Jazzwise Albums of the Year 2023
Friday, December 1, 2023
The complete shortlist of the year's best jazz albums, featuring Joshua Redman, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Lakecia Benjamin, Jaimie Branch, Shakti, Tyshawn Sorey and many more
With the world still recovering from the traumas of the pandemic – now overshadowed by two bloody wars, not to mention the ever-worsening climate crisis – it’s little wonder there’s a deep sense of catharsis, reflection and experimentation running through Jazzwise's 2023 Albums of the Year.
Topping the New Releases chart, Joshua Redman’s collaborative album spotlights the beguiling vocals of Gabrielle Cavassa and provides a necessary and bewitching balm in troubled times. It struck a chord with many writers – as did the daring creativity of three extraordinary women musicians: Cécile McLorin Salvant, Lakecia Benjamin and the sadly-departed Jaimie Branch. Shakti’s swansong too, is a memorable example of their transcendent, unique take on Indo-jazz fusion.
As always, each writer submits their top 10 choices in both categories, with 10 marks given for a number one, down to one point for a number 10, then we do the math!
Albums of the Year: Nos 1-20...
1
Joshua Redman
where are we
Blue Note
‘The New Orleans-based, Californian-bred vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa is quite a sensation, someone who sounds like she could have been influenced by Portishead’s Beth Gibbons as well as Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan... What is something of a diversion for Redman turns into one of the unexpected big hits of 2023.’ Selwyn Harris
2
Cécile McLorin Salvant
Mélusine
Nonesuch
'Beautifully recorded at The Bunker Studio and Brooklyn Recording, Brooklyn, Salvant continues to confound and delight at every turn.' Peter Quinn
3
Lakecia Benjamin
Phoenix
Whirlwind Recordings
'Since her 2012 debut Retox Benjamin has been an impressive soloist with the chops to hold the biggest of stages, but, as this accomplished release proves, she has the equally important ability to make records in which socio-political content sits very well with musical nouse. Like the magical creature that is born of the ashes, Benjamin is on metaphorical fire...' Kevin Le Gendre
4
Jaimie Branch
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))
International Anthem
'This album is a superb addition to a small but brilliant legacy: as a final statement, they don't come much better than this. It's a glorious listen, rather than the melancholy one I expected...' Kevin Whitlock
5
Shakti
This Moment
Abstract Logix
'McLaughlin's western heritage shows him integrating the well-tempered scale and the harmonies that flow from it into to the harmony implied by raga, and at one point even weaving a couple of mischievous blue notes into the flow, while Mahadevan's voice, steeped in the complexities of Konokol, goes beyond anything heard before in jazz, with moments that can only be described as ‘high-tech scat’. This is my Album of the Year, since it is one of the finest albums of the last quarter-century...' Stuart Nicholson
6=
Tyshawn Sorey
Continuing
Pi Recordings
'Very few jazz piano-trios in that long-honed method's brilliant history can have played with quite this spellbinding equilibrium of understatement and simmering power...' John Fordham
6=
Espen Eriksen with Andy Shepherd
As Good As It Gets
Rune Grammofon
'Playing a set of seven Eriksen originals, Eriksen’s song writing ability often gets overlooked, but his compositions draw the listener into his music, his melodies finely tuned to stimulate those areas of the brain implicated in reward and emotion...' Stuart Nicholson
8
Brad Mehldau
Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles
Nonesuch
"Mehldau’s highly expressive touch and use of rubato and dynamics are nothing less than exemplary and unexpected twists add a new dimension to the material without abstracting the original songs. It’s a recipe that’s likely to satisfy both jazz lovers and fussily dedicated Beatles fans alike." Selwyn Harris
9=
Hedvig Mollestad
Weejuns Weejuns
Rune Grammofon
'This live double album captures the trio improvising extensively, with written-in hooks and riffs keeping the three oriented. But otherwise, the trio race and rail against each other, urging yet often contemplative...' Andy Robson
