Tag: jazz

Then Came the Last Day of May—And I Missed It: Favorite Slabs of Music from the Fifth Month

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I’m lagging a day behind, and that ain’t cool in the blogosphere, so I’ll cut the oddservational chase:

–Great, great, great month for free and improvised music if you can dig it. I know that you can, I know that I do. Yeah, that’s physical media down there (I picked up the ancient copy of Mofungo’s “End of the World” sealed for $4), with a tip of the hat to Burning Ambulance.

–Album everyone whose sick of this sh*t would enjoy hearing?  Guide your eyes and ears to Ms. Blanton’s offering below.

–I’ve been reading quite a bit of Irish lit over the last, what, six years and Kneecap’s album helped me maybe understand why.

–Rock (and maybe roll) Is Not Dead Department: Mod Lang, The Sleveens, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Golems of the Red Planet (yay, we’re hearing surf music again, Jimi).

–Helplessly devoted fan continues waving arms in your direction re: legendary Japanese supposedly psych-rock band (see if you can guess it—if you’ve been here before, you can) that anticipated The Pixies’ and Nirvana’s quiet-loud trick.

—[ahmed] is incredible.

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Mod Lang: Borrowed Time (Jaw) ****

New in May 

(click this for the Jan-Feb list; this for March’s list; this for the April list—I’m gonna hone it into one list eventually) 

No asterisk = good / *** = very good / **** = great / ***** = really great / Italics = an excavation

[ahmed]: Play Monk (Otoroku) *****

Ran Blake & Dominique Eade: Roots & Byways (Sunnyside) ****

Carsie Blanton & The Burning Hell: Everything is Great (self-released at $1!) ****

Boards of Canada: Inferno (Warp) 

Alan Braufman: Anthem for Peace (The Control Group / Valley of Search) ****

CHEER ACCIDENT: Live—CheerAx Basement, Chicago 4/2/22 // Reggie’s Chicago 9/26/23(Cuneiform) ***

Columbia Icefield: A Silence Opens (Out of Our Heads) *****

Charles Downs Quartet: inner (ESP-Disk) ***

Eddy Current Suppression Ring: In Light of Recent Events (Cool Death) *** 

Joel Futterman & William Parker: Transcendent Universe (Burning Ambulance) ****

Golems of the Red Planet: Surf “Masada”—The Compositions of John Zorn (self-released) ***

Wendell Harrison: Tribute to Pharoah Sanders (Org Music) ***

Itak Tek: Mind Abandon (Planet Mu) ****

Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart: BODY SOUND (International Anthem) ***

JPEG Mafia: EXPERIMENTAL RAP (self-released) ***

KJADE: THE SOUND THAT TREES MAKE (self-released) ***

Kneecap: FENIAN (Heavenly) ****

LICE: Miami Lice—Season Four (Rhymesayers)

Ava Mendoza: Alive Alone, Alive Together (Burning Ambulance)

Namasenda: Limbo (YEAR 001) ***

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet: Happy Today (International Anthem) ****

The Phoenix Trio (featuring Mark Turner): Tomorrow is Today (Giant Step Arts) ***

Les Rallizes Dénudés: Disque 4—’76 Studio et Live (Temporal Drift) ****

The Sleeveens: National Anthem (Goner)

Tyshawn Sorey: Members…Don’t (Pi Recordings) *****

Stare Into the Night: the new abyss (self-released)

Various Artists: Kaiso Power—Sound Revolution in Trinidad 1970-1980 (Soundway) ***

Victor Vieira-Branco’s Bark Culture: The Giant is Awkward (temperphantom) ****

Immanuel Wilkins Quartet: Live, Volume 1 (Blue Note)

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed This Month

Carsie Blanton: The Red Album, Volumes 1 & 2

Clarence Carter: Snatchin’ It Back—The Atlantic Recordings

Johnny Coles: Little Johnny C

Dag Nasty: Field Day

The Gift of Gab: 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up

Lightnin’ Hopkins: The Herald Recordings

Freddie Hubbard: Hub Cap

Sonny Rollins: This is What I Do

Jimmy Scott: Falling in Love is Wonderful

Woody Shaw Quartet: Live in Bremen 1983

John Tchicai and Cadentia Nova Dance: Afrodisiaca

Various Artists: Nigeria Special, Volumes 1 & 2

Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy: Live at Dreher

David S. Ware: Freedom Suite

Hey! I Read, Too—and So Should You!

Cynthia Connolly, Leslie Clague, Sharon Cheslow: Banned in D.C–Photos and Anecdotes from the D.C. Punk Underground

Lucy Ellmann: Ducks, Newburyport

Melvin Gibbs: How Black Music Took Over the World

Claire Hoffman: Sister, Sinner—The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson

Nancy Lemann: Lives of the Saints

Lisa Sandlin: In the River Province–Stories

An Aural Portal to Here: Preferred Albums, January 1-February 28, 2026

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This month: I’ve begun my very basic asterisky rating system, now that most of the following records have had a chance to sink in, plus I’m continuing to share my lists of carelessly forgotten, underappreciated, or simply “new to me” records from January-November 2025 (December’s children are being counted as ‘26ers since they barely had a chance to be aurally dandled), my return to older records (stimulated by a great oral history of Texas punk rock—see below—Mardi Gras, the Miles Davis Centennial, and PBS’ nice Sun Ra documentary), my bibliobiography (lotsa music books therein)—and a Record of the Month.

Notable Top 10: 1) The two best jazz records I’ve heard this year, from Work Money Death and Dave Adewumi (that one hasn’t yet been released for public consumption). Hot on their heels is one by Chad Fowler and Art Edmaiston that was recorded in Memphis and which makes yet another case for the southern roots of free jazz. 2) A refreshed Van Morrison. 3) Charli XCX refusing to be dismissed. 4) More evidence that, if bassist/composer Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is involved with your project, you will greatly benefit. 5)A legendary P-Funk guitarist thrilling you solo. 6) A six-hour box set of trio interpretations of Morton Feldman compositions (classical music—eek!) (recommended to me by my reliable source at Burning Ambulance) that can calm your afternoon. 7) One rap record to soothe the Golden Agers’ breasts, another one that breaks through my resistance to live rap records. 8) A terrific Floridian singer-songwriter inspiring us over-sixties to finally learn to play and start writing. 9) South African Nandipha808’s can’t-stop-won’t-stop YouTube mixtape. 10) Some Colombian cumbia from the Analog Africa vault!

If you enjoy what I’m doing here, please check out my IG feed ( displaying a quadrant of records that each day thrill my earhole), my Substack newsletter (it purports to deal with my long career as an educator but I squeeze music in whenever possible—as I did in the classroom), and my education blog, “The Overeem Farewell Tour,” , a deeper educational dive that includes both a daily diary from my last year as a full-time public school teacher and a Spring ’20 to Spring ’21 COVID “cloister commentary.”

To the lists!

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

KEY: 
# = Archival release
***Very Good!           ****Really Good!      ****C’est Magnifique
Bolded entries are new to the list! 

NEW ALBUMS

Dave Adewumi: The Flame Beneath the Silence (Giant Step Arts) **** (out March 27)

Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore: Tragic Magic (In Finé)

Charli XCX: “Wuthering Heights” (Charli XCX Inc. / Atlantic) ***

Cimota: [ˈkɪmɔtɑː] (Sonic Transmissions) ***

Claire Dickson: Balance (New Amsterdam) (out March 27) ***

Dry Cleaning: Secret Love (4AD)

Art Edmaiston & Chad Fowler: Memphis Mandala (Mahakala Music) ****

fakemink: The Boy who cried Terrified . (EtnaVeraVela EP)

Fanfare Ciocarlia: Devil’s Tale (Asphalt Tango)

femcels: I Have to Get Hotter (self-released) ***

GBSR Duo & Taylor McLennan: Morton Feldman–Trios (Another Timbre) ****

Al Green: To Love Somebody (Fat Possum EP)

Grupo Um: Nineteen Seventy-Seven (Far Out Recordings)

Michael Hampton: Into the Public Domain (self-released) DECEMBER ‘25

Javon Jackson: Jackson Plays Dylan (Solid Jackson/Palmetto)

Mark Lomax II: The Unity Suite (CFG Media) JANUARY’S SPOTLIGHT ALBUM ****

Lord Jah Monte Ogbon: As of Now (Lex) ***

Mandy, Indiana: URGH (Sacred Bones)

Joyce Manor: I Used to Go to This Bar (Epitaph)

The Messthenics & James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency (Impulse!) ****

Van Morrison: Someone Tried to Sell Me a Bridge (Exile Productions) ***

Nandipha808: No Vocal Album (self-released) DECEMBER ’25 ****

The Outskirts: Orbital (Aerophonic) (out April 7th)

Grant Peeples: Code to Live By (self-released) DECEMBER ’25 ****

#Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical: Galaxia Tropical (Analog Africa) ***

Tomeka Reid: dance! skip! hop! (Out of Your Head Records) ****

Ren: Vincent’s Tale (self-released…I think) 

Ren: Sick Boi Live at Dead Wax (self-released) ***

Ratboy: Singin’ to an Empty Chair (New West) ****

Steve Roach: Sentient Being (Soundquest) ***

Talibah Safiya: Eternal (self-released…I think) ****

SAULT: Chapter 1 (Forever Living Originals) ***

Noé Sécula & Jorge Rossy: A Sphere Between Other Obsessions (Fresh Sounds) ***

#Alan Silva Celestrial Communication Ensemble: 2000-06-24 Amherst (Eremite) ****

Slutworld: Slut Intent (self-released EP)

Harriet Tubman & Georgia Muldrow: Electrical Field of Love (Pi Recordings)

Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (Jazz Life) ***

Work Money Death: A Portal to Here (ATA) ****

2025: Gone But Too Cool for Me To Have Forgotten

#Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy: African Skies (Listening Position)

Blanco teta: La Debacle de las Divas (Les Disques Bongo Joe) (pictured above)

Kathleen Edwards: Billionaire (Dualtone) Thanks for your patience, Kenny Wright!

Tav Falco: Desire on Ice (Org Music) 

Rois: Mo Lean (self-released)

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed this Month

Louis Armstrong: Louis & The Big Bands

Big Boys: no matter how long the line is in the cafeteria there’s always a seat

Nick Brignola: On a Different Level

Butthole Surfers: PCPPEP

Joe King Carrasco and The Crowns: s/t + Synapse Gap

Ornette Coleman: Beauty is a Rare Thing

The Cramps: URGH! The Complete Show

Miles Davis: The Complete Concert 1964 + Highlight from the Plugged Nickel + Get Up With It

The Dicks: These People

Fela: The Best of the Black President 2 

Sinead O’Connor: The Lion and The Cobra + I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got + “Famine”/”All Apologies” CD Single + Throw Down Your Arms (killer reggae, seriously)

Pylon: Chomp

Sun Ra: The Nubians of Plutonia + The Singles + Cosmo Sun Connection

Hey! I Read, Too-and So Should You!

Martin Amis: Money (Penguin)

Pat Blashill: Someday All the Adults Will Die—The Birth of Texas Punk (University of Texas Press)

Judy Cheeks: Love and Honor—The Life of Reverend Julius Cheeks

Liadan Ni Chuinn: Every One is Still Here—Stories (Stinging Fly Press) (these short stories are astounding)

Byron Coley, Mats Gustafsson, and Thurston Moore: NOW JAZZ NOW—100 Free Jazz and Improvisation Albums (1960-1980) (Ecstatic Peace Library)

Jozsef Debreczeni (trans. Paul Olchvary): Cold Crematorium—Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz (St. Martin’s Press)

Alysson McCabe: Why Sinead O’Connor Matters (University of Texas Press)

Flannery O’Connor: The Violent Bear It Away (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux)

Orlando Reade: What in Me is Dark—The Revolutionary Afterlife of “Paradise Lost” (Astra House)

John Szwed: So What—The Life of Miles Davis (Simon & Schuster)

Paul Youngquist: A Pure Solar World—Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism (University of Texas Press)

Back To School: Living to Listen’s Favorite Records, January 1st to September 1st, 2025

To my regular readers: As I type, I have already begun my 42nd (consecutive) year as a teacher. This fall, I am teaching two on-line freshman composition classes at Stephens College (one with the school’s Conservatory and built around Sasha Geffen’s alternative pop history Glitter Up The Dark–read it yourself, folks!—and the other with its regular women’s college students, who are reading Octavia Butler’s Kindred. In addition, I will be teaching an in-person 3.5-week, M-F, three-hours-per-block freshman comp class starting in mid-October; they, too, will be reading Butler’s book. Most of you will not need to guess why I’ve chosen those books to build a composition class around; my Missouri readers will have no doubt. Anyway, I’m devoting this post to my students, so I will now proceed to, ahem, address them….

