2024 was another depressing year, and 2025 promises (threatens) to be even worse.
But at least there was a lot of great music to listen to. Here are my choices of new releases, debut recordings, and archival discoveries and reissues:
New Releases
BassDrumBone - Afternoon (Auricle)
George Cables - I Hear Echoes (HighNote)
Phillip Golub - Abiding Memory (Endectomorph Music)
Rich Halley 4 - Dusk And Dawn (Pine Eagle)
Tom Harrell - Alternate Summer (HighNote)
Darius Jones - Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity)
Ivo Perelman/Chad Fowler/Reggie Workman/Andrew Cyrille - Embracing The Unknown (Mahakala Music)
Ivo Perelman/Mark Helias/Tom Rainey - Truth Seeker (Fundacja Słuchaj)
Marta Sanchez Trio - Perpetual Void (Intakt)
Matthew Shipp Trio - New Concepts In Piano Trio Jazz (ESP-Disk)
Jason Stein/Marilyn Crispell/Damon Smith/Adam Shead - spi-raling horn (Balance Point Acoustics/Irritable Mystic)
Tarbaby - You Think This America (Giant Step Arts)
Nasheet Waits - New York Love Letter (Bitter Sweet) (Giant Step Arts)
Debut Recordings
John Alvey - Loft Glow (Jazz Music City)
Mathias Højgaard Jensen - Is As Is (Fresh Sound New Talent)
Archival Discoveries
Alice Coltrane - The Carnegie Hall Concert (1971; Impulse!)
Bobby Hutcherson - Classic Bobby Hutcherson Blue Note Sessions 1963-1970 (Mosaic)
Art Pepper - The Complete Maiden Voyage Recordings (1981; Omnivore)
Sun Ra – Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank (1978; Resonance)
Emily Remler - Cookin’ At The Queens (1984 &1988; Resonance)
Sonny Rollins Trio - Freedom Weaver (The 1959 European Tour Recordings) (Resonance)
McCoy Tyner/Joe Henderson - Forces Of Nature : Live At Slugs’ (1966; Blue Note)
Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy – The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp (1995; Elemental)
Many thanks, as always, to all the musicians and recording engineers involved. And a special shout-out to all the publicists who keep me busy!
