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Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2012
by Patrick Jarenwattananon
For t he bet t er part of t his year, I haven't been able t o shake a cert ain phrase f rom t he back of
my mind. It was writ t en by t he pianist and composer Vijay Iyer in t he liner not es t o his brilliant
t rio album Accelerando: "[T]his album is in t he lineage of American creat ive music based on
dance rhyt hms."
It 's one of t he more precise descript ions I've encount ered f or my f avorit e jazz records, in t his
year or any. None of t hem sing t he blues t he same way. But deep down, t hey all f eel how
rhyt hm is f undament ally movement . They all represent t he ut most levels of creat ivit y. They all
plug int o t he wisdom of a t radit ion which precedes t hem, and t hey all aim t o build upon it .
Here, in alphabet ical order, are my t op t en albums in t he great lineage of jazz and improvised
music of 2012.
Top 10 Jazz Albums Of 2012
Billy Hart, 'All Our Reasons'
Album: All Our Reasons
Song: Imke's March [Inst rument al]
Among t he cooler t hings about learning t o play jazz is t hat you can
of t en call up your elders, and somet imes even your idols, and see if t hey
will perf orm wit h you. That 's what saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Ben
St reet and The Bad Plus pianist Et han Iverson did when t hey asked vet eran drummer Billy Hart
t o sit wit h t hem. Now t hat it 's of f icially Hart 's band it was a f riendly t akeover and now t hat
he's got a record deal, it t urns out he's more modern t han t he modernist s. On All Our Reasons,
he get s a lit t le breat hing room t o indulge all his percussive f ancies and t he rest of t he band
f loat s along f or t he ride. There's wisdom here: It seeps int o every open space, and neat t urn of
phrase, and t apered ending, and unexpect ed f ill. Occasionally, t here's cat harsis t oo.
t one, a presence so pungent and plangent you wonder how a t hirt y-
somet hing could have lived enough of t he blues t o possess it . (One
answer: grow up as a black man in t he American Sout h, as Jones has.) But as t his t hird volume
in a loosely aut obiographical t rilogy demonst rat es, he's got much more t han just a searing
sound. While his early reput at ion was based largely around his f ree improvising, Book of Mae'bul
f inds Jones plot t ing eight def ined composit ions f or a new quart et . This is unf olding music,
music whose long t ones and dissonances sound naive at f irst and increasingly meaningf ul as
t hey gnaw at you. One st andout ballad is called "Be Pat ient Wit h Me," good advice f or
somet hing t his pot ent .
Matt Ulery, 'By A Little Light'
Album: By A Lit t le Light
Song: Somebody Somewhere
I'm a sucker f or t he meet ing of st rings and snares, so bassist Mat t
Ulery's double album at t acked my predisposit ions f rom t he out set .
There's a wide gulf , t hough, f rom "t hat 's nice" t o "heart rendingly
beaut if ul," and Ulery bridges t hat gap handily. He's been exploring t ext ures beyond bebop f or
years wit h his ot her bands. He's drawing f rom a deep t alent pool in Chicago, whet her t he Polish
vocalist Grazyna Auguscik, or members of t he new-music ensemble eight h blackbird, or his
regular rhyt hm sect ions. And it 's obvious he's got big ears f or small det ails. I once asked him
about chamber jazz recordings which inspired him, but I'm st art ing t o t hink even t hat 's a bit
reduct ive. Beaut if ul music is t he more import ant cat egory.
Neneh Cherry & The Thing, 'The Cherry Thing'
Album: The Cherry Thing
Song: Cashback
This is a collaborat ion bet ween someone who was rapping on hit s in t he
lat e '80s and a Scandinavian f ree-jazz t rio known f or skronking int o t he
f ront row. It 's also a collaborat ion bet ween t he st epdaught er of cornet
conquist ador Don Cherry, who was born in Sweden, and t he band which f irst assembled
specif ically t o play Don Cherry t unes. Put t hat way, Neneh Cherry and The Thing have much
more in common: a love of American t radit ions, an immersion in cross-cult ural improvisat ion, a
high degree of musicianship. They unit e over an inspired program of most ly covers, invoking
Suicide, MF Doom, even Don Cherry himself . It 's a spont aneous side of Neneh Cherry, a
relat ively measured version of The Thing, a compromise which draws out convict ions we didn't
know we craved.
Omer Avital, 'Suite Of The East'
Omer Avital, 'Suite Of The East'
Album: Suit e Of The East
Song: Suit e Of The East
The new record f rom bassist Omer Avit al is act ually an older record. It
was made in 2006, just af t er Avit al put t he f inishing t ouches on a book
of t unes inf luenced by an int ensive t hree-year st udy of Middle East ern
and Nort h Af rican music. It was also recorded t he day af t er his quint et f inished a mont h-long
residency at t he New York club Smalls. So not only was he working f rom an inspired repert oire,
seamlessly melding t he Sephardic wit h t he swinging; his band had learned t he mat erial down
pat . As you might imagine, t he result ing recording is suf f used wit h t he ecst at ic playf ulness of
new mast ery. If Avit al has any more of t hat bot t led mojo, let 's hope it t akes him f ewer t han six
years t o release it .