To my students: Welcome to Living to Listen, the longest list of lovely licorice pizza in Blogtown! When I was your age (zzzzz….) in 1980, I could not have made a list of 35 albums I even owned, nor barely 50 I had heard from beginning to end (I was a singles kid then). If I’d been asked to construct my favorites from those, on the list would have been Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town, Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces, The B-52s, Bob Seger’s Night Moves, The Velvet Underground’s 1969 Live, X’s Los Angeles, Black Sabbath’s We Sold Our Soul for Rock and Roll, “Rapper’s Delight,” Teddy Pendergrass’ Teddy, Neil Young’s Live Rust, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, The Clash’s London Calling, The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, Cher’s most recent album (serious outlier)…well, I’ll stop there. Today, the year isn’t even over and the following list isn’t numbered, but odds are it will exceed 200 by New Year’s Eve 2026 and those will just be the ones I heard that I liked.

What’s the point? Good question. Often I wonder that myself. What I think I’m doing is helping my readers wade through a perpetual tsunami of new recordings—literally any sentient being can now make a record and make it available to the public—and find something that will transfix, delight, provoke, stimulate, energize, and maybe even transform them from the creatures that they are…because they did one or more of those things to me. What I am probably doing is nearer to yodeling into the Grand Canyon at 2 a.m. What I am sure I am doing at the very least is preparing myself to vote in a couple of year-end “Best of the Year” polls (though I have yet to even pull my Top 10 out of the jungle below) as well as committing to cybermemory a record (make that very plural) of what I was putting my ear to at the time. It may also appear that I am showing off and that may well be accurate, but I’d argue that I don’t spend money or time on much else than listening to music, books, movie theaters, Stephens Conservatory productions, teaching, and my very saintly bride. Oh yes, food. And occasionally drink. I have to be forced to buy new clothes, I would never drive anything if I didn’t have to, one house will do, thank you—in other words, really, music is not only an obsession for me but a lifeline. I am not religious, but sometimes I have argued with friends that every record in the house (yes, I and you should BUY music to keep food on our musicmakers’plates) is like a book of humanity’s bible to me. Seriously.

A quick scan of my 2025 favorites reveals a few things about me: 1) I listen to a lot of music; 2) I am not exactly a poptimist (I really like Olivia, Beyonce, Rihanna, Harry, and Billie, for example, but I merely seriously admire Taylor Swift and have no use for Sabrina—nor a lot of men who make poppy pop music, and I really only like one of Harry’s albums); 3) Looks like I lean hard toward improvisational jazz (especially the Scandinavian variety—they distill the best stuff!), but it frees my mind, goes great with reading, and fits an ideal I hold about living with other people; 4) I am apparently working for Nyege Nyege Tapes out of Uganda as well as the prolific Japanese jazz pianist Satoko Fujii; and—gotta stop somewhere—5) unlike many, many white men my age (63.666), I like rap music. The list does not show that I LOVE country music, but as far as today’s purveyors go, it’s mostly the women that bend my ear. I love Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan because they sing with intensity and they write outside the lines of the stereotypical “rural” coloring book.

So…sample some stuff! I would expect you haven’t heard of a lot of it, but I’ll warn you that that is not because it’s not good—it’s a wide, wide world out there! Each record listing includes a link to a way to get ahold of it or learn about it, a Spotify link (I hate that platform, but I feel I have no choice) for the whole list that follows it, and next you will see the meaning of my typology (?). I hope you find something that lifts you! Also, if something you love from 2025 isn’t on the list, that doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t like it—I might not have gotten to it yet. I also might not have simply gotten it yet. Or it could be it just don’t move me! Students, peace to you unless you have to protect others, then and always may you stay safe, please write so well you’re proud of the output, and talk to me about some of these platters!

MY LIST OF AURAL PLEASURE

January 1 – September 1, 2025

BOLD = New to the List

ASTERISKED* = Damn good!*** to Holy SHIT!*****

ITALICIZED: Excavations from the Past / Reissues

Aesop Rock: Black Hole Superette (Rhymesayers) ****


Africa Express: …Presents…Bahidora (World Circuit Limited) ****

Amarae: Black Star (Golden Angel) ***

Zoh Amba: Sun (Smalltown Supersound) ****

Ale Hop & Titi Bakorta:  Mapambazuko (Nyege Nyege Tapes) *****


Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons: Live in Philadelphia, Volume 1 (Otherly Love Records) ****


The Ancients: The Ancients (Eremite) ***


Ichiko Aoba: Luminescent Creatures (Psychic Hotline)


Artemis: Arboresque (Blue Note) ****

Backxwash: Only Dust Remains (Ugly Hag) ****

Bad Bunny: DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS (Rimas Entertainment) ****
*

Julien Baker & Torres: Send a Prayer My Way (Matador) ****


Bar-B-Q Killers: The Last Shit, Part 1 (Chunklet 45)

Gina Birch: Trouble (Third Man)

The Bitter Ends: The Bitter Ends (Trouble in River City)


Black Milk & Fat Ray: Food from the Gods (Computer Ugly / Fat Beats)


Blacks’ Myths Meets Pat Thomas: The Mythstory School (self-released) ***


Yugen Blakrok: The Illusion Of Being (I.O.T. Records) ***
*

Blood Orange: Essex Honey (RCA) ***

Booker T & The Plasmic Bleeds: Ode To BC/LY… And Eye Know BO…. da Prez (Mahakala Music)


Benjamin Booker: Lower (Fire Next Time)


Johnny Bragg: Let Me Dream On (Org Music) ***


Brother Ali & Ant: Satisfied Soul (Mello Music)


Buck 65: Keep Moving (self-released) ****

Peter Brotzmann: The Quartet (Otoroku) *****

Master Wilburn Burchette: Master Wilburn Burchette’s Psychic Meditation Music (Numero Group) ***

Joe Chambers, Kevin Diehl, Chad Taylor: Onilu (Eremite) ****

Tyler Childers: Snipe Hunter (RCA / Hickman Holler) ****

Christer Bothén 3: L’Invisible (thanatosis) ****

clipping: Dead Channel Sky (Sub Pop)


Clipse: Let God Sort ‘Em Out (Roc Nation) ***

Common and Pete Rock: The Auditorium, Volume 1 (Casa Loma)

Cosmic Ear: TRACES (We Jazz) *****


Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson: Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) ***

Chuck D: Chuck D Presents Enemy Radio—Radio Armageddon (Soundspeak)

Christopher Dammann Sextet: Christopher Dammann Sextet (Out of Your Head)
 ***

Deepstaria Enigmatica: The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk)
 ****

The Delines: Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom (Jealous Butcher) ****


DJ Dadaman & Moscow Dollar: Ka Gaza (Nyege Nyege Tapes)


DJ Haram: Beside Myself (Hyperdub)

DJ Shaun-D: From Bubbling to Dutch House (Nyege Nyege Tapes)


Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr. & The Wild Magnolias: Chip Off The Old Block (Strong Place)

Doseone & Height Keech: Wood Teeth (Hands Made EP) ****

doseone & Steel Tipped Dove: All Portrait, No Chorus (BackwoodzStudios) ****

Earl Sweatshirt: Live Laugh Love (Tan Cressida) ***

Silke Eberhard Trio: Being-A-Ning (Intakt)

Eddy Current Suppression Ring: Shapes and Forms (Cool Death EP) ***

Marty Ehrlich Trio Exaltation: This Time (Sunnyside) ***

Electric Satie: Gymnopedia ’99 (In Sheep’s Clothing) ****

Marco Eneidi Quintet: Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (Balance Point Acoustics / Botticelli) ****

Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force: Khadim (Ndagga) ***

Ex-Void: In Love Again (Tapete Records)

Fieldwork: Thereupon (Pi Records) ****

Craig Finn: Always Been (Tamaric / Thirty Tigers) ***


FKA twigs: Eusexua (Young Recordings Limited)


Robert Forster: Strawberries (Tapete) ****


Satoko Fujii GEN: Altitude 1100 Meters (Libra)


Satoko Fujii Trio: Dream a Dream (Libra) ****


Satoko Fuji / This is It!: Message (Libra)

Karol G: Tropicoqueta (Bichota) ****

Galactic and Irma Thomas: Audience with the Queen (Tchoup-Zilla)

Girl Scout: Headache (self-released EP)

Roger Glenn: My Latin Heart (Patois) ***

Woody Guthrie: Woody at Home, Vol 1 + 2 (Shamus) ****

Keiji Haino and Natsuki Tamura: what happened there? (Libra)


Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts (Nonesuch) *****

Hamell on Trial: Harp (for Harry) (Saustex)

Heat On: Heat On (Cuneiform)


The Hemphill Stringtet: Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head Records)


Patterson Hood: Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams (ATO) ***


William Hooker: Jubilation (Org Music) *****


William Hooker: A Time Within: Live at the New York Jazz Museum, January 14, 1977 (The Control Group / Valley of Search) ***


Horsegirl: Phonetics On and On (Matador)


HHY & The Kampala Unit: Turbo Meltdown (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ****

Hunx and His Punks: Walk Out on This World (Get Better) ****

Hüsker Dü: January 30, Parts 1 & 2 (Numero EP) ***** (Numero box on the way….)

Mikko Innanen and Ingebrigt Häker Flaten: Live in Espoo (Sonic Transmissions)

Michael Gregory Jackson: Frequency Equilibrium Koan (moved-by-sound)


Jeong – Bisio Duo (featuring Joe McPhee): Morning Bells Whistle Bright (ESP-Disk) ****


JLZ & GG: Medio Grave (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ***

Rico Jones: Bloodlines (Giant Step Arts)

Anthony Joseph: Rowing Up the River to Get Our Names Back (Heavenly Sweetness) ****

JPEG Mafia: I Lay Down My Life for You (Director’s Cut) (self-released) ****

Kelela: In the Blue Light (Warp) ***


KINGDOM MOLOGI: Kembo (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ****

Kronos Quartet + The Hard Rain Collective: Hard Rain (Red Hot Org EP)

Lady Gaga: Mayhem (Interscope)


Lambrini Girls: Who Let The Dogs Out (City Slang US) *****

Steve Lehman: The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi Recordings) *****


José Lencastre: Inner Voices (Burning Ambulance) ***

Jinx Lennon: The Hate Agents Leer at the Last Agents of Hope (Septic Tiger) ***


James Brandon Lewis: Apple Cores (Anti-)


James Brandon Lewis Quartet: Abstraction is Deliverance (Intakt) ***

Jeffrey Lewis: The Even More Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis (Don Giovanni)


Little Simz: Lotus (AWAL) ****

LOLO: LOLO (Black Sweat)


Rocio Gimenez Lopez: La Forma Del Sueno (Blue Art) ****


Rocio Gimenez Lopez: La Palabra Repetida (Blue Art) ***

K. Curtis Lyle, Jaap Blonk, Damon Smith, Alex Cunningham: A Radio of the Body

Jako Maron: Mahavelouz (Nyege Nyege Tapes) ****


Mazinga: Chinese Democracy Manifest—Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (Rubber Wolf)


Mean Mistreater: Do or Die (self-released)
 ***

The Mekons: Horror (Fire) ***


Ava Mendoza/Gabby Fluke-Mogul/Carolina Perez: Mama Killa (Burning Ambulance) ***

M(h)aol: Something Soft (Merge) ***

Mac Miller: Baloonerism (Warner Records)


Billy Mohler: The Eternal (Contagious)


Moonchild Sanelly: Full Moon (self-released)

MonoNeon: You Had Your Chance…Bad Attitude! (Color Red) ****


Christy Moore: A Terrible Beauty (Claddagh) *****

Jason Moran/Trondheim Jazz Orchestra/Ole Morten Vågan: Go To Your North (Yes Records)

Matthew Muneses and Riza Printup: Pag-Ibko, Volume 1 (Irabbagast Records)


David Murray Quartet: The Birdsong Project Presents Birdly Serenade (Verve)

Amina Claudine Myers: Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) ****

Natural Information Society and Bitchin’ Bahas: Totality (Drag City)


Louis Nevins: The Fumes (Cavetone Records) ***

Alick Nkhata: Radio Lusaka (Mississippi Records) ***

NOBRO: Set Your Pussy Free (Dine Alone) ***

Nourished By Time: The Passionate Ones (XL)

Isabelle Olivier: Impressions (Rewound Echoes)


The Onions: Return to Paradise (Hitt Records)


Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet: Hauslive 4 (Palilalia) ***


Organic Pulse Ensemble: Ad Hoc (Ultraaani Records) *****

Aruan Ortiz: Creole Renaissance (Intakt) ***

Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra Led by Horace Tapscott: Live at Widney High December 26th, 1971 (The Village) ***


Ivo Perelmamn and Matthew Shipp: Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms)


Pitch, Rhythm, and Consciousness: Sextet (Reva Records)


