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Year in Review

9

Dave Linn's Favorite Albums Of 2023

Read "Dave Linn's Favorite Albums Of 2023" reviewed by Dave Linn


My list began in March when I joined the All About Jazz staff. Over the ten months, I have had the wonderful opportunity to sample and listen to in depth, a wealth of great new music, running the gamut of styles now found under the jazz umbrella. My choices are releases I've listened to many times in preparation for my review or that I found compelling. We all have our musical preferences and biases borne out of a lifetime of ...

16

Ludovico Granvassu's Garden of Jazzy Delights 2023

Read "Ludovico Granvassu's Garden of Jazzy Delights 2023" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


If it is true that, like The Police once put it, “when the world is going down you make the best of what's still around," then throughout 2023 jazz fans were better off than most other social groups. In a year in which everyday news brought ever more inconceivable disappointments, jazz musicians, labels, festivals and venues were the only ones not letting us down. They kept delivering us the goods. In increasing amounts and without compromising on quality.

16

Popular Jazz Songs: 2023

Read "Popular Jazz Songs: 2023" reviewed by Michael Ricci


All About Jazz tracks how often a featured song is heard, and the following represent the most popular in 2023. Of course these lists tend to favor songs featured earlier in the year so we identified five hard chargers (in the comments section) that would have cracked this list with more time. Click the album covers below to listen. Enjoy! Contemporary Insanity From: Best of Tobin Mueller, Vol. 3: Prog Fusion By Tobin Mueller ...

10

Most Read Articles: 2023

Read "Most Read Articles: 2023" reviewed by Michael Ricci


All About Jazz tracks how often an article is read, and the articles listed below represent our top viewed in 2023. Of course these lists tend to favor articles published earlier in the year so it should be noted that Robert Middletown's 72 Jazz Thrillers--a 12-part series which began its publication run on October 2--has been collectively read over 83,000 times (as of January 4, 2024). A Virtual Community for Jazz on Mastodon Jazz ...

13

Mark Sullivan's Favorite Albums Of 2023

Read "Mark Sullivan's Favorite Albums Of 2023" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


2023 was a very good year for creative music recordings of all sorts. My list includes eclectic music with no specific genre identifier; contemporary jazz; Latin jazz; and reissues of classic jazz and fusion. It would have been easy to create a list three or four times longer. Mata AtlanticaRetiro e Ritmo 7D Media This album is a love letter to Mata Atlântica, the coastal rain forest of Brazil, and a call to ...

5

Most Read Album Reviews: 2023

Read "Most Read Album Reviews: 2023" reviewed by Michael Ricci


All About Jazz tracks how often an album review is read, and the reviews listed below represent our top viewed in 2023. Though All About Jazz generates mostly organic traffic (i.e. via search and from within), results can be skewed by heavy social sharing. Still, most of the albums listed below align with staff favorites. Double Portrait Giuseppe Millaci Reviewed by Mike Jurkovic September 20, 2023 Funky Nothingness Frank Zappa ...

7

John Sharpe's Best Jazz Albums Of 2023

Read "John Sharpe's Best Jazz Albums Of 2023" reviewed by John Sharpe


From the 200 or so discs that I heard in 2023, here are ten new issues and one archival release, which gave me the most pleasure. As always these picks are entirely subjective. And take no account of the many other albums that I would no doubt have loved if I had heard them. So perhaps it's better to view these selections as a chance to pick up on something that you might otherwise have missed. As a fan, I ...

16

Karl Ackermann's Best Creative Music Of 2023

Read "Karl Ackermann's Best Creative Music Of 2023" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


2023 was an exceptional year for pushing envelopes. The music took leaps backward and forwards in time, espousing social consciousness while embracing fundamentals laid down by the likes of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. What distinguishes this year from the pre-pandemic era is the palpable feeling that artists vented in the form of fresh enthusiasm that can only come from overcoming and surviving adversity. The list is not in order of preference. Mette HenrietteDrifting ...

6

Ken Laster's Favorite Jazz Albums Of 2023

Read "Ken Laster's Favorite Jazz Albums Of 2023" reviewed by Ken Laster


I always resist publishing “Best Of" lists this time of year. In these days of independent publishing and unlimited streaming, there is so much new jazz music being released that it is virtually impossible to hear all of what is out there. Rather than presume to anoint the best-of's, this is a list of my top 10 favorite releases from 2023. ArtemisIn Real Time Blue Note Records

11

Jerome Wilson's Best Jazz Albums Of 2023

Read "Jerome Wilson's Best Jazz Albums Of 2023" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


There was a lot of exceptional new music released during 2023 and these were my favorite albums of the year. Some of them bent the music into fascinating new shapes and some made fresh and compelling statements within the jazz tradition. Jaimie Branch Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) International Anthem Just before her death in August 2022, Jaimie Branch finished recording this expansive set that mixes ingredients ...


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