Best Recordings of 2008

THIS IS THE UPDATED LIST. I MADE A FEW LAST-MINUTE CHANGES, REALIZING SOME EDITS WERE NOT MADE. PLEASE ENJOY AND PLEASE BUY SOME OF THIS MUSIC. I HOPE MY RECOMMENDATIONS CARRY SOME WEIGHT...

I worked with and listened to A LOT of music this year - probably more than ever before in my life. I finally started making enough bread that I could begin buying music once again (which I have to say is a joy and an addiction). I feel very strongly about buying music and encourage others who work in the music industry to do so more often (not only to support the artists, but the labels and almost more importantly, the record stores that allow us a place to go and shop). There are too many hands out these days (especially among industry, "press" and "radio"). It seems like everyone who loves this music wants a free copy. For the actual amount of music being sold today, that's a travesty.

Lemme tell you, I don't do publicity for the money. I do it because I genuinely care about getting the word out on musicians and bands whose music I really believe in. People have so many options of what to buy today, and so much of the media is exclusively focused on mainstream pop, indie rock (on popular labels), electronic/dance music and hip-hop. Much of this music has a lot of merit and is immensely enjoyable, but I strongly believe that music that can loosely be defined by the word "jazz," has just as much merit and can bring just as much joy and thought to the listening public.

I've also decided that it's OK to have some clients in my Top 10 this year because many of them formed a significant portion of my personal soundtrack to 2008 (by far my top 2 were Todd Sickafoose's Tiny Resistors and Aaron Parks' Invisible Cinema, two albums which show that this music is very much alive and going places beyond what we previously conceived as jazz). There has been a lot of talk about how 2008 was an unremarkable year for music, and I really have to strongly disagree. I think the number of albums being produced and publicized is ever-increasing and media consolidation, layoffs and shrinking column inches for the arts in general are quickly driving more and more music criticism out of the public eye, and onto the internet (which often makes it harder to find for those only casually looking). Much of music criticism is disappearing as qualified professional writers with years of experience rightly refuse to work for free. Others blog as a means of putting their names out there in the mix, hoping more work will come with that online visibility.

With regard to the topic of 10 albums, this year more than ever, I felt that just 10 was way too few for the amount of music I heard and the amount of music produced. One of my favorite critics, Peter Margasak of The Chicago Reader and Down Beat, who is easily one of the best music critics in the country, chose 40 top records for his list at his Chicago Reader blog, Post No Bills (http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/post-no-bills/). Pitchfork chose 50. Rolling Stone chose 50. JazzTimes chose 50. All these recordings I've chosen show a a strong vision for present and future of jazz - including the 25 Honorable Mentions.

I have created a separate non-jazz list because I made a concerted effort this year to listen to/buy a lot of music beyond "jazz" that was getting either immense critical acclaim or appealed to me melodically, harmonically or rhythmically. Also, Fleet Foxes and Juana Molina don't need another vote from me, someone who has dedicated his life to advancing improvised music.

"Jazz"
1. Todd Sickafoose - Tiny Resistors (Cryptogramophone)
2. Aaron Parks - Invisible Cinema (Blue Note)
3. Rudresh Mahanthappa feat. Kadri Gopalnath - Kinsmen (Pi)
4. Charles Lloyd - Rabo de Nube (ECM)
5. Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures - Dream Garden (Justin Time)
6. Uri Caine - The Othello Syndrome (Winter & Winter)
7. John Ellis - Dance Like There's No Tomorrow (Hyena)
8. Guillermo Klein - Filtros (Sunnyside)
9. Anthony Braxton/William Parker/Milford Graves - Beyond Quantum (Tzadik)
10. Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Leucocyte (Decca)

Honorable Mention "Jazz":
11. William Parker Quartet - Petit Oiseau (AUM Fidelity)
12. Will Vinson - Promises (Nineteen-Eight) - debut
13. Carla Bley Big Band - Appearing Nightly (ECM/WATT)
14. Donny McCaslin - Recommended Tools (Greenleaf Music)
15. Adam Kolker - Flag Day (Sunnyside)
16. Kurt Rosenwinkel - The Remedy (self-released via ArtistShare)
17. Bennie Maupin - Early Reflections (Cryptogramophone)
18. Fieldwork - Door (Pi)
19. Mike Reed's Loose Assembly - The Speed of Change (482 Music)
20. Bad Touch - Like a Magical Kiss (self-released) - debut
21. Steven Bernstein's Millenial Territory Orchestra - We Are MTO (Mowo)
22. Bill Frisell - History, Mystery (Nonesuch)
23. Dafnis Prieto - Taking the Soul for a Walk (Dafnison Music)
24. Bebo Valdes & Javier Colina - Live at the Village Vanguard (Calle 54)
25. Jeff Gauthier Goatette - House of Return (Cryptogramophone)

Non-Jazz:
1. Fleet Foxes - s/t (Sub Pop)
2. Shearwater - Rook (Matador)
3. Dungen - 4 (Kemado)
4. Juana Molina - Un Dia (Domino)
5. Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - Party Intellectuals (Pi)
6. Shugo Tokumaru - Exit (Sony)
7. Aterciopelados - Rio (Nacional)
8. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Todomundo)
9. Blitzen Trapper - Furr (Sub Pop)
10. Marnie Stern - This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That (Kill Rock Stars)

Happy Holidays and BUY SOME OF THIS MUSIC! If you're going to download, I highly recommend eMusic both for the higher quality files and DRM-free downloads (the only drawback is that several majors and certain indies are not on there). Otherwise, iTunes has pretty much everything.

catching up...Top 10s (new stuff & reissues/box sets)

"How did you get this number?"