Marek Pospieszalski Octet & Zoh Amba: NOW! (Project financed by a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage “Młoda Polska” & Katowice City of Music UNESCO)

Public Enemy: Black Sky Over The Projects—Apartment 2025 (self-released) ***

Les Rallizes Denudes: Blind Baby Has Its Mother’s Eyes (Life Goes On)


Les Rallizes Denudes: Jittoku ’76 (Temporal Drift)

R.A.P. Ferreira: Outstanding Understanding (Ruby Yacht)

Jonathan Richman: Only Frozen Sky Anyway (Blue Arrow)


Adam Rudolph, Dave Liebman, Billy Hart: Beingness (Meta)


Bobby Rush and Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Young Fashioned Ways (Deep Rush / RAM Records) ***

Sverre Sæbo Quintet: If, However, You Have Not Lost Your Self Control (SauaJazz)


SAULT: 10 (Sault Global) ***


Serengeti: mixtape 2 (serengetiraps / self-released)


Serengeti: Palookaville (serengetiraps / self-released) 


The Sex Pistols: Live in the U.S.A. South East Music Hall, Atlanta, January 5th, 1978 (UME)


The Sharp Pins: Radio DDR (K / Perennial Death) ***


Matthew Shipp: The Cosmic Piano (Canteloupe Records) ****

Anthony “Big A” Sherrod: Torchbearer of the Clarksdale Sound (Music Makers Recordings EP)

Slick Rick: Victory (Mass Appeal) ***

Luke Stewart / Silt Remembrance Ensemble: The Order (Cuneiform) ***


Ray Suhy / Lewis Porter Quartet: What Happens Next (Sunnyside) ***


SUMAC and Moor Mother: The Film (Thrill Jockey)


Sun Ra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght 5 August 1970 (Strut) ***

Superchunk: Songs in the Key of Yikes (Merge) ****

John Surman: Flashpoint and Undercurrents (Cuneiform Records) ***

Atef Swaitat & Abu Ali: Palestinian Bedouin Psychedelic Dabka Archive (Majazz Project/Palestinian Sound Archive) ****

Masahiko Tagashi: Session in Paris, Volume 1—Song of the Soil (with Don Cherry and Charlie Haden) (We Want Sounds)


Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’: Room on the Porch (Concord Jazz) 


Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’: Room on the Porch for Everyone (UMG EP) 


Cecil Taylor / Tony Oxley: Flashing Spirits (Burning Ambulance)

Ebo Taylor, Adrain Younge, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad: Jazz Is Dead 22 (Jazz is Dead)


Three-Layer Cake: “sounds the color of grounds” (Otherly Love)

Los Thuthanaka: Los Thuthanaka (Studio Pankara) ****

Trio Glossia: Trio Glossia (Sonic Transmissions) ****


The Tubs: Cotton Crown (self-released) ***

Kali Uchis: Sincerely (Capitol) ***

Akira Umeda & Metal Preyers: Clube de Mariposa Mórbida (Nyege Nyege Tapes)

The Untamed Youth: Git Up and Go (Hi-Tide / Nu-Tone)

Various Artists: African Jazz Invites O.K. Jazz (Planet Ilunga) ***


Various Artists: A Tribute to the King of Zydeco (Valcourt) *****

Various Artists: Democracy Forward (Bitter Southerner) ***

Various Artists: Prisoners’ Day Compilation (Majazz Project / Palestinian Sound Archive) ***


Various Artists: Roots Rocking Zimbabwe– The Modern Sound of Harare’ Townships 1975-1980 (Analog Africa) ****


Various Artists: Sweet Rebels—The Golden Era of Algerian Pop-Rai (We Want Sounds) ***

Vibration Black Finger: Everybody Cryin’ Mercy (Enid)

Morgan Wade: The Party is Over (recovered) (Ladylike) ****

The War & Treaty: Plus One (Mercury Nashville)


Wet Leg: moisturizer (Domino) ***

Alfred White: The Definitive Alfred White (Music Makers Recordings)


Wheelhouse: House and Home (Aerophonic)


Simon Willson: Bet (Endectomorph Records)

billy woods: GOLLIWOG (x) (Backwoodz Studios)


Wu-Tang Clan: Black Samson, The Bastard (All Maf / 36 Chambers)

Jeong Lim Yang: Synchronicity (Fully Altered Media) 

Hiroshi Yoshimura: Flora (Temporal Drift) ***

Brandee Younger: Gadabout Season (Impulse) ***

The Young Mothers: Better If You Let It (Sonic Transmissions) ****

Miguel Zenon: Vanguardia Subterranea (Miel Music) ***

Put this SPITify sucker on shuffle and free your ears-–so your arse and mind will follow!

September Struggle: 22 Records That Helped Me Power Through

Covid finally caught up with me. I had not received the most recent booster (I’d been advised to wait), but I suppose it was inevitable, and at least I have a measure more immunity. The virus was a different bitch each of the five days I was on my back: uncontrollable 101.5-102.5 fever, deep hacking (including ugly music exploding from me without warning) to the point I could barely put a cough lozenge back there, 160 BPM heart rate (plus some A-Fib, which I’ve already had a procedure to prevent) for nearly 12 hours, an inability to sleep for more than an hour at a time (two night actually), and some rounds of deep lethargy, a state I despise with every fiber of my being. BUT: such a state enabled me to listen to the entirety of Allen Lowe’s Louis Armstrong’s America (see below–four consistently interesting discs of varied and original jazz compositions played by instrumentalists of unique voice many of you have not heard of–and in Lowe’s own liner notes) and the entire three-volume, seven-disc oeuvre of the mysterious international improvisatory jazz unit called [ahmed]–they’re like The Necks with something to be angry about. And such a state is just what fascinating music exists to sweep away. Fittingly, I came around just in time to see AACM stalwart Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio (featuring a fragile but still musically fetching Ari Brown on saxophone) energetically open the 66th year (!!!) of St. Louis’ New Circle Jazz Series, and, in spite of a surprisingly rough recovery week, caught alto saxophonist Vincent Herring’s “Something Else!” jazz band here in Columbia, which featured Nicole’s and my favorite saxophonist, the (sometimes too) ebullient master of the reeds James Carter.

I did get to listen to and evaluate some new stuff. All things below are listed alphabetically, but I’ve bolded the ones that are really fine. I’m still limiting myself to single-sentence reviews because I am busy with other things. And soon to come will be my update–for what it could possibly be worth to you–of my 10 or 15 or 20 favorite albums of this entire scary year.

New

  1. BASIC: This is Basic (No Quarter)—A pleasing labor of love, in tribute to a widely-felt too-basic ’80s album featuring the corruscating guitarist Robert Quine.
  2. Coco & Clair Clair: Girl (Nice Girl World)–Throbbing bass, cute tunes ‘n’ talk-singing…and the wrong girls to eff with.
  3. Kris Davis: Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic)–The pre-eminent pianist in Stateside improvisatory jazz waxes her first trio record in awhile, which is also showcase for master drummer Johnathan Blake.
  4. Doechii: Alligator Bites Never Hea l (Top Dawg Entertainment / Capitol)–I’m no one to play women against each other–that’s a chump’s game–but rap’s a battle-art no matter who’s spittin’, so maybe team Doechii up with Coco & Clair on an EP and turn ’em loose on some victimizers or some fakes.
  5. El Khat: Mute (Glitterbeat)—At a local record party, a friend played me this Berlin-based Yemeni band’s previous record and I was immediately hooked by its hypnotic clanking and addictive Middle Eastern rhythms; I’ve since acquired their entire catalog–solid!–and this new one might be their best.
  6. Etran de L’Air: 100% Sahara Guitar (Sahel Sounds)–This Agadez wedding band keeps getting better–my esteemed music-enraptured colleague behind the superb Substack newsletter RiotRiot prefers them to Mdou Moctar–and the title speaks for itself.
  7. Fastbacks: For WHAT Reason? (No Threes)–Rock and roll lives, though if you listen through the bright, fast guitar-propelled music, it hasn’t been easy.
  8. Ingebrigt Haker Flaten & (Exit) Knarr: Breezy (Sonic Transmissions)—Flaten and his excellent band (Exit Knarr) follow up the stunning compositions and free playing of their debut by upping the ante with continued inventive writing and the well-timed skronks of guitarist Jonathan Horne.
  9. Floating Points: Cascade (Ninja Tune)–The Pharoah Sanders record didn’t end up knocking my socks off, so, in sampling this as an obligation, I was pleased to find the beats delighted and brightened me.
  10. GALVEZTON: Some Kind of Love (A Tribute to the Velvet Underground) (La Izquierda)–The Feelies did this last year, on a record of pretty much the same title, and the vocals killed it for me, which they DO NOT here…plus I’m fascinated by why these Texans even waxed it.
  11. Darius Jones: Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity)–Jones’ saxophone playing on this soon-come release is emotionally powerful but carefully controlled, and it’s the strongest of what will be eventually nine installments of his “Man’ish Boy” epic (according to the notes) as well as my favorite saxophone record of the year.
  12. LL Cool J: The FORCE (LL Cool J Records)–I’m calling it a comeback, a strong one, though while reading Helen Zahavi’s haunting and harrowing Dirty Weekend, I have questions about his sexual politics.
  13. Allen Lowe & The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong’s America (Constant Sorrow)–No important music chronicler has ever composed and played this well, though I am tempted to boil the four discs down to a master cut and see if it strikes me more deeply.
  14. Satoko Fujii Quartet: Dog Days of Summer (Libra)–Fujii can play piano and compose in any configuration, including fusion, which this kinda is, and though the bassist occasionally exerts too much enthusiasm, I continue to marvel at her flexibility and dream of witnessing her live.
  15. Brandon Seabrook: Object of Unknown Function (Pyroclastic)–Roll over, Bill Orcutt, and tell Bob Quine’s dust the news.
  16. Patrick Shiroishi: Glass House (Otherly Love)—I kid you not, this lovely sax-and-soundscape record is on par (for me) with In a Silent Way, Another Green World, Private Parts, and Ocean of Remembrance as magically calming records to meditate or get to sleep to if you’re troubled
  17. Snotty Nose Rez Kids: Red Future (Savage Mob)—I await anyone’s answer why this trio of First Nations smart-allecks and advancers of tradition aren’t more lauded in the hip hop world…other than that they’re First Nations rappers (they’re a trip love, too).
  18. Thalin, Cravinhos & VCR Slim: Maria Esmeralda (Sujoground)–Brazilian rap of the first order…though I don’t really know enough to know that for sure, I just stayed locked in.
  19. Various Artists: BACaRDi Fest EP (New Money Gang)–Almost 50 minutes of rolling South African beat-flow, if you wanna call that an EP.
  20. Dustin Wong & Gregory Uhlmann: Water Map (Otherly Love)–An engrossing tour of, as one listener puts it, “A river, a cavern, for the mind’s ear.”

New-Old

  1. Unholy Modal Rounders: Unholier Than Thou 7/7/77 (Don Giovanni)—An absolutely essential, impossibly lively, lovably louche–and highly educational–pair of performances led by the mad vocals and scratch-that-itch fiddle of the legendary Peter Stampfel.
  2. Raphael Roginski: Plays John Coltrane and Langston Hughes (Unsound)–Lots of guitar this month, but so be it, and Roginski’s 2015 album–guitar-only but for a few guest vocals–does justice to the title, which I was certain it would not and could not.

Sample the shit!

JULY 2024: The Best Newish Releases I Lived to Listen to This Month

‘Twas hard to squeeze in extended and deep listening this month, what with a long and much-needed vacation in Dauphin Island, Alabama, and difficult family matters, but I hung in there. The beach, two rounds of fresh shrimp off a Bayou Le Batre fishing boat, ample portions of Blue Moon, tons o’ time spent with my very best friends and my beloved (I was the house DJ but stuck to old favorites from our past for the most part–along with Fox Green’s new album*), two great audiobooks that cut the feeling of a long-ass drive in half [Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars and James McBride’s The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (still only 67% finished, so don’t send me any spoilers)], and a late-breaking political surprise have done wonders for my mood. And just finishing Ann Powers’ neat Joni Mitchell book led to that estimable music critic’s possible engagement with an upcoming class of mine, during which the students will read, write, and talk about Powers’ equally sterling tome, Good Booty! I need to quit being so emo on this blog….

OK, to the music: lots of new jazz, a clear-cut AOTY possibility which may surprise my handful of readers (don’t sleep on Corb Lund*!), a face-punch of an envoi from X, a fresh blues/r&b voice from (of all places) Memphis. Dig in!

Recorded in 2024

Note: If listed as “self-released,” know that I tried.

[ahmed]: Giant Beauty (fonstret) – When I came back from vacation, news of this somewhat mysterious multi-national improvisatory unit’s five-disc exploration of bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik’s work piqued me as deeply as I can be piqued, then I discovered they were damned serious about their journey and exciting in making it–then, while prepping this post, I listened to their 2023 Abdul-Malik quest Super Majnoon and it might just be better.

