave the Gates Open (e: Imani Records)
Fred Pallem: & Le Sacre du Tympan Cartoons (Le Retour) (Train Fantôme)
Parlor Greens: In Green / We Dream (Colemine Records)
Fergus Quill: Up Yours! Fergus Quill Plays Xero Slingsby (Tight Line Records)
Qwalia: Abbreviations (Albert's Favourite)
Ben Sidran: Rainmaker (Bonsai Music/Nardi)
Mike Stern: Echoes and Other Songs (Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Records)
Joe Tatton: Trio Galáctico (Rodina Music)

Remarkable

Franco Ambrosetti: Sweet Caress (Enja Records)
AuB: Folk Devils (Whirlwind Recordings)
Yonathan Avishai: Trio Shapes and Sounds (Jazz&People)
Reinier Baas: Relief Party (Dox Records)
Reinier Baas, Rudy Van Gelder: This Is Water (Do You Mind Records)
Camilla Battaglia: ELEkTRA (Ropeadope)
The Beat Freaks, Ralph Alessi: Mechanics of Nature (Jazz Generator)
Bévort 3: Northbound (Self-produced)
Jasper Blom: Polyphony 3 (Whirlwind Recordings)
Owen Broder: Hodges: Front and Center: Vol. Two (Outside In Music)
Vinicius Cantuaria: Psychedelic Rio (Sunnyside Records)
The Choir Invisible: Town of Two Faces (Intakt Records)
Church Chords: Elvis, He Was Schlager (Otherly Love Records)
Valentina Scheldhofen Ciardelli, Anais Drago, Riccardo Angelo Strano: Shake Your Duty (Parco della Musica)
Cinema Paradiso: Empty Empty (Challenge Records)
Anat Cohen's Quartetinho: Bloom (Anzic)
Steve Coleman and Five Elements: PolyTropos / Of Many Turns (PI Recordings)
Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: The Almighty (Division 81)
Mederic Collignon: Arsis Thesis (Le Triton)
Stephan Crump: Slow Water (Papillon Sounds)
Amalie Dahl's Dafnie: Står op med solen (Aguirre Records)
Josephine Davies: Satori: Weatherwards (Whirlwind Recordings)
Caroline Davis: Portals, Volume 2 : Returning (Intakt Records)
Benoit Delbecq, Etienne Renard, Guilhem Flouzat: Triple (dStream)
Kit Downes: Dr. Snap (BimHuis)
Henriette Hvidsted Eilertsen: Om tålmodighet (Nice Things Records)
Kurt Elling: Wildflowers, Vol. 2 (Edition Records)
Moppa Elliott's Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville (Hot Cup Records)
John Ellis: Bizet: Carmen in Jazz (Blue Room Music)
John Escreet: The Epicenter of Your Dreams (Blue Room Music)
Alon Farber: The Magician: Live in Jerusalem (Origin Records)
Flat Earth Society: The One (Zonk Records)
Flash Pig: The Mood for Love (Astérie)
Amaro Freitas: Y'Y (Psychic Records)
Elin Forkelid: Songs to Keep You Company on a Dark Night (Sail Cabin Records)
Erik Friedlander: Dirty Boxing (Skipstone Records)
Bill Frisell, Andrew Cyrille, Kit Downes: Breaking the Shell (Red Hook Records)
The Fury: Live in Brooklyn (Giant Step Arts)
Leo Genovese, Demian Cabaud, Marcos Cavaleiro: Estrellero 2 (Sunnyside Records)
Volker Goetze, Guy Klucevsek: Little Big Top (Motema)
Phillip Golub: Abiding Memory (Berthold Records/Endectomorph Music)
Andrea Grossi Blend 3 + Jim Black: Axes (We Insist)
Mary Halvorson: Cloudward (Nonesuch)
Tom Harrell: Alternate Summer (HighNote)
Gilad Hekselman: Life, at the Village Vanguard (La Reserve)
Alexander Hawkins, Sofia Jernberg: Musho (Intakt Records)
Enrique Herdia Trio: Plays Herbie Nichols (Fresh Sound/New Talent)
Christopher Hoffman: Vision Is the Identity (Out of Your Head Records)
Gilbert Holmstrom: Peak (Moserobie)
Jasper Høiby's 3Elements: Like Water (Edition Records)
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten: Breezy (Sonic Transmissions)
Randy Ingram: Aries Dance (Sounderscore)
Paul Jarret: Pj5 Triads (Helicon)