I love it when people utter these words which I heard today from an acquaintance I just wanted to catch up with (it being the holidays and whatnot) on the telephone. His number is clearly listed in the white pages (which for those technologically inclined or visually impaired, can be accessed effortlessly online, from any computer, with a simple Google search including the person's last name and the state in which they reside or their first and last name and the town and state, etc.).

It's as if the white pages were a big secret? If you're so concerned about it, don't list yourself.

Enough of that.

I'm not really in a bad mood. However with most of my home friends out of town or occupied, I've been left to spend a day with myself reading, eating and trying to find amusement in Web 2.0 - namely the now immensely popular social network, Facebook.

I ate a wonderful Malaysian lunch alone at a very spacious suburban restaurant called Penang, in Bethesda, MD (unofficial restaurant capital of the state). I enjoyed roti canai (described as "the all-time favorite Malaysian crispy Indian-style pancake, served with curry chicken as dipping sauce") which I recommend to anyone trying Malaysian for the first time. So greasy, but so good. And for my main course, I enjoyed kari ayam, spicy dish of coconut red curried chicken and potatoes over a bed of sticky rice. All the while, reading a new book by James Lipton of Inside the Actors' Studio.

Back at home, this leaves me to ponder various lists that I have been devising and refining over the last few weeks regarding recordings and musical functions I attended during 2007. However, I can't post about this right now as I am away from my collection for the time being and will likely have to wait until the New Year to fully elaborate upon.

Suffice to say, the very elite "Top 10" list I am having published in various outlets including the JJA wiki (once I renew my membership), goes like this in order:

1. Niño Josele - Paz (Callé 54/Song BMG)
2. Chris Potter Underground - Follow The Red Line: Live at the Village Vanguard (Sunnyside/Universal Music France)
3. Alan Pasqua - The Antisocial Club (Cryptogramophone)
4. Bobby Sanabria - Big Bang Urban Folktales (Jazzheads)
5. Nels Cline Singers - Draw Breath (Cryptogramophone)
6. Tain & The Ebonix - Folks' Songs (Dark Key Music)
7. Manuel Valera - Vientos (Anzic)
8. Kendrick Scott Oracle - The Source (World Culture Music)
9. Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters (Verve)
10. Helen Sung - Sungbird (after Albeniz) (Sunnyside)

(Note: I made an error originally putting Rudresh Mahanthappa's Codebook in my 2007 Top 10 which is supposed to appear in All About Jazz's printed edition in LA, Chicago and Seattle and possibly SF as well. In reality, it was released in October 2006 and thus does not qualify for 2007 consideration, so I have substituted another ).

And my Top 10 Jazz Reissues/Box Sets:

1. Miles Davis - The Complete On The Corner Sessions (Sony Legacy)
2. McCoy Tyner - Horizon [Keepnews Collection] (Milestone)
3. Stanley Turrentine - The Spoiler (Blue Note)
4. George Benson - The Shape of Things to Come (A&M)
5. Joe Henderson - Power to the People [Keepnews Collection] (Riverside)
6. Bobby Hutcherson - Mosaic Select (Mosaic)
7. Frank Sinatra -- A Voice in Time: 1939-1952 (Sony Legacy)
8. Thad Jones - Detroit/New York Junction (Blue Note)
9. Flora Purim - Butterfly Dreams [Keepnews Collection] (Milestone)
10. Frank Foster - Manhattan Fever (Blue Note)

In the interest of full disclosure: Some of these artists are or have been clients in various capacities in the past year either directly or through another employer (a PR firm I work for) including most titles on the ACT Music label, many of Blue Note Records' new releases including: Charles Tolliver Big Band, Kenny Werner, Bill Charlap Trio, Joe Lovano & Hank Jones, Ron Carter, Kenny Burrell, Charles Mingus Sextet w/ Eric Dolphy, Jacky Terrasson, Nigel Kennedy and Stacey Kent (any others like Wynton Marsalis, Robert Glasper, Terence Blanchard, etc. were worked internally by Blue Note's publicity staff or by other independent PR firms), the Cryptogramophone label and all affiliated artists, most catalog on Concord Music Group and its family of labels which were part of the Fantasy acquisition - namely all titles in the Keepnews Collection and pretty much all catalog except Stax releases, Kendrick Scott and Rudresh Mahanthappa). While some might see this as a conflict of interest, I justify it for the fact that I have the distinct honor and good fortune to work with some artists who are indeed some of my favorite musicians.

Please support the artists and the independent labels (who are often the forgotten link in the food chain and also the bigger financial losers in today's marketplace) by buying this music legitimately in hard form or digitally if you don't have it already.

Coming soon: an interview with up-and-coming pianist Helen Sung and other lists of honorable mentions, non-jazz genre Top 10s (because, I listen to more than jazz) + records I heard about from other bloggers, Pitchfork, All Music Guide or journalists whose opinions I respect, but never got copies of or never got a chance to listen to...