Charles Gayle / Milford Graves / William Parker: WEBO (Black Editions) – Gayle could wail, Graves kept all collaborators on their toes with his nimble mind, feet, hands, and heart (both men have gone to meet ‘Trane), and Parker remains simply the reigning master bassist in jazz, so this 1991 concert–the trio seldom recorded together–is special.

John Escreet: the epicenter of your dreams (Blue Room Music) – The above two records roar, and with everything going on in our world they might be too much; however, the fleet inventiveness of Brit pianist Escreet, who’s worked with players ranging from Dr. Tyshawn Sorey to Floating Points, might be more up your alley, especially with Mark Turner, a kind of 21st century Lester Young, flowing beside him on tenor.

Fox Green*: Light Over Darkness (self-released) – I once yelled in a garage band in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and, if we’d been able to stay together over time, considering what we have otherwise ended up doing with our lives, I’d like to think we could have (only) come within spitting distance of this smart Little Rock Americana-rock unit–and have been proud of that.

Boldy James & Conductor Williams: Across the Tracks (self-released) – I’ve tried with Detroiter James’ last few albums, and they’ve just taken me halfway there, so it’s funny that, among other things, cameos from very young guest MCs put this over for me.

Janel Leppin: Ensemble Volcanic Ash—To March is to Love (Cuneiform) – This is cellist/composer Leppin’s second excellent album of 2024–the first was the wonderfully spacy New Moon in the Evil Age, a duet with her husband Anthony Pirog on which she also sings–and its wide-ranging sounds are anchored by the justifiably ubiquitous bassist Luke Stewart, who along with Leppin is making a run at Jazz Musician of the Year.

Corb Lund*: El Viejo (New West) – This is an AOTY-worthy country concept album about gambling–not simply with a hand of cards–and Lund’s writing (he has occasional assistance) and his band’s living-room playing are astoundingly sharp.

Charles McPherson: Reverence (Smoke Sessions) – Along with Bobby Watson, McPherson is one of the last of the great Charlie Parker torch-carriers, though here he demonstrates that he’s learned plenty of other moves in his eighty-five years on the most recent of a shining run of records…and I get to see him live in a few months!

Moor Mother: The Great Bailout (Deluxe Edition) (Anti-) – Camae Ayewa never takes a historical prisoner, and this is one of two excellent and musically complex Afrofuturism-meets-Europastism records of 2024 (the other being Red Hot Org / Kronos Quartet’s Sun Ra tribute Outer Spaceways Incorporated)–but for that you have to get the deluxe version.

David Murray: Francesca (Intakt) – Twenty years ago, poring over jazz record guides and hunting down a myriad of terrific Murray releases on DIW, I just knew this guy couldn’t keep up such prolific musical fecundity for much longer….

Pet Shop Boys: Nonetheless (Parlophone) – The limited series It’s a Sin, which I took in several years ago, sent me back to luxuriate in the power, wit, and effervescence of the first PSB albums, and, though the world has taken a toll on the last of those, and though “wit” seems too light a word for the wisdom on display here, they remain…unbowed.

Roberto Ottaviano: Lacy in the Sky with Diamonds (Clean Feed) – Jazz fans familiar with the other Steve Lacy probably won’t think that’s a terrible title–the band’s aim in this tribute is to write the mighty soprano saxophonist’s name in the sky, and they nail it, especially the leader.

Red Kross: Red Kross (In the Red) – They definitely still got it, and I really hear prime Raspberries in this one.

Rempis / Adasiewicz / Abrams / Damon (coming in October): Propulsion (Aerophonic Records) – All four of these men are superior improvisors, but Jason Adasiewicz, who last year transformed AACM star Roscoe Mitchell’s compositions into something completely different on an album of his own, is the star, laying a calming bed of imaginative, evocative vibes underneath the others’ blooms of sound.

Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (Atlantic) – Straight outta Willard, Missouri, an unfettered soul that has not a little in common with none other than Little Richard–yeah, I said it!

Christopher Rountree / Wild Up: 3BPM (Brassland) – Though I was a bit disappointed in Wild Up’s fourth volume of Julius Eastman tributes/interpretations, I still buy sound-unheard anything with which they associate their name, and founder Rountree’s debut, enlisting the group’s help, tops it.

Taliba Safiya: Black Magic (self-released EP) – The Memphis blues again–with a vengeance.

SAULT: Acts of Faith (self-released) – Now you’ll have to lean on Soulseek or your pals for it, or wait–I never can with them–and you’ll have to believe me when I say it’s near the top of the group’s pretty solid catalog, thanks to a Mayfieldian streak running through its 32 unbroken minutes.

Ren: Sick Boi (renmakesmusic.com) – Unlike Eminem, Ren’s really ill; also unlike Eminem, Ren’s really ill.

Takkak Takkak: Takkak Takkak (Nyege Nyege Tapes) – It’s hard to keep up with releases from this Kampala label, and I’ve tried, but out of them all, turned up loud, this one thumps so hard and weird I immediately played it twice.

Natsuki Tamura & Satoko Fujii: Aloft (Libra) – Tamura (trumpet) and Fujii (piano) are married in more ways than one; they’ve made several duet albums and their telepathy is well-honed here.

X: Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum) – The band thanks the original Ramones by first name in the notes, open with what sounds like a tribute, then proceed to say so long to us and their partnership in style: Zoom zooming, Bonebrake cracking the skins hard, and John and Exene harmonizing like yesterday was tomorrow. (The LP version was released early, without a lyric sheet, or I’d comment on those–what I could pick up seems appropriately bittersweet.)

New Archival Excavations (a somewhat paltry selection, but I welcome tips):

Bessie Jones, John Davis, the Georgia South Sea Island Singers with Mississippi Fred McDowell and Ed Young: The Complete “Friends of Old-Time Music” Concert (Smithsonian) – The musical Bessie many know best is Smith, the Mississippi bluesman they may be most familiar with John Hurt, but Jones was one of the greatest folk-gospel singers of all-time, and McDowell, best known as the source of The Rolling Stones’ “You Got to Move,” played spiritual tunes with as much–possibly more–stinging fire than he did blues.

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre: Rivbea Live! Series, Volume 1 (No Business) – AACM stalwart meets primo NYC Loft-era setting for serious fireworks.

JUNE 2024–Halfway There: 10 Newish Albums I Lived to Listen To + My 10 Favorite Jazz Albums of 2024 So Far + Encounters with Old Reggae

I really don’t have much to write this month. My mind feels paralyzed; at least my ears are working. Also, I am behind due to being distracted by non-new musical explorations, as you will see. Thus, I am just going to make three lists (this will help me get to THIS faster, too–I need it and I hope it’s great, but I can’t really listen to it until I’m done here).

The 20 Best Albums Released in 2024 That I First Heard This Month (in alphabetical order, but * = really kicking my butt)

Arooj Aftab: Night Reign (Verve)

*Christer Bothen Featuring Bolon Beta: Trancedance—40th Anniversary Edition (Black Truffle reissue)

*Alan Braufman: Infinite Love Tears (The Control Group / Valley of Search)

Jonas Cambien: Macu Conu (Clean Feed)

Charli xcx: BRAT (Atlantic)

*Cosmic Psychos: Go the Hack (Goner Records reissue)

Janel [Leppin] and Anthony [Pirog]: New Moon in the Evil Age (Cuneiform) (The “Janel disc” rools, although they are both on all of it.) (Wait, I said I wasn’t writing.)

*Kronos Quartet: Outer Spaceways Incorporated (Red Hot Org)

*Corb Lund: El Viejo (New West)

*Willie Nelson: The Border (Sony Music)

*Nestor: Teenage Rebel (Napalm Records/Handels GmbH) (I would have hated this in my 20s, in its way its allegiance to the laws of 1980s hard rock–passionate allegiance!–is stunning.) (I’m writing!)

Ngwaka Son Systeme: Iboto Ngenge (Eck Echo Records)

Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo: Pra voce, Ilza (Rocinante Records)

Sexyy Red: In Sexyy We Trust (Rebel/gamma)

Sisso & Maiko: Singeli & Maiko (Nyege Nyege Tapes)

*Swamp Dogg: Blackgrass—From West Virginia to 125th Street (Oh Boy! Records) (I’ve LONG been a fan but this is by far his best record in many moons.)

Rapsody: Please Don’t Cry (We Each Other, Inc. / Jamla Records / Rock Nation Records) (jeeze lou-eeze, even the label/s is/are lonnnng!)

Staples Jr. Singers: Searching (Luaka Bop)

Esy Tadesse: Ahadu (FPE Records)

*Tri-County Liquidators: Shining Through (Hitt Records / Big Cartel EP) (Columbia, MO, locals’ follow-up to an impressive debut shines)

My Top 10 Favorite Jazz Albums of 2024 (In order of preference)

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet: Four Guitars Live (Palilalia)

Miha Gantar: New York City (Clean Feed)

Amaro Freitas: Y’Y (Psychic Hotline)

Satoko Fujii Trio: Jet Black (Libra)

QOW Trio: The Hold Up (Ubuntu)

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

Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville (Hot Cup)

Alan Braufman: Infinite Love Tears (The Control Group / Valley of Search)

Kronos Quartet: Outer Spaceways Incorporated (Red Hot Org)

James Carter: UN (JMI Recordings)

5 Stellar Jazz Excavations from 2024 (in order of preference):

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

Sun Ra: Excelsior Mill (Sundazed / Modern Harmonic)

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

Art Tatum: Jewels in the Treasure Box—The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings (Resonance)

Christer Bothen Featuring Bolon Beta: Trancedance—40th Anniversary Edition (Black Truffle)

OLD REGGAE ALBUMS I’D NEVER HEARD BEFORE WERE MY JUNE SALVATION!

It was all triggered when I rather randomly chose to read Alex Wheatle‘s memoir, Sufferah. Wheatle’s childhood experiences inspired one of the best episodes of Steve McQueen’s limited series Small Axe, all of which I thoroughly loved. Reggae songs were extremely important to Wheatle’s survival as a youth, and he mentioned so many I didn’t know (and I’m pretty well-informed) that I made a playlist as I read (which I accidentally deleted yesterday!). Unsurprisingly, the best of those songs led me to research the albums from which they came via two excellent out-of-print reggae guides, one by Lloyd Bradley, the other by Randall Grass, both acknowledged genre adepts. While researching those, I bumped into non-Wheatle-related records I’d somehow missed. That resulting research led me willy-nilly to Discogs, where–oh hell, I’ll just take a picture. This is the life of a music fanatic folks!

April 2024: Music I Lived to Listen To

I will again try to comment meaningfully on each of the following alphabetically-ordered new release in single complete sentences. Two introductory notes, though:

  1. Later this year, Phil Freeman’s Cecil Taylor biography In the Brewing Luminous will be published. I’m reading a review copy, and I’m here to tell you it’s outstanding. First of all, this book was badly needed, given Taylor’s singular genius and influence; second of all, in well-documented form it gathers much info that’s out there in one place; third, it’s so comprehensive it’s alerted this passionate fan to recordings he’s never heard of; fourth–no surprise with Mr. Freeman–it advances some critical arguments very convincingly; and fifth, in a continuance from Freeman’s stellar electric Miles investigation, Running the Voodoo Down, the author excels–really excels–at describing a furious, sometimes byzantine music in very distinctive and accurate detail. That’s a trick I really envy; if I could do a fifth as good a job as Freeman, I’d be writing about jazz much more frequently. Check out Phil’s chock-full Burning Ambulance Substack to learn more.
  2. I’m not that much a fan of Light in the Attic’s new Lou Reed tribute The Power of the Heart–at all–but that damn Bobby Rush will be ninety-one in November, and if Sally truly can’t dance, he sure as hell can. He elides a few phrases in Reed’s lyric I bet he wasn’t wholly comfortable with, but he, as per usual for many, many years, sells the song. Hear it in the Spotify Playlist linked at the bottom!

April Top 15 New Platters:

Byron Asher’s Skrontch Music: Lord, when you send the rain (Sinking City)–Like Asher’s previous Skrontch Music album, the problems of New Orleans’ (and other places’) present send him backwards into the future, with spoken clips, traditional instrumentation, and post-modern feints and juxtapositions helping us get why.

Bruno Berle: No Reino Dos Afetos 2 (Psychic Hotline)–The Bandcamp description of this soothing singer’s project (the first volume is excellent, too) informs us that lo-fi, dub step, and other ingredients are utilized to help Berle break away from the Brazilian expected–but I also note that it notes the album’s “sun-soaked” and “sun-drenched” affect, so maybe that’s just historical gravity, not at all a bad thing.

