{"id":4622,"date":"2014-12-24T17:08:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T17:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.artinfo.com\/blunotes\/?p=4622"},"modified":"2014-12-24T17:08:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-24T17:08:00","slug":"best-jazz-of-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/24\/best-jazz-of-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Jazz Of 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>First, my contrarian and uncool confession: I used to think that I hated lists. I just don\u2019t think music is a competition. Nor is writing about it, for me, a ratings game. (I prefer telling stories and reviewing each recording in its own context.) Still, I see the point, know the drill and have my choices, which honor worthy recordings and form a guide to satisfying listening. And this time of year is about giving: What readers want is lists, so I should give accordingly.
\nTruth is, I\u2019ve found that the making of these lists\u2014the consciousness, conversations, even arguments they generate in the context of the many other lists made by critics, bloggers and even musicians\u2014does in fact add up to meaningful context. That point was best driven home or me by actual public conversation at a \u201cYear in Jazz\u201d panel hosted by my colleague Nate Chinen and presented by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Nate\u2019s list can be found among the 140 ballots in the 9th<\/sup> annual NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll<\/a>,\u00a0with thanks to my colleague Francis Davis, who does the friendly arm-twisting and diligent legwork required for such a thing. (The full results can be found here<\/a>)
\nThis year, I felt especially compromised by my current focus on New Orleans research, which meant that I wasn\u2019t listening to a lot of the worthy CDs that came in, and I didn\u2019t seek out new stuff as much as usual. But in truth, these days, considering the ease with which musicians and indie labels can put out unexpected and excellent stuff\u2014considering the sheer volume and breadth of what comes out\u2014no critic can claim to have truly surveyed the field. (And those who do must likely have given only the most cursory listen to a lot of music that demands closer attention.)
\nTwo themes that run through my list (and that I find in a good many others, too):
\n\u2014Afro Latin influence in jazz continues to flower anew. We\u2019re hearing more complex and more finely wrought jazz built upon Afro Cuban traditions. We\u2019re hearing the full range of Central and South American and Caribbean influences as distinct elements of this picture. What once might be called \u201cLatin jazz\u201d (and still is, on NPR\u2019s poll) is no longer a cousin or an \u201cother\u201d but rather an elemental strand.
\n\u2014Out is in, and in is out, or something like that: It\u2019s not as easy as it once was to define a mainstream among jazz\u2019s best recordings, and this atomization of style is liberating.
\nIf nothing else, these lists steer us away from reflecting on the fact that some\u00a0stupid stuff <\/a>happened in print in 2014.
\nOk, here goes:
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ambrose Akinmusire\/EVA HAMBACH\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nAmbrose Akinmusire The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint <\/em>(Blue Note)<\/strong> Even the trumpeter\u2019s brilliant 2011 Blue Note debut was not adequate preparation for the depth, range, beauty and boldness of this album, which blends small-group jazz, string quartet and sung songs into a graceful whole, and even manages a daring pause for social commentary.
\nMarc Ribot Trio Live at the Village Vanguard<\/em> (Pi) <\/strong>This continues a legacy of albums recorded in performance at the Vanguard, including a 1966 date by Albert Ayler, leading a band that included bassist Henry Grimes. Grimes is a key player in this trio, alongside drummer Chad Taylor. Here\u2019s a great window into the growing communion between Ribot and Grimes, and the ways in which the legacies of Ayler and others manifest anew in the hands of a true guitar master. <\/strong>
\nYosvany Terry\u00a0New Throned King<\/em> (5Passion) <\/strong>The alto saxophonist, who also plays cheker\u00e9<\/em> (a beaded gourd used for percussion), is among a new generation of Cuban musicians in New York bent on exploring new possibilities for folkloric traditions within jazz contexts. And he is perhaps the best composer in the lot. Here, he focuses on arar\u00e1<\/em> culture, drawn from the former West African kingdom of Dahomey. <\/strong>
\nDavid Virelles <\/strong>Mb\u00f3k\u00f2<\/em><\/strong> (ECM) <\/strong>The Cuban pianist frames the music of the Afro Cuban religious ritual system abaku\u00e1 within contemporary creative-music, drawing as well on the ritual aspects of modern jazz, and making use of dual bassists, trap-set drums and the biankom\u00e9ko, a set of four-hand drums. <\/strong>
\nBrandon Ross\/ Stomu Takeishi\u00a0Revealing Essence<\/em> (Sunnyside) <\/strong>Guitarist Ross and bassist Takeishi Ross have worked together in Henry Threadgill\u2019s band, and you can feel that influence in the cannily shifting rhythms. But this music is all texture, warmth and sonic possibility, with those beats implied more as through-line than organizing principle. Kept me coming back. <\/strong>
\nArturo O\u2019Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra\u00a0The Offense of the Drum<\/em> (Mot\u00e9ma)<\/strong> Reflects not jus the fire and savvy of pianist O\u2019Farrill\u2019s orchestra, but the expansive aesthetic that plays out through commissioned pieces for its concert seasons.
