We’ve included videos and embedded players where possible, but if you discover music you like consider supporting them on Bandcamp or their website! The album has garnered widespread critical acclaim and stands out as a long-lost treasure brought to the fore in 2020.” – Rebecca DeLamotte (Americas Musicworks, US). Photos by ESP-Disk, French Paradox, Verve, Blue Note, Red Piano, Palmetto, and Mack Avenue. (And, if you’re looking for more great music to check out, we’d of course suggest you take a look at some of these brilliant albums we’ve been working press for this year! By Jon Garelick Globe Staff, Updated December 24, 2020, 10:00 a.m. Pianist Carla Bley, Steve Swallow on … Apple Music. This trio album spans his waterfront, and it’s all captivating, the more so with each successive hearing. songs. By joining Slate Plus you support our work and get exclusive content. Perfume Genius and Dua Lipa had us dancing in our homes, Thundercat and Angelica Garcia dug deep to reach new heights, and long-running acts like the Strokes, AC/DC, and Stephen Malkmus reminded us that rock isn't dead. SmoothJazz.com Global, the world's only Smooth Jazz Album Charts, publishes their annual YEAR END TOP 100 Album Chart for 2020. Fred Hersch, one of the most inventive jazz pianists, known for lush harmonies and galvanic rhythms, missed playing in clubs, so he set up some microphones around the piano in his Pennsylvania house and recorded a range of ballads and meditations, among them “After You’ve Gone,” “Wichita Lineman,” “All I Want,” and “Solitude.” Listen to it as a collection of anthems for our era. Learn how your comment data is processed. Blues Bash! Updates Jazz albums; Acid Jazz Free Jazz Bebop Big Band Cool Jazz Jazz Fusion Soul Jazz Swing Vocal Jazz Early Jazz World Jazz. Ben Rosenblum is a passionate pianist, accordionist, composer, arranger, accompanist worth adding to your jazz playlist.” This album dives deeply into Rosenblum’s jazz and world-infused original compositions, exploring the intersection of jazz and improvised American music with global styles ranging from Bulgaria to the Caribbean. As a solo artist or with her band … Alan Braufman – The Fire Still Burns. Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. By Fred Kaplan. ), “Nikol combines masterful interpretation of demanding classical piano repertoire (Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Novák, Korngold and Svoboda) with her own pieces inspired by the classical composers. Great grooves, happy tunes, if perhaps it’s not jazz. View reviews, ratings, news & more regarding your favorite band. Your email address will not be published. French Paradox. In 2020, the music’s popularity has maintained its status quo while finding new ways to surprise its audiences and further expand its boundaries. Maybe the only new album that I listened quite a few times in 2020.” – Billy Pod (UK/Greece), “Wonderful album. Looking for ways to grow your career as a jazz musician? March 13, 2020. What follows is a collection of these recommended albums – in no particular order – with some comments about why they were so special to the musicians and industry folk who took part. Slate relies on advertising to support our journalism. These two fine musicians give an assured and inventive duo performance that sits well alongside any of the genre released this year.” – Jim Burlong (Jazz Views, UK), “Original choice and interpretation of Zawinul’s music.” – (Krzysztof Komorek, Donos kulturalny, PL), “It’s refreshing and classic, timely and needed.” – (Aimee-Jo Benoit, Canada), All the Little Things You Do by Rebecca Hennessy, “High-level thought-through modern compositions for an unusual ensemble, extremely strong line-up of high-level players with utmost respect to jazz tradition.” – Daniel Bulatkin (B/Y Organism, Czech Republic). ), it’s nice to be reminded of how much you can still do with a traditional acoustic jazz album.” – Lucas Gillan (Lucas Gillan’s Many Blessings, USA), “Listen to the Gilles Peterson show which featured SAULT, the anonymous collective, who dropped two albums in short order this summer. We update links when possible, All contents © 2021 The Slate Group LLC. The 2020 YEAR END TOP 100 Album Chart includes the years most played Smooth Jazz Albums as reported by SmoothJazz.com Global's diverse panel of Smooth Jazz radio stations around the world. Check out how beautiful it is!” – Magdaléna (Czech Republic), “A Rite for All Souls is a rare opportunity to hear a recently-rediscovered recording of 1971 concert by The Mark Harvey Group, a force in the avant-garde. The following is a list of music albums, EPs, and mixtapes released in 2020.These are notable albums, defined as having received significant coverage from reliable sources independent of … At age 35, Aaron Diehl is the most elegant young pianist on the scene, equally accomplished with Ellington, Gershwin, Philip Glass, jazz standards, and the blues. takes Matt’s exuberance, humor, and