Beyonce: Cowboy Carter (Parkwood Entertainment)–OK, so it’s not all that country (please dig out featured vet Linda Martell’s Color Me Country if you want that)–it’s just a really good Beyonce album, but, with much less pre-release hype and in-release bombast, I’d argue Mickey Guyton made a stronger statement with Remember Her Name in ’21 without riding a horse or wearing a cowboy hat (plus she turned whiskey into wine).

Buck 65, doseone, Jel: North American Adonis (Handsmade)–Rap earworm line of the year from this on-a-serious-verbal-roll Canadian MC is that he bets his CDs are gonna be “alive in a landfill”–that’s thinking ahead.

Cedric Burnside: Hill Country Love (Mascot / Provogue)–The North Mississippi Hill Country blues practitioners are getting whittled down something considerable, R. L.’s grandson’s has gamely tried keep the style alive with some gently modern tweaks, and he finally nails it here.

James Carter: UN (J.M.I. Recordings)–J.M.I.’s cutting analog jazz vinyl, and, while I have not heard them all (David Murray’s 2023 offerings, solo and with Plumb, were impressive), this is tops for them so far, causing one to wonder why it’s taken JC this long to wax an unaccompanied set…though I’m still waiting for his Earl Bostic tribute album.

Big Freedia & The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra: Live at the Orpheum Theater (Queen Diva)–A bounce orchestra’s taking it too far, you might think, but you SHOULD already know not to sell the Queen Diva short.

Miha Gantar: New York City (Clean Feed)–When I received a digital review copy of this 5-disc collection of new compositions and improvisations by the 26-year-old Slovenian pianist, I rolled my eyes but, as I have sworn to do with these “gifts,” gave it a shot–then found myself so mesmerized not only by the variable moods and configurations (strings, solo, drums only, collab with sax sensation Zoh Amba, etc.), but also by the distinctiveness of the six-count-’em-six pieces that I listened to the whole thing straight through and determined that it’s my favorite jazz release of the year.

Matt Lavelle and the 12 Houses: The Crop Circles Suite, Part 1 (Mahakala Music)–NYC clarinetist, trumpeter, composer and conductor Lavelle, long a very underrated player on the jazz scene, released this, (it looks like the first half of) his “life’s work,” on his 54th birthday: easily one of the genre’s most ambitious, successful and inspiring records of the young year.

Meshell Ndegeocello (and Friends): Red Hot & Ra – The Magic City (Red Hot Org)–You know you cannot resist the pull of the perennially underrated Ndegeocelleo, assisted by jazz compatriots Immanuel Wilkins and Darius Jones, putting a fresh spin on The Sun One–which the Red Hot Org label seems recently dedicated to doing, with a Kronos Quartet set in the offing.

Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3 + 3 (Cuneiform)–More and more predictably, when you put Reid and guitarist Mary Halvorson in the same room, sparks will fly along with those fingers, and aural magic will be the result, as it is here.

Ann Savoy: Another Heart (Smithsonian Folkways)–Surprise of the month: a passionate combo of covers (Springsteen, Sandy Denny, Kinks!) and originals sung and played by acclaimed Cajun historian and member of one of the style’s most acclaimed and hardest working families, a Top-Tenner to my ears (and…heart).

Reyna Tropical: Reyna Tropical (Psychic Hotline)–I swear I’ve run into one of these albums every month for a couple of years: a moody, sexy, lithely swinging, electronic trance-r&b–maybe in this case, yeah, trance–tropical–album that I can’t quit playing and beats monkey gland shots or whatever, which means I might need to dive into the artist’s considerable (for her age) back catalog.

Fay Victor: Life is Funny That Way—Herbie Nichols Sung (TAO Forms)–I’ll admit that, while an earlier 2024 group from Brazil did successfully sing Bill Evans, I thought star-crossed jazz pianist Nichols’ quirky compositions were too high a hurdle, but then I didn’t know diddley about Victor, whose scatting isn’t just experimental but vies with Carter, McRae, Ross, and Vaughan (stylistically, not really Ella, though) at their most daring; the band makes it over the bar as clearly.

Bob Vylan: Humble as the Sun (Ghost Theater)–A youngster for our times, though, compared to his last two records, this one seems almost autumnal, as if the pure revolutionary fire he regularly lights has prematurely aged him–but these times can do that, too.

April Top 10 Old Platters [Post-Record Store Day CD Meteor Shower (for me, every day is RSD)].

Alice Coltrane: The 1971 Carnegie Hall Concert (Impulse!)–The latest entry in the Alice Coltrane revival is the rowdiest and maybe the best, thanks to horns shaking things up.

Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru: Souvenirs (Mississippi Records)–As they do a Professor Longhair platter, all homes that dig music need a record by the recently-departed, ghost-fingered Ethiopian pianist and nun, but this is her first recording with vocals, which I wasn’t completely certain hadn’t slowed down her already sauntering roll–but, upon two more listens, I was wrong again.

Grupo Irakere: Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital (Mr. Bongo)–Cuban bands come no hotter than this one, and this is their long-unavailable debut recording (and it’s not just hot).

Rail Band: Rail Band (Mississippi Records)–Another debut recording by a legendary band, this one from Mali, this one too long-unavailable, and featuring not one but two legendary vocalists:  Salif Keita and Mory Kanté.

Sonny Rollins: Freedom Weaver–The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance)–My good pal Chris Gray, referring to this album, wondered who could complain about “live Rollins ’59,” and. while I whole-heartedly agree, especially since Sonny’s working in a trio format, Sonny would soon hit the bridge to…woodshed; I promise you that if you’re ever this good at what you do that you think you’re not good enough, you might just need lysergic therapy. (Note: RSD 2024 choice now available on CD.)

Sun Ra: At the Showcase Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (Elemental Music)–Ra in Chicago, always a spot for top-of-the-line spaceworks, with the band orbiting. (Note: RSD 2024 choice now available on CD.)

Art Tatum: Jewels In the Treasure Box (Resonance)–Mainly, you need to know this Tatum is in trio mode, which naturally cuts into his usual carnival of pianistics but also allows guitarist Everett Barksdale and legendary bassist Slam Stewart to show their scintillating stuff. (Note: RSD 2024 choice now available on CD.)

Various Artists: Congo Funk! Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Analog Africa)–Key words: “Congo,” “Funk!” (exclamation point earned), “Sound Madness,” “Mighty”–and “Analog Africa; in other words, “Merde, putain, lâche-toi le cul et jam !” (Et j’adore de la confiture!)

Various Artists: New York City Hardcore: The Way It Is (Revelation Records)–I had not heard of any of these bands, but all the vocalists sound in some way like my best friend, former ranter, opera buff, free jazz buff, French-Canadian advocate, European football nut, and scientist Mark Pelletier, so it’s a win.

Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors Live in Antwerp (Elemental Music)–Both these now-underrated instrumentalists started out trad, in a way–pianist Waldron accompanying twilight-era Billie Holiday, soprano saxophonist Lacy playing New Orleans jazz–but ended up taking things just out enough to be trenchantly in, and they were master players, especially live, and here they are backed by two more flexible and pretty legendary rhythm controllers you heard about last week: bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille. (Note: RSD 2024 choice now available on CD–and it might be the pick of the litter.)

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST:

LABELS TO WATCH: Psychic Hotline (Durham, North Carolina), Sinking City (always—New Orleans), Mahakala Music (Little Rock, Arkansas)

February 2024: Music I Lived to Listen To (Plus Stuff)

I think I’m going to stick to recommending just 10 new albums I enjoyed each month and highlighting some non-2024 beauties, then maybe compiling a comprehensive list at the end of June and, finally, at the end of December. Those endlessly unspooling scrolls were starting to drive me nuts, and I need additional storage in my skull. And, let’s face it, the great Tom Hull has the long-list category wrapped up like Sam & Dave. And…I need to write a bit, even if it isn’t all that insightful, as opposed to simple enthusing.

FEBRUARY TOP 10

Beyonce: “Texas Hold ‘Em” b/w “16 Carriages” (Parkwood Entertainment)—I unequivocally love this imaginary 45, which is no small statement from me, as I (like others I have observed) have issues with imperial projection. I have spent many years begging young students to understand that Black Americans have been making (and loving) (and spreading) what can fairly be called country music since the 1920s, I’ve been rigorously pointing out their growing current visibility in that genre over the last few years…so this impassioned foray is so very welcome. I feel more warmly toward Mickey Guyton, but these songs make her sound like Nancy Wilson. I can only chuckle at country radio programmers trying to stop Country Bey.

Burnt Sugar: The Reconstru​-​Ducted Repatriation Road​-​Rage ReMiXeS [of “Angels Over Oakanda’] (self-released)—a cheat, in a way, as you can only obtain it by buying the vinyl version of the band’s wonderful Angels Over Oakand (or by illegally download it, but please honor and remember Greg Tate with cash). It’s sonically and creatively warped enough for one to need it as much as the original, which is among the best of Tate’s stew of funk, ‘70s Miles, Afrofuturist soul, and a sprinkling of Hendrix.

George Cartwright’s GloryLand PonyCats: Black Ants Crawling (Mahakala Records)—I am very loyal to Cartwright’s record label (free and experimental jazz out of Hot Springs, Arkansas? Yes, Pharoah was from Little Rock, but check the variety and volume of the music it puts out). Here, Aylerian alto/tenor saxophonist Cartwright and two comrades collaborate for a honking, skittering recording which the title fits perfectly.

Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Still Alive (Nonesuch)—I have been rooting for Alynda Segarra since their first records; their story, their concerns, their songwriting, their conviction have always added up to my jam, but somehow their singing and music never put them over the top for me beyond first (and sometimes second) listen. This grabbed me from the first line, and, as a friend texted me, “This is a 2024 record for sure. A keeper.” The vocals sound more confident and more charged, the music doesn’t get in the way, and songs like “Hawkmoon,” “Snake Plant,” and “Colossus of Roads” forced me out of my dedication to a straight-through first hearing and into repeat plays. The inclusion of a voice mail from their late father broke my heart. I proceeded to buy the physical copy, which, I suppose, is my signal that an album is in all ways (yes, Brett) a keeper. I’m glad I hung in there.

Legendary Singing Stars: Good Old Way (Music Maker Foundation)—Yet again, here’s a label/company I believe in. It’s dedicated to getting our last generation of long-term practitioners of blues and gospel on record and into solid financial standing. Everything it touches is not exactly gold, but they seem more successful finding and recording gospel acts, and this is a great example. One might not trust the group name (“Legendary? I never heard of ‘em!”) and at first glance the title isn’t mouth-watering, but here’s some enticing tidbits: it’s live and passionate (a tribute to co-founder Tommy Ellison, who passed from cancer), the set list is certainly not the gospel same-ole, and they’re straight out of…Brooklyn. Moving.

Molly Lewis: On the Lips (Jagjaguwar)—Yes, I remember her whistling in Barbie, and it was neat. And, among other magic powers, Toots Thielemans could jazz his lips. When I noted that Lewis had a record out, I thought to myself, “I don’t need a whistler’s record” (how many of you wrestle with record need?). But…well…Pitchfork reviewed it, the cover photo and title stimulated me, I did think of Thielemans, who’s a personal favorite, and I streamed it. COOL! Noirish, mischievous, winsome, varied, catchy—in short, one of a kind and the kind of cute I go for. Please, Lord or whatever, do not let Lana Del Rey fold her in.

QOW Trio: The Hold Up (Ubuntu)—Norway jazz aficionado Chris Monsen has an unerring ear for great jazz, especially if it’s not of the States (though he’s reliable on that subject, too). He recommends one new jazz record a week and I do not question him; he provides a link, I click, and I listen. It’s scary! I fancy myself antiauthoritarian, but I do not question Chris. He recommended this release by an English unit earlier this month, and as I was doing his bidding (but also reading and not really homed in), I suddenly sat up from the couch, and said aloud (I was alone—I’m getting old), “Damn, that sounds like Sonny Rollins!” Sad secret: I don’t even read Chris’ reviews of these albums; I just play them first and go back and read them after—that’s trust. So I grabbed my phone, looked at the album track list, and bugged out at the closer: “I’m an Old Cowhand”! Suffice it to say that, if you’re missing new Rollins—we’re long past the end of that line, sadly—you best check this out. Saxophonist Riley Stone Lonergan is no imitator; he’s got his own sense of line, but he steams along with a very powerful tone and has a very familiar sense of humor. The rest of the trio are clearly listening—in some ways, also, more responsive than some of the master’s trios—resulting in an “A” recording. I’m working my way through their previous offerings, and this one’s no fluke. Isn’t it funny how often you’re reminded that you haven’t listened to every great thing?