9=
Bobo Stenson
Trio Sphere
ECM
"This session – made at Lugano’s Italian-Swiss radio studio – catches the immediacy of a group that approaches every session afresh, yet demonstrates years of shared understanding of one another’s playing." Alyn Shipton
9=
Johnathan Blake
Passage
Blue Note
'Running through this varied and absorbing record are Johnathan Blake’s reflections on and tributes to his late father, the violinist John Blake Jr, who died in 2014. After a solo drum memory of fellow percussionist Lawrence Leathers, the band launches into ‘Passage’ which has a long alto solo by Wilkins at its core, but an equally strong and direct contribution from Virelles...' Alyn Shipton
12=
Mette Henriette
Drifting
ECM
"Drifting may remind you of a dream, or an embrace, or a preoccupied woodland wander a lot more than a wild bop-blasting night in a jazz club, but that's what the unique Mette Henriette is all about." John Fordham
12=
BlankFor.ms/Jason Moran/Marcus Gilmore
Refract
Red Hook Records
'This is trio music hinged on the immediacy of a finger on a laptop as well as a piano, and, as is the case in the work of roughly comparable artists, such as Gerald Cleaver, Ikue Mori and Tyondai Braxton, man and machine appear to be as close as body and soul...' Kevin Le Gendre
14=
Ambrose Akinmusire
Beauty Is Enough
Origami Harvest
'Courageous, creative work from an artist who continues to boldly grow in stature...' Kevin Le Gendre
14=
Rob Luft
Dahab Days
Edition
'Luft has already reached the point where his lush, melodic music sounds like no one else’s. It’s neither cautious nor introspective. Instead, it encourages us to look outwards, freed from time and place, to be continually inspired by curiosity and optimism. The whole album is a thrilling voyage of discovery...' Peter Jones
14=
Billy Valentine and the Universal Truth
Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth
Flying Dutchman/Acid Jazz
'Valentine has gone into classic 1970s soul territory with an album that is classily helmed...' Kevin Le Gendre
17=
Pat Metheny
Dream Box
BMG
'This album is an unqualified success and an important addition to his distinguished discography...' Stuart Nicholson
17=
James Brandon Lewis
Red Lily Quartet “For Mahalia, With Love “
Tao Forms
'Playing a repertoire associated with Mahalia Jackson, arguably the greatest exponent of the Negro spiritual tradition, Lewis captures the intensely emotive character of timeless standards such as ‘Let My People Go’, but most importantly, has found a personal route into this very specific vocabulary...' Kevin Le Gendre
17=
Matthew Halsall
An Ever Changing View
Gondwana
'In Halsall’s jazz, the dancefloor and the meditative retreat merge in mutual rhythmic recognition...' Nick Hasted
20
Alex Hitchcock Dream Band
Live In London
Whirlwind Recordings
'It’s impossible to do justice in a short review to a long album as varied and richly satisfying as this. Suffice to say that the composer is an unabashed modernist. He has developed the knack of writing tunes whose shape is hard to discern at first, but which gradually assume recognisable form as they approach the end...' Peter Jones
Albums of the Year: Nos 21-100...
Joe Chambers
Dance Kobina
Blue Note
Donny McCaslin
I Want More
Edition Records
Wolfgang Muthspiel
Dance of The Elders
ECM
Jason Rebello and Tim Garland
Life to Life
Whirlwind Recordings
Emma Rawicz
Chroma
ACT
Scott Dunn with Claire Martin and the RPO
I Watch You Sleep
Stunt Records
Tori Freestone & Alcyona Mick
Make One Little Room an Everywhere
self release/ Bandcamp
Madeleine & Salomon
Eastern Spring
Tzig'Art
Simon Spillett Big Band
Dear Tubby H
mister PC
Peter Brötzmann/Majid Bekkas/Hamid Drake
Catching Ghosts
ACT
Meshell Ndegeocello
The Omnichord Real Book
Blue Note
Elina Duni
A Time To Remember
ECM
Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz
Ex Machina
Pi Recordings
Sam Eastmond
Bagatelles Vol. 16
Tzadik
Fire! Orchestra
Echoes
Rune Grammofon
Brandee Younger
Brand New Life
Impulse!
Christine Tobin
Returning Weather
Trail Belle Records
Mike Westbrook
The Piano and Me: Dartington Hall 26th June 2022
Westbrook Records/Bandcamp
George Freeman
The Good Life
High Note
The Necks
Travel
Northern Spy
Irreversible Entanglements
Protect Your Light
Impulse!
