The best jazz albums of 2015 includes picks from jazz critic Ivan Hewett and culture editor Martin Chilton. There are 50 albums for 2015.



1 MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA: THE THOMPSON FIELDS (MARIA SCHNEIDER.COM)

Maria Schneider's latest album, some 10 years in the making, shows just what a supple and powerful instrument a jazz orchestra can be. ★★★★★ Ivan Hewett

2 KENNY WHEELER: SONGS FOR QUINTET (ECM)

The fine trumpeter Kenny Wheeler died in September 2014 and this lovely album was recorded at Abbey Road nine months before he died. There is some sweet flugelhorn from the Octogenerian and particularly fine support from tenor saxophonist Stan Sulzmann. John Parricelli (guitar), Martin France (drums) and Chris Laurence (bass) complete the classy quintet. The CD comes with two impressive booklets with photographs of the quintet and of Wheeler's time with ECM. The album's nine tracks are full of sensitive ensemble playing and supple rhythms, and it finishes with the poignant Nonetheless. Songs for Quintet is an excellent testament to a Canadian-born star who did so much for jazz in the UK. ★★★★☆ Martin Chilton

The best jazz albums of 2016





3 JACK DeJOHNETTE: MADE IN CHICAGO (ECM)

Jack DeJohnette brings together colleagues of 50 years standing – pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, sax players Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill and young cellist and bassist Larry Gray – and the range of expression these five players draw from their instruments is astonishing. ★★★★☆ IH





4 BOB DYLAN: SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT (COLUMBIA RECORDS)

Bob Dylan pays tribute to the jazz songs of Frank Sinatra, as he takes beautiful material written by such greats as Rodgers and Hammerstein and completely inhabits them, reimagining Some Enchanted Evening with the wistful intimacy of someone peering back through the mists of time. ★★★★★ Neil McCormick





5 TROYKA: ORNITHOPHOBIA (NAIM JAZZ RECORDS)

Ornithophobia is full of many-layered soundscapes which are often suggestive and aurally seductive, if somewhat chilly in emotional tone. Pianist Kit Downes, guitarist Chris Montague and drummer Josh Blackmore make the line-up, but often it seems as if we’re hearing half-a-dozen players, thanks to the clever guitar loops and over-dubbed synth lines. Adding his own touch of suggestive magic to all this is producer Petter Eldh, but thankfully he doesn’t sap the energy and drive of the playing, which is considerable.

This energy comes from the deliberate mismatch between the hectic, pattering drum patterns and the repeating riffs, which are always arithmetically ingenious, if as hard and angular as steel girders. When heaped up into layers they almost defeat the ear’s attempts to unscramble them. It could all be too much, but there’s usually a moment when the pieces break out of their self-created labyrinth – as in the opening number Arcades, where the music emerges unexpectedly into a wide-open harmonic space. In the closing number Seahouses (the Northumberland coast is another theme in this album), the pattern is reversed. Gentle synth. chords fade into one another, like layers of mist on an early morning sea, but over the horizon something threatening and super-fast eventually approaches. Overall this album is musically intriguing, and full of ear-tickling sounds, but only rarely loveable. ★★★☆☆ IH





6 AARON GOLDBERG: THE NOW (SUNNYSIDE RECORDS)

The Now is a very polished album, divided between Aaron Goldberg's own compositions, a few jazz standards, and some delightful reworkings of Brazilian songs. ★★★☆☆ IH





7 EMILY SAUNDERS: OUTSIDERS INSIDERS (MIX SOUNDS)

There's no doubting the strong vocal technique of Emily Saunders, who trained in Jazz Voice at Trinity Conservatoire, and her phrasing is one of the pleasures of her second album. The nine original jazz numbers, which range across jazz ballads and Sixties soul jazz, allow for strong instrumental solos from a band comprising the excellent Byron Wallen on trumpet along with Trevor Mires (trombone), Bruno Heinen/Steve Pringle (keys), Dave Whitford /Paul Michael (bass) Jon Scott (drums) and Fabio De Oliveira/ Asaf Sirkis (percussion). Highlights include the crisp voice-and-piano ballad You With Me and the optimistic Summer Days. Those who like their jazz sultry and languid will enjoy the album although it will be interesting to see if Saunders brings more fire into future work. ★★★☆☆ MC





8 REBECCA FERGUSON: LADY SINGS THE BLUES (RCA RECORDS)

Rebecca Ferguson's run through of Billie Holiday classics could have been bolder but she sings with sass and feeling. ★★★☆☆ MC





9 JOE ALBANY: AN EVENING WITH JOE ALBANY (STEEPLECHASE RECORDS)

Something of a rarity. There are 17 tracks on this concert recorded at the Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen in May 1973, when American bebop pianist Joe Albany (who died in 1988) was 49. April in Paris shows off his skill for embellishing a tune; I Can’t Get Started is less assured. Nevertheless, a welcome chance to hear an original jazz musician, who played Charlie Parker. ★★★☆☆ MC





10 PETE OXLEY AND NICOLAS MEIER: CHASING TALES (MGP RECORDS)

Guitar duos are reasonably rare in jazz yet the difference in styles from Pete Oxley and Nicolas Meier is the strength of the album as they come together in a mostly acoustic album. Chasing Tales shows off their elaborate, harmonically rich melodies and clever solos. Two masterly guitarists creating an array of changing moods. ★★★★☆ MC