Joel Ross: Nublues (Blue Note)—I’ve seen Ross thrice: leading a combo and supporting Makaya McCraven and Immanuel Wilkins, respectively. As a player, he’s an angular wonder. I have not been blown away by the recordings he’s made under his own name, but he always makes me sit up and take notice as a sideman. This, I think, is easily his best solo record, and if you feel reluctant when you notice the jazz classics (two well-worn Tranes and a Monk) he’s covering on it, suppress the urge to move on and listen to the interpretive magic he brings to them. His originals are great as well.

Split System: Volume 2 (Legless)—No, garage punk ain’t over. Never has been in Australia. Following a lead from Memphis’ Goner Records—if you’re starved for forcebeat and two- or three-chord energy (or general aggressive outsider weirdness, Memphian and otherwise), subscribe to their mailing list—I checked out this Melbourne unit and they are like running into an electric fence. Fans of Eddy Current Suppression Ring should not tarry, but these guys don’t go on as long. Volume 1? Also, highly recommended.

Ms. Boogie & Ky Ani: The Breakdown (Ms. Boogie Records)—The surprise of the month for me. The New York rapper got a good notice from Pitchfork, but I’ve cooled a little on its rap recs, so streamed this to get it over with. Boom. They rap-whisper, in a way—like what they have to tell are secrets, but secrets one has to fight—daily. Try “Build Me Up,” where the church they attend and need wants them dead, for a convincer.

OLD & MISCELLANEOUS STUFF

Dennis Gonzalez: (with Yells with Eels and his sons) Cape of Storms (featuring Louis Moholo-Moholo / Resurrection and Life (featuring Alvin Fielder) / The Great Bydgosczc Concert (featuring Rodrigo Amado); (with Inspiration Band) Nile River Suite (featuring Henry Grimes)—The Abilene-born and Dallas/FW-headquartered Gonzalez is the most underappreciated jazz composer and bandleader of the post-Trane era. There, I said it. The music journalist Ken Shimamoto, who has been a far kinder Stanley Crouch to Gonzalez’s much more interesting Wynton Marsalis, says it better in one of the last editions of the Penguin Guide to Jazz, and Ken’s the friend that firmly advised me to sample his work. Since I did, it’s been Sally-bar-the-door. Gonzalez’s trumpet and pen knew endless variations, his sons (on bass and drums in the Yells with Eels band) were more than just acolytes, and by the time he died in 2022, he’d gained the respect of many jazz masters. Great starting points for all three claims are these records, which also showcase the distinctive movement and energy Gonzalez’s writing stimulated and prove how wonderfully he engaged with drummers. I used to experience Dylan fixations, and Lou Reed still puts a ring through my nose for weeks, but this month was the fourth time I found myself awash in Gonzalez’s work. You can’t miss with these if you’re adventurous, like some structure with your freedom, and simply want to catch up.

Trouble in Mind (THE Jerry Lee Lewis Documentary, directed by Ethan Coen)—I have been a serious Jerry Lee fan since I first heard “Crazy Arms” and read Nick Tosches’ Hellfire, I own several Killer books and docs, and, even with a Coen Brother at the helm and Mick Jagger, T-Bone Burnett, and Callie Khouri producing, I was skeptical that a) we needed another Lewis documentary, and b) anyone could really do justice to such an enigmatic force of nature, both dangerous and life-affirming. I was wrong again. In 74 minutes of mostly Jerry Lee, through clips, telling his own stories and footage even most JLL adepts have never seen, they nail it. Lone caveat: minutes and minutes of Mickey Gilley and some drama from Jimmy Swaggart, and A FEW SECONDS (!!!!) of Lewis’ wild-assed piano-pounding sister Linda Gail, who got married (the first time out of NINE—the current number as of today, I think) so she could get laid properly under the gaze of God? That’s a serious “what the fuck?” but this documentary is still very much worth your time.

Exploring Gong Culture of Southeast Asia: Massif and Archipelago—A Project by Yasuhiro Morinaga (Sub Rosa)—A typical music junkie Internet experience: I was looking for something else when I saw an ad for a Smithsonian-style collection of gong music from Cambodia. As if my cyber-brakes weren’t working, I kept clicking past it, then tried to back track and lost it. I don’t know how. I wanted gong music so badly (my lip’s always hook-ready) that, after trying in vain to find the album I’d seen an image of, I plugged “gong Cambodia” into a Discogs search and this appeared at the top of the list. I noticed the cover alluded to a David Toop intro, so—what the hell?—like Patty Hearst did to Roland’s Thompson gun, I bought it. It’s been playing enchantingly throughout my drafting this. Certain people, you know what to do!

January 2024: Music I Lived to Listen To (Plus Stuff)

Happy New Year! In the interesting of preserving my sanity–I hereby validate the fears of some of my handful of readers, upon scanning 200+-album lists, that I must be compromising my mental health–I am going to try to do something new with this blog in 2024. First, I’m not going to keep a running list; every month, I’m first going to list the 10-15 new records that grabbed me that month; then, I am going to gab about old stuff (not just reissues and archival digs) plus music-related experiences I had–yes, I don’t just lay on the couch surrounded by cats with my nose in a book and 10-12 albums queued up to play on or through my stereo. I do live. Sorry, as you might already have surmised–I’m really talking to myself. So here goes.

My Favorite 10 New Releases of the Month (alphabetically presented)

*Archival or Reissue

Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville/ Advancing on a Wild Pitch: Disasters, Volume 2 (both featuring the writing and playing of Moppa Elliott—known for leading the oft-exciting and -interesting band Mostly Other People Do The Killing—and both on Hot Cup Records)

I’ve enjoyed several records by MOPDTK in the past, but didn’t dig in enough to know that Elliott led the band from behind his bass. The guy has definite ideas about how to name a band. Seriously speaking, these two records are very strong jazz, the former highlighting compositions by jazz great Sam Jones via a terrific nine-piece band that features the impressive young guitarist Ava Mendoza excelling in a more disciplined format than I’ve ever heard her in, the latter, also conceptual but moodier, made up of compositions representing preventable Pennsylvania disasters that will have me checking out Volume 1.

Friends & Neighbors: Circles (Clean Feed)

Straight out of Trondheim, Norway, this quintet contributes to my growing feeling that I straight-up love Scandinavian jazz. I’m sure there’s BAD Scandinavian jazz, but I’ve been engaged by almost every such record I’ve heard in the last few years. Unsurprisingly, given the band and album name, Ornette is close to this band’s heart, and you can hear it.

Satoko Fujii Trio: Jet Black/ Satoko Fujii and Kaze: Unwritten (both on Libra Records)

I knew nothing about the astoundingly prolific and consistently powerful Japanese pianist Fujii until I wound up on a mailing list and received a few review copies that sent me on a deep dive into her OVER 100 HUNDRED RELEASES and she shows no signs of slowing down. Whether working in a small or large combo, she composes and plays pieces that have very focused moods and complex structures, while allowing room for improvisations by her always high-quality supporting casts. I think of her work as stormy and meditative, and she works seemingly endless variations on producing that feeling. These two records are a great start for the beginner.

Ghetto Brothers: Power-Fuerza (Vampisoul)*

Vampisoul is a Spanish label I keep a close eye on because they often package very interesting vintage releases inexpensively. For example, they offer loads of ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s cumbia; I’ve pigged out on those without being disappointed. The label calls this one a “Latin funk classic,” but it’s also got some decent romantic songs. You might have to be a bit patient.

Enrique Heredia Trio (with Pere Soto and Xavi Castillo): Plays Herbie Nichols (Fresh Sound Jazz)

I know little about Heredia or the other members of his trio, but I instantly purchased this due to my love for the short-lived Nichols’ distinctive compositions (see also A. B. Spellman’s book Four Lives in the Be-Bop Business). I wasn’t sure how a guitar trio would navigate them, but just when you think Heredia is fading into that kind of picking you’ve never liked in this genre, he leans into some mild distortion and slurring to keep you upright. The trio works up a killer groove while staying true to Nicols’ originality.

Abdullah Ibrahim: 3 (Gearbox)

The South African pianistic master turns 90 this October and he sounds undimmed in this studio-and-live trio recording (double bass/cello + flute/piccolo!) featuring his own compositions plus a few by Monk, Ellington and others.

Anna Kiviniemi Trio: Eir (We Jazz)

If you do not follow Chris Monsen’s Substack and you—like me, as I just said—like Scandinavian jazz, please rectify that, as Mr. Monsen has a nigh-infallible ear. I picked up on his plug for this, and was surprised and delighted by its gentle, inventive eloquence. It’s a pretty good month for jazz trio records, if haven’t noticed and /or trust me.

Mark Masters and Adam Shroeder: CT! (Capri Records)

I’ll put it simply: this big band tribute to the work of the irrepressible trumpeter and fluegelhorn enthusiast Clark Terry for the occasion of his 100th birthday is smashing because it captures Terry’s uplifting energy. I’m not that much of a big band fan, but the ebullience of the group quickened my pulse, and Terry would definitely have approved. Masters arranges brilliantly and bari saxophonist leads the group.

Malcria: Fantasias Histericas(Iron Lung)

Had enough of me pluggin’ jazz? Well, ok then: how ‘bout some Mexican hardcore punk? Me, I needed it, and I bet Mexico does, too. I’ve yet to dive into translations, but they kick ass…and I think they’re on the side of the angels.

Montanera: A Flor de Piel (Western Vinyl)

I have developed a weakness for chanteuses embedded in atmospheric musical settings and seeming to sing in very specific chains like the sea. I don’t trust myself in my warm response to this Colombian with a master’s, but my students walked in to her music yesterday and were inspired to ask about it, so maybe I’m right. Isabelia Herrera makes a fascinating case for the album on Pitchfork that is beyond my means, and it feels right. The title apparently translate to “on edge” or “at skin level,” which adds a level of richness to listen for.

R.A.P. Ferreira & Fumitake Tamura: the First Fist to Make Contact When We Dap (Alpha Pup)

Trust Ferreira’s own words about the release, via the album’s Bandcamp site: “…this album more than any other i’ve made encapsulates my vision of rap music. it is free. it is international. it is beloved. it is sharp and silly. it presents one way and participates another. it flexes and is flexible. there is study and there is the mystical. slices and crumbs. it’s something my whole family listened to and enjoyed first.” And trust the words he spits that live up to that vision. He continues to honor the work of one of his guiding lights, Bob Kaufman.

Lou Reed: Hudson River Meditations (Light in the Attic)*

Frankly, my wife and I meditate. This music was created to support that, and it does. The opening track is ideally looped for focused awareness of just being; the bass throb of the second reminds you of your body. Well, that’s enough for now, but I can listen to it for pleasure and reading, too.

Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope (Loma Vista)

I have never been an S-K fanatic—I saw them live on the last Weiss tour and they rocked my ass, and I still dig and dig out Dig Me Out—and the last couple haven’t helped, but I really like this one. The writing’s excellent, the drums are fine…but there’s a new Rosanne Cash-like ache to Tucker’s vocals I hadn’t picked up before that keeps me locked in.

Kali Uchis: Orquideas (Geffen)

Uchis keeps getting better. She’s very assured here, her singing and the rhythms are very seductive, and…again…I have three obligations in this list alone…I need to check out the translations, but I love the sound of her singing in Spanish. Sound is enough.

Wildernauts: Wildernauts (Don Giovanni)

It’s a joy to hear Pete Stampfel’s voice further up the road to recovery—really, he’s there—and his fiddle joyfully scratching out not only some old ones but also (as far as I can tell) a new weird and funny one called “Peyote Blues.”

My Favorite Music Experiences, Late Discoveries and Dives Into Music I Already Have But Barely Have Time to Listen To (One-Sentence Limit!)

Musical Poker Night—at almost 62, I’ve lost several friends and sometimes feel isolated and lonely for buds, but, thanks to someone’s recommendation, I was invited to a kind of “Record Poker” night where we took turns playing stuff for each other, and, while I created a Carnival theme out of the 45s I brought, I got to hear some interesting noise records and some really quite fetching proto-dream-pop by Terry “Seasons in the Sun” Jacks’ sister!

Danny Brown—Everything I’ve ever heard by him I’ve liked, but due, I think, to the avalanche of stuff that rumbles into my ears, I’d never “taken his CDs to the truck” for a very close listen: Be Real 2.0 with much better range in subject matter and mood, plus it’s got to be hard to pull off autumnal rap.

Chet Baker book leads to Twardzik and Freeman—I finally cracked and read James Gavin’s painful Chet Baker bio Deep in a Dream, in which the facts reveal Baker able to make Jerry Lee Lewis seem like David Gates, but at least I was moved to check out the pianistics of the doomed Dick Twardzik (whom Baker may have left to die when he was overdosing) and the not-doomed Russ Freeman (check out Richard Meltzer’s interview with him in A Whore Just Like the Rest).

Hannah Ewens and Fans—I am just a really big fan of UK Rolling Stone editor and FANGIRLS author Hannah Ewens—I have an “intellectual” rock and roll crush on her, I think—and chose to teach that book to my current group of college freshman, unaware that it would perfectly dovetail into Taylor Swift ruining football and prove Ewens’ wisdom.

