Best of 2021: Top 10 Jazz2k Releases of 2021

Okay, time for the rubber to meet the road. IT’S “FOR THE WIN!”

NUMBER TEN…

JOHN CHIN (feat. RICHARD JULIAN) – Anything Mose! (Jinsy Music)
One of the best moments of the Covidiocy was when this self-released date came through my mail slot. Keyboardist John Chin and vocalist/guitarist Richard Julian’s outstanding tribute to the late great singer-songwriter Mose Allison has been knocking around the NY club scene for a few years now, and it needed to be recorded. Julian has Mose’s too-cool-for-school delivery down pat, while Chin proves you need a monster pianist to capture (and expand on) Allison’s exemplary playing. The expansion doesn’t stop with Chin, as saxman Stacey Dillard, bassist Matt Pavolka, and drummer Dan Rieser injects bright, lively juice into everything from the legendary put-down “Your Mind is On Vacation” to the unofficial theme of January 6 “Monsters of the Id.” If we can’t have a Mose Allison jukebox musical, Anything Mose is more than a worthy substitute.

NUMBER NINE…

JACQUES SCHWARZ-BART – Sone Ka-La 2: Odyssey (Enja)
Saxman Jacques Schwarz-Bart’s 2007 EmArcy release Sone Ka-La remains one of the happiest sets of music I’ve ever had the pleasure to play on “Jazz2K @ The Saint.” And while we should always be wary of sequels, Sone Ka-La 2: Odyssey has re-created the wild dynamic of the original recording while examining a key piece of history for Schwarz-Bart’s native Guadaloupe. The entire date is inspired by Gwoka, a form of Afro-Caribbean music created amid slavery that mixes African rhythmic traditions with French and native sounds. That something so jubilant could come out of such misery seems impossible, but here it is for our enjoyment. Schwarz-Bart galvanizes the date even further with well-placed effects, burning electric keyboards, and bewitching vocals from Malika Tirolien. There’s something to be said for dissing the slave trade hundreds of years later, especially if you can dance to kickass jazz while you do it.

NUMBER EIGHT…

JAKOB BRO – Uma Elmo (ECM)
Just as Pat Metheny fans hold deep nostalgia for the days of the Pat Metheny Group, devotees of the German label ECM yearn for the marque’s 70’s salad days when it showed the world that there was more than one way to jazz. Danish guitarist Jakob Bro’s latest release provides the acolytes with a metaphorical blast from the past that recalls the airy space of past Bro band leaders (and ECM stalwarts) Paul Motian and Tomasz Stanko. Trumpeter Arve Henriksen and drummer Jorge Rossy links up with Bro in a three-headed hive mind, creating texturally rich soundscapes that take your mind elsewhere whether you planned the trip or not. The group takes the concept of rubato beyond its logical conclusion, proving you don’t need a lot of ingredients to cook tasty food. And while Uma Elmo is a shout-out to ECM’s “good old days”, the music is in no way dated, and reminds us that ECM head honcho Manfred Eicher still has things to teach a world that worships Wynton Marsalis.

NUMBER SEVEN…

DAN WILLIS AND VELVET GENTLEMEN – The Monk Project (Belle Avenue Records)
Anything Mose notwithstanding, most tribute discs are so drop-dead serious about re-creating the works of their honorees that every bit of creative juice gets squeezed out like a Hummer running over an orange. The only thing that gets squashed on The Monk Project is tradition, as reed wizard Dan Willis pours Monk’s most famous tunes through a snarling electric filter, with ample help from guitarist Pete McCann and keyboardist Ron Oswanski. The wild disc-closing take on “Think of One” would give most traditionalists a coronary (which is just one more reason why I love it), while Willis and his partners threaten to move “Hackensack” to the bluesy part of St. Louis. Willis’ own work on EWI dovetails with Oswanski’s Fender Rhodes, and this closet full of reboots send Monk staples like “Epistrophy” and “Rhythm-a-Ning” hurtling through present day and on into the future. The Monk Project is as serious as the aforementioned tribute discs, but only in terms of not following their well-trodden reverent path.

NUMBER SIX…

ORRIN EVANS – The Magic of Now (Smoke Sessions)
Even with the voluminous catalog pianist Orrin Evans hauls around, it’s not a stretch to say that he’s been doing his best work with Smoke Sessions, the label that’s an outgrowth of the renowned NYC eatery Smoke. Whereas his last two releases Presence and The Intangible Between had Evans fronting the mighty Captain Black Big Band, The Magic of Now puts Evans back in a quartet setting with 23-year-old altoist Immanuel Wilkins as his primary foil. That may sound like Evans is going into battle unarmed, but Wilkins is a rising star whose carefree energy helps lift tracks like Orrin original “Libra” and Mulgrew Miller’s “The Eleventh Hour” to a light-filled level where mediocre music simply cannot survive. Bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Bill Stewart build foundations that let Evans go where he wants at his own speed, channeling Monk when he can’t come up with adventurous lines of his own. The Magic of Now is a tribute to living in the moment, virus-free without a care in the world.