Kendrick Scott
Corridors
Blue Note
Marius Neset
Geyser- Live At Royal Albert Hall
ACT
Ambrose Akinmusire
Owl Song
Nonesuch
Artemis
In Real Time
Blue Note
Get The Blessing
Pallett
All Is Yes
David Virelles
Carta
Intakt
Superblue: Kurt Elling and Charlie Hunter
The Iridescent Spree
Edition Records
Eliane Elias
Quietude
Candid
Matana Roberts
Coin Coin Chapter Five: In The Garden
Constellation
Five-Way Split
The Good Life
Ubuntu
Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke
Lean In
Edition Records
Uriel Herman
Different Eyes
Ubuntu
Jeremy Rose / Zela Margossian
Daughter of the Seas
Earshift Music
Robert Mitchell / Neil Charles / Mark Sande
Towards The Flame Vol.1
577
Angel Bat Dawid
Requiem For Jazz
International Anthem
Lorenzo Di Finti
Lullabies From An Unknown Time
Losen
Rymden and Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra (KORK)
Rymden + KORK
Jazzland
Louis Hayes
Exactly Right!
Savant
Michael Blake
Dance of the Mystic Bliss
P&M
Joshua Jaswon
Polar Waters
Ubuntu
Matthew Shipp
The Intrinsic Nature of Matthew Shipp
Mahakala
Paul Dunmall Ensemble
It's A Matter of Fact
Discus
Phi-Sonics
Octava
Gondwana
Chris Potter
Keys To the Kingdom: Live At The Village Vanguard
Edition Records
Imogen Ryall
Sings the Charles Mingus/Joni Mitchell Songbook
Rubicon Jazz
David Preston
Purple/Black Volume One
Whirlwind Recordings
Joe Magnarelli
New York Osaka Junction
Steeplechase
Sebastian Rochford
A Short Diary
ECM
Conic Rose
Heller Tag
Conic Rose Music
Naïssam Jalal
Healing Rituals
Les Coulers du Son
Joe Lovano Trio Tapestry
Our Daily Bread
ECM
Nite Bjutie
Nite Bjutie
Whirlwind Recordings
Canadian Jazz Collective
Septology: The Black Forest Sessions
HGBS Blue
Monika Roschew Bigband
Witchy Activities and the Maple Death
Zena
Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double
March On
Bandcamp
David Hazeltine Trio
Blues For Gerry
Criss Cross
Bill Laurance & Michael League
Where You Wish You Were
ACT
Billy Childs
The Winds of Change
Mack Avenue
Zoe Rahman
Colour of Sound
Manushi
Eddie Gripper
Home
Ubuntu
Hiromi
Sonicwonderland
Concord
Scott Hamilton Quartet
At Pizza Express Live
PX Records
Christine Jensen
Day Moon
Justin Time
Sissko/Segal/Parisien/Peirani
Les Égarés
No Format! Records
Ralph Towner
At First Light
ECM
Siema Ziema
Second
Byrd Out
Ishmael Ensemble & Rider Shafique
New Era
Severn Songs
Native Dancer
At Pizza Express Live In London
PX Records
Jesper Thilo Quartet
Live At Jazz Cup
Stunt Records
Joachim Kuhn
New Trio Jazz At Berlin Philharmonic XIV: Komeda
ACT
Angelika Niescier
Beyond Dreams
Intakt
Paul Mottram
Seven Ages of Man for Jazz Sextet and String Orchestra
Ubuntu
Christian McBride's New Jawn
Prime
Mack Avenue
Kenny Barron
The Source
Artwork Records
Phil Bancroft
Degrees Of Freedom
Myriad Streams
Matt Wates Sextet
Ballad For Steve
ABCD
Kahil El'Zabar Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
Spirit Gathrer: Tribute to Don Cherry
Spiritmuse
John Scofield Trio
Uncle John's Band
ECM
Harald Lassen
Balans
Jazzland
Helge Lien Trio & Tore Brunberg
Funeral Dance
Ozella
Alexander Hawkins Trio
Carnival Celestial
Intakt
Snazzback
Ruins Everything
Worm Discs
Satoko Fujii
Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams
Libra
Bex Burch
There Is Only Love and Fear
International Anthem
The Full Circle Quartet
The South Downs Suite
New Leaf
Ingrid Laubrock
The Last Quiet Place
Pyroclastic Records
Gabriel Latchin Trio
Viewpoint
Alys Jazz
Knoel Scott feat. Marshall Allen
Celestial
Night Dreamer
Kit Downes / PJEV / Hayden Chisholm
Medna Roso
Red Hook Records
Jasmine Myra
Horizons
Gondwana
Mark Turner
Live At the Village Vanguard
Giant Step Art
Beats & Pieces Big Band
Good Days
EFPI Records
Matt Ridley
The Antidote Live AT The London Jazz Festival
Ubuntu
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