It’s not been a bad old year for jazz in my opinion. There’s been some good gigs, near and far, and a rich selection of new releases, some old stuff has been reissued, some has come out for the first time and some has escaped when it shouldn’t have, (Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy, I’m looking at you). Crate digging in charity shops has thrown up some real bargains again this year and there has been one jazz book which has stood head and shoulders above the others (the accompanying CD wasn’t half bad either). Enough with the preliminaries and on with the awards ...
In no particular order,
the albums giving the chart toppers a run for their money are:
Marius Neset – Geyser
Tori Freestone and
Alcyona Mick - Make One Little Room An Everywhere
Rob Luft – Dahab Days
Donny McCaslin- I Want
More
John Pope Quintet –
Citrinitas
Michael Moore, John Pope,
Johnny Hunter – Something Happened
London Brew –London Brew
Espen Berg – The Hamar
Concert
Elena Duni – A Time To
Remember
The Top 4 are:
4. Corto Alto – Bad With
Names
3. Yussef Dayes – Black
Classical Music
2. Zoe Rahman – Colour of
Sound
1. Lakecia Benjamin –
Phoenix
My favourite re-issues/
release of previously unavailable albums were both by Pharoah Sanders, namely Pharoah
Sanders Quartet – Live At Fabrik from 1980 and the re-issued with extra tracks Pharoah
from 1976 and 1977.
The charity shop bargains
cannot be ignored as the CDs continue to pile up at Sayer Towers. The best of
those adding to the heap at stupidly bargain prices this year were Monks
Dream – The Thelonious Monk Quartet; On A Clear Day – The Oscar Peterson Trio and
No
Looking Back – Paul Booth. The first two were briefly available for a
quid each at Oxfam in Nottingham. (My Doctor and my wife both regard it as an
addiction!)
In terms of live events
the local scene continues to thrive but we do seem to miss out on a lot of touring
artists. The Globe is, of course, the local venue of the year and the people
there, along with Jazz North East continue to spoil us in the quality of what
they promote. The Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music is also
worthy of high praise as is the associated New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings
record label which continues to release high quality music, such that you
should buy anything on the label, even if you’re not sure what you will get.
The label itself is guarantee enough.
Best
gigs of the Year
1. Ezra Collective at Cheltenham
2. Lakecia Benjamin in London
3. Zoe Rahman Octet in Newcastle
4. John Pope Quintet in Newcastle (Album
recording gig)
5. Elina Duni and Rob Luft in London
6. Lizz Wright at Cheltenham
Book
of the Year
An easy choice to give
the Gong to And Did Those Feet by
Duncan Heining. Published by Jazz in Britain, it was accompanied by a double CD
of music by the subjects of the book, namely Michael Garrick, Mike Gibbs, Barry
Guy, John Mayer, Keith Tippett and Mike Westbrook. Book and CD cost £20 and
either would have been a bargain on their own.
Here’s hoping for an equally good 2024. Dave Sayer
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