The music that kept me going in 2021

To say the least, 2021 was another confounding year. At least there was plenty of music to help with distraction and beauty.

Here are twenty releases that stand out.

First, fourteen new recordings: 

Beady Beast (Christy Doran & Franz Hellmüller) - On The Go (Between The Lines)

Benoît Delbecq - The Weight Of Light (Pyroclastic)

Whit Dickey/William Parker/Matthew Shipp - Village Mothership (Tao Forms)

Ben Goldberg - Everything Happens To Be. (BAG Productions)

Masabumi Kikuchi - Hanamichi (Red Hook)

Ochs-Robinson Duo - A Civil Right (ESP-Disk’)

William Parker - Mayan Space Station (AUM Fidelity)

Mario Pavone/Dialect Trio + 1 - Blue Vertical (Out Of Your Head)

Ivo Perelman - Brass And Ivory Tales (Fundacja Słuchaj!)

Ches Smith & We All Break – Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic)

Wadada Leo Smith/Jack DeJohnette/Vijay Iyer - A Love Sonnet For Billie Holiday (TUM)

Wadada Leo Smith - Sacred Ceremonies (TUM)

Tani Tabbal Trio - Now Then (Tao Forms)

Natsuki Tamura/Satoko Fujii - Keshin (Libra)

and then there are the previously unreleased gems of the year:

Hasaan Ibn Ali - Metaphysics-The Lost Atlantic Album (Omnivore)

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings 

(Blue Note)

Roy Brooks - Understanding (Reel To Real)

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme Live In Seattle (Impulse!)

Roy Hargrove & Mulgrew Miller - In Harmony (Resonance)

Harvie S Trio - Going For It (Savant)