Favorite New Jazz Albums of 2010s
The 2010s was a great era to be a fan of both recorded and live jazz. The re-emergence of jazz as a popular music form has much to do with the collapse of the quality of rock music, a generalized fatigue with hip hop, the preponderance of manufactured pop and the retreat of electronic music to the underground. I’m not suggesting for one moment that jazz has become pop music, but it is becoming economically viable again. Moreover, musicians of all colors, creeds and backgrounds have learned to improvise over their traditional music and traditional instruments to create jazz. It is important to recognize the value of new music and young musicians – they have the whole history of recorded music to draw in, are amazingly well educated, and, in general produce original recordings that they compose themselves. Compare this with a large cohort of “great recordings” from the 50s and 60’s – during which musicians gathered, unrehearsed, for a four hour session and belted our two albums of “standards”. Twenty first century jazz is indeed a different paradigm – it doesn’t swing as much; it is more likely to be ambient or atmospheric and is scripted and sculpted into place.
The decade started with a slew of CD box sets – such as a colossal box of Miles Davis’ recordings for Columbia – and various other sampler boxes from Impulse, CBS, Concorde etc. Smaller boxes of 5 CDs could be picked up for the price of a single CD 10 years previously. You could have an amazing jazz CD collection for a couple of hundred dollars. But this activity gradually wound down as full resolution streaming became available from Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz: you no longer need a collection – it is all there, in-line, practically everything. Your carefully curated CD collection became completely obsolete around 2015. Even ECM eventually came onboard the streaming revolution. Enter the vinyl renaissance and the appearance of medley audiophile titles on vinyl. My favorite jazz reissue series was the Prestige/New Jazz series from Analogue Productions. Modern jazz releases frequently, but not universally, appear on vinyl – or as a high resolution download alternative (i.e. the master file). There have been some really great recordings released over the past decade (the long list of my favorites is below – but it could have been twice as long!). With streaming, there is no excuse for not (at the very least) giving younger or returning musicians a listen.
These are my absolute favorite jazz albums of the 2010s (included are links to review and the physical format available) – I am not suggesting, for one moment that these are the best jazz albums or that I have heard even a fraction of the releases, merely my favs – which may change at any minute:
- Carla Bley/Steve Swallow/Andy Sheppard – Andando el Tiempo (CD, vinyl)
- Marius Neset – Golden Xplosion (CD)
- John Surman – Invisible Threads (CD)
- Ambrose Akinmusire – When The Heart Emerges Glistening (CD, on “vinyl me please”)
- Wayne Shorter – Without A Net (CD)
- Pat Metheny – Unity Band (CD)
- Tim Garland – One (CD)
- Get The Blessing – Oc Dc (CD, vinyl)
- Jack De Johnette/Ravi Coltrane/Matthew Garrison – In Movement (CD, vinyl)
- John Abercrombie – Within A Song (CD)
- Wallace Roney – A Place in Time (CD, vinyl)
- Brad Mehldau – Blues and Ballads (CD, vinyl)
- Christian Scott –Stretch Music (CD, vinyl)
- Joshua Redman – Still Dreaming (CD)
- Blue Note All Stars – Our Point of View (CD, vinyl)
The Full List is Below:
- Ahmed Jamal – Sunday Morning (2013) & Marseille (2015)
- Al Di Meola – Elysium (2015)
- Ambrose Akinmusire – When The Heart Emerges (2011)
- Andrew Cyrille – Lebroba (2018, v)
- Andy Sheppard – Surrounded By Sea (2015)
- Anouar Brahem – Souvenance (2015)
- Bill Frisell – Guitar in the Space Age (2014)
- Billy Childs – Rebirth (2017)
- Billy Harte – All Our Reasons (2012)
