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| Snowman, rooster, gryphon, Lady Liberty, and a horse. |
Ok, so 2,110,000 page views and several hundred reviews between the bookends of year start and end, it has been a busy year on the Free Jazz Blog. We’ve welcomed new writers, heard over 2,000 new recordings, and tried to navigate the dicey world of mid-pandemic concerts and festivals. Live streams may be so 2020, but Omicron just doesn’t care.
As always at this time of year, we are thrilled to bring you, dear readers, the top albums of 2021 from the writers of the Free Jazz Collective. Below are the individual lists for your perusal and fun, but first is the top 15, which the writers will vote on to pick the album of the year. We will post the results on January 1st.
We look forward to your comments and suggestions – let us know what we have missed. Stay safe, do your part to help end this pandemic, and continue to enjoy music. Let’s hope we get through this before we get to Pi (or Rho).
Top 10 15 Albums of 2021
- أحمد [Ahmed] – Nights on Saturn (Communication) (Astral Spirits)
- Anthony Braxton – 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Firehouse 12 Records)
- Binker Golding, John Edwards, Steve Noble – Moon Day (Byrd Out)
- Ches Smith and We All Break – Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic Records)
- Dave Rempis with Reid, Abrams, Daisy, Damon- The Covid Tapes (Aerophonic)
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
- Jaimie Branch – Fly Or Die Live (International Anthem)
- James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet – Jesup Wagon (Tao Forms)
- Joëlle Lèandre, George Lewis, Pauline Oliveros – Play as you go (Trost)
- Nate Wooley – Mutual Aid Music (Pleasure Of The Text Records)
- Natural Information Society with Evan Parker – descension (Out of Our Constrictions) (Eremite)
- Rodrigo Amado Motion trio with Alexander von Schlippenbach – The Field (No Business)
- Rodrigo Amado This Is Our Language Quartet – Let The Free Be Men (Trost)
- Vijay Iyer/Linda May Han Oh/Tyshawn Sorey – Uneasy (ECM)
- William Parker, Daniel Carter, Hamid Drake – Painter’s Winter (AUM Fidelity)
Top 10 lists from the writers of the Free Jazz Collective:
All recordings, unless otherwise noted, have been reviewed on the Free Jazz Blog. We trust you to use the search engine to locate them!
Paul Acquaro
- Vijay Iyer/Linda May Han Oh/Tyshawn Sorey – Uneasy (ECM)
- Jaimie Branch – Fly Or Die Live (International Anthem)
- Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio with Alexander von Schlippenbach – The Field (NoBusiness)
- Paul Dunmall & Mark Sanders – Unity (577 Records)Ava Mendoza – New Spells (Relative Pitch/Astral Spirits)
- Anna Webber – Idiom (PI Recordings)
- The Selva + – Barbatrama (Shhpuma)
- Duck Baker – Confabulations (ESP Disc)
- James Brandon Lewis’ Red Lily Quintet – Jesup Wagon (Tao Forms)
- José Lencastre Nau Quartet + Pedro Carneiro – Thoughts Are Things (Phonogram Unit)
Historic/Re-release
- John Coltrane: A Love Supreme – Live in Seattle (Impulse!)
- Total Music Association – Walpurgisnacht (NoBusiness)
- Marc Ribot – Plays Solo Guitar Works of Frantz Casseus (Knowckwurst)
Kenneth Blanchard
- Jeff Cosgrove – History Gets Ahead of the Story (s/r)
- James Brandon Lewis’ Red Lilly Quintet – Jessup Wagon (AUM Fidelity)
- Mario Pavone – Isabella (Clean Feed)
- Ches Smith We All Break – Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic)
- William Parker – Painter’s Winter (AUM Fidelity)
Historic/Re-release
- Total Music Association – Wallpurgisnacht (NoBusiness)
Stuart Broomer
- أحمد [Ahmed] – Nights on Saturn (communication) (Astral Spirits)
- Rodrigo Amado’s This Is Our Language Quartet – Let the Free Be Men (Trost)
- Anthony Braxton 12 COMP (ZIM) 2017 (Firehouse 12).
