Best and Notable Releases of 2011

Ten Best New Releases Terri Lyne Carrington, The Mosaic Project (Concord Jazz) Ron Carter, Ron Carter's Great Big Band (Sunnyside) Keith Jarrett, Rio (ECM) Grace Kelly and Phil Woods, Man With the Hat (Pazz Productions) Joe Lovano/Us Five, Bird Songs (Blue Note) Roswell Rudd, Incredible Honk (Sunnyside) Sonny Rollins, Road Shows vol. 2 (Emarcy/Universal Music Group) Lalo Schifrin, Jazz Meets the Symphony #7 (Aleph) Wadada Leo Smith, Heart's Reflections (Cuneiform) Omar Sosa, Calma (Ota)

Top Three Reissues

John Carter and Bobby Bradford, John Carter & Bobby Bradford (Mosaic Select) Jimmie Lunceford, The Complete Jimmie Lunceford Decca Sessions (Mosaic) Art Pepper, Blues for the Fisherman: Unreleased Art Pepper, Vol. 6 (Widow's Taste)

Best Vocal Album

Catherine Russell, Strictly Romancin’ (Harmonia Mundi/World Village)

Best Latin Jazz Album

James Carter, Caribbean Rhapsody, (Emarcy/Universal Music Group)

Best Debut CD

Lisa Lindsley, Everytime We Say Goodbye (Blondsongstress Productions)

NOTABLE CDs of 2011

Muhal Richard Abrams, Sound Dance (PI) AfroBop Alliance, Una Más (OA2) Ambrose Akinmusire: When the Heart Emerges Glistening (Blue Note) The Sheryl Bailey 4, For All Those Living (Pure Music) Night Song, Ketil Bjørnstad and Svante Henryson (ECM) Jane Ira Bloom, Wingwalker (Outline) T. K. Blue, Latin Bird (Motéma Music) Les Boigts de l’Homme, 1910 (ALMA) Anthony Branker & Word Play, Dialogic (Origin) Bob Brookmeyer and the New Art Orchestra, Standards (ArtistShare) Jane Bunnett & Hiario Duran, Cuban Rhapsody (ALMA) Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra, Hothouse Stomp: The Music of 1920s Chicago and Harlem (Accurate) Felicia Carter & Amy Shook, Nothing to Do (ShookShak Productions) James Carter Organ Trio, At the Crossroads (Decca/Universal Music Group) Cecilia Coleman, Oh Boy! (PandaKat) Chick Corea/Stefano Bollani, Orvieto: Recorded Live at Umbria Jazz Winter 2010 (ECM) Eddie Daniels/Roger Kellaway, Live at the Library of Congress (IPO) Dead Cat Bounce, Chance Episodes (Cuneiform) Eldar Djangirov, Three Stories (Sony Masterworks Jazz) Armen Donelian, Leapfrog (Sunnyside) Echoes of Swing, Message from Mars (EOSP) Kali Fasteau/William Parker/Cindy Blackman, An Alternate Universe (Flying Note) Jack Furlong Quartet, And That Happened (Bridge and Tunnel) Laszlo Gardony, Signature Time (Sunnyside) Sir Roland Hanna, Colors from a Giant’s Kit (IPO) Donald Harrison, This Is Jazz: Live at the Blue Note (Half Note) Frank Harrison Trio, Sideways (Linus ) Atsuko Hashimoto, . . . Until the Sun Comes Up (Capri) Jake Hertzog, Evolution (Buckyball) Lisa Hilton, Underground (Ruby Slippers Productions) Julia Hülsmann Trio, Imprint (ECM) Jason Kao Hwang/Edge, Crossroads Unseen (Euonymus) Geoffrey Keezer/Joe Locke/Tim Garland, Via (Origin) Charles Lloyd/Maria Farantouri, Athens Concert (ECM) Mike Markaverich, Gator Jazz (Marktime) Delfeayo Marsalis, Sweet Thunder (Troubadour Jazz) Brad Mehldau, Live in Marciac (Nonesuch) Pat Metheny, What’s It All About (Nonesuch) Nicole Mitchell, Awakening (Delmark) Yoko Miwa Trio, Live at Scullers Jazz Club (Jazz Cat Amnesty) Silvano Monasterios, Unconditional (Savant) Sarah Morrow, Elektric Air (Agate) Jimmy Owens, The Monk Project (IPO) Jeremy Pelt, Talented Mr. Pelt (High Note) Kim Pensyl & Phil DiGreg, Melodious Monk (Summit) Penguin Café, A Matter of Life . . . (Editions Penguin Café Ltd.) Jean-Michel Pilc, Essential (Motéma Music) Noah Preminger, Before the Rain (Palmetto) Enrico Rava Quintet, Tribe (ECM) Jack Reilly, Live at Maybeck Recital Hall (JackReillyJazz) SF Jazz Collective, Music of Stevie Wonder and New Compositions (SF Jazz) Terrell Stafford, This Side of Strayhorn (MaxJazz) Joan Stiles/Joel Frahm/Matt Wilson, Three Musicians (Oo-Bla-Dee) Rick Stone Trio, Fractals (Jazzand) Talking Cows, Almost Human (Morvin) 3 Cohens, Family (Anzic) Brian Vaccaro Trio, Going Through the Motions (Brian Vaccaro) Kenny Werner, Balloons (Half Note) Mike Wofford/Holly Hofmann Quintet, Turn Signal (Capri) Phil Woods & Bill Mays, Phil & Bill (Palmetto) Pete Zimmer, Prime of Life (Tippin’)

