Top Ten Time

Hep cats everywhere are summing up the year.

Here's my top ten for 2009:

Dave Douglas: Spirit Moves

Enrico Rava: New York Days

Andy Milne and Benoit Delbecq: Where is Pannonica?

Tomasz Stanko: Dark Eyes

Ben Allison: Think Free

Ron Horton: It's a Gadget World

Ralph Alessi: Open Season

Darcy James Argue: Infernal Machines

John Hollenbeck: Eternal Interlude

Denny Zeitlin Trio in Concert Featuring Buster Williams and Matt Wilson.


Runners Up:

Ben Sidran: Dylan Different

Linda Oh: Entry

Aki Takase and Rudi Mahall: Evergreen

RJA Top Six

Here's a Top Six. You'll find this list published in Bob Doran's column (The Hum) in this week's Northcoast Journal:


The Redwood Jazz Alliance folks sent a Top 10 jazz albums list that was really 12. Here are five (well, six).

No. 1, a tie: Song for Anyone — Chris Potter 10, and Follow the Red Line: Live at the Village Vanguard — Chris Potter Underground. The former is chamber music-like, with flute, clarinet, bassoon and a string trio. The latter is funk- and rock-influenced postbop with a bass-less quartet. What they have in common is Potter’s brilliant improvisations on tenor and soprano saxes and bass clarinet.

Sky Blue — Maria Schneider Orchestra. Her greatness as a composer became apparent a couple of CDs ago. This disc is filled with music that’s lovely at first listen and grows increasingly rich and deep with repeated hearings.

The Words and the Days — Enrico Rava Quartet. One of the giants of post-Miles trumpet playing, Rava has been dubbed “Italy’s gift to jazz.” Lively, gorgeous music from an all-Italian group.

Pilgrimage — Michael Brecker. On his final recording, the late great tenor saxophonist gets some old friends (H. Hancock, B. Mehldau, P. Metheny, J. DeJohnette) to play all-star sidemen for an album of urgent, swinging originals.

Big Picture — Trio M (Myra Melford, Mark Dresser, Matt Wilson). These three share much more than an initial. Terrific composers and brilliant players all, their interplay is what really makes this album shine.

Another Top Ten

This list comes from Michael Stratton, who has the best Sunday night show in the whole kingdom of jazz enthusiasm, "The Vinyl Side of Midnight," on WLNZ, in East Lansing, MI. I catch it on the web from 6:00 to 9:00 pm PST.


10 - GET READY - Carl Allen & Rodney Whitaker

9 - FROM THE PLANTATION TO THE PENITENTIARY - Wynton Marsalis

8 - A LOVE SUPREME (THE LEGACY OF JOHN COLTRANE) - Turtle Island Quartet

7 - DEAR MILES - Ron Carter

6 - KIDS (LIVE AT DIZZY'S CLUB COCA-COLA) - Joe Lovano & Hank Jones

5 - LAWN CHAIR SOCIETY - Kenny Werner

4 - PILGRIMAGE - Michael Brecker

3 - SKY BLUE - Maria Schneider Orchestra

2 - NIGHTMOVES - Kurt Elling

1 - SONG FOR ANYONE - Chris Potter 10

"The top 5 are really classics, I think," Michael writes, "and I've been trying to give Potter heavy air play. Well, all of them. "