- John Butcher/ Dominic Lash/ John Russell/ Mark Sanders. Discernment (Spoonhunt)
- Disquiet – Disquiet (Trost)
- Le GGRIL – Sommes (CircumDisc/ Tour de Bras) Reviewed: SB, The WholeNote, November, 2021, available online.
- Joëlle Léandre/ Pauline Oliveros/ George Lewis – Play as You Go (Trost)
- Natural Information Society with Evan Parker – Descension (Eremite)
- Iain Sinclair & London Experimental Ensemble – Dark Before Dark (577 Records)
- Nate Wooley – Mutual Aid Music (Pleasure of the Text)
Historic/Re-release
- Albert Ayler, et al. – New York Eye and Ear Control Revisited (Ezz-thetics) Reviewed: SB, Point of Departure Issue 77, December 2021: “Ezz-thetics”, available on-line.
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle (Impulse!)
- Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and Sainkho Namtchylak Fixing the Fluctuating Ideas (Victo) (Disclosure: I wrote the liner note)
Tom Burris
- Dave Rempis w/ Reid, Damon, Daisy, Abrams – The COVID Tapes (Aerophonic)
- Jaimie Branch – Fly Or Die Live (International Anthem)
- Vijay Iyer – Uneasy (ECM)
- Kuzu – All Your Ghosts In One Corner (Aerophonic)
- Benoit Delbecq – The Weight Of Light (Pyroclastic)
- Irreversible Entanglements – Open The Gates (International Anthem)
- Rempis Percussion Quartet – Sud Des Alpes (Aerophonic)
- Henry Threadgill Zooid – Poof (Pi)
- Whit Dickey / William Parker / Matthew Shipp – Village Mothership (Tao Forms)
- Rodrigo Amado This Is Our Language Quartet – Let The Free Be Men (Trost)
Gary Chapin
- Greg Belisle-Chi, Koi: Performing the Music of Tim Berne (Relative Pitch)
- Rob Mazurek and the Exploding Star Orchestra – Dimensional Stardust (International Anthem, 2020)
- Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – Hope (International Anthem)
- Wadada Leo Smith – A Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday (TUM)
- Anthony Braxton – 12 Comp (Zim) (Firehouse 12)
- Playfield, Vols. 1 – 3 (577 Records)
- John Zorn – Bagatelles (Tzadic)
- Butch Morris and Nublu Orchestra – Live in Paris (Nublu Records, 2020)
- Whit Dickey, William Parker, Matthew Shipp – Village Mothership (Tao Forms)
- Andrew Cyrille Quartet – The News (ECM)
Historic/Re-release
- Tim Berne’s Bloodcount – 5 (Screwgun)
- Tim Berne’s Bloodcount – Attention Spam (Screwgun)
Troy Dostert
All reviews marked [AAJ] posted on All About Jazz.
- East Axis – Cool With That (ESP) [AAJ]
- Wild Up – Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine (New Amsterdam) [AAJ]
- James Brandon Lewis – Code of Being (Intakt) [AAJ]
- Ivo Perelman, Brass and Ivory Tales (Fundacja Sluchaj) [AAJ]
- Vijay Iyer – Uneasy (ECM)
- Silke Eberhard – Being the Up and Down (Intakt)
- Trondheim Jazz Orchestra with Ole Morten Vågen – Plastic Wave (Odin) [AAJ]
- Hafez Modirzadeh – Facets (Pi) [AAJ]
- Wadada Leo Smith, Jack DeJohnette and Vijay Iyer – A Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday (TUM) [AAJ]
- Irreversible Entanglements – Open the Gates (International Anthem) [AAJ]
Historic/Re-release
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle (Impulse!)
