MY 20 VERY FAVORITE NEW RECORDS FROM 2024 SO FAR

Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville (Hot Cup)

Brune Berle: No Reino Dos Afetos 2 (Far Out Recordings)

Beyonce: Cowboy Carter (Parkwood Entertainment)

James Carter: UN (JMI Recordings)

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit (Spiritmuse) 

Amaro Freitas: Y’Y (Psychic Hotline)

Satoko Fujii Trio: Jet Black (Libra)

Miha Gantar: New York City (Clean Feed)

Heems & Lapgan: Lafandar

Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Still Alive (Nonesuch)

Jlin: Akoma (Planet Mu) (Note: I don’t think I’ve written about this one but it is incredible, even for her!)

Adrienne Lenker: Bright Future (4AD)

Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven (Epitaph)

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet: Four Guitars Live (Palilalia)

QOW Trio: The Hold Up (Ubuntu)

Ann Savoy: Another Heart (Smithsonian Folkways)

Split System: Volume 2 (Legless)

Fay Victor:  Life is Funny That Way—Herbie Nichols Sung (TAO Forms)

Bob Vylan: Humble as the Sun (Ghost Theater)

Tierra Whack: World Wide Whack (Interscope) 

MY TOP 10 VERY FAVORITE ESCAVATED OR REISSUED RECORDS FROM 2024 SO FAR

Irakere: Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital (Mr. Bongo)

Love Child: Never Meant to Be (12XU) 

Franco Luambo Mkaidi: Presents Les Editions Populaires (Planet Ilunga) 

Rail Band: Rail Band (Mississippi Records)

Sonny Rollins: Freedom Weaver–The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance)

Sun Ra:  At the Showcase Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (Elemental Music)

Various Artists: Congo Funk! Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Analog Africa)

Various Artists: Love Hides All Faults—Deep Gospel Soul Selected by Jumbo (Elusive Vinyl / Pyramid Records)

Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors Live in Antwerp (Elemental Music)

ADDENDUMS:

1. Via Mr. Postman, I just got this drums ‘n’ trumpet duet explosion from Libra Records by Natsuki Tamura and Jim Black that is crisply recorded, rocks even though it’s technically free jazz, and even includes nicely-timed ululations for fans of Yoko Ono and later-period Cecil Taylor. I wish I had a video or Spotify link, but it’s not yet out–I will be enthusing about it.
2. Out of the blue, it struck me how I really feel about Taylor Swift: I admire her like I admired Tom Petty (which will now make Tom Petty fans mad, maybe). Crafty, solid, memorable, reliable, pleasurable–but, for me, just not enough to bring one of their records into the house. (I did own Damn the Torpedos and that one he argued the price down on when I was a whippersnapper, though).
3. Some readers who are also my Facebook cyberpals already know about this, but in my composition class this year, while Cowboy Carter was still in the offing, we got to talking about the history of descendants of enslaved Africans (and sometimes former enslaved Africans) making country music far in advance as is what is popularly assumed. For my students, I started a Spotify playlist including some such recordings, shared it on Facebook, then watched joyfully as former students–many of whom are now Southerners–started adding to the playlist. I’m very happy about it, and here it is. Is it missing some things? Certainly. Hit me ‘up….