11 WILD CARD: ORGANIC RIOT (TOP END RECORDS)

Wild Card are a fine live jazz act and they manage to capture their gig energy on Organic Riot. The album blends hard-bop, Afro, Latin and Funk, all held together by producer and French-born guitarist Clément Régert. He and organist Andrew Noble (and drummer Sophie Alloway) are joined by some strong guests, including Graeme Flowers on trumpet and Roberto Manzin on tenor saxophone. Natalie Williams sings well on Feeling Good and Wash Him Out. The longest track, at more than eight minutes, is Flood and it's full of treats. ★★★★☆ MC





12 ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH TRIO: FEATURES (INTAKT RECORDS)

This CD must be in the running for the Least Appealing Title for a Jazz Album prize, but fortunately the contents are livelier than the packaging. The ponderous liner notes tell us the album is a summary of how far the trio has come in 45 years playing together, which is evidently a very long way indeed. The three players – pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens – are veterans of the ‘free jazz’ scene. Some devotees of free jazz make a fetish of holding any echoes of ‘normal’ jazz at arm’s length. These three have been around too long to be dogmatic, and much of the pleasure of this album lies in savouring the little hints of blues and vamping stride patterns and old-fashioned ‘licks’ that flit across the music’s surface. The opening meditation from von Schlippenbach sounds like his take on 1950s classical modernism, but lurking inside the star-like points of sound is the ghost of a ‘jazzy’ seventh chord. Each of the following fourteen ‘Features’ is like a little character study, launching off with an idea – a repeated note, a whirling figure on the sax or cymbals – and allowing it to wander where it will. Several times a number ends with a descent down into the bass, so neatly contrived it might have been arranged in advance. The most haunting Feature is the eleventh, where Parker’s long multiphonic sound, like a bird that never needs to breathe, is framed in delicate piano and percussive commentaries. Free jazz can never be 'easy listening', but the witty, relaxed interplay on this album comes close to it. ★★★★☆ IH





13 THE BEN COX BAND: THIS WAITING GAME (CINNAMON RECORDS)

Ben Cox has a sweet and expressive voice and he shows he can handle a classic in the way (with help from Claire Martin) he tackles the 1939 song A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. Cox's band, directed by pianist Jamie Safiruddin, interplay well with his voice on an album produced and co-arranged by Ian Shaw. It's not straightforward jazz – And I Love Her by Lennon and McCartney is covered – but the jazz is done well, especially when Adam Chatterton (trumpet and flugelhorn), Flo Moore (electric and double bass), Will Glaser (drums) are sparking with Cox and Safiruddin. The vibrant This Happy Madness (with Emily Dankworth) is a highlight. ★★★★☆ MC





14 DJANGO REINHARDT AT THE MOVIES (CHERRY RED RECORDS)

Taking music from Louis Malle's 1974 film Lacombe, Lucien and Woody Allen, this celebrates Django Reinhardt, the father of all jazz guitarists and a musician who inspired countless players from across the whole spectrum of popular and classical styles. Nuages is there of course, work with Stephane Grapelli and the songs Allen used in Stardust Memories and Sweet and Lowdown. Fans will have more complete compilations but if you are looking for an introduction to his work, then this is rather lovely. ★★★★☆ MC





15 BILLIE HOLIDAY: THE CENTENNIAL COLLECTION (LEGACY/COLUMBIA)

We couldn't let April pass without a nod to the peerless Billie Holiday, who was born 100 years ago. This short and sweet Centennial Collection is a good snapshot of the late singer's early career, including Them There Eyes and Strange Fruit. It gets four stars rather than five because there are more comprehensive collections. But you can't beat Billie. ★★★★☆ MC

- Billie Holiday's top 10 songs



16 JOE STILGOE: NEW SONGS FOR OLD SOULS (LINN RECORDS)

Music should be fun and the new album from pianist and singer/songwriter Joe Stilgoe is just that. His own compositions (comprising 10 of the 12 songs) are quirky and interesting and there's a nostalgic charm to big band numbers such as Nobody Cares Like Me and Pocket Song. Tom Farmer (bass), Ben Reynolds (drums) and Billy Adamson (guitar) add fine support and there is a sweet duet with Liane Carroll on a cover of Brian Wilson's I Just Wasn't Made For These Times. ★★★★☆ MC



17 JULIAN ARGÜELLES: LET IT BE TOLD (BASHO RECORDS)

The indomitably cheerful spirit of South African jazz is revived here, in the unlikely setting of a big band format. The performers are the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, and the arrangements are by saxophonist Julian Argüelles, who appears as soloist on several numbers. Argüelles is well placed to make such an album, having steeped himself in the sound of South African jazz as a young man. He played with émigré South African musicians who’d settled in this country in the Sixties, and was also a member of that now legendary band Loose Tubes, which itself was deeply influenced by South African jazz. Argüelles’s take on that tradition sometimes recalls Loose Tubes uproarious high spirits, in numbers such as Johnny Dyani’s Mama Marimba. This begins with a musical explosion, out of which the music gradually emerges. The band’s famously tight ensemble gives plenty of rhythmic kick to upbeat numbers like Dudu Pukwana’s Diamond Express, and Chris MacGregor’s Amasi feels like a crescendo of cheerfulness. Behind the sunny dancing quality you sometimes catch a deeper note of protest or religious feeling, as in the hymn-like ending to Mongezi Feza’s You Aint’t Gonna Know Me. And overall the soft palette of the Frankfurt band, with the trombones sounding as mellifluous as clarinets, gives an affectionate glow to everything. In all, it’s a joy. ★★★★☆ IH