Notable CDs by Vocalists

Eliane Amherd, Now and From Now On (ElianePerforms) Ernestine Anderson, Nightlife: Live at Dizzy’s Club (High Note) Ran Blake and Dominique Eade, Whirlpool (Jazz Project) Liz Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway, Boom! Live at Birdland (PS Classics) Freddy Cole, Talk to Me (High Note) Barbara Cook, You Make Me Feel So Young: Live at Feinstein's (Entertainment One) Shirley Crabbe, Home (ShirleyCrabbe) Nicole Henry, Embraceable (ArtistShare) Rebecca Kilgore and the Harry Allen Quartet, Celebrating Lady Day and Prez: Live at Feinstein’s, Live at Loew’s Regency (Arbors) Amos Lee, As the Crow Flies (Blue Note) René Marie, Voice of My Beautiful Country (Motéma Music) Susie Meissner, I’m Confessin’, (LydianJazz) Sophie Milman, In the Moonlight (Entertainment One) Amanda Monaco, Pirkei Avot Project, Vol. 1 (Genevieve) Ana Moura, Coliseu (Harmonia Mundi/World Village) Gretchen Parlato: The Lost and Found (ObliqSound) Deborah Pearl, Souvenir of You: New Lyrics to Benny Carter Classics (Evening Star) Madeline Peyroux, Standing on the Rooftop (Pennywell Productions/Decca/Universal Music Group) Ed Reed, Born to Be Blue (Blue Shorts) Jane Stuart, Don’t Look Back (Jane Stuart Music) Anne Walsh, Go (AtoZink Music)

Notable Reissues

Basia, From Newport to London (Entertainment One) Cabaret Echoes, New Orleans Jazzers at Work, 1918-1927 (Archeophone) Miles Davis, Bitches Brew Live (Columbia Legacy) Bob Dunn, Master of the Electric Steel Guitar (Origin Jazz Library) Clarence “Jelly” Johnson III, Low Down Papa (Delmark) Kay Kay Greenwade, Best of Kay Kay and the Rays (Catfood) Oscar Peterson, Unmistakable (Sony Masterworks) Sonny Rollins, On Impulse (Universal Music Enterprises/UMB Recordings) McCoy Tyner Trio, Inception (Universal Music Enterprises/UMB Recordings) Various, Bar-B-Cue’n Blues, (Catbone Music) Various, Mean Street, (Catbone Music) Various, Jukin’, (Catbone Music)

Notable Blues and Beyond CDs

James Armstrong, Blues at the Border (Catfood) Amy Black, One Time (Reuben) Blue Lou & Misha Project, Highly Classified (Prima Vista) Eva Cassidy, Simply Eva (Blix Street) Bryan and the Haggards, Still Alive and Kickin’ Down the Walls (Hot Cup) Mayadou Diabate, Courage (Harmonia Mundi/World Village) Mary Flower, Misery Loves Company (Yellow Dog) George & Ira Gershwin’s Strike Up the Band: 2011 Studio Cast Recording (PS Classics) Amjad Ali Khan, Samaagam (Harmonia Mundi/World Village) Alison Krauss & Union Station, Paper Airplane (Rounder) YoYo Ma, The Goat Rodeo Sessions (Sony Masterworks) Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, Rare Bird Alert (Rounder) David Maxwell and Otis Span, Conversations in Blue (Circumstantial Productions) Miloš Karadaglic, Mediterraneo (Deutsche Grammophon) Mark O’Connor, An Appalachian Christmas (OMAC) Johnny Rawls, Memphis Soul (Catfood) Sweet Bye and Bye, World Premiere Recording (PS Classics) Terakaft, Artan N Azawad (Harmonia Mundi/World Village) Tinariwen, Tassili + 10:1 (Anti)

Notable DVDs

Copernicus, Live In Prague (Nevermore, Inc.) Bob Dylan, Revealed (MVD Visual/Highway 61 Entertainment) Brian Eno, 1971-1977: The Man Who Fell To Earth (Sexy Intellectual) Jennifer Leitham, The Real Me Live (Sinistral Recordings) Robert Plant’s Blue Note (Sexy Intellectual) X, The Unheard Music (MVD Visual/Angel City Productions)

Notable LPs

Tony Jones, Pitch, Rhythm and Consciousness (New Artists) Hiromi Kanda, Days of Yesterday (Music Gate)