NUMBER FIVE…

NATE SMITH – Kinfolk 2: See the Birds (Edition Records)
For people who like their jazz nice and consistent, drummer Nate Smith’s Kinfolk trilogy (Part 3 is still pending) is a bit of a challenge: Smith’s own musical world has strong links to soul and hip-hop, so he jumps between these genres and jazz literally without missing a beat – and that’s a problem for trad jazz fans, as I saw when Smith brought Kinfolk to Lake George Jazz Weekend a couple of years back. But if you stay away from Kinfolk 2 in the name of “consistency”, you’ll miss (among other tasty things) Joel Ross’ soaring vibes on “Altitude”, Stokley’s soulful vocals on “Don’t Let Me Get Away”, and Vernon Reid’s volcanic guitar on the badass rocker “Rambo: The Vigilante.” While Smith’s musical concept may not translate to the jazz festival scene, as a studio project it’s top-notch. Smith has learned well from former band leader Dave Holland in that he plays what he likes and lets the audience make their own decisions on its merit.

NUMBER FOUR…

KENNY GARRETT – Sounds from The Ancestors (Mack Avenue)
If it seems like Kenny Garrett has been around forever, you’re not wrong: Mercer Ellington gave the high-flying saxman his start when he was 18, followed by stints with Miles Davis and Art Blakey, and Garrett’s been putting out singularly exultant music of his own for five decades. Sounds from The Ancestors continues the flow of bright, lively, positive music Garrett has done with Mack Avenue, only this time with a little more emphasis on the sounds and styles of the African diaspora. Backed by a stellar core group that features pianist Vernell Brown Jr., bassist Corcoran Holt, drummer Ronald Bruner and percussionist Rudy Bird, Sounds inspires one smile after another as Garrett soups up his jazz with splashes of Afro-Cuban, Gospel and R&B, even taking his Blakey tribute “For Art’s Sake” in a delightful Afrobeat direction reminiscent of Tony Allen. Sounds from The Ancestors could be Garrett’s crowning achievement if it weren’t for the fact that he isn’t even close to being done yet.

NUMBER THREE…

THE COOKERS – Look Out! (Gearbox Records)
It is a sad commentary on today’s jazz economy that The Cookers has always had to shop for labels to put out their muscular brand of post-bop goodness; how much of that is ageism and how much is the band’s intransigent commitment to “jazz from the past” is, fortunately or unfortunately, unknown. All I know is this septet of (mostly) septuagenarians still hits towering Pete Alonzo-quality home runs, even though a lot of this music has appeared somewhere else before. Pianist George Cables’ “The Mystery of Monifa Brown” sets the tone of the disc in concrete and rebar, letting us exult in the band’s fabulous front line of tenorman Billy Harper, altoist Donald Harrison Jr., and trumpeters Eddie Henderson & producer David Weiss. Harper’s “Somalia” may be two decades old, but it sticks and moves like a young heavyweight looking to seek & destroy, while bassist Cecil McBee’s “Cat’s Out of The Bag” is a short, sharp shock to the system. Age is just a number and Look Out is indelible proof of that.

NUMBER TWO…

PAT METHENY – Side-Eye NYC, V1.IV (Modern Recordings)
While the Pat Metheny Group’s legendary works loom large in my jazz childhood, I’ve never understood the bile most PMG fans spew when the iconic guitarist comes out with new bands and new directions. For me, Metheny has endeavored to show us all his different sides for six decades, with no end to the boundless adventurism in sight. On the live date Side-Eye NYC, Metheny does what former band leader Gary Burton did for him: Give young artists like keyboardist James Francies and drummer Marcus Gilmore the chance to strut their stuff in this blistering electric trio that features some of Metheny’s most aggressive music to date. Sure, his signature melodic style is front and center on “Timeline” and “Bright Size Life”, but then Metheny turns it up to 11 on the rocked-out “Lodger.” Gilmore is at his rock-solid best here, and Francies’ own blossoming musical vocabulary gives Metheny the same kaleidoscopic color blast Chris Potter gave to Metheny’s Unity Band. Change is good, even if it pisses some people off, and Side-Eye NYC, V1.IV is very, very good.

…and the NUMBER ONE JAZZ2K RELEASE OF 2021 is…

JEFF LEDERER & SUNWATCHER – Eightfold Path (Little i Music)
Eightfold Path is not sax monster Jeff Lederer’s first try at spiritual music: Lederer’s band Sunwatcher first appeared on radar in 2010, swinging for the same sonic fences they knock down on this release, and Shakers’n’Bakers’ moving Heart Love married the spiritual and the secular in a raucous ceremony where a great time was had by all. But while Sunwatcher is not a new thing (despite bassist Steve Swallow’s recent addition), Eightfold Path reflects a dedication to Buddhist teachings Lederer immersed himself in during the first year of the Covidiocy. Combine the alternating blasts of fire and intricacy of Lederer’s compositions with the decades-old chemistry he shares with keyboardist Jamie Saft and drummer Matt Wilson, and it’s no wonder Eightfold Path reaches you in ways most secular releases (and a few spiritual ones) can’t even fathom. The 21st century needs its own A Love Supreme – and here it is! Too much hyperbole? Listen and decide!

And there it is. Your results and experiences may vary, but this is my story and I’m sticking to it. Thanks for supporting jazz on-air and “on record” – and if you don’t, here are 10 great ways to start your journey. Trust me, it’s worth the trip. Please Stay Safe, and I’ll see you in 2022. Peace!

The Top 10 Jazz2K Releases of 2021, and the 2021 Jazz2K Awards, can be heard this Saturday night @ Midnight (repeating Monday night @ 10p) on WVCR’s weekly show “Jazz2K @ The Saint.” You can also hear “Women in Jazz2K 2021” and “The Rest of the Best 2021” by going to www.mixcloud.com and searching “Jazz2K @ The Saint.”