Birmingham Influence—Did you know how wide Birmingham, Alabama’s influence was on nearly the whole of pre-WWII jazz (plus post- if you count Sun Ra and Basie’s rebound), because if you didn’t, please read Burgin Mathews’ Magic City, which one of my remaining great buds (almost all of whom live miles upon miles away) gave me for Christmas.

Cuticles!!!—Why the hell didn’t I know (too late for the lists) that one of the best rock and roll albums of 2023 is funny as hell and came out of New Zealand—someone shoulda told me, and thankfully Isaac Davila did, albeit this month?

Embarrassment Documentary + Toons—I was an Embarrassment fan back in their days, but hadn’t listened to them in awhile, and I bet neither have you; should you want to change that, please watch the documentary We Were Famous Once, Don’t You Remember, one of the best-ever made on an ‘80s indie band, this one from WICHITA, not LAWRENCE!!!

Joni Mitchell Carnegie Hall Thrills—I have very mixed feelings about these big boxes repackaging a ton of stuff we already have, but by god, this concert wedged into the Asylum Years set makes my short hairs stand up for most of its duration, and I prefer her backed by a band.

IT ENDS HERE: My Favorite Albums of 2023

As DJ Heraclitus said, you can’t listen to the same record twice. I was lucky to simply listen to each of these records once (I at least did that), and many of them changed with me when (if?) I came back to them. Anohni’s, though, held my top spot for most of the year and finished there: it’s not a fun record, but this ain’t a fun planet, and I don’t live in a fun state (Missouri), and her album title rings too true around here and so many other places in the world. It’s a reminder to keep fighting, keep living, and keep loving–as well as to knock people off that bridge–and it documents an artist whose singing and writing has grown considerably over the years (the commitment was always there). I might have been influenced by her appearance in two 2023 books on Lou Reed, which caused me to re-examine her early work as well as the Berlin DVD. Anyway, the untamed Niafunke guitarist Bounaly made a strong run at her top spot, even took it for a spell, but that was pure rush instead of a finely honed artistic statement of the times, so…I ended up sticking to my guns. Support trans human beings and fight the heartless to the end.

It was a stunning year for jazz, of all challenging and/or beautiful stripes, and (across genres, too) women continue to make their mark (see next ‘graf). Canto, Chimaera, and Beyond Dragons were among the Top 10 jazz records of the year by anyone, period. The indefatigable Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii (as usual) delivered multiple engaging albums of her own as well as participating in those of others (see the list–they all made it unless I missed one). Make it a 2024 project to investigate her if you’ve yet to.

Jamila Woods took Joni Mitchell to the southside of Chicago. Gina Birch still wears her Docs and plays her bass loud. boygenius are girlgenius. Jessie Ware made us feel good when Roisin Murphy made us feel bad or at best confused. Romy delivered a gorgeous, same-sex-heartbroke (please excuse my awkwardness), late-night electronic telegram. Transformative, liberating lightning hit Corinne Bailey Rae. Big Freedia grew bigger. Kari Faux, Sexxy Red, and–on a different level–K. Michelle handled their shit on the urban streets of the midwest and midsouth. And…oh yeah…Olivia (though could she not have totally rocked OUT on SNL?).

It’s easy to dismiss old soul-blues dudes. I beg of you, LISTEN: 90-year-old Bobby Rush waxed a record that isn’t just good for a nonagenarian–he can still sing, pick, blow, and parse the times with players a quarter of his age–and relative greenhorn Robert Finley handed in a hard-assed, funny, and deep record that Dan Auerbach endowed with just the right touch, do not fear.

Last, this year was the first time I actually witnessed a Top-Tenner play in person. The Columbia Experimental Music Festival went out with a bang, bringing in the titanic tenor of James Brandon Lewis, whose 2-CD For Mahalia / These are Soulful Days (the latter one of the greatest jazz-horn-with-strings performance ever recorded) was the peak of his relatively brief career. We got to see him play with one of his favorite drummers, Chad Taylor, and they ’bout blew the top off of the First Baptist Church of Columbia, Missouri. Speaking of the CEMF, the ending of which has at least temporarily crippled our music scene, its founder Matt Crook somehow found a way to bring the Ukrainian pianist and inventor of continuous music, Lubomyr Melnyk, to town for a solo piano performance in our historic Methodist church downtown. Melnyk debuted a piece called “The Sacred Thousand” at the concert; it had not yet been recorded in the studio. The Bandcamp site for the recently released version says it best: The piece is “[d]edicated to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who held out against the enormous Russian army for several weeks in the Azov Steel Plant of Mariupol…. it is a spiritual journey into the soul of man… into the Beautiful Depths of our spiritual strength.”

Thank all of you who have visited this blog and worried that I hadn’t bathed in weeks in order to keep up. I have indeed listened to most of these albums at least twice and I vouch for their ability to move you. IF you’re receptive. Happy hollerdays and may 2024 not crush us.

My Final 2023 List

–If an album makes the list, it sounds and feels to me like the equivalent of a Pitchfork 7.5 or better, an All Music 3 ½ stars or better, or an Xgauvian **Honorable Mention or better.
–At this point, one can assume that my Top 20-50 sound to me the equivalent of an A-, but I’m a teacher in my other incarnation, so watch me for grade inflation. It cannot be assumed safely, though, that my Top 10 are all straight A’s.
–After the first 50, my “rankings” are a bit loose—though I’ve been toning them up to represent comparative quality to the degree my sanity is not threatened; similarly, the entirety of my “Excavations and Reissues” I rank pretty loosely other than the Top 10 (in this “final” case).

Items in bold are new to the list I posted at the end of the previous month. I just added a few today—and I’m done.

