Year In Review: The Year in Jazz2k

YEAR IN REVIEW: The Year in Jazz2K – by J Hunter.

I know what you’re thinking: “Who in his right mind would WANT TO look back at 2024? It was a dumpster fire inside a dynamite factory!” While that’s a fair point in general terms, I have to say the music coming across my ever-cluttered desk at RadioRadioX World Headquarters was one of the few things that made living in 2024 America marginally dealable.

We’ll count down the year’s 10 Best Jazz2K Releases in the next column, but for right now, let’s hand out some bowling trophies!

BEST PARTY DATE:

GHOST-NOTE – Mustard n’ Onions (Mack Avenue)

What do you get when the percussion section for the musical hivemind Snarky Puppy goes into business for itself? You get Ghost-Note, a jazz/funk/rock hybrid that hits like a cross between James Brown and an oncoming tidal wave. Mustard n’ Onions has you up and dancing from the jump thanks to boffo performances from Ghost-Note’s own hivemind, including funked-up stuff from altoist Casey Benjamin, bassist Marcus Miller, and ex-Prince sideman MonoNeon. Handle with Care! This date could explode on contact!

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:

CHARLES LLOYD – The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note)

Multi-instrumentalist Charles Lloyd may not be the oldest living jazzman, but it’s not the years, it’s the miles. Even as 90 creeps slowly towards Lloyd, he continues to make wild, dizzying, multi-leveled music that continues to both confound and delight. The Sky sees Lloyd getting back together with longtime collaborators like Jason Moran and Brian Blade. Moran’s infinite keyboards and Blade’s ever-surprising percussion skills mix with Larry Grenadier’s super-PHAT bass to give Lloyd the rhythm section he needs to bridge all the musical galaxies he travels.

BEST VOCAL RELEASE:

MILTON NASCIMENTO & ESPERANZA SPALDING – Milton + esperanza (Concord)

Bassist/composer/wunderkind esperanza spalding has been making her own sprawling journeys through jazz’ multiple dimensions, usually leaving us all happy, breathless, and exhausted. On this trip, she’s got a towering traveling companion in 82-year-old legend Milton Silva Campos do Nascimento. While the Brazilian multi-instrumentalist only handles gravelly vocals on the recording (including on a workup of Lennon & McCartney’s “A Day in The Life”), Nascimento also contributes gorgeous original compositions that let spalding unfold her musical freak flag and wave it wide & high. Milton + esperanza is probably a one-time comet, so be sure to look up and check out the beauty!

BEST SOLO OR DUO RELEASE:

CHICK COREA & BELA FLECK – Remembrance (Thirty Tigers)

We’ve already had two recordings from piano icon Chick Corea & banjo master Bela Fleck’s past duo tours, so another dose of nostalgia might seem a bit redundant. However, on their last tour in 2019, Corea & Fleck left behind their respective “greatest hits” to play nothing but new, unrecorded compositions from both artists. Given a chance to jointly explore the unknown, Chick and Bela jump into the task with all four feet, showcasing their infinite lyricism and the adamantine chemistry that had audiences on their feet every time Corea & Beck hit the road. ENCORE!!!

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (Best First release as a leader):

SARAH HANAHAN – Among Giants (Blue Engine)

While Among Giants may be altoist Sarah Hanahan’s first recording with her name on the masthead, the Massachusetts native, has been making waves ever since she got her Masters from Juilliard, playing around NYC with her own groups when she wasn’t working with Joe Farnsworth or the Mingus Big Band. Far from being a shrinking violet, Hanahan jumps right off the raft and into deep water with the opening track, Alice Coltrane’s sprawling composition “Welcome”, and handles it like Michael Phelps taking a warmup lap. Hanahan leads a veteran lineup that features keyboardist Marc Cary, bassist Nat Reeves and tempestuous drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, and you couldn’t tell there weren’t four legends on the date.

LOCAL HERO AWARD (Best Capital Region jazz release):

STECKLER / IKAWA / PLAXICO / LEWIS – Old Friends Beckoned, New Sounds Reckoned (Skycheck)

The Capital Region jazz scene continues to recover from Lockdown, handing us knockout recordings this year from the Terry Gordon Quintet, bassist Danton Boller, and altoist Keith Pray. (More on his contribution to 2024 in the next column!)  In the end, though, I had to go with the latest release from multi-instrumentalist Matt Steckler. The Schenectady native has been making various degrees of wild, untamed music ever since he went off with the off-the-wall big unit Dead Cat Bounce in 1997. This time out, Matty Stecks hooks back up with old partners (including revered bassist Lonnie Plaxico) to create a simple, beautiful document that shows friendship goes a long, long way in this impersonal age.

While I’ve been doing Top Tens for years, the recordings that just missed getting an award or making the countdown always stayed with me afterwards, filling me with doubt & regret. In that light, I came up with “The Rest of The Best”, so I could take one more night and give them the due they deserve. Here are the tasty morsels waiting for you if you hear my show on Saturday, December 21^st:

• ALEX SIPIAGIN – Horizons (BRM)
• BEN ALLISON / STEVE CARDENAS / TED NASH – Tell The Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols (Sonic Camera)
• ANTHONY BRANKER & IMAGINE – Songs My Mom Liked (Origin)
• BILL WARFIELD & THE HELL’S KITCHEN FUNK ORCHESTRA – Chesapeake (Planet Arts)
• BRIGHT DOG RED – Bad Magic (Ropeadope)
• CHAD McCULLOUGH – In These Hills, Beyond (Calligram)D GIBSON – Fellowship (Imani)
• JAMIE BAUM SEPTET + – What Times Are These (Sunnyside)
• JD ALLEN – The Dark, the Light, the Grey and the Colorful (Savant)
• JOEL ROSS – nublues (Blue Note)
• JOHN BEASLEY / FRANKFURT RADIO BIG BAND – Returning to Forever (Candid)
• MONIKA HERZIG’S SHEROES – All in Good Time (Zoho)
• RYAN KEBERLE & CATHARSIS – Music is Connection (Alternate Side)
• THE BAD PLUS – Complex Emotions (Mack Avenue)
• TROY ROBERTS – Green Lights (Toy Robot Music)
• WARREN WOLF – History of the Vibraphone (Cellar Music Group)

NEXT TIME: We count ‘em down! Be there. Aloha.

More by J Hunter…