It has been a strange year, when, as I reached the ripe old age of 74, whatever illusions I still harbored about “western civilization” died on the killing fields of Gaza. Perhaps that is why I was more drawn to meditative solo piano or quiet jazz trios and quartets this year, with my song of the year being Caroline Shaw and So Percussion’s haunting deconstruction of Schubert’s beautiful An die Musik. Adam Sliwinski of So Percussion likens it in his sleevenotes to “the ghost of a structure, like a ruined building or an ancient underwater city.” Seems apt for the times.

That said, who can resist the joyfulness of Ezra Collective or the Sun Ra Arkestra—led by the irrepressible Marshall Allen, still going strong at 100? Or the sublime lyricism of Charles Lloyd, who is just hitting his prime at 86?

Do not go gentle into that good night.

PROBABLY NOT JAZZ TOP 10

Album of the year

Hurray for the Riff Raff The Past Is Still Alive

Finalists 

Adrianne Lenker Bright Future

English Teacher This Could be Texas

Caroline Shaw & So Percussion Rectangles and Circumstances

King Hannah Big Swimmer

Mdou Moctar Funeral for Justice

Jason Isbell Live at the Ryman vol 2

T-Bone Burnett The Other Side

Kim Deal Nobody Loves You More

Waxahatchee Tiger’s Blood

---

MAYBE JAZZ TOP 10

Album of the year

Jeff Parker & the EVA IVtet The Way Out of Easy

Finalists 

Wadada Leo Smith and Amina Claudine Myers Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens

Nala Sinephro Endlessness

Tyshawn Sorey Trio The Susceptible Now

Nubya Garcia Odyssey

Ezra Collective Dance, No One’s Watching

Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey Compassion

Walter Smith III Three of Us Are from Houston and Reuben Isn’t

Sun Ra Arkestra Lights on a Satellite

Charles Lloyd The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow

---

REISSUES/FIRST ISSUES OF OLDER RECORDINGS

Jimmie Dale and the Flatlanders All American Music

Miles Davis in France 1963 & 1964

Keith Jarrett, Paul Motian, Gary Peacock The Old Country

---

I ALSO LIKED

Philip Glass Solo (2024)

Jon Batiste Beethoven Blues

Ryuichi Sakamoto Opus

Ambrose Akenmusire Owl Song

Kamasi Washington Fearless Movement

---

SONG OF THE YEAR

Caroline Shaw/So Percussion To Music (An die Musik, Schubert)

Finalists

Kamasi Washington Prologue

Kim Deal Coast

Hurray for the Riff Raff Buffalo

Ezra Collective feat. Yazmin Lacey God Gave Me Feet for Dancing

English Teacher Albert Road