\nIn my world, there’s Peru and Colombia and Ecuador and Venezuela and more\u2014plus, of course, Cuba,\u201d Arturo told me. \u201cFor the past seven or eight years, I’ve explored these connections for all their beauty, power and range.\u201d That such range forms a coherent musical whole lends credence to his mission.
\nHenry Butler-Steven Bernstein & the Hot 9\u00a0Viper\u2019s Drag<\/em> (Impulse) <\/strong>The group\u2019s name is a nod to Louis Armstrong’s Hot 5 and Hot 7 groups, but its patron saint is Jelly Roll Morton, whose catalog provides three of the album’s tracks. It\u2019s the best showcase yet for the overflowing talent and mesmerizing skills of Henry Butler, a New Orleans pianist now living in New York City, and an outgrowth of his friendship with trumpeter Steven Bernstein, whose creativity as an arranger and bandleader turn what could have been a repertory project into a fresh expression of collaboration and musical daring. <\/strong>
\nSteve Lehman Octet Mise en Abime<\/em> (Pi) <\/strong>To say that alto saxophonist Lehman\u2019s compositions and his octet combine the philosophy of spectral music with the strategies of improvised jazz while blending acoustic and electronic elements is correct but a smokescreen that blurs the music\u2019s evident pure pleasure and instinctual logic\u2014which require no special knowledge. <\/strong>
\nKenny Barron & Dave Holland The Art of Conversation<\/em> (Blue Note) <\/strong>Pianist Barron and bassist Holland are two eminences whose styles complement more than contrast and whose technical mastery is matched by their humility. <\/strong>
\nDanilo P\u00e9rez\u00a0Panama 500<\/em> (Mack Avenue) <\/strong>This ambitious suite focused on the grand sweep of legacy related to the pianist\u2019s homeland, Panama, extends a personal arc that began 20 years ago, with the album, “The Journey,” on which a multicultural cast explored African identity throughout the Americas. P\u00e9rez succeeds where other such grand expressions fall flat through lyricism, attention to detail, and the liberated feeling he\u2019s developed in Wayne Shorter\u2019s band. <\/strong>
\nCraig Handy\u00a0Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith<\/em> (Okeh) <\/strong>With his first CD as a leader in more than a decade, the saxophonist blends the visceral pleasures of jazz organ and New Orleans second-line parade beats. It works and he shines, in part due to drummers like Herlin Riley. <\/strong>
\nHonor Roll:
\nSonny Rollins Road Shows: Volume 3<\/em> (Okeh\/Doxy)<\/strong>
\nMatthew Shipp Trio Root of Things<\/em> (Relative Pitch)<\/strong>
\nFred Hersch Trio Floating<\/em> (Palmetto)<\/strong>
\nMatthew Shipp I’ve Been to Many Places<\/em><\/strong> (Thirsty Ear) <\/strong>
\nFarmers by Nature Love and Ghosts<\/em> (AUM Fidelity, 2CD)<\/strong> <\/strong>
\nMiguel Zen\u00f3n Identities Are Changeable<\/em> (Miel)<\/strong> <\/strong>
\nMark Turner Lathe of Heaven<\/em> (ECM)<\/strong>
\nTyshawn Sorey Alloy<\/em><\/strong> (Pi)<\/strong>
\nRufus Reid Quiet Pride: The Elizabeth Catlett Project<\/em> (Motema)<\/strong>
\nJason Moran <\/strong>All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller<\/em> (Blue Note) <\/strong>Note: you owe it to yourself to hear at least the 2:38 of “Lulu’s Back in Town”<\/em>
\nPaul Shapiro Shofarot Verses<\/em> (Tzadik)<\/strong> <\/strong>
\nKris Davis Trio Waiting for You to Grow<\/em> (Clean Feed)<\/strong> <\/strong>
\nDave Douglas\/Chet Doxas\/Steve Swallow\/Jim Doxas Riverside<\/em> (Greenleaf Music)<\/strong>
\nAndy Bey Pages from an Imaginary Life<\/em> (High Note)<\/strong>
\nThe Microscopic Septet Manhattan Moonrise<\/em> (Cuneiform)<\/strong>
\nElio Villafranca, Caribbean Tinge<\/em><\/strong> (Mot\u00e9ma)
\nVolc\u00e1n, Volc\u00e1n<\/em><\/strong> (5Pasion)
\nCookers, Time and Time Again<\/em><\/strong> (Mot\u00e9ma) <\/strong>
\n <\/strong>
\nReissues or Historical albums:
\nJohn Coltrane Offering: Live at Temple University<\/em> (Impulse\/Resonance)<\/strong>
\nThe Jimmy Giuffre 3 & 4 New York Concerts<\/em> (Elemental)<\/strong>
\nCharles Lloyd Manhattan Stories<\/em> (Resonance Records)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, my contrarian and uncool confession: I used to think that I hated lists. I just don\u2019t think music is a competition. Nor is writing about it, for me, a ratings game. (I prefer telling stories and reviewing each recording in its own context.) Still, I see the point, know the drill and have my … <\/p>\n

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