gift for melody and creates a genuinely engaging album from start to finish. This trio album lets you hear strands from all of them, but there’s also a lyricism and a riveting soulfulness that he doesn’t display very often. No album more perfectly captures 2020.” – AJ Dehany (Freelance, LondonJazz, UK), “It’s just spectacular. It’s that time of year when magazines and blogs are publishing their round up lists of best jazz albums of 2020.. Rather than put together an article of music we’ve been enjoying this year, we instead asked the Jazzfuel community to share their favourites of 2020.. What follows is a collection of these recommended albums – in no particular order – with some comments … We encountered an issue signing you up. A basic blues, a dark waltz, a spiritual, a meditative muse, a riff on Ethiopian pop, but listen how the players shift from melody to harmony to counterpart to experimentation, so effortlessly, tunefully, often daringly. The music floats and sways in a different atmosphere. Photo illustration by Slate. Year in review: 25 of the best jazz albums of 2020. Feel free to share this article – or just your favourites – with friends and colleagues on social media. Ella Fitzgerald, The Lost Berlin Tapes. Affiliate Disclosure: as an Amazon Associate we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases. Track 6  ( I Dare You To Love Me ) has an international go-to anthem feel with its  rhythm & lyrics.” – Simone Rudolphi (Musicphotograp, UK/Germany), “Great feel good music. Your email address will not be published. All prices were up to date at the time of publication. It is clear that the album has made a huge impression and captured the moment perfectly. Her pianist Paul Smith comps with unusually sharp curves. Nigerian pop continued to establish itself more firmly on the international stage in 2020 with successful albums by Burna Boy, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Tems and more. 8. So with all the Best Jazz Album lists coming out, we just had to put our two cents in. Her latest is inspired by her longtime battle against digital rip-off artists and privacy invasion. The year 2020 may very well go down in infamy for the COVID-19 pandemic, protests and the presidential election, but it also served as inspiration for artists. A list of the greatest jazz albums released so far this year, as chosen by BBC Music Magazine critics Garry Booth, Barry Witherden and Roger Thomas Alan Braufman released his second album The Fire Still Burns 45 years after his debut album Valley of Search (1975 India Navigation). I’m finding a lot of jazz quite intellectual at the moment!” – James Pettinger (Stablefolk, UK), “I love both Joe Zawinul’s music and Scott Kinsey’s work. Moses Boyd - Dark Matter. The album opens and closes with Ullmann’s compositions taken from his 2019 album mikroPULS (Intuition, 2019). Before digging into what our critics said about your favorite albums this year, take look back at top-rated recordings from 2019 and 2018. Twenty years of a new phase of the music is now in the books, and the defining ideas are established. Vitriol and the Third Oraculum (2020) Free Jazz Favorite tracks: “Vitriol” 3.5: Free Jazz Favorite tracks: “Vitriol” 3.5: 47: 47. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Maria Schneider is the most brilliant big-band composer of our time, a master of stacked harmonies but also of propulsive rhythms, which she laces with stirring Americana or a Latin tinge, and the musicians in her “jazz orchestra,” as she calls it—many of whom have been following her lead for a couple of decades—are as tight as they come and fine soloists too. On December 6, 2020 December 12, 2020 By hifitr5_wp. Affiliate Disclosure: as an Amazon Associate we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases. Photo illustration by Slate. By Ran Blake and Christine Correa. 6. Charles Lloyd, “8: Kindred Spirits” (Blue Note) This saxophonist, well into his ninth decade, … The perfect album to feel that little bit better about 2020.” – Nadja von Massow (nadworks, UK), “Great compositions with constant conversations between trumpet and guitar, wide range of colors, great vintage feel production and masters lineup.” – Saso Popovski (Jazz Factory Festival, NMK), “This album is very timely and manages to capture the essence and emotion of many of the issues the world is facing today. If you value our work, please disable your ad blocker. By Raphaël Pannier Quartet. You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Matthew Shipp Trio, The Unidentifiable. “I’ve always been a huge fan of Matt’s, so it’s no surprise that his new album would be my favorite. Some songs are heartbreakingly beautiful (Every Day With You), some are absurdly hilarious (Space Force March), and some are both (Man Bun). This was a challenging year for most people. Dolly Parton Sells Out Big Time With This Super Bowl Ad, Don’t Let Queen Latifah’s Acting Career Overshadow Her