18 PARTIKEL: STRING THEORY (WHIRLWIND)

The combination of a jazz ethos with a mellifluous string sound is fraught with dangers, as Charlie Parker’s ‘strings’ album reminds us. Fortunately the importation of a string quartet into the lean, piano-less sound of jazz trio Partikel works wonders on this new album. Duncan Eagles, whose creamy mellifluous sax sound is a constant pleasure, is also a clever arranger for string quartet. He conjures all kinds of interesting textures from the medium, including a Xenakis-like modernist fury at the very beginning.

It’s typical of the album that this abrasive beginning leads disarmingly to a sweetly pastoral number, which boasts a real shapely melody of old-fashioned suavity. All kinds of idioms rub shoulders on the album, ranging from a sturdy modal quality somewhat reminiscent of Mike Westbrook to a sultry Latin flavour. Lead violinist Benet Mclean is a wonderfully characterful soloist, as is bass player Max Luthert. Some may find both the sound-world and the actual compositions just too soft-edged and ingratiating, others will enjoy the way the whole album seems to glow with a new-dawn innocence. ★★★☆☆ IH





19 PATRICK NAYLOR: DAYS OF BLUE (PATRICK NAYLOR)

There is a lot to enjoy in the mellow Days of Blue, especially the sensitive guitar playing of Patrick Naylor. The 9mins26secs Blue Morning feels like a jam session and shows off the quality of the musicians involved. The Latin feel of Restless is also a treat. Naylor blends well with saxophone player Ian East on Lost Song and David Beebee (piano, bass), Milo Fell (drums), Natalie Rozario (cello) and Alex Keen (bass) offer fine support. There are also vocals from Sara Mitra and Stephanie O'Brien, who is joined by and Dan Teper (accordion) on the sweet Naggar. ★★★☆☆ MC





20 LIAM NOBLE: A ROOM SOMEWHERE (BASHO)

Liam Noble’s new solo album is a box of surprises. The mysterious plucked notes at the very beginning reminds us that Noble is fascinated by the piano as a resource of pure sound, who often collaborates with players of more experimental hue like Mary Halvorson. But it’s not long before this leads into the cosy sentimentality of Wouldn’t it be Lovely. Noble isn’t one for cosiness and instead makes this unlikely choice of standard seem amusingly angular. A dry tenderness peeps through as well, but it’s held in check by Noble’s fascination with pattern and sound, and this tension is there throughout the album. He enjoys going against the grain of the instrument, as in Six White Horses, which recreates a banjo idiom on the piano, and this is followed by another clever bit of disguise in his own I Wish I Played Guitar. Sometimes I wished Noble would relax, indulge the piano’s potential for emotional amplitude, and go more with the grain of the standards he’s chosen, but the wit and intelligence of the playing are always absorbing. ★★★☆☆ IH





21 INDRA RIOS-MOORE: HEARTLAND (DECCA)

Indra Rios-Moore, who grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side, is now a respected figure on Denmark's jazz scene and it's easy to see why from this classy and ambitious album. She ranges across bluesy jazz, such as Little Black Train, and is as comfortable on Duke Ellington's Azure as she is with David Bowie's Heroes. On Heartland, which is produced by Larry Klein, there is a Doc Watson cover and a gorgeous version of From Silence, which was written by Thomas Bartlett. Rios-Moore is worth getting to know. ★★★★☆ MC





22 THE BAD AND JOSHUA REDMAN: THE BAD PLUS JOSHUA REDMAN (NONESUCH)

A meeting of jazz musicians who push boundaries. Trio The Bad Plus are joined by saxophonist Joshua Redman, and the intricate compositions challenge and inspire the soloists. I particularly liked Redman’s swing on Friend or Foe and the short and sweet Country Seat, written by pianist Ethan Iverson. Silence is the Question, also featuring Reid Anderson (bass) and David King (drums), is ambitious and nearly 14 minutes long. ★★★★☆ MC



23 JOSE JAMES: YESTERDAY I HAD THE BLUES: THE MUSIC OF BILLIE HOLIDAY (BLUE NOTE)

José James has described Billie Holiday as "my mother in music" and the acclaimed vocalist does full justice to Lady Day in this tribute album produced by Blue Note president Don Was. The band is stellar band – and includes pianist Jason Moran, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Eric Harland – and the material to work with, including Body and Soul and Strange Fruit, is timeless. Just right for Billie's centenary year. ★★★★☆ MC





24 BEATS & PIECES BIG BAND: ALL IN (EFPI RECORDS)

Beats & Pieces are an exuberant live band and composer and arranger Ben Cottrell has captured that energy on their new album All In. I liked the treatment of David Bowie's Let's Dance and there is plenty of old style big band verve on Rocky from a band that includes Finlay Panter, Nick Walters, Sam Healey and Graham South. ★★★★☆ MC



