Mike Jurkovic's Best Recordings of 2021

Once again we give thanks to the artists that kept us real. Kept us sane. Kept us from going off the rails like the whole rest of the reality around us. Fortunately there was so much more than this. Here is the music that hit in a big way and that stays foremost on the radar. No particular order mind you, just the music that inspired a way past the national exhaustion.

John Coltrane
A Love Supreme -Live In Seattle
Impulse! Records


Joni Mitchell
Archives: Volume 2 The Reprise Years (1968-1971)
Rhino


Veronica Swift
This Bitter Earth
Mack Avenue Records


Art Blakey
First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings
Blue Note Records


Orrin Evans
The Magic of Now
Smoke Sessions Records


Charles Lloyd
Tone Poem
Blue Note Records


Christian McBride
Christian McBride & Inside Straight Live at the Village Vanguard
Mack Avenue Records


Vijay Iyer
Uneasy
ECM


Chick Corea
Live
Concord Music Group


Renee Rosnes
Kinds of Love
Smoke Sessions Records


Jihye Lee
Daring Mind
Motmema Records


Zacc Harris Group
Small Wonders
Shifting Paradigm Records


Rachel Eckroth
The Garden
Rainy Day Records


Shai Maestro
Human
ECM


Emmet Cohen
Future Stride
Mack Avenue Records


Carlos Henriquez
The South Bronx Story
Tiger Turn


Lisa Hilton
Transparent Sky
Ruby Slippers Productions