Ryan Truesdell, 'Centennial: Newly Discovered
Works Of Gil Evans'
Album: Cent ennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans
Song: Punjab
Ryan Truesdell's debut album shows all t he prof essions of t en cont ained
in t he job descript ion of "musician." When Truesdell learned of t he
exist ence of previously unrecorded chart s by Gil Evans t he luminary composer/arranger who
looms large among any large jazz ensemble wit hin t he last 60 years he became a hist orian,
t racking t hem down in personal collect ions and archives around t he count ry. Then he became a
det ect ive, t rying t o rebuild t he unf inished or f ragment ed ones. And t hen he was a record
producer in assembling musicians t o document t his st uf f . (He had a lot of help f rom t he Maria
Schneider Jazz Orchest ra, where he's a copyist .) It all pays of f : From t he f irst downbeat , t he
result s are as majest ic and colorf ul as you would expect .
More inf ormat ion about The Gil Evans Cent ennial Project is available here.
Scott Dubois, 'Landscape Scripture'
Album: Landscape Script ure
Song: Prairie Suit e
The guit arist Scot t DuBois has released t hree albums wit h his quart et
since 2008. And f or all t hree, he's chosen cover art where desert ed
out door scenes are engulf ed in a haze or f og. It speaks t o his
composit ional aest het ic: past oral and of t en slow t o develop, like an early morning mist
beginning t o dissipat e. But t hese at mospheres aren't st at ic. His rhyt hm sect ion (Thomas
Morgan, bass; Krest en Osgood, drums) t icks st eadily along, like t he passage of so many hours,
and bass clarinet ist /t enor saxophonist Gebhard Ullman builds his solos deliberat ely, t he human
t oil not pict ured in t he landscapes. It 's music you could zone out t o pleasant ly, but when t he
f og lif t s, you'll want t o be t here f or t he vist as.
Theo Bleckmann, 'Hello Earth: The Music Of Kate
Bush'
Album: Hello Eart h! The Music of Kat e Bush
Song: Running Up That Hill
Vocalist Theo Bleckmann possesses inst inct s t o elevat e any song t o a
dif f erent art ist ic plane. Here, he chooses Kat e Bush songs, which have a
qualit y of art y-ot herness parallel t o his own. So wit h f our most ly jazz-t rained musicians
drummer John Hollenbeck, a longt ime collaborat or, among t hem Bleckmann re-hears and
resculpt s t hese t unes wit h humor and sensit ivit y. You won't hear much ding-ding-a-ling here,
but t he brains and gut s in t his st uf f dovet ails wit h t he creat ive music t radit ion. And of course,
it 's f inished by a squeaky-clean, precise delivery, a neut ral palet t e f or arrangement s and an
exquisit e t hing in it self .
Todd Marcus, 'Inheritance'
Album: Inherit ance
Song: Wahsouli
Here's a record wit h a lot of hidden layers. On t he surf ace, it 's a f airly
st raight -ahead collect ion where Balt imore reedman Todd Marcus f ront s
a piano-bass-drums quart et (t wo dif f erent lineups, t o be precise). But
Marcus' horn of choice is t he bass clarinet , wit h it s dist inct ive dark hue, t he f irst t ip-of f . His
composit ions are unusually but sensibly organized; his ot her working band is an 8-10 piece
ensemble, so he knows somet hing about arranging. And his pat ernal Egypt ian herit age has led
him int o st udy of music f rom t he Arabic world, which manif est s in colorf ul pieces like "Wahsouli"
or "Blues f or Tahrir." It 's dist inct and st udied, but merges int o t he modern mainst ream.
Inheritance, implying a personal grappling wit h hist ory, is a f it t ing t it le.
Vijay Iyer Trio, 'Accelerando'
Album: Accelerando
Song: Lit t le Pocket Size Demons
Quit e possibly my f avorit e single t hing on record t his year is t rack seven,
"Lit t le Pocket Size Demons," on t he Vijay Iyer Trio album Accelerando.
It 's a version of a Henry Threadgill composit ion which was lopsided and
rumbling enough when it was originally scored f or seven people; pared down f or t rio, it 's
relent less int ensit y f rom t he gun. Mind you, t his album is about more t han raw power: It s
originals breach new t errit ory f or t he classic piano-bass-drums combinat ion, and it s unexpect ed
covers (Michael Jackson, Flying Lot us, a Duke Ellingt on ballet , et c.) ret urn dialogue wit h ot her
goings-on in modern music. St ill, I keep coming back t o t hat seven-minut e st ret ch, in search of
t he primal irregular head-nodding it encourages. How are t hey possibly making t his work?
Inevit ably, I repeat t he t rack t o f ind out .