25 BOBBY BRADFORD & JOHN CARTER QUINTET: NO U-TURN (DARK TREE RECORDS)

Recorded in Pasadena (at Caltech's Baxter Lecture Hall in November 1975) this engaging album features clarinetist John Carter in a rare outing on soprano saxophone. As well as cornet player Bobby Bradford, the Los Angeles-based band has Robert Miranda on double bass and William Jeffrey on drums. A highlight is Circle, which shows how well Carter and Bradford weaved together musically. Another example of the value of the archives. ★★★★☆ MC

26 JOEL HARRISON: SPIRIT HOUSE (WHIRLWIND RECORDINGS)

Washington-born composer Joel Harrison's guitar resonates through You Must Go Through a Winter, one of the multi-layered compositions on Spirit House that shows off how well he blends with Paul Hanson’s bassoon and Cuong Vu's subtle trumpet playing. The quintet on this textured album is completed by the deft Brian Blade on drums and Kermit Driscoll on bass. It's a languid and expressive album. Look out for the psychedlic feel of An Elephant in Igor’s Yard and the swing of Old Friends. ★★★★☆ MC

27 DUKE ELLINGTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA: THE CONNY PLANK SESSION (GRÖNLAND)

This is a fascinating listen, partly because Plank really does give the band’s sound a feeling of multiple perspectives, with flute and horns and trombones and drum-kit all in their own acoustic spaces. And with Duke Ellington a retake is never just a retake. He seizes the opportunity to rework the music each time. ★★★★☆ IH

See full review of the Duke Ellington lost recordings

28 KAMASI WASHINGTON: THE EPIC (FLYLO)

As a saxophonist, Kamasi Washington soars on this bold, three CD, 172-minute epic. Washington, the LA-born 34-year-old who has played with Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus, gets the best out of a 10-piece band that includes Patrice Quinn's innovative soul vocals, electric bassist Thundercat and trombonist Ryan Porter. Epic has shades of Coltrane, Miles Davis and Weather Report and tips a nod to hip hop and funk. I particularly liked Final Thought and The Next Step. Ambitious, swooping and only for those with a long evening spare. ★★★★☆ MC

29 BRUNO HEINEN & KRISTIAN BORRING: POSTCARD TO BILL EVANS (BABBEL)

The two albums made by the great Bill Evans with the guitarist Jim Hall a half-century ago are among the most exquisite jazz records ever made. So for young British pianist Bruno Heinen and Danish guitarist Kristian Borring to make a recording of some classical Evans numbers might seem like lèse-majesté. In fact they don’t suffer by the comparison. They’ve avoided the compositions on those two albums, recording seven Evans originals, plus Bernstein’s Some Other Time, Kern’s All The Things You Are and an original number by Heinen entitled Postcard to Bill that could almost be a long-lost original by the great man.Each track is a model of quiet stylishness, with nicely witty touches like the striding bass in Interplay, over which the melody lopes like a gazelle, or the ending of Show Type Tune, where a dancing phrase steps elegantly up the keyboard until it almost disappears off the top. It’s a tribute to how well these players know each other that they can bowl along in swinging rhythms for a minute at a stretch, without treading on each other’s toes. By the fourth track I was beginning to wonder whether the album wasn’t tipping over from sophistication into preciousness, but on numbers like Five real energy breaks through the cool surface. ★★★★☆ IH

30 FRED HERSCH: SOLO (PALMETTO)

This is Fred Hersch’s tenth solo piano album, and it proves his nimble technique and restless imagination are undimmed, and more engrossing than ever. Everything about it bespeaks a loyalty to the mainstream: the choice of pieces (no Radiohead songs or rap numbers for Hersch), no reaching inside the innards of the piano in search of ‘atmospheric’ sounds, no venturing towards extremes of fortissimo or pianissimo. Familiar standards, treated within the familiar language of swing and bebop, stretched here and there towards Latin (there’s a lovely take on two Antônio Carlos Jobim songs) and classical music (Robert Schumann’s Pastorale) are all Hersch needs to create something extraordinary. Hersch tells us he was ‘in the zone’ the day this live recording was made, ‘a special place where everything is working – heart, mind and technique.’ This blessed state allowed him to do daring things, like the rhythmic gear-shifts in Monk’s In Walked Bud, with a sense of complete ease. Any time he appears to be tying himself in rhythmic knots, or skittering down a harmonic cul-de-sac, Hersch finds his way back to familiar territory with amusing Houdini-like ingenuity. Another pleasing feature of the CD is the way Hersch sidles up to a number via a long introduction, which in the case of Kern’s The Song is You is so ingenious it’s almost a disappointment when the song itself begins. There’s also an appealing honesty about the album, in the way Hersch stays faithful to a number's original nature. His oddly sinister version of Caravan, which tiptoes with delicate menace like a malevolent spider, is extraordinary partly because it brings out a lurking oddity in the piece itself, which we’d only half-noticed before. Hersch’s respect for his originals is actually a drawback in Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now. He doesn’t want to compromise the pellucid wise innocence of the original, so his freedom of manoeuvre is curtailed; he can’t bring in those harmonic quirks that make the other numbers so fascinating. It’s the only mis-step in an album that everywhere else is full of quiet (and sometimes not-so-quiet) delights. ★★★★☆ IH

