Happy New Year
Wishing all of you a fantastic 2020!
I meant to complement my Top of the Year 2019 article I wrote on classical music with a similar one for Jazz. I didn’t get to finish that last year, so at least it is the first thing I do in the still very fresh year of 2020. Hope all of you had a nice New Year’s Eve last night.
Why is this post called “Top 3” and not “Top 5” as I typically do? Well, for one I did review significantly less albums in 2019 than in the years before, due to very extensive business travel.
Furthermore however, I find less and less new Jazz albums that truly excite me. Not sure if it is the Jazz scene, or my taste is evolving. Anyhow, let’s get to it.
Keith Jarrett – Munich 2016
Any new Keith Jarrett solo album is an event, but this is a particularly nice one. I’m slightly biased as me attending the 2015 concert in Lucerne that was part of the same tour triggered me to start this blog in the first place Highly recommended. You’ll find my original review of Munich 2016 here.
GoGo Penguin – Ocean in a Drop
Ocean In A Drop is a very special album. Not even originally intended to be released, it really captures a very special atmosphere of an improvised film soundtrack. I still haven’t seen the movie it refers to, but keep going back to the album on a regular basis.
Triosence: scorpio rising
I’ve written about Triosence previously (here and here), but never got to formally review this album. They are a relatively unknown group from Germany, but their style is very much to my taste. So this may be the most subjective of my recommendations. Triosence are all about melody. Therefore, some may consider them a bit too mainstream. So check them out before you buy, but if you like modern trio jazz, they are a worthy discovery. You’ll find it here (Qobuz)
So, over to you, enlighten me! I’m sure I’ve missed plenty of good new releases in 2019 that should have been mentioned here. What would you recommend I check out?
Wishing you again a Happy New Year and thank you for all the great feedback and discussions we had in 2019!
musicophilesblog - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms 
I can’t enlighten you on new jazz or classical as I am too busy looking to you to enlighten me. 🙂 I meant to get to your five classical but I will most certainly get to these three jazz (or two, since I’ve listened to Jarrett.) Here’s to another year of more blogging and perhaps less extensive business travel.
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Thanks Jim! Fully agree on the “more blogging” part, not so sure I can commit yet to the less business travel. I should just combine the two even more. Wishing you a great 2020!
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Yes. I sometimes hit heavy pockets of travel and find that airports, airplanes and hotel rooms are great places to blog.
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Hi. Here’s a good one: KingMaker, by Joel Ross.
Neil Scheinin
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Thanks Neil, Happy New Year! I’ll check it out!
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Thanks Neil, and sorry for my late reply. Agree, that’s a nice one!
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Dear Christian,
I wish you a Happy New Year !
And a little more time for yourself of course…
Here’s my jazz albums 2019 (short)list :
Yaron Herman Trio Songs of the Degrees
Marko Churnchetz Trio Place to Live
Fred Nardin Trio Look Ahead
Helge Lien Trio 10
Shahin Novrasli From Baku to N.Y.C.
Laurent Coulondre Michel on my Mind
The Bad Plus Activate Infinity
Enrico Rava & Joe Lovano Roma (live)
Chick Corea Trilogy 2 (live)
EST Live in Gothenburg
Brandford Marsalis Quartet The Secret between the Shadow and the Soul
Fresu-Galliano-Lundgren Mare Nostrum III
Jazzmeia Horn (1) Love and Liberation
Dominic Miller Absinthe
Matthew Halsall Oneness-Colour Yes-Sending my Love
and a special mention to Dan Tepfer’s Natural Machines on YouTube…
(1) the only singer who can currently compete with Cécile McLorin Salvant regarding sheer voice.
Beside, “older” tracks are turning in a loop such as Shahin Novrasli’s Song of Ashug (Emanation 2017) or When the World was One from Matthew Halsall (2014) reminding me in some way of John Coltrane’s My Favourite Things. Nothing less !
Faithfully yours,
Alain
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Great list.
I was not familiar with Laurent Coulondre or Shahin Novrasli.
Thanks for posting!!!
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Love that I can stream and find all kinds of great, new music. Thanks for the suggestions.
PS: I created a play list of your Jazz recommendations: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/best-jazz/pl.u-xR1rkI3GBN
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I wish you a pleasant journey through the land of jazz, the land of freedom.
Have also a look at my suggestions on Musicophile top 5 jazz albums 2018.
All the best!
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Thanks Alain and sorry for taking so long to react to your comment, it’s been a crazy month.
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Add jazz trio tag
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Thanks, good point. Will do.
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And not see top 2020 jazz albums
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Thanks Ser. I know, I was planning on doing this post. However, I must admit that I simply didn’t find enough Jazz albums in 2020 that I was passionate above to get even a Top 5 list together. Sad but true.
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