Paul Jarret: Solo 2024 (Helicon)
Chris Jennings' 5 Ways Home: Boy, She's the Dandy (Eden River Recordings)
Lucien Johnson: Ancient Relics (Deluge)
Ryan Keberle & Catharsis: Music Is Connection (Alternate Side Records)
Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones: New Monuments (We Jazz)
Lampen: Halogen (We Jazz)
Brian Landrus: Plays Ellington & Strayhorn (Palmetto)
LATRALA: Latrala (Otherly Love Records)
Jihye Lee: Infinite Connections (Motema)
Peggy Lee, Dylan van der Schyff, Julien Wilson, Theo Carbo: Open Thread (Earshift Records)
Leiba Trio: Prohibido Andar en Sulky (ears&eyes Records)
Janel Leppin's Ensemble Volcanic Ash: To March Is to Love (Cuneiform Records)
James Brandon Lewis: Quartet Transfiguration (Intakt Records)
Mark Lockheart: Smiling (Edition Records)
John Lurie: Painting With John (Royal Potato Family)
Hayoung Lyou: The Myth of Katabasis (Endectomorph Music)
Brad Mehldau: After Bach II (Nonesuch Records)
Andy Milne: Time Will Tell (Sunnyside Records)
Nicole Mitchell, Ballaké Sissoko: Bamako*Chicago Sound System (FPE Records)
Nicole McCabe: Mosaic (Ghost Note Records)
Tony Moreno Trio: Ballads Volume 1 (Sunnyside Records)
Johane Maryan: La marche du chien noir (Label Bleu)
Simon Moullier: Elements of Light (Candid)
Kjetil Mulelid: Agoja (Odin Records)
Youn Sun Nah, Jon Cowherd: Elles (Nplug)
MeShell NdegeOcello: Red Hot & Ra -The Magic City (Red Hot)
Miles Okazaki: Miniature America (Cygnus Recordings)
Adam O'Farrill: HUESO (FOOD)
Kresten Osgood: Live At H15 Studio (ILK Music)
Roberto Ottaviano: People (Dodicilune)
Emile Parisien Quartet: Let Them Cook (Act)
Jeff Parker ETA IVtet: The Way Out of Easy (International Anthem)
Enrico Pieranunzi: Hindsight (CAM Jazz)
Dafnis Prieto Sí o Sí Quartet: 3 Sides of the Coin (Dafnison)
Queen Esther: Things Are Looking Up (EL Recordings)
Quispel Quintet: dipsomania (racked enegg Records)
Enrico Rava: Fearless Five (Parco della Musica Records)
Tomeka Reid: 3+3 (Cuneiform Records)
Reverso: Shooting Star -Etoile Filante (Alternate Side)
Steph Richards: Power Vibe (Northern Spy)
Marta Sanchez Trio: Perpetual Void (Intakt Records)
Jamie Saft Trio: Plays Monk (Team Love Records)
Michael Sarian, Tomás Kidd: Incoming (ears&eyes Records)
Scheen Jazzorkester & Jon Oystein Rosland & Cortex: Frameworks (Clean Feed)
Louis Sclavis, Benjamin Moussay: Unfolding (ECM Records)
Tom Skinner: Voices of Bishara Live at "Mu" (International Anthem)
Sol Sol: Almost All Things Considered (Sail Cabin)
Vinnie Sperrazza: Apocryphal Sunday (Loyal Label)
Simon Spiess: Quiet Tree Euphorbia (Intakt Records)
Ohad Talmor: Back to the Land (Intakt Records)
Joe Tomino: A Willed and Conscious Balance (International Anthem)
Álvaro Torres: Iris (Sunnyside Records)
Tranpe feat. Rufus Cappadocia, Sheila Anozier: Twa Fèy Twa Rasin (Self-produced)
Rebecca Trascher: Tentet Character Pieces (Enja Records)
Alexi Tuomarila: Departing the Wasteland (Edition Records)
Oded Tzur: My Prophet (ECM Records)
Toine Thys' Orlando: Betterlands (Hypnote Records)
Luzia von Wyl: Frakmont (Lu Records)
Ben Wendel: Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard (Edition Records)
Lily White Quartet: Daugher of Fortune (Self-produced)
Ben Wolfe: The Understated (Resident Arts Records)
Miguel Zenon: Golden City (Miel Music)
Ella Zirina: Boundless Blue, Sunset Hue (Dox Records)
Alice Zawadzki, Fred Thomas, Mischa Mullov-Abbado: Za Górami (ECM Records)

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