31 YARON HERMAN: EVERYDAY (BLUE NOTE)

Israeli pianist Yaron Herman is an accomplished pianist and there is plenty to savour on Everyday, even small musical snacks such as Gentle With Open Hands, which is only 79 seconds long. The album was conceived and executed entirely with drummer Ziv Ravitz. Herman calls him his "musical brother" and you can see why on the moody track Retrograde, on which they blend together seamlessly. ★★★☆☆ MC

32 MISHA MULLOV-ABBADO: NEW ANSONIA (EDITION RECORDS)

The talent gathered on this album is astonishing. There’s Jacob Collier, sensational young pianist and YouTube phenomenon, and a clutch of fine instrumentalists including trombonist Tom Green, saxophonist Matthew Herd and flugelhorn player James Davison. Renowned classical violinist Viktoria Mullova, cellist Matthew Barley and guitarist Nick Goodwin make guest appearances. At the centre of it all is bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado, son of Mullova and the late Claudio Abbado, who also has talent to burn. The compositions on this album are all his (apart from a witty arrangement of Earth, Wind and Fire’s September), and they show an amazing variety of mood, very artfully arranged. It kicks off with a sweetly innocent number, twittering bird-song offset by academically correct part-writing. It’s almost too sweet, but the dirty slouching swing of the next number offsets that impression very neatly. And so it goes on, each number pushing into a completely new area, but always displaying Mullov-Abbado’s gift for fashioning melodies that are shapely and almost remind you of something, but stay just this side of being hackneyed. In Satan, Oscillate my Metallic Sonatas he even dips a toe into modernism, with an intriguingly angular three-part invention emerging out of electronic spaciness. But it’s only skin-deep; warm harmonies eventually emerge, and the number ends squarely on a proper chord, just like all the others. The sheer profusion of different styles might make one wonder: where does Mullov-Abbado’s heart really lie, musically speaking? But there’s plenty of time for that to emerge. For now, best to simply enjoy this unfailingly inventive, artfully produced, and delightfully sunny debut. ★★★★☆ IH

33 SONS OF KEMET: LEST WE FORGET WHAT WE CAME HERE TO DO (NAIM JAZZ)

Two years ago the quartet Sons of Kemet made everyone sit up and take notice, with its debut album Burn. Now they’re back with one change of line-up (Theon Cross has replaced Oren Marshall as tuba-ist) but their utterly individual sound is thoroughly intact. If anything it’s even more doggedly bare and simple, with Shabaka Hutchings saxes protesting up above in rugged repeating phrases, while the tuba grunts away below, just as it does in a New Orleans marching band. The minimal satisfactions of this bare two-part music are often reduced still further, when Shabaka swaps to bass clarinet and simply echoes the tuba. Meanwhile the two drummers Seb Rochford and Tom Skinner provide a back-drop of unchanging insistence, sometimes up-tempo and hectic, sometimes loping along with a kind of dogged patience. It seems unpromising, and sometimes one longs for a bit more variety. And yet more often than not the sheer plainness of the music is moving. The liner notes talk of the music’s debt to Hutchings’ Caribbean roots, and Hutchings actually describes the album as ‘a meditation on the Caribbean diaspora in Britain’. There are pieces in praise of Barbadian author George Lamming and African-American sci-fi writer Octavia Butler. The long number entitled Afrofuturism even incorporates a snatch of a recording, too faint to identify – a memory of the generation who arrived in 1948 on the Windrush, perhaps?

The title Afrofuturism might suggest a mystical strain akin to Sun Ra or Wadada Leo Smith, but Hutchings and the quartet strike a much more political, this-worldly tone. Often the music evokes the rough sound of a marching band or a political balladeer, as much as anything Caribbean or African. In all it’s a moving if sometimes frustrating experience. ★★★☆☆ IH

34 TIFFANY AUSTIN: NOTHING BUT SOUL (CON ALMA MUSIC)

Former Californian law student Tiffany Austin has an arresting voice and she brings a lot of soul and smoothness to interpretations of six Hoagy Carmichael songs, including Stardust, I Get Along Without You Very Well and Georgia on my Mind. Her debut album is produced by sqaxophonist Howard Wiley and features Ron Belcher (bass), Sly Randolph (drums) and Glen Pearson (piano). A highlight is the bluesy version of Johnny Cash's country classic I Walk the Line. ★★★☆☆ MC