- Blue Note All Stars – Our Point of View (2017)
- Bobby Hutcherson – Enjoy the View (2014)
- Brad Mehldau – Blues and Ballads (2016, v)
- Branford Marsalis Quartet – The Secret Between The Shadow And The Soul (2019,v)
- Carla Bley/Steve Swallow/Andy Sheppard – Trios (2013) & Andando el Tiempo (2016, v)
- Charlie Haden – Jim Hall – Time/Life (2016)
- Charles Lloyd – Passin’ Thru (live) (2017, v) and I Long to See You (2016, v0
- Chic Corea/Eddie Gomez/Paul Motion – Further Explorations (2010)
- Chick Corea, Christian McBride, Brian Blade – Trilogy 2 (2019)
- Chris Potter – The Dreamer is the Dream (2017, v)
- Christian Scott – Yesterday You Said Tomorrow (2010), Stretch Music (2015), Emancipation Procastination (2017), Ancestral Recall (2019)
- The Comet Is Coming – Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery (2019,v)
- Courtney Pine – Song (the Ballad Book) (2015)
- Dave Holland – Prism (2013)
- Dave Stapleton – Flight (2012)
- De Johnette/Frenadier/Medeski/Scofield – Hudson (2018, v)
- Dinosaur – Together, As One (2017)
- Dylan Howe – Subterranean – New Designs on Bowie’s Berlin (2014)
- Dr Lonnie Smith – Evolution (2016)
- Enrico Rava – Tribe (2011)
- Esbjörn Svensson Trio e.s.t. – E.S.T. Symphony (2016, v)
- Fire! Orchestra – Enter (2017)
- Gary Husband – Dirty & Beautiful, Vol. 1 (2010)
- Get The Blessing – Oc Dc (2012, v)
- Gilad Hekselman – Hearts Wide Open (2017)
- Ginger Baker – Why? (2014)
- Gmilym Simcock – Good Days At Schloss Elmau (2011)
- Henry Butler / Steven Bernstein – Viper’s Drag (2014)
- The Impossible Gentlemen – The Impossible Gentlemen (2011)
- Jack De Johnette/Ravi Coltrane/Matthew Garrison – In Movement (2016, v)
- Jacob Bro – Streams (2016, v)
- Jacob Young – Forever Young (2014)
- Jason Moran – All Rise (Fats Waller Tribute) (2014)
- John Abercrombie – Within A Song (2012)
- John Coltrane – Both Directions At Once (2018)
- John McLaughlin & 4th Dimension – The Boston Record (2014)
- John Scofield – Past Present (2015)
- John Surman – Invisible Threads (2018)
- Joshua Redman – Walking Shadows (2013) and Still Dreaming (2018 v)
- Kamasi Washington – The Epic (2015)
- Keith Jarrett – Rio (2011)
- Kenny Garrett – Seeds From The Underground (2012)
- Kristjan Randalu – Absence (2018)
- Kurt Elling – The Gate (2011)
- Lee Konitz/Brad Mehldau/Haden/Motion – Live At Birdland (2011)
- Logan Richardson – Shift (2016)
- Marc Johnson/Elaine Elias – Swept Away (2012)
- Marcus Miller – Renaissance (2012), Tutu Revisited (2011)
- Marius Neset – Golden Xplosion (2011) & Birds (2013)
- Michael Formanek – The Rub and Spare Change (2010)
- Nels Cline – Lovers
- New Gary Burton Quartet – Common Ground (2011, v)
- Pat Metheny/Jan Garbarek/Gary Burton etc – Homage A Eberhard Weber (2015)
- Pat Metheny – Unity Band (2012)
- Paul Motion – Lost In A Dream (2010)
- Phronesis – The Behemoth (2017)
- Polar Bear – Peepers (2010)
- Portico Quartet – Isla (2010)
- Return To Forever – The Mothership Returns (2012)
- Roscoe Mitchell – Bells for the South Side (2017)
- Rudresh Mahanthappa – Bird Calls (2015)
- SEED Ensemble – Driftglass (2019,v)
- Sonny Rollins Road Shows Vol. 2 (2011)
- Sons Of Kemet – Burn (2013) & Your Queen is a Reptile (2018, v)
- Stanley Clarke / Bireli Lagrene / Jean-Luc Ponty – D-Stringz (2015)
- Stefano Bollani – Joy in Spite of Everything (2014)
- Stefon Harris/Sanbchez/Scott – Ninety Miles (2011)
- Steve Kuhn Trio – Wisteria (2012)
- Terje Rypdal – Crime Scene (2010)
- Tim Berne – Snakeoil (2012)
- Tim Garland – One (2016)
- Vijay Iver – Far From Over (2017)
- Vijay Iver / Wadada Leo Smith – A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke (2016)
- Vince Mendoza – Nights on Earth (2011)
- Wallace Roney – A Place in Time (2016, v)
- Wayne Shorter – Without A Net (2013), Emanon (2018, v)
- Wolfgang Muthspeil – Where the River Goes (2018)
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