Sorry if I’m a bit late getting to a mid-year round-up post since we’re already hurtling towards the end of the summer. However, it’s still a good time to look back at the bounty of albums we’ve had in the first half of 2024. I recently had the opportunity to vote in the Francis Davis Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll, published at The Arts Fuse. It is a tremendous honor to be among the knowledgeable and amazing critics and journalists invited to vote, and it’s a great experience to help recognize the incredible music released in the first half of 2024. So that invite (thank you, Tom Hull!) and the exercise of picking just ten albums has inspired this mid-year album round-up.
The poll results mirror my excitement for a half-year deep in exceptional music. I knew a lot of the albums on the Francis Davis/Arts Fuze results, and others were new to me – so far, everything has been great, and I do recommend them all. What differentiates the albums at the top of my list and the top of the poll results is really a matter of taste, not quality. Of course, fandom is closely intertwined with advocacy; every listener wants the music close to their heart to be pushed to the top, and the whole world to love their heroes. So with those thoughts, I’m glad that more listeners will hear my #1 album, Tomeka Reid’s fabulous 3+3, and my #2, Blues for Wood, by the one-of-a-kind avant-garde powerhouse that is [Ahmed]. (Reid is #5 on the Arts Fuse list; [Ahmed] is represented both by the multi-disc Giant Beauty at #10 and my pick, Wood Blues, at #44.)
On the other hand, I think the brilliant Illimitable by Matt Mitchell should have ranked higher (only #46 on the Arts Fuse list with two voters). For me, the most sorely overlooked album is David Leon’s Bird’s Eye (which came in at #55) – no album sounds like it, and had I known the poll results beforehand, I might have been tempted to vault it to #1 on my list. Make sure you listen to it! Also absent from the top 50 are my #7, #8, and #9 picks, but you can read more about them below. But as I said above, in such a strong year, your list and my list will surely look different, and it’s easy to change one’s rankings – it probably changes every day.
So, without further ramblings, here’s my list. Happy listening!
1. Tomeka Reid Quartet, 3+3 (Cuneiform)
What makes an album your favorite? Although Reid 3+3 is uniformly captivating, what puts it to #1 for me is the album’s centerpiece, “Sauntering With Mr. Brown.” Reid’s pizzicato cello opens the tune with a hushed tone that is equally lyrical and beguiling. As the band joins, the center of the music becomes the incredible chemistry between Reid and guitarist Mary Halvorson. Their exchanges are the highlight of 3+3, and I gave the nod to this album rather than Halvorson’s excellent Cloudward because of the pure magic created here by two great improvisers.
2. [Ahmed] – Blues for Wood (Astral Spirits)
Blues for Wood provides the most convincing documentation of one of the world’s greatest live bands – pianist Pat Thomas, saxophonist Seymour Wright, drummer Antonin Gerbal, and bassist Joel Grip play as one, soloing collectively in an orgasmic eruption. Now, you can be there, on your headphones or in your speakers. Recorded live at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2022, [Ahmed] howls and screams with their instruments over their interpretation of Ahmed Abdul-Malek’s “Blues for Wood.” A vocal and transported audience also howls and screams, almost a fifth band member. What do we need to have Thomas come to New York? Maybe a GoFundMe? Calling all fans, let’s make it happen!
3. Matt Mitchell, Illimitable (Obliquity)
The two discs of Matt Mitchell’s Illimitable are an incredible journey. The opening title track is the most concise at 14 minutes of harmonically bewildering cycles that bring Andrew Hill’s Smokestack to mind. From there, Mitchell’s far-ranging mind and fingers take us on a trip through three more expansive tracks (the longest is alone album length) that explore fascinating ideas not beholden to any one set of influences. ‘Free’ in the best sense – hear something truly new being created. Mitchell says, “all this music is 100% improvised, one take, no edits.”
4. David Leon, Bird’s Eye (Pyroclastic)
David Leon Bird’s Eye is one-of-a-kind, in no small part due to the sound of DoYeon Kim’s gayagum. The zither-like string instrument is the core element of Bird’s Eye, and sometimes sounds like a harp, sometimes a guitar, but always striking and new. In Kim’s hands, the gayagum creates an astonishingly flexible rhythmic counterpoint, sketches structural elements of the music, makes gorgeous solo statements, and creates lovely ornamentation. Bird’s Eye also features varied and imaginative playing from Leslie Mok, both on the trap kit and extended percussion. Often, Kim and Mok seem like they are the focus of Bird’s Eye, but don’t let David Leon’s humility fool you; on alto, soprano, and flute, Leon’s tone is commanding, and his ideas are fascinating. Bird’s Eye engages the mind and soul with each listen – it’s #4 on my list right now; maybe it’ll be #1 by the end of the year? Also, please check out the archived Roulette performance of Leon’s incredible collaboration with puppeteer Yuliya Tsukerman, A Divine Echo.