35 JOHN SCOFIELD: PAST PRESENT (IMPULSE)

John Scofield’s roots in jazz guitar go back a good 40 years. Trawl through YouTube and you’ll find videos of Scofield in his funky 1970s prime, razor-thin, in skin-tight shirts and bell-bottoms, playing with other stars of that era like George Duke. Often he spins phrases right at the top of the finger-board, of a horniness so blatant the video really ought to bear a Parental Guidance warning. Nowadays Scofield is not quite so thin, and the funky horniness has ebbed away. On this new CD Scofield’s forays to the top of the guitar’s range are rare, and they have a different feeling of reflective mellowness. That quality is partly occasioned by the album’s recurring theme, which is the death of Scofield’s son Evan from cancer in 2013. This prompts Scofield to look back not just over his son’s life, but his own musical past. Rodgers and Hammerstein, the wide-open spaces of Copland, country music and the blues are all touched on. Scofield must be an optimistic soul, for the family tragedy brings out a vein of innocent melodism, rather than anything overtly sad. Museum and Mr. Puffy have a lovely melody evidently cut from the same cloth, but it’s so affectionately turned no-one could mind. Alongside Scofield is saxophonist Joe Lovano, whose tone is more than usually liquid and ingratiating. Bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart also adapt themselves tactfully to the quietly reflective tone. It could all have been a mite too mellow, were it not for the fact that the two frontmen are such ingenious and cogent improvisers. In all it’s a delight. ★★★★☆ IH

36 DAVE DOUGLAS: QUINTET BRAZEN HEAT (GREENLEAF)

Dave Douglas has always stood out among American trumpet players for his restless intellectual curiosity. Silent films, electronic sounds, avant-garde classical music and dance have all spurred his creativity as a composer, and yet running through all his music like a ground-bass is a harking back to old things: hymns, marching bands, the blues. The elegiac strain in his music came to the fore two years ago with his quintet album Be Still, composed in memory of his mother. This new album, recorded with the same quintet, is also a memorial album, this time for his brother Damon. However the tone here is sturdy, as if evoking the fortitude needed to cope with tragedy (the title track was actually written for a music festival held at Ground Zero.) That feeling emerges most clearly in the two numbers not written by Douglas, Deep River and There is a Balm in Gilead. Here the age-old tunes emerge with unfeigned simplicity and affection, with beautifully turned solos from bassist Linda Oh, and little inflections from Douglas suggesting a vocal sob (though this is done with such tact one barely notices it). Elsewhere the tone becomes assertive, and even playful. Douglas tells us he’s been learning from Wayne Shorter’s method of creating forms which are cogent, and yet seem to arise spontaneously, like improvisation. The best numbers on this album have that same mysterious quality, the players darting in and out of the weave in unpredictable yet telling ways. Miracle Gro pits three very different things against each other; a sophisticated side-slipping harmonic pattern from pianist Matt Mitchell, a slinky pattering rhythm from drummer Rudy Royston, and a naive little military-sounding tune from Douglas. These make odd bedfellows, and yet we’re soon persuaded they belong together. A little later, when tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon joins Douglas in an unexpectedly expansive melody, that seems exactly right too. Overall the album is not an easy listen, but at those wonderful moments when everything magically coheres, the effort needed to appreciate it is repaid ten-fold. ★★★★☆ IH

37 OSCAR PETERSON: EXCLUSIVELY FOR MY FRIENDS (MPS RECORDS)

Recorded live at the private home of Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, this boxed set encompasses all of Oscar Peterson’s original MPS albums (Action, Girl Talk, The Way I Really Play, My Favourite Instrument, Mellow Mood, and Travelin’ On) and two CD’s of ‘Lost Tapes’. This is a must for fans of the great Peterson, who died in 2007, aged 82. There are classics, modern jazz and even a version of Doc Pomus's Never Say Yes and Erroll Garner's Misty. Dip in at any point and you will marvel at his playing. Some albums are solo and some are with Bob Durham (drums) and Sam Jones, who adds his vibrant bass to a scintillating version of Summertime. ★★★★★ MC

38 ERIC BIBB AND JJ MILTEAU: LEAD BELLY'S GOLD (DIXIEFROG RECORDS)

In truth, this album could have gone in our best country or folk lists, but there is a wonderful jazzy-bluesy feel to this tribute album to the great Huddie Lead Belly, part of which was recorded at The Sunset, a famous Parisian jazz club. Singer/guitarist Eric Bibb and harmonica virtuoso JJ Milteau blend beautifully and bring something really fresh and vital to their interpretations of such iconic Lead Belly songs as On a Monday. The highlights for me were Pick A Bale Of Cotton and a forceful Bourgeois Blues. "The sound of his 12-string guitar is part of my DNA," said Bibb. Listen out, too, for fine contributions from Big Daddy Wilson (vocals), Glen Scott (drums, bass, Wurlitzer) and Michael Jerome Browne (12-string guitar and mandolin). ★★★★☆ MC

39 MATTHEW HALSALL & THE GONDWANA ORCHESTRA: INTO FOREVER (GONDWANA RECORDS)

There is a lovely introspective ambience to the work of Manchester based trumpeter and composer Matthew Halsall. His sixth album features guest singer Josephine Oniyama and draws on the sound of psychedelic soul and contemporary electronica. Flautist Lisa Mallett and pianist Taz Modi are among the band member and the album again features Halsall's clever way of writing for strings, especially on Dawn Horizon. There's a fine moody feel to Longshan Temple. ★★★☆☆ MC

40 BRAD MEHLDAU: 10 YEARS SOLO LIVE (NONESUCH)

Mehldau may not have the blistering speed of some pianists, but his musical intelligence is second to none. See the full review here. ★★★★★ IH

