Month: December 2023

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I was horrified at the mass shooting yesterday at Charles University in Prague, a location I know well. May the wounded recover and the dead rest in peace. Apparently the shooter, 24-year-old history student David Kozák, was inspired—if that’s the right word—by American examples. This is one bit of American culture Europe doesn’t need. I hope the Czechs fix their gun laws (as the UK, Australia, and New Zealand did after their own massacres) before, as in the US, it gets politically impossible to do so.   

It seems apt to repost this.

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It’s that time of year again. There was so much good music this year I decided to make two top ten lists, Jazz (cetera) and Vocal. 

JAZZ (CETERA)

The category of Jazz is getting so stretched these days into the realms of avant-garde, experimental, “world music,” etc. etc. that I don’t know what to call it any more. But these have been among my most listened to records of 2023.

RECORD OF THE YEAR

Jaimie Branch Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (​(​world war​)​) International Anthem

REST OF TOP 10 (in alphabetical order)

Alabaster DePlume Come with Fierce Grace International Anthem

Ancient Infinity Orchestra River of Light Gondwana Records

Angel Bat Dawid Requiem for Jazz International Anthem

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily Love in Exile Verve

Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry Our Daily Bread ECM 

Kamaal Williams Stings Black Focus Records 

London Brew London Brew Concord Records

Ryuichi Sakamoto 12 Milan Records

Yussef Dayes Black Classical Music Brownswood Recordings

VOCAL

RECORD OF THE YEAR

Olivia Rodrigo Guts Geffen Records

REST OF TOP 10 (in alphabetical order)

Black Country, New Road Live at Bush Hall Ninja Tunes

Bob Dylan Shadow Kingdom Sony

Boygenius the record Interscope Records

Cat Power Sings Dylan: Live at the Royal Albert Hall Domino Records

Drive-By Truckers The Dirty South (expanded and remastered) New West Records

Iris DeMent Workin’ on a World Flariella Records

Jolie Holland Haunted Mountain Cinquefoil Records

Margo Price Strays Lorna Vista Recordings

Neil Young Chrome Dreams Reprise 

HORS DE CONCOURS

Bob Dylan Fragments—Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996–1997): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17 Columbia Records 

   

EMBARRASSMENT OF THE YEAR

The Rolling Stones Hackney Diamonds Polydor/Gessen 

“Sweet Sounds of Heaven” isn’t “Shine a Light” and Lady Gaga certainly isn’t Merry Clayton or Lisa Fisher. But there is one standout track. The last.