Each year I'm asked for my picks of the best jazz CDs. "Top Ten" lists often seem rather arbitrary, so here are my favorites out of more than a thousand CDs which came my way last year. (Like the Grammys, the list seems to get longer every year!)

Favorite Jazz | Reissues | Northwest | Earlier Picks

Big Bands & Large Ensembles -
Maria Schneider Concert In The Garden ArtistShare
Vanguard Jazz Orchestra The Way - Music of Slide Hampton Planet Arts
Clark Terry / Chicago Jazz orch Porgy & Bess A 440
Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra - Thought Trains Sons of Sound
Phil Woods LBB This Is How I Feel About Quincy Jazzed Media

Small groups -
James Moody Homage Savoy
David ‘Fathead’ Newman Song for The New Man High Note
James Williams Jazz Dialogues Finas Music
Tierney Sutton Dancing In The Dark Telarc
Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Dreyfus Jazz
Brian Lynch/ Bill Charlap Brian Lynch meets Bill Charlap Sharp Nine
Ted Rosenthal/ Bob Brookmeyer Moonlight in Vermont Planet Arts
Jim Rotondi The Pleasure Dome Sharp Nine
Curtis Fuller w.Brad Goode Up Jumped Spring Delmark
Ed Thigpen Scantet # 1 Stunt
Russell Malone Playground MaxJazz
Louis Smith Lousville SteepleChase
Winard Harper Come Into The Light Savant
Larry Coryell Tricycles Favored Nations
Joe Lovano I’m All For You Blue Note
Joe Locke Dear Life Sirocco Music
Tomasz Stanko Suspended Night ECM
Jean-Pierre Mas (H)ombre Sunnyside
John Scofield En Route Verve
Buddy DeFranco Cookin’ The Books Arbors
Kenny Barron Quintet Images Sunnyside
Benny Green/ Russell Malone - Bluebird Telarc
Road Work Ahead On the Road Again Strivin’ To Break Even
Bobby Watson & Horizon Horizon Reassembled Palmetto
Benny Golson Terminal 1 Concord
Von Freeman The Great Divide Premonition
Scott Hamilton and Harry Allen Heavy Juice Concord
Steve Davis Meant To Be Criss Cross
Jim Rotondi New Vistas Criss Cross
Mike Murley Extra Time Cornerstone
Herbie Mann/Phil Woods Beyond Brooklyn MCG
Steve Swallow/ Ohad Talmor L’Histoire du Clochard Palmetto
Branford Marsalis Eternal Masalis Music
Joe Pass Virtuoso in New York Pablo
Royce Campbell & guests Six by Six Moon Cycle
Trio Mundo Rides Again ZOHO
Elvin Jones Jazz Machine The Truth (live at The Blue Note) Half Note
One for All Blueslike Criss Cross
Michael Wolff Dangerous Vision Artemis
Martijn van Iterson Quartet Whole Bunch BMCD
Eric Alexander Dead Center HighNote
Dr. Lonnie Smith Too Damn Hot Palmetto
Steve Turre Spirits Up Above HighNote
Jane Bunnett Red Dragonfly (Aka Tombo) Narada Jazz

Pianists -
James Williams Jazz Dialogues Finas Music (4 CDs)
Alan Broadbent You and the Night and the Music A 440
Bill Charlap Trio Somewhere Blue Note
Brad Mehldau Anything Goes Warner Bros
Fred Hersch Fred Hersch Trio + 2 Palmetto
Kenny Werner Trio Peace Half NOte
Jessica Williams Live at Yoshi’s MaxJazz
Keith Jarrett The Out-of-Towners ECM
Jean-Michel Pilc Follow Me Dreyfus
e.s.t. 7 Days of Falling 215 w. DVD
Lynn Arriale Trio Come Together (10th Anniv) Motéma
Brad Mehldau Live In Tokyo Nonesuch

Singers -
Tierney Sutton Dancing In The Dark Telarc
Andy Bey American Song Savoy
Lorraine Feather Such Sweet Thunder Sanctuary
Claudia Acuña Luna Max Jazz
Marilyn Harris Future Street Wrightwood
Luciana Souza Neruda Sunnyside
Joyce Breach Remembering Mabel Mercer: Vol. 2 Audiophile
Giacomo Gates Centerpiece Origin
Nancy Wilson RSVP Jazz MCG
Patricia Barber Live: A Fortnight in France Blue Note
Dianne Reeves Christmas Time Is Here Blue Note
The Swingle Singers Retrospective: 40th Anniversary A Cappella

Afro Cuban / Latin Jazz -
(see also Claudia Acuña and Luciana Souza above)
Diego Urcola Soundances Sunnyside
Jazz On The Latin Side All Stars The Last Bull Fighter Saungú
David Sánchez Coral Columbia
Latin Giants Tito Lives Gigante
Charlie Haden Land of the Sun Verve
Conrad Herwig/Brian Lynch Que Viva Coltrane Criss Cross




Bob Brookmeyer Mosaic Select Mosaic 3 CD
Continuum Mad About Tadd Quicksilver
Etta Jones Always In Our Hearts HighNote
Miles Davis/ Gil Evans Complete Columbia Studio Rec. Columbia/ Legacy (6 CD)
Miles Davis Quintet 1965-1968 Columbia/ Legacy (6 CD)
James Brown/ Louie Bellson Soul On Top Verve
Tal Farlow Complete Verve Sessions Mosaic (7 CDs)
Ed Bickert/Don Thompson At The Garden Party Sackville
Coleman Hawkins The Centennial Collection Bluebird w. DVD
Duke Ellington The Centennial Collection Bluebird w. DVD
Thelonious Monk Monk Round The World TFM
Woody Herman Complete Columbia 1945-47 Mosaic 7 CD
Art Farmer/Benny Golson Complete Farmer/Golson/Jazztet Mosaic 7 CD
Wes Montgomery The Best of Riverside
Milt Jackson The Best of Riverside
Thelonious Monk The Best of Prestige
Sonny Rollins The Best of Prestige
Miles Davis The Best of Prestige
Kenny Burrell The Best of Prestige
Bill Evans The Best of Riverside
Dexter Gordon Mosaic Select Mosaic 3 CD
Don Pullen Mosaic Select Mosaic 3 CD
Art Pepper The Best of Contemporary
Wayne Shorter Footprints - the Life & Music of Columbia 2 CD

For Northwest jazz fans in particular, here are some of the exceptional releases from artists living in Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Victoria.

Paul West Being Alone OA 2
Steve Korn Points in Time Origin
Marc Seales Band Live Origin
Matt Jorgensen + 451 Hope Origin
Deardorf/ Peterson Group Portal Origin
Mel Brown B3 Organ Qrt Live at The Britt Festival
Don Thompson Live in Powell River
Crash w.Dr.Lonnie Smith The Doctor Is In Cellar Live
Mary Kadderly Lucky Me Likelife
Phil Dwyer/Alan Jones/ Rodney Whitaker - Let Me Tell You About My Day - DJW
Randy Porter Brio Heavywood
Kelley Johnson Live at Birdland JazzConnect.com
Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra Dreamcatcher OA 2
Primo Kim Christmas Tree
New Stories w. Guests Hope is in the Air Origin
Randy Halberstadt Parallel Tracks Origin
Mike Allen Fearless Almus jazz

Earlier picks: 2003  2002  2001  2000  1999  1998  1997


Buy any CD on this list and you're guaranteed some great music! Each of these CDs has received frequent airplay on Jazz After Hours and/or Jazz Northwest.

—Jim


Amazon.com is an easy way to order the music you're looking for. That CD could be in your mailbox in a couple of days by clicking here.


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