41 ELINA DUNI QUARTET: DALLËNDYSHE (ECM)

Swiss-Albanian vocalist Elina Duni exudes a wonderful sensibility in the way she sings (not in English) on Dallëndyshe. Her backing quartet are totally in sync with fine touches from bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Norbert Pfammatter adding to the excellent work of Swiss pianist Colin Vallon. The album flows effortlessly between folk and jazz as Duni ranges across material drawn from Albania. Lose yourself in the grace of songs such as Kur Te Pashe, Ylberin and Delja Rude. A lovely, atmospheric album. ★★★☆☆ MC

42 MICHAEL WOLLNY: NACHTFAHRTEN (ACT)

Michael Wollny is the tousle-haired, elfin romantic poet of jazz piano. His previous albums revealed a restless musical curiosity, and a taste for long-lost worlds of feeling. One album even revived the spirit of the ‘cabinet of curiosities’, those odd collections of whale’s teeth, lodestones and dubious relics kept by Renaissance-era potentates to amuse their guests. This new album from Wollny and his trio could be seen as another collection of small, puzzling aural objects. Each number is short, and throws out hints of various sorts of expressive world which are cut short, or dissolve into something else. You’re not quite sure how to describe them, or where they come from, just like the strange objects in those cabinets. However this album marks a turn to something more overtly romantic. The imagery of the titles – night journey, white moon, nocturne, moonlight – is a compendium of German romantic imagery, as if Wollny is returning to his cultural roots. The music itself mostly has a nocturnal stillness, disturbed after a while by something uncanny.

The title track goes further into sepulchral grandeur, the steady thump of Eric Schaefer’s drums like a tolling funeral bell. But it’s not all gloom. Alongside the distinctly German ‘classical’ flavor is a hint of French lightness and lyrical grace, especially in de desconfort, based on a secular song by 14th century poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut. It’s in these lighter numbers that the musing lyrical quality of bassist Christian Weber comes to the fore. And what about jazz? you might be thinking. Well, there is the odd number such as Ellen where a slow swing rhythm appears, and occasionally a jazz 11th or 13th chord floats into view, sounding as exotic in this context as a banjo in a symphony orchestra. It's fascinating, but one gets the sense Wollny was so immersed in the world of each number that he didn't stand back to get a sense of the whole. The result is an album whose mostly slow pace and reflective gentleness could become monotonous, if taken at a single sitting. Sip it one track at a time and you’ll almost certainly be fascinated by its subtlety, and at times even moved. ★★★☆☆ IH

43 THE KANSAS SMITTY'S HOUSE BAND: KANSAS SMITTY (CITY MUSIC)

The Kansas Smitty's House Band came into life after a group of jazz men from the London jazz scene got together for the love of swing music. Their debut album celebrates the musical heritage of Kansas City, New Orleans and New York - and a lot of fun it is, too. The eight-piece band are led by clarinettist Giacomo Smith and you are transported back in time by songs such as the short and sweet Warm Embrace, which is only 2:19 long. Peter Horsfall sings and plays fine trumpet and I enjoyed the energy and touch of Joe Webb on piano. ★★★☆☆ MC

44 CHARLES RUMBACK: IN THE NEW YEAR (EARSANDEYESRECORDS.COM)

Drummer and composer Charles Rumback is a veteran of the thriving Chicago jazz scene, of which we get only occasional glimpses in the UK. This CD, made with a quintet of younger but like-minded musicians, reveals a ruminative and exploratory personality. All the numbers bar two are composed by him, and none rises louder than a conversational tone, or moves quicker than medium swing. Yet without being overtly striking the music is remarkably engaging, partly because the four players are so in tune with Rumback’s way of thinking. At its core is an old-fashioned emphasis on goal-directed melody, carried along by harmonies which are remarkably traditional. Several of the numbers end on a simple major chord, not something you hear often in jazz. What makes this plainness interesting is the way the players catch the quietly ecstatic vein in Rumback’s melodies, each player ornamenting it in his or her own way. The music points to the rich heritage of African-American music in Chicago, from gospel to the rhapsodic freedom of those improvising musicians associated with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Added to this is a softer element, captured in the intriguing harmonic side-lights of guitarist Jeff Parker. Some will find it all too mild-mannered, and there is perhaps a falling-off in the later numbers. But at its best moments the album has a quiet, lyrical eloquence. ★★★☆☆ IH

45 THE NATIONAL YOUTH JAZZ ORCHESTRA: NYJO FIFTY (WHIRWIND RECORDINGS)

A fine big band album in its own right and a fitting way to commemorate their 50th anniversary NYJO FIFTY offers two CDs of real quality. This cross-section of the band's repertoire features a number of special guests including alumni Mark Nightingale (trombone), Gareth Lockrane (flute) and Zoe Rahman (piano). NYJO features 23 musicians and vocalists from around the country overseen by trumpeter Mark Armstrong, who was appointed Music and Artistic Director in 2012. I enjoyed Sam Glaser's alto playing A Foggy Day and it was good to hear Finding My Feet, composed by NYJO's founder Bill Ashton. ★★★★☆ MC