- Julius Hemphill – The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony (New World Records)
- Lee Morgan – The Complete Live at the Lighthouse (Blue Note)
Lee Rice Epstein
- أحمد [Ahmed] – Nights On Saturn (Communication) (Astral Spirits)
- Scott Clark – This Darkness (Out of Your Head)
- Matt Mitchell & Kate Gentile – Snark Horse (Pi Recordings)
- PUNKT.VRT.PLASTIK (Kaja Draklser, Petter Eldh, Christian Lillinger) – Somit (Intakt Records)
- Koma Saxo – Live (We Jazz Records)
- Charlotte Keeffe – Right Here, Right Now (Discus Records)
- Ikizukuri + Susana Santos Silva – Suicide Underground Orchid (Multikulti Project)
- James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet – Jesup Wagon (Tao Forms)
- Lina Allemano & Nick Fraser + Remixes by Mira Martin-Gray, Bryan Qu, Karen Ng, Nick Dunston – Trumpet & Drums REMIX Festival (Lumo Records)
- Ches Smith & We All Break – Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic Records)
Stef Gijssels
- Chamber 4 – Dawn To Dusk (JACC Records)
- Wadada Leo Smith – Trumpet (TUM)
- Susana Santos Silva & Torbjörn Zetterberg — Tomorrow (Porta Jazz)
- Futari – Beyond (Libra, 2020)
- Benoît Delbecq – The Weight Of Light (Pyroclastic)
- In Layers – Pliable (FMR, 2020)
- José Lencastre Nau Quartet + Pedro Carneiro – Thoughts Are Things (Phonogram Unit)
- Ingrid Schmoliner, Adam Pultz Melbye & Emilio Gordoa – Griff (Inexhaustible Editions, 2020)
- Thomas Heberer, Joe Fonda & Joe Hertenstein – Remedy (Fundacja Słuchaj)
- Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra – Dimensional Stardust (International Anthem, 2020)
Historic/Re-release
- Tim Berne’s Bloodcount – Attention Spam (Screwgun, 1997/2021 Re-issue)
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle(Impulse!)
- Human Feel – Speak To It (Songlines)
Steve Griffith
- Dave Rempis with Reid, Abrams, Daisy, Damon- The Covid Tapes (Aerophonic)
- Binker Golding, John Edwards, Steve Noble – Moon Day (Byrd Out)
- William Parker, Daniel Carter, Hamid Drake – Painter’s Winter (AUM Fidelity)
- Sylvie Courvoisier, Ned Rothenberg, Julian Santorius – Lockdown (Clean Feed)
- Evan Parker – Winns Win (Byrd Out)
- Roots Magic – Take Root Among the Stars (Clean Feed, 2020)
- Kuzu – All Your Ghosts in One Corner (Aerophonic)
- Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio with Alexander von Schlippenbach – The Field (NoBusiness)
- Vijay Iyer, Linda Oh, Tyshawn Sorey – Uneasy (ECM)
- Natural Information Society & Evan Parker – decension (Out of Our Constrictions) (Eremite)
Historic/Re-release
- BBQ with Fred Frith – Free Postmodernism USA 1982 (SÅJ)
- Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with Sainkho Namtchylak – Fixing the Fluctuating Ideas (Victo)
- Instant Composers Pool – Incipient ICP (1966-71) (Corbett vs Dempsey)
Eyal Hareuveni
- Disquiet (Trost)
- Jakob Bro, Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy – Uma Elmo (ECM)
- Frode Haltli – Avant Folk II (Hubro)
- Nate Wooley – Mutual Aid Music (Pleasure of the Text)
- Rodrigo Amado This Is Our Language – Let The Free Be Men (Trost)
- Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio with Alexander von Schlippenbach – The Field (NoBusiness)
- Joëlle Léandre/Pauline Oliveros/George Lewis – Play As You Go (Trost)
- Magda Mayas’ Filamental – Confluence (Relative Pitch)
- Anthony Braxton – 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Firehouse 12)
- Gregg Belisle-Chi – Koi: Performing The Music Of Tim Berne (Relative Pitch/Screwgun)
Historic/Re-release
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle (Impulse!)
- René Lussier – Complètement Marteau (ReR MegaCorp/Circum Disc)
Jim Marks
- Miguel Ângelo – Dança dos Desastrados (Porta Jazz)
- Baptiste Boiron – Là (Ayler Records)
- Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few – Cosmic Transitions (Division 81)
- Ben Goldberg – Everything Happens to Be (BAG)
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
- Hearth Melt (Clean Feed)
- James Brandon Lewis/Red Lily Quintet – The Jesup Wagon (Tao Forms)
- William Parker – Painters Winter (AUM Fidelity)
- Ritual Habitual – Pagan Chant (Clean Feed)
- Thumbscrew – Never Is Enough (Cuneiform)
Historic/Re-release
- Tim Berne et al. Broken Shadows (Intakt) (Previously released on Newvelle Records 2018)
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme in Seattle (Impulse!)
