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Article: Year in Review

Eyal Hareuveni's Best Releases of 2012

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 28, 2012

A list of some of the new releases that enriched life in 2012. In no particular order... Peter Brötzmann Chicago TentetWalk, Love, SleepSmalltown Superjazz A long time ago I lost count of how many albums I have by Peter Brötzmann. Or how many I still want ...

Article: Year in Review

John Sharpe’s Best Releases of 2012

by John Sharpe
December 26, 2012

Here are ten new releases which stood out this year: Wadada Leo Smith Ten Freedom Summers Cuneiform Without a doubt, Ten Freedom Summers is the crowning achievement of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's distinguished career to date. Years in the making, the complete sequence of 19 ...

Article: Year in Review

Mark Corroto’s Best Releases of 2012

by Mark Corroto
December 25, 2012

To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of the death of jazz have been greatly exaggerated. 2012 has been an outstanding year for jazz and improvised music. Here is a list of some of the best. Stephen GauciThunk! (Not Two Records) Matt Wilson/Arts & Crafts Attitude For Gratitude(Palmetto) Rivers/Holland/Altschul Reunion: Live ...

Article: Year in Review

Troy Collins' Best Releases of 2012

by Troy Collins
December 24, 2012

Considering the quantity of recordings released in a year's time, attempting to compile an end of the year list mentioning every first-rate session would be difficult at best. The ten titles included below are among the most exceptional new jazz albums I've heard in 2012. Jason Robinson Tiresian Symmetry Cuneiform Records

Article: Year in Review

Dan Bilawsky's Best Releases of 2012

by Dan Bilawsky
December 23, 2012

Transcendent recordings don't come with a label identifying their magnificence, but they're easy to pick out. I had the honor and privilege of receiving, and listening to, more than 375 CDs for review consideration in 2012. I reviewed approximately 165 of them and these were the 15 that rose above the rest. Some are bold and ...

Article: Year in Review

John Kelman's Best Live Shows of 2012

by John Kelman
December 23, 2012

Another tremendous year of travel, to find music in whatever nook and cranny it's hiding. From South Africa to Sweden, from Norway to the Netherlands, and from Germany to home base in Ottawa, Canada, it seemed as though there was an endless supply of great music to see--and even more that sadly had to be skipped. ...

Article: Year in Review

John Kelman's Best Releases of 2012

by John Kelman
December 21, 2012

2012 has been another banner year, but one with an ever-present problem: so much good music, but so little time. While there are many other recordings worthy of attention--and inclusion--with the usual condition that only albums that have been reviewed are eligible for selection, here are just a few of the top recorded events in jazz ...

Article: Year in Review

Dan McClenaghan's Best Releases of 2012

by Dan McClenaghan
December 21, 2012

Scores of excellent CDs were released in 2012. These are some of the finest. Click on the CD titles for more in depth reviews. Hal Galper Airegin Revisited Origin Records Pianist Hal Galper has been delving deeply into his rubato explorations of the standards, along with his ...

Article: Year in Review

Chris May's Best Releases of 2012

by Chris May
December 20, 2012

Christian ScottaTunde AdjuahConcord RecordsIn 1959, when Whitney Balliett, the New Yorker's jazz critic, published a collection of his columns, he titled the book The Sound of Surprise. The promise of the unexpected, wrote Balliett, was jazz's most precious quality. In a year which went on to include the release of ...

Article: Year in Review

C. Michael Bailey's Best Releases of 2012

by C. Michael Bailey
December 20, 2012

Cat ConnerCat TalesOne of the greatest jazz performance challenges is playing and singing ballads slow...sometimes called “calendar slow." The trick is playing slowly without dragging or stalling. It is simple physics, the difference between velocity and momentum. Simple tempo may be understood in terms of speed (or velocity) but swing, swing has ...