Rap Legacy, SOPHIE’s Music Was Completely Artificial and Utterly Real, Why Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” Had the Biggest Debut Since “WAP”. Sonny Rollins is the greatest living jazz improviser, and this treasure from the vaults—one studio session and two live dates from 1967 in the Netherlands—finds him in peak form, taking songs on soaring spaceflights, fueled by the avant-garde drummer Han Bennink and the lushly melodic bassist Ruud Jacobs. These guys have been on the European scene, playing together in various groups for over 30 years.” – Cathie Rae (manager, Portugal), Atlântico by Mário Laginha, Julian Argüelles and Helge Andreas Norbakken, “I reviewed it for London Jazz News and I loved it at first listen.” – Mary James (UK), “Just discovered this album during lockdown and absolutely love it! Ferdinando and his band have created a very distinctive sound with this release. It’s been a shitstorm of a year, in many ways the worst of my many decades, but it’s been a terrific year for jazz albums, maybe because the music that soothes the savage breast is more soothing when the era is this savage, but I think these recordings—10 new, three newly unearthed from the distant past—will endure. The best jazz recordings released in 2020. It’s that time of year when magazines and blogs are publishing their round up lists of best jazz albums of 2020. Required fields are marked *. Jazz gets (wrongly) criticized as a style of music that's … The story of jazz in the past five years has been the … Top 20 Jazz Albums of 2020 Jon Newey Friday, November 27, 2020 The ultimate guide to the year's best new jazz albums as voted for by Jazzwise's peerless panel of reviewers – including the complete original Jazzwise reviews. Learn more about the Jazzfuel affiliate policy. Ben Perowsky (a drummer with roots in rock, pop, jazz, and the avant-garde), Chris Speed (a reedman of supple melodies and sinuous rhythms), and John Medeski (the organist from Medeski Martin & Wood, who fuses soul, swing, and wit in a single bar) join together for a session of casual headiness, covering Jaco Pastorius, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, and their own excursions in cannily original styles. If you’re a Jazzfuel subscriber and you didn’t yet add your pick, check your inbox for the survey link! The 2-CD set, a powerful and important historic recording, reaches across nearly 50 years from a time of great social turbulence in the US to deliver a timeless message of peace and healing that resonates today. This is the one album on this list that was recorded during—and in response to—the pandemic. The best of movies, TV, books, music, and more, delivered to your inbox three times a week. … Pick up the December 2020 issue to discover the Top 20 reissues/archive albums of the year. It was released in September, in a changed world. You’ve run out of free articles. Top 10 jazz albums of 2020. You can cancel anytime. The last four items on the first list are in almost random order. The Best Jazz Albums Of 2020. On this album, Braufman re THE BEST OF JAZZ ALBUMS 2020 - THE WICKED SOUND Slate may earn an affiliate commission. Piano legend Chick Corea represents the wide spectrum of his keyboard influences on his new… Here, he and singer Christine Correa (a former student of his) cover all the songs on Billie Holiday’s 1958 album Lady in Satin, but unlike that session’s lush orchestral backdrop, it’s just Correa—hitting every note with a smoky indigo blue—backed by Blake’s strangely dissonant chords. Get past it. Salute to the Sun Matthew Halsall 2020 $1.35. (If a performer was the focus of a major feature, it’s likely their album wasn’t reviewed, and that was a factor in its … On the third Black Art … The Best Jazz Fusion Albums of 2020. It’s filled with awe-inspiring compositions and musical performances by many top players on the NYC jazz scene, including Wallace Roney on trumpet who died of covid19 earlier this year and the incomparable vocals of Andy Bey on the title track.” – Mala Waldron / USA, Been Down This Road Before by Clifton Anderson, “Fresh and groovy” – Sharron McLeod (The Sharron McLeod Fauxtet, France), “First off Mário Laginha is THE best know improvising musician in Portugal and, sad to say, hardly recognised outwith. International jazz booking agent, manager and host of Jazzfuel. 2. These are our 100 favorite albums of 2020. Thanks for signing up! A Rite for All Souls by The Mark Harvey Group, Kites & Strings by Benjamin Rosenblum Nebula Project, Reflections of the Eternal Line by Florian Arbenz & Greg Osby, Oleś Brothers & Piotr Orzechowski – Waterfall: Music of Joe Zawinul, All The Little Things You Do by Rebecca Hennessy, ‘Songs and Stories’ by Callum Au + Claire Martin, We’re New Again by Gil Scott-Heron & Makaya McCraven, Atlântico by Mário laginha, Julian Argüelles, Helge Andreas Norbakken, Lo Sagrado – Silvana Estrada & Charlie Hunter, Straight on Til Morning by Natalie Williams.