- Hasaan Ibn Ali – Metaphysics (Omnivore Recordings)
Nick Metzger
- John Blum & Jackson Krall – Duplicity (Relative Pitch, 2020)
- Roscoe Mitchell & Mike Reed – the Ritual and the Dance (Astral Spirits)
- Melting Mind – Melted Mind (Troglosound)
- James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet – Jesup Wagon (Tao Forms)
- Natural Information Society with Evan Parker – descension (Out of Our Constrictions) (Eremite)
- Anthony Braxton – 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Firehouse 12)
- Michael Bisio/Kirk Knuffke/Fred Lonberg-Holm – The Art Spirit (ESP Disk)
- Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few – Cosmic Transitions (Division 81)
- Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt – Made Out of Sound (Palilalia)
- Johansson/Fite/Grip – Swinging at Topsi’s (Astral Spirits)
Historic/Re-release
- Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett (BBQ) – vorwiegend blaues Gezwitscher (SÅJ)
- Evan Parker’s Electro-Acoustic Ensemble – Fixing the Fluctuating Ideas (Victo)
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme, Live in Seattle (Impulse)
Gregg Miller
- Bruno Duplant, Frédéric Tentelier – Nocturnes (3 Études) ( Inexhaustible Editions)
- Luís Lopes Lisbon Berlin Quartet – Sinister Hynotization (Clean Feed)
- Natural Information Society with Evan Parker – descension (Out of our Contrictions) (Eremite)
- Joëlle Lèandre, George Lewis, Pauline Oliveros – Play as you go (Trost)
- Magda Mayas and Tina Douglas – Objects of Interest (Room40)
- Rodrigo Amado Motion trio with Alexander von Schlippenbach – The Field (No Business)
- Ikizukuri with Susana Santos Silva – Suicide Underground Orchid (Multikulti Project)
- Fred Frith and Ikue Mori – A Mountain Doesn’t Know It’s Tall (Intakt)
- Jane Ira Bloom and Marx Helias – Some Kind of Tomorrow (self-released)
- East Axis (Matthew Shipp, Allen Lowe, Gerald Cleaver, Kevin Ray) – Cool with That (Esp-Disk’)
Fotis Nikolakopoulos
- Polyorchard – An Excess of Primary Forms (Out & Gone Records)
- Annette Krebs – Konstruktion 1&2 Sah (self released)
- Jean-Luc Guionnet/Will Guthrie –Electric Rag (Ali Buh Baeh Records / Editions Memoire)
- Akira Sakata/Giovanni Di Domenico – And Life Also Same (Holidays Records)
- Sue Lynch/N. O. Moore/Crystabel Riley – Secant | Tangent (dxdy Recordings)
- Jeph Jerman – Keep The Drum (Concussion Solos) (New Forces)
- أحمد [Ahmed] – Nights on Saturn (Communication) (Astral Spirits)
- Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood – Live (International Anthem Recording Company)
- Barre Phillips/John Butcher/Ståle Liavik Solberg – We Met – And Then (Relative Pitch Records)
- Skronk GBG – Majornas Mörker (OUTERDISK)
Historic/Re-release
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme, Live in Seattle (Impulse!)
