2013's Top Ten Lists

The highly anticipated, carefully selected, and impeccably curated top 10 lists of 2013 from the Free Jazz Collective, an incredibly subjective selection based on an amazing 1,166 albums which came our way during the year that roughly fit this blog’s profile, without counting all the unbelievable sh*t that we also receive, now that our blog’s popularity has reached its peak, so impossible to completely listen to all albums even once, let alone sufficiently to listen deeply and to review properly. But then luckily we shared forces this year, with Martin, Paolo, Dan, Tom, Joe, Colin, Troy, Paul and Stef.

A crazy year again, with lots of great music, and as the individual lists can testify, it was also impossible to restrict ourselves to a top-10 list even.

We aggregated our end-of-year lists and came up with this actually quite balanced must-haves for the year, with a calculation based on the most complex mathematical algorithms and algorhythms (including the number of stars and the number of mentions in the lists below as critical aspects of it).

The Free Jazz Collective Top-10 albums of 2013

1. Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile 
2. Hera with Hamid Drake – Seven Lines
3. John Tchicai- Tribal Ghost 
4. Convergence Quartet – Slow and Steady 
5. Various Artists: Long Story Short 
6. Fire Orchestra: Exit! 
7. Barry Guy New Orchestra Small Formations – Mad Dogs 
8. The Thing: Boot! 
9. DKV + Gustafsson/Pupillo/Nilssen Love – Schl8hof
10. Looper – Matter 
11. Okkyung Lee – Ghil 
12. Mary Halvorson Septet – Illusionary Sea 

Happy holidays to everyone and we look forward to hearing your top choices of the year!

Stef Gijssels:

1. John Tchicai, Charlie Kohlhase, Garrison Fewell, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart – Tribal Ghost
2. Convergence Quartet – Slow and Steady
3. Okkyung Lee – Ghil
4. John Butcher – Winter Gardens
5. Hera with Hamid Drake – Seven Lines
6. Lotte Anker, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Hernâni Faustino – Birthmark
7. Power Of The Horns – Alaman
8. Alvin Curran – Shofar
9. Herb Robertson, David Kaczorowski & Adrian Valosin Party Enders
10. Kaze – Tornado
11. Nor Cold – Nor Cold
12. Angelica Sanchez & Wadada Leo Smith – Twine Forest

1. Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
2. Various Artists: Long Story Short
3. Fire Orchestra: Exit!
4. Convergence Quartet: Slow and Steady
5. The Thing: Boot!
6. Fire!: (Without Noticing)
7. John Tchicai: Tribal Ghost
8. Hera feat. Hamid Drake: Seven Lines
9. Spunk: Das Wohltemperierte Spunk
10. William Parker: Wood Flute Song