5. David Murray Quartet, Francesca (Intakt)
David Murray is back and better than ever! I remember Gary Giddens comparing Murray’s sax playing to Niagara Falls, and I’ve always remembered that image – nobody’s playing is as voluble, overwhelming, and dumbfounding. With Francesca, Murray presents his music in the quartet format that has always been where he gets to stretch out into galvanic flights of sax fervor. Same as it always was. The difference here is the piano chair, where Marta Sanchez provides Murray’s best foil since his salad days with John Hicks or Don Pullen. Sanchez’s comping spells Murray beautifully, and when she solos, she paints luminescent patterns from the keyboard.
6. Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones, New Monuments (We Jazz)
No album of the year 2024 felt more of the moment than New Monuments. Kidambi’s singing interrogates power while evoking an incredible soundscape. Repeat listens reveal just what a ferocious band the Elders Ones is, each player combining into an earth-shaking whole. Check out more on this album in a piece written for the Vassar Miscellany News by The Necessary Blues co-founder Jesse Koblin.
7. Christopher Hoffman, Vision Is the Identity (Out of Your Head)
I’ve written about Hoffman’s Vision Is the Identity twice this year—check out my reviews of this fantastic album here and here. Hoffman’s cello and electronic mini-opus is elevated by great guest soloists and is one of the most concise and potent albums I’ve heard this year.
8. Vinnie Sperrazza Apocryphal, Sunday (Loyal Label)
Sperrazza has two recent and terrific albums, Saturday (2023) and Sunday (2024), which I wrote about here. Last year’s Saturday is a beautiful showcase for Ethan Iverson – lyrical, deep, and fun. Sunday by Vinnie Sperrazza’s Apocryphal has the same lyricism and confidence but adds an attractive bite, especially from Brandon Seabrooks’ wild guitar and banjo. Sperrazza recently gigged with the Apocryphal band; I couldn’t make it, unfortunately. Keep your eyes peeled.
9. Nick Dunston, Colla Voce (Out of Your Head)
In our recent review of string music at TNB, I called Colla Voca “dense and hallucinatory” and said that its string writing has a physicality that “makes sound tactile.” Dunston is a deep thinker and ambitious conceptualist, and Colla Voca is his most impressive album yet. I’m intrigued by the LP album of remixes (which I have not yet heard)—check it out here.
10. Borderlands Trio [Stephan Crump-Kris Davis-Eric McPherson], Rewilder (Intakt)
So far in 2024, two albums have taken on the considerable task of redefining the hallowed piano trio – Matthew Shipp’s New Concepts in Piano Jazz and Rewilder from the Borderlands Trio. For me, Borderlands gets the nod for pure imagination, and the courage to go deep with 20-minute-long performances spread out over two CDs. Keep your headphones on – it’s deep and immersive.
REISSUES/ARCHIVAL:
1. Sonny Rollins, Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings (recorded 1959, Resonance)
Everybody knows the best Sonny is live. The material collected on Freedom Weaver was previously only available as coveted bootlegs of the legendary nine-day, five-country European tour. Resonance Records has cleaned up the sound and presented the music with a 56-page book and interviews, including with Rollins. The music is the main thing—almost every tune has some revelation where the tenor takes flight into a rhapsody that only Rollins can do. Essential.
2. Alice Coltrane, The Carnegie Hall Concert (recorded 1971, Impulse!)
Link to Apple Music
Link to Spotify
The Alice Coltrane revival continues with the strikingly beautiful Carnegie Hall Concert. The music shows the incredible range of Coltrane’s music, from ecstatic beauty to the avant-garde fire that she helped create with her late husband. Check out the excellent review written by Hank Shteamer for Pitchfork.
3. Emahoy Tsegue Maryam Gebru, Souvenirs(recorded 1977-85, Mississippi)
Newly released music by Emahoy Tsegue Maryam Gebru is something to celebrate – it radiates unparalleled centeredness and peace. Check out this blog’s appraisal of Emahoy’s music written on the occasion of her 99th birthday.
4. Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy, The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp (recorded 1995, Elemental Music)
Link to Purchase CD at Bandcamp (not a digital release)
Our deep dive into the music of Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron aimed to create a context for appreciating this 1995 album of newly released music. The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp shows Waldron and Lacy playing equal parts Monk and originals with the superb rhythm section of bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille. This is an important release, and as I wrote about, there’s more of this band in the can that needs an official release.
5. Charles Gayle-Milford Graves-William Parker, WEBO (recorded 1991, Black Editions Archive)
Gayle/Graves/Parker is the perfect free jazz trio; WEBO does not disappoint. I remember seeing Gayle in a duo with William Hooker at the long-defunct Cooler, and I’ve never forgotten that sound. WEBO is a great reminder and an essential document for those who didn’t have the opportunity to see Gayle live.