46 DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER: DEE DEE'S FEATHERS (SONY MASTERWORKS)

Dee Dee Bridgewater’s collaboration with trumpet maestro Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) marks the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Dee Dee Bridgewater sings in a tender, understated way and brings her skill to a number of classics. Among the 14 songs are Saint James Infirmary and Earl King's Big Chief, given a banjo treatment and featuring a guest appearance from Dr John on vocals. The feathers in the album’s title are explained in the short song of the same name by Bridgewater, Mayfield and percussionist Bill Summers. An entertaining album. ★★★★☆ MC

47 WEATHER REPORT: THE LEGENDARY LIVE TAPES 1978-1981 (LEGACY/SONY)

Sony There seems to be no end to the unheard recordings of pioneering fusion band Weather Report lurking in the estate of the late Joe Zawinul, the band’s keyboard player. New releases keep appearing, particularly of live gigs, where someone had the good sense to switch a tape recorder on. They make fascinating listening, as they’re so different in sound to the ultra-polished, heavily produced sound of the studio albums. We’ve had Live in Berlin in 1975, and Live in Offenbach from 1978. Now comes The Legendary Live Tapes 1978-1981, a four-CD collection of live material divided between the band in its quartet and quintet formats. You might wonder how the tapes could be legendary, when no-one knew they existed apart from Peter Erskine, one-time drummer with the band and producer of this 4-CD set. “Legendary” is the word record companies use to persuade us a new compilation is essential, however similar it looks to the last one.

The fact that these new releases were originally recorded on cassette is another reason to be wary. In fact the set turns out to be rather wonderful. Peter Erskine’s assertion that the sound quality is surprisingly good is actually true – or maybe it’s more that the deficiencies of the cassette recordings lend a charming period feel to the sound. (Here and there we hear that odd upward swoop at the beginning of a track, a tell-tale sign that the operator of the cassette machine switched it on a fraction too late). Tracks such as “Joe and Wayne Duet” are a reminder of what a phenomenal player Joe Zawinul was on the piano, as well as on his trademark synthesizers. The more melodic pieces such as A Remark you Made have a special sultry gorgeousness, and often the band gives way to flights of collective fantasy not found in the more antiseptic ambience of a studio, such as in the huge 18-minute version of Madagascar. The presence of an audience inspires everyone to give more of themselves, above all saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who adopted a minimalist approach in the band’s studio albums. In all it’s a wonderful listen, which gives the lie to the notion that fusion music was all technique and no heart. ★★★★☆ IH

48 JONATHAN VINTEN TRIO: LULLABY OF THE LEAVES (WWW.THEJAZZPIANIST.COM)

Jazz may have grown into exotic regions far beyond its roots, but there’s still a place for a beautifully played swing album, as this one is. Although one can hear the influences in numbers such as Poinciana, where the slinky drums of Bobby Worth recall the classic recordings of the Ahmad Jamal Trio, these three put a subtle spin on old favourites without striving to be original. Pianist Jonathan Vinten has an elegant turn of phrase and can certainly swing. Overall it’s a delightful listen. ★★★☆☆ IH

49 ERROL GARNER: THE COMPLETE CONCERT BY THE SEA (COLUMBIA/LEGACY)

The so-called Concert by the Sea, given in the Californian seaside town of Carmel by pianist Errol Garner in September 1955 has passed into jazz legend. Every one of its 11 tracks is a masterpiece of musical invention and perfectly relaxed mastery. In truth, Garner hardly needed the support of drummer Denzil DeCosta Best and bassist Eddie Calhoun, but their amiable and rock-steady backing frees up Garner’s left hand to wander at will. The original recording, which has now been revered by generations of jazz-lovers is sheer bliss, and ranks with the great jazz albums of all time. But owing to the limitations of a long-playing vinyl album, it offered only half the concert.

Now this triple-CD set offers the whole concert on two CDs, complete with the affectionate and awe-struck live commentary from compere Jimmy Lyons, plus the original concert on the third CD. Garner was nothing if not generous, and played 22 numbers that evening. There’s no diminution of quality in the previously unheard numbers, and hearing them one after the other is intoxicating. Autumn Leaves, one of the ones that made it onto the first album, shows Garner’s wonderful way of nudging and caressing a melody into being, rather than simply playing it. In the Nearness of You, also on the original album, Garner offers a lesson in how ‎simplicity can be eloquent, so captivating that the audience bursts into spontaneous applause. Among the “new” numbers, Night and Day illustrates Garner’s gift for fashioning a brilliantly original introduction.

Other people’s introductions make a nice frame for a piece; Garner’s are like a triumphal and exotic advance guard with be-muscled soldiers and dancing girls. Spring is Here shows off the extraordinary orchestral depth of his sound, the left hand summoning up tremolando strings, while the right ascends ecstatically into the heights. In I Remember April he throws “wrong” cross-accents against the melody. But to name these is like dipping one’s hand randomly into a treasure-chest. Listen to it all, and marvel at the heights jazz piano can reach, in the hands of a master. ★★★★★ IH

50 KARRIN ALLYSON: MANY A NEW DAY - KARRIN ALLYSON SINGS RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN (MOTEMA)

Karrin Allyson is an accomplished pianist and arranger and has brought a deft touch to the 14 Rodgers and Hammerstein songs on the album. The songs are gorgeous and the sweet versions of songs such as The Surrey with the Fringe on Top feature intimate and fluid support from Kenny Barron on piano and John Patitucci on bass. ★★★☆☆ MC