- Marion Brown – Le Temps Fou (Le Très Jazz Club)
- Musica Elettronica Viva – Spacecraft (Our Swimmer)
Nick Ostrum
- Alexey Kruglov, Caroly Hume, Paul May & Oleg Yudanov – The Last Train from Narvskaya (Leo)
- Nate Wooley – Mutual Aid Music (POTR)
- Baptiste Boiron, Bruno Chevillon, Frédéric Gastard – Là (Ayler)
- Wadada Leo Smith, Bill Laswell, Milford Graves – Sacred Ceremonies (TUM)
- Luís Lopes Lisbon Berlin Quartet – Sinister Hypnotization (Clean Feed)
- Elisabeth Coudoux – Emißatett: Earis (Impakt)
- Max Bober – Somos (Edition Wandelweiser) (reviewed on The Squid’s Ear)
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
- Anthony Braxton – 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Firehouse 12)
- Linda Caitlin Smith – Ballad (Another Timbre) (forthcoming review on The Squid’s Ear)
Historic/Re-release:
- Instant Composers Pool – Incipient ICP (1966-1971) (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
- Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and Sainkho Namtchylak – Fixing the Fluctuating Ideas (Victo)
- Total Music Association – Walpurgisnacht (NoBusiness)
Keith Prosk
- Anthony Braxton – 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Firehouse 12 Records)
- gabby fluke-mogul – threshold (Relative Pitch Records)
- Annette Krebs – Konstruktion#1 & 2 | Sah (Graphit)
- Charmaine Lee – KNVF (ERRATUM MUSICAL) – Reviewed on harmonic series
- Joanna Mattrey – Dirge (Dear Life Records) – Reviewed on harmonic series
- Magda Mayas & Tina Douglas – Objects Of Interest (Room40)
- Han-Earl Park – Of Life, Recombinant (New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings) – Reviewed on harmonic series
- Erin Rogers – 2000 Miles (Relative Pitch Records)
- Patrick Shiroishi – Hidemi (American Dreams)
- Nate Wooley – Mutual Aid Music (Pleasure Of The Text Records)
Martin Schray
- Vijay Iyer/Linda May Han Oh/Tyshawn Sorey – Uneasy (ECM)
- Dave Rempis/Avreeayl Ra – Bennu (Aerophonic Records)
- Kuzu – The Glass Delusion (Astral Spirits)
- Nate Wooley – Mutual Aid Music (Pleasure of the Text Records)
- Darius Jones – Raw Demon Alchemy (A Lone Operation) (Northern Spy)
- The Underflow – Instant Opaque Evening (Blue Chopsticks)
- Olaf Rupp – NOBEACH (Audiosemantics)
- Jaimie Branch – Fly Or Die Live (International Anthem)
- XPACT – XPACT II (FMR)
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
Historic/Re-release:
- John Coltrane: A Love Supreme – Live in Seattle (Impulse!)
- Total Music Association – Walpurgisnacht (NoBusiness)
- Cecil Taylor Quintet – Lifting the Bandstand (Fundacja Słuchaj)
Anthony Simon
- Anna Webber – Idiom (Pi Recordings)
- Michael Bisio, Kirk Knuffke, Fred Lonberg-Holm – The Art Spirit (ESP-Disk’)
- Ches Smith and We All Break – Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic Records)
- James Brandon Lewis / Red Lily Quintet – Jesup Wagon (Tao Forms)
- Natural Information Society with Evan Parker – descension (Out of Our Constrictions) (Eremite Records)
- The Claudia Quintet with special guest: Eileen Myles – Evidence-based (Flexatonic Records)
- Binker Golding, John Edwards, Steve Noble – Moon Day (Byrd Out)
- Jen Shyu & Jade Tongue – Zero Grasses: Ritual for the Losses (Pi Recordings)
- John Zorn – Bagatelles (Tzadik)
- Dave Rempis with Reid/Abrams/Daisy/Damon – The COVID Tapes (Aerophonic)
Sammy Stein
- The Underflow – Instant Opaque Evening (Blue Chopsticks)
- Olie Brice, Binker Golding, Henry Keiser, N.O.Moore, Eddie Provost – The Secret Handshake of Danger (577 Records)
- Binker Golding, John Edwards, Steve Noble – Moon Dog (Byrd Out)
- Even Parker Quartet – All Knavery and Collusion (Cadillac records)
- Ivo Perelman and Nate Wooley – Polarity (Burning Ambulance)
- Rachel Musson – Dreamsing (577 Records)
- Matt Shipp and William Parker – Re-Union ( Rogue Art)
- Sons of Kemet – Black To The Future (Impulse)
- Lol Coxhil – Coxhill ’85 (SLAM)
- Polyorchard – An Excess of Primary Forms (Out and Gone Records)
Historic/Re-release
- John Coltrane – Live in Seattle (Impulse!)