  1. Anohni: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)
  2. Bounaly: Dimanche a Bamako (Sahel Sounds)
  3. James Brandon Lewis: For Mahalia (with Love) (AUM Fidelity 2-CD version)
  4. Jessie Ware: That! Feels Good! (Universal)
  5. Lubomyr Melnyk: The Sacred Thousand (Jersika Records)
  6. Gina Burch: I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)
  7. boygenius: the record (Interscope)
  8. Robert Finley: Black Bayou (Easy Eye)
  9. Romy: Midair (Young)
  10. Jamila Woods: Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar)
  11. Sylvie Couvousier: Chimaera (Intakt)
  12. Noname: Sundial (AWAL Recordings America)
  13. Buck 65: Punk Rock B-Boy (self-released)
  14. The Mark Lomax II Trio: Tapestry (CFG Multimedia)
  15. Miguel Zenon & Luis Perdomo: El Arte del Bolero, Volume 2 (ArcArtists)
  16. Wild Up: Julius Eastman, Volume 3—If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich? (New Amsterdam)
  17. 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
  18. Corinna Bailey Rae: Black Rainbows (Black Rainbows)
  19. Zach Bryan: Zach Bryan (Belting Bronco)
  20. Armand Hammer: We Buy Diabetes Test Strips (Backwoodz Studios)
  21. Big Freedia: Central City (Queen Diva)
  22. Buck 65: Super Dope (self-released)
  23. Ohad Talmor: Back to the Land (Intakt)
  24. The Fugs: Dancing in the Universe (Fugs Records)
  25. Olivia Rodrigo: Guts (Geffen)
  26. Jason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield (Yes Records)
  27. Hamell on Trial: Bring the Kids (Saustex)
  28. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Maps (Backwoodz Studios)
  29. Gard Nilssen’s Supersonic Orchestra: Family (We Jazz)
  30. Aesop Rock: Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers)
  31. Mark Turner: Live at the Village Vanguard (Giant Step Arts)
  32. Assiko Golden Band de Grand Yoff: Magg Tekki (Mississippi Records)
  33. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Spirit Gatherer—A Tribute to Don Cherry (Spiritmuse)
  34. Wadada Leo Smith: Fire Illuminations (Kabell)
  35. Meshell Ndegeocello: The Omnichord Real Book (Blue Note)
  36. Adriana Calcanhotto: Errante (BMG)
  37. Tyler Mitchell Octet: Sun Ra’s Journey featuring Marshall Allen (Cellar Live)
  38. Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah & Chief Adjuah: Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (Ropeadope)
  39. National Information Society: Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
  40. Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (ESP-Disk)
  41. Liv.e: Girl in The Half Pearl (Real Life / AWAL)
  42. Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid, and Savannah Harris: Beyond Dragons (Intakt)
  43. Jelly Roll: Whitsitt Chapel (Stoney Creek)
  44. Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (Rune Grammofon)
  45. Filipe Catto: Belezas Sao Coisis Acesas por Dentro (Joia Moderna)
  46. Dropkick Murphys: Okemah Rising (Dummy Luck Music)
  47. Susan Alcorn: Canto (Relative Pitch)
  48. DJ Maphorisa & Tman Xpress: Chukela (New Money Gang)
  49. Jason Adasiewicz: Roscoe Village—The Music of Roscoe Mitchell (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  50. K. Michelle: I’m the Problem (No Color No Sound)
  51. Janelle Monae: The Age of Pleasure (Bad Boy)
  52. Joe McPhee and Bill Orcutt: A Mouth at Both Ends (ISSUE)
  53. Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five—In the garden (Constellation)
  54. Kari Faux: REAL BITCHES DON’T DIE (drunk sum wtr records)
  55. Brandy Clark: Brandy Clark (Warner)
  56. Ashley McBryde: The Devil I Know (Warner Nashville)
  57. Sexxy Red: Hood Hottest Princess (Open Shift)
  58. Poli & The Gwo Ka Masters: Abri Cyclonique (Real World)
  59. Bobby Rush: All My Love for You (Deep Rush / Thirty Tigers)
  60. Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light (Impulse! / Verve)
  61. Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)
  62. Yaeji: With a Hammer (XL Recordings)
  63. Bettye LaVette: LaVette! (Jay-Vee)
  64. London Brew: London Brew (Concord)
  65. William Hooker: Flesh & Bones (Org Music)
  66. Tyshawn Sorey: Continuing (Pi Recordings)
  67. J.D. Allen: This (Savant)
  68. Ryoko Ono & Satoko Fujii: Hakuro (label unknown)
  69. Rodrigo Campos: Pagode Novo (YB Music)
  70. Kali Uchis: Red Moon in Venus (Geffen)
  71. Kelela: Raven (Warp)
  72. Isach Skeidsvoll: Dance to Summon (Ultraani Records)
  73. Killer Mike: Michael (Loma Vista)
  74. Emil Amos: Zone Black (Drag City)
  75. Marina Sena: Vicio Inerente (Sony)
  76. Young Fathers: Heavy Heavy (Ninja Tune)
  77. Maria Jose Llergo: Ultrabella (Sony)
  78. David Mirarchi: Ink Folly, Orchid Gleam (Unbroken Sounds) 
  79. Superless: Superless (Oyvind Jazzforum)
  80. Algiers: Shook (Matador)
  81. Buselli – Wallarab Jazz Orchestra: The Gennett Suite (Patois Records)
  82. Lewis Capaldi: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (Vertigo Berline)
  83. Low Cut Connie: Art Dealers (Contender)
  84. Tyvek: Overground (Gingko)
  85. corook: serious person (part 1) (Atlantic)
  86. Ice Cold Bishop: Generational Curse (Ice Cold Entertainment)
  87. Allen Lowe and The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: America—The Rough Cut (ESP-Disk)
  88. Tri-County Liquidators: cut my teeth (Hitt Rex)
  89. ensemble 0: Jojoni (Crammed Discs)
  90. JLin: Perspective (Planet Mu)
  91. Henry Threadgill: The Other One (Pi)
  92. Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt: The Flower School (Palilalia)
  93. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: Afro-Futuristic Dreams (Strut)
  94. Amanda Shires & Bobbie Nelson: Loving You (ATO)
  95. aja monet: when the poems do what they do (drink sum wtr)
  96. Dlala Thukzin: Permanent Music 3 (Dlala Records EP)
  97. Knoel Scott (featuring Marshall Allen): Celestial (Night Dreamer)
  98. Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz: Ex Machina (Pi)
  99. Emmet Cohen & Houston Person: Houston Person—Masters Legacy Series, Volume 5 (Bandstand Presents)
  100. Peso Pluma: GENESIS (Double P)
  101. Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (KRA)
  102. Elijah Shiffer: Star Jelly (self-released)
  103. Grupo Frontera: El Comienzo (Grupo Frontera)
  104. Ember: August in March (Imani)
  105. Kevin Sun: The Depths of Memory (Endectomorph Music)
  106. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #10—Inland (Hammer)
  107. Withered Hand: How to Love (Reveal)
  108. Lafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted (Morphius)
  109. Taj Mahal: Savoy (Cheraw S.C.)
  110. Haviah Mighty: Crying Crystals (Mighty Gang)
  111. Willie Nelson: I Don’t Know a Thing About Love—The Songs of Harlan Howard (Legacy)
  112. Morgan Wade: Psychopath (Ladylike)
  113. Shabazz Palaces: Robed in Rareness (Sub Pop)
  114. Parannoul: After the Magic (Poclanos/Top Shelf)
  115. Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy: The Ill Wise Men (New Money Gang)
  116. The Necks: Travel (Northern Spy)
  117. Lori McKenna: 1988 (CN Records / Thirty Tigers)
  118. Tyler Keith & The Apostles: Hell to Pay (Black & Wyatt)
  119. KAYTRAMINE: KAYTRAMIUNE, Amine, & KAYTRANADA (CLBN)
  120. Various Artists: Red Hot & Ra—Nuclear War (Red Hot Org)
  121. Rome Streetz: Wasn’t Built in a Day (Big Ghost)
  122. Hein Westgaard Trio: First as Farce (Nice Things)
  123. The Urban Art Ensemble: “Ho’opomopono” (CFG Multimedia 16-minute single)
  124. Itamar Borochov: Arba (Greenleaf)
  125. Rodrigo Amado / The Bridge: Beyond the Margins (Trost)
  126. ANTiINDSTRY: Numinous Interference (Muteant Sounds)
  127. Islandman (featuring Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoglu: Direct-to-Disc Sessions (Night Dreamer)
  128. Edward Simon: Femeninas (ArtistShare)
  129. Trio San (featuring Satoko Fujii and Taiko Saito): Hibiki (Jazzdor)
  130. Kill Bill—The Rapper: Fullmetal Kaiju (EXO)
  131. Speaker Music: Techxodus (Planet Mu)
  132. Andy Fairweather Low: Flang Dang (The Last Music Company)
  133. ARO40: On the Blink (Aerophonic Records)
  134. Bob Vylan: Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life (Ghost Theatre)
  135. Bombino: Sahel (Partisan)
  136. Son Rompe Pera: Chimborazo (AYA Records)
  137. Rough Image: Rough Image (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  138. Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic)
  139. Victoria Monet: Jaguar II (Lovett Music)
  140. Homeboy Sandman: I Can’t Sell These Either (self-released)
  141. Havard Wiik & Tim Daisy: Slight Return (Relay)
  142. Various Artists: Red Hot & Ra—SOLAR Sun Ra in Brasil (Red Hot Org)
  143. Rob Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra: Lightning Dreamers (International Anthem)
  144. Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement (Circum/Libra)
  145. DJ Black Low: Impumelelo (Awesome Tapes from Africa)
  146. Belle and Sebastian: Late Developers  (Matador)
  147. Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide: Perpetual Motion (Ayler Records)
  148. feeble little horse: Girl with Fish (Saddle Creek)
  149. Rocket 88: House of Jackpots (12XU)
  150. L’Rain: I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)
  151. DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ: Destiny (Spells on the Telly)
  152. Nasty Facts: Drive My Car (Left for Dead)
  153. Taiko Saito: Tears of a Cloud (Trouble in the East)
  154. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown: Scaring the Hoes (self-released)
  155. Rodrigo Campos & Romulo Froes: Elefante (YB Music)
  156. Kalia Vandever: We Fell in Turn (AKP Recordings)
  157. Water from Your Eyes: Everyone’s Crushed (Matador)
  158. Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix (Whirlwind)
  159. Amaarae: Fountain Baby (Golden Angel/Interscope)
  160. Blondshell: Blondshell (Partisan)
  161. Satoko Fujii: Torrent (Libra Records)
  162. Javon Jackson: “With Peter Bradley”—Soundtrack and Original Score (Solid Jackson)
  163. Doja Cat: Scarlet (Kemosabe)
  164. Tianna Esperanza: Terror (BMG)
  165. YMA & Jadsa: Zelena (Matraca)
  166. Palehound: Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
  167. J Hus: Beautiful and Brutal Yard (Black Butter)
  168. Das Kondensat: Anderen Planeten (Why Play Jazz)
  169. Iris DeMent: Workin’ On a World (FlariElla)
  170. David Murray, Questlove, and Ray Angry: Plumb (J.M.I.)
  171. Tyler Childers: Rustin’ in the Rain (Hickman Holler)
  172. Baaba Maal: Being (Atelier Live/Marathon Artists)
  173. Ed Sanders: The Sanders – Olufsen Poetry and Classical Music Project (Olufsen)
  174. Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Columbia)
  175. City Girls: Raw (Quality Control/Motown)
  176. Grrrl Gang: Spunky (Kill Rock Stars)
  177. Lana Del Rey: Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Polydor)
  178. Teenage Jesus and The Jean Teasers: I Love You (Triple J Unearthed)
  179. Caroline Davis: Alula—Captivity (Ropeadope)
  180. Kiko El Crazy: Pila’e Teteo (Rimas)
  181. Romulo Froes & Tiago Rosas: Na Goela (YB Music)
  182. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #9—Targeted (Hammer Recordings)
  183. James Brandon Lewis: Eye of I (Anti-)
  184. Sofia Kourtesis: Madres (Ninja Tune)
  185. DJ Manny: Hypnotized (Planet Mu)
  186. Josephus and The George Jonestown Massacre: Call Me Animal—A Tribute to the MC5 (Saustex)
  187. Joanna Sternberg: I’ve Got Me (Fat Possum)
  188. Tracey Nelson: Life Don’t Miss Nobody (BMG)
  189. Etran De L’Air: Live in Seattle (EP) (Sahel Sounds)
  190. Ricardo Dias Gomes: Muito Sol (Hive Mind)
  191. Ice Spice: Like…? (10K Projects / Capitol Records EP)
  192. otay:onii: Dream Hacker (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  193. Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe: The Rite of Spring—Spectre d’un songe (Pyroclastic)
  194. Money for Guns: All the Darkness That’s in Your Head (CD Baby)
  195. Nourished by Time: Erotic Probiotic 2 (Scenic Route)
  196. Walter Daniels: “From Death to Texas” / “Seems Like a Dream” (Spacecase Records 45)
  197. Nakimbembe Embaire Group: Nakimbembe Embaire Group (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  198. Shirley Collins: Archangel Hill (Domino)
  199. Karol G: Manana Sera Bonito (Universal Music Latino)
  200. Tinashe: BB/ANG3L (Nice Life)
  201. Hollie Cook: Happy Hour in Dub (Merge)
  202. Andrew Cyrille: Music Delivery / Percussion (Intakt)
  203. Kate Gentile: b i o m e i.i (Obliquity)
  204. Yves Tumor: Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) (Warp)
  205. Dan Ex Machina: Ex’s Sexts (self-released)
  206. Open Mike Eagle: another triumph of ghetto engineering (AutoReverse)
  207. Yonic South: Devo Challenge Cup (Wild Honey)
  208. Rudy Royston: Day (Greenleaf Music)
  209. Chien Chien Lu: Built in System—Live in New York (Giant Step Arts)
  210. Pangaea: Changing Channels (Hessle Audio)
  211. Lewsberg: Out and About (Lewsberg / 12XU)
  212. Basher: Doubles (Sinking City)
  213. That Mexican OT: Lonestar Luchador (Good Talk)
  214. Daniel Villarreal: Lados B (International Anthem)
  215. Staples Jr. Singers: Tell Heaven (EP) (Luaka Bop) Note: the vinyl gets you more great minutes of testifying.
  216. Brandee Younger: Brand New Life (Impulse!)
  217. Babe, Terror: Teghnojoyg (self-released)
  218. Heinali: Kyiv Eternal (Injazero)
  219. Vinny Golia Quartet: No Refunds (Unbroken Sounds)
  220. Kresten Osgood / Bob Moses / Tisziji Munoz: Spiritual Drum Kingship (Gotta Let It Out)
  221. The Art Ensemble of Chicago: From Paris to Paris (Rogue Art)
  222. Clarence “Bluesman” Davis: Shake It For Me (Music Maker Foundation)
  223. The War and The Treaty: Lover’s Game (Mercury Nashville)
  224. Mendoza Hoff Revels: Echolocation (AUM Fidelity)
  225. Aroof Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad, Ismaily: Love in Exile (Verve)
  226. Asher Gamedze: Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem)
  227. Normal Nada the Krakmaxter: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  228. Natural Child: Be M’Guest (Natural Child Music)
  229. Tanya Tucker: Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)
  230. Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group: Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group (Mississippi Records)
  231. David Dove & Joe McPhee: Where’s the Wine? (C.I.A. Records)
  232. Various Artists: 10 (Music from Memory)
  233. Nellie McKay: Hey Guys, Watch This (Hungry Mouse)
  234. Everything But the Girl: Fuse (Buzzin’ Fly)
  235. Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double: March On (self-released)

Excavations and Reissues

  1. Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens: Music Inferno—The Indestructible Beat Tour 1988-89 (Umsakazo Records)
  2. Kashmere Stage Band: Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974 (Now-Again)
  3. The Replacements: Tim—Let It Bleed Edition (Rhino)
  4. Various Artists: Piconema–East African Hits On The Colombian Coast (Rocafort Records)
  5. Les Rallizes Denudes: Citta ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  6. Dorothy Ashby: With Strings Attached (New Land Records)
  7. The Jazz Doctors: Intensive Care & Prescriptions Filled 1983-84 (Cadillac Records)
  8. Walter Bishop, Jr.: Bish at the Bank—Live in Baltimore (Cellar Live)
  9. Various Artists: Yebo! Rare Mzansi Party Beats from Apartheid’s Dying Years (BBE)
  10. Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: 60 Years (The Village)
  11. Os Tincoas: Canto Coral Afrobrasiliero (Sanzala Cultural)
  12. Various Artists: Ecuatoriana (Analog Africa)
  13. Leon Keita: Leon Keita (Analog Africa)
  14. Hiroshi Yoshimura: Surround (Temporal Drift)
  15. Balka Sound: Balka Sound (Strut)
  16. Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn (Silver Current)
  17. John Coltrane: Evenings at The Village Gate (Impulse!)
  18. Various Artists: Playing for The Man at The Door (Smithsonian Folkways)
  19. Les Rallizes Denudes: BAUS ’93 (Temporal Drift)
  20. Gabe Baltazar: Birdology (Fresh Sounds)
  21. Hiatus Kaiyote: Choose Your Weapon (Flying Buddha / Sony Masterworks)
  22. Dream Dolphin: Gaia—Selected Ambient & Downtempo Works (1996 – 2003) (Music from Memory)
  23. Various Artists: The Soul of Congo – Treasures of the Ngoma label (1948​-​1963) (Planet Ilunga)
  24. Sonny Stitt: Boppin’ in Baltimore—Live at the Left Bank (Jazz Detective)
  25. Ihsan Al-Munzer: Belly Dance (BBE)
  26. Dredd Foole & The Din: See God 1985-1986 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  27. Johnny Griffin: Live at Ronnie Scott’s, 1964 (Gearbox)
  28. Nina Simone: You’ve Got to Learn (Verve)
  29. William S. Burroughs: Nothing Here But the Recordings (Dais Records)
  30. Eddie & Ernie: Time Waits for No One (Mississippi Records)
  31. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 1 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  32. Various Artists: Purple Haze from East, Volume 2 (WV Sorcerer Productions)
  33. The Southern University Jazz Ensemble: Goes to Africa with Love (Now-Again)
  34. Roy Campbell / William Parker / Zan Matsuura: Visitation of the Spirits—The Pyramind Trio Live, 1985 (No Business)
  35. Sonny Rollins: Live at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki 1972 (Svart)
  36. Various Artists: The Best of Revelation Records 1959-1962 (NarroWay)
  37. Shizuka: Heavenly Persona (Black Editions)
  38. Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom: Daytime Viewing (Unseen Worlds)
  39. Dorothy Carter: Waillee Waillee (Palo Alto Records)
  40. Various Artists: Blacklips Bar—Androgyns and Deviants / Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels 1992-1995 (Anthology Recordings)
  41. Wes Montgomery: Maximum Swing (Resonance)
  42. Various Artists: Con Piano, Sublime—Early Recordings from the Caribbean 1907-1921 (Magnificent Sounds)
  43. Various Artists: Space Echo—The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Revealed! (Analog Africa)
  44. Ibrahim Hesnawi: The Father of Libyan Reggae (Habibi Funk)
  45. RP Boo: Legacy Volume 2 (Planet Mu)
  46. Les Raillizes Denudes: ’77 Live (Temporal Drift)
  47. Alon Nechushtan: For Those Who Cross the Seas (ESP-Disk)
  48. Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Shirley Scott: Cookin’ With Jaws and The Queen (Craft)
  49. Professor James Benson: The Gow-Dow Experience (Jazzman Records)
  50. Little Bob and The Lollipops: Nobody But You (Mississippi Records)