Best of 2017

Ted Gioia has weighed in, so it's definitely time for a best-of-year thread.

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  • edited November 2017
    But his list is invalid - Otto Totland's new one does not come out until Friday!

    Seriously, another "how did I miss that?" moment is the new Tinariwen - will have to seek that out. I like the Happy Song album by Anat Cohen Tentet as well. And I was already considering the Benedikt Jahnel one (in his second hundred) for my list.

    Almost none of the ones I checked from that list are on emusic.
  • I'd got eight off the list, but going through it I checked out a number of recordings at eMusic, many of them from artists I'd previously downloaded, but no longer available there. It just reinforces my decision to leave when I've spent this month's credit. Very disappointing after 10 plus years to see it drop so far.
  • I also had 8 on the list and it is shame that E Music lost my custom but I am still finding great music out there.
  • The NYT music critics weigh in. I'm right on board with the jazz critic's picks, but then I would be since they're quite Chicago-centric. Many may have missed Jamie Branch this year, and the Makaya McCraven release is brand-new. One of the other lists actually includes Taylor Swift.
  • edited December 2017
    The Best 100 Ambient Albums Of 2017
    I have 11 from this list, many of them I would have paced higher, one of them I regret buying :-). And there are some good ones missing.
    No Taylor Swift.
  • The Best 100 Ambient Albums Of 2017  

    Purchased:
    99 / Simon Fisher Turner : Giraffe
    92 / Loke Rahbek : City of Women
    61 / Leyland Kirby : We, so tired of all the darkness in our lives
    57 / Grzegorz Bojanek : Stories of an Old Man
    46 / Ben Frost : The Centre Cannot Hold
    26 / Tomoko Sauvage : Musique Hydromantique
    12 / Janek Schaefer : Glitter In My Tears
    1 / Brian Eno : Reflection

    Under my radar and must haves:
    2 / Rafael Anton Irisarri : The Shameless Years
    5 / The Caretaker : Everywhere at the end of time (Stage 3)
    15 / Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer : Lowlands
    22 / Otto A Totland : The Los
    37 / Ryuichi Sakamoto - async
    45 / Christoph Berg : Conversations
    83 / Nadia Sirota : Tessellatum
    84 / Giulio Aldinucci : Borders and Ruins
    90 / Marcus Fjellström : Skelektikon
  • edited December 2017
    Miguel Zenon's interesting and wide-ranging list:

    Ifé - IIII + IIII
    Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.
    Adonis & Osain Del Monte - Pa’l Monte
    Matt Mitchell - Forage
    Pirulo Y La Tribu - Calle Linda 2
    Aaron Parks - Find The Way
    Laura Marling - Semper Femina
    Colin Stetson - All This I Do For Glory
    Antibalas - Where The Gods are At Peace
    Nate Smith - Postcards From Everywhere
  •  httpbrainwashedcom2017images2017-eclipsejpg   
    Nomination round is open now, will run for 2 weeks and will close on December 24th, 2017.
  • Billedresultat for bandcamp daily 
    The Best Albums of 2017: #100 – 81
    We’ll be revealing the full list, 20 albums at a time, this whole week.
  • Gilles Peterson's "50 Essential Jazz and beyond Records of 2017" will be in the wheelhouse of many eMusers, I think.

    No. 1 is a new Nicole Mitchell project that I didn't know about:

     
  • I think the Yazz Ahmed will make my list; it's the only one of those that I have.
  • Thanks Doofy - I've already got a few and it is maybe worth me checking eMusic with my last credits before going when they are spent, not that I am very hopeful....
  • I have six in the list, have to sort my best of this week

  • I had posted this in the emusic reddit forum, but perhaps fits better here...   In this case, I was intentionally choosing from among titles currently available at eMusic (e.g. no Pi Recordings, even if I had purchased it originally on eMusic, because it's no longer there).

    With all those "twofer" credits burning a hole in our "digital wallets", I figured it might be fun to collectively post some of our favorite eMusic finds for the past year. I'll kick things off with a list of ten of my favorite jazz albums from eMusic this year (expanded to a list of 25 in the spirit of the ongoing "Double Your Music and More" boosters :-)

    These are in no specific ranked order, but I believe they are all currently present in the eMusic catalogue (sadly, some others I would have included are no longer available...) But on a positive note, there is still lots of good music out there to be found...

    My Ten Favorite Jazz Albums from eMusic in 2017 (along with a Booster Pack of Fifteen More...)

    Oded Tzur - "Translator's Note" (Yellowbird)

    Jaimie Branch - "Fly Or Die" (International Anthem)

    Angles 9 - "Disappeared Behind the Sun" (Clean Feed) * Note - Artist incorrectly listed as "Various Artists", so search for album not artist

    Mike Reed - "Flesh & Bone" (482 Music)

    Blind Cinema - "Blind Cinema" (Underpool)

    Billy Childs - "Rebirth" (Mack Avenue)

    Ernesto Cervini's Turboprop - "REV" (Anzic)

    Francois Bourassa Quartet - "Number 9" (Effendi)

    Ben Markley Big Band - "Clockwise: The Music of Cedar Walton" (OA2)

    Phronesis/ Julian Arguelles/Frankfurt Radio Big Band - "Behemoth" (Edition Records)

    And fifteen additional favorites well worth seeking out...

    Marius Neset - "Circle of Chimes" (ACT Music)

    Marco Santilli's CheRoba - "La Stua" (Unit Records)

    Ron Miles - "I Am a Man" (Yellowbird)

    Anat Cohen Tentet - "Happy Song" (Anzic)

    Makaya McCraven - "Highly Rare (International Anthem)

    Django Bates/Frankfurt Radio Big Band - "Saluting Sgt. Pepper" (Edition)

    Misha Mullov-Abbado - "Cross-Platform Interchange" (Edition)

    Harold Mabern - "To Love and Be Loved" (Smoke Sessions)

    Kirk Knuffke - "Cherryco" (Steeplechase)

    Arturo O'Farrill & Chucho Valdes - "Familia" (Motema)

    Meridian Trio - "Triangulum" (Clean Feed) * Note - Artist incorrectly listed as "Various Artists" so search for album title

    Cecile McLoran Salvant - "Dreams and Daggers" (Mack Avenue)

    Portico Quartet - "Art in the Age of Animation" (Gondwana)

    Rob Luft - "Riser" (Edition)

    John Beasley - "MONK'estra Vol. 2" (Mack Avenue)

    Finally, a brief end-of-year "RIP" list of jazz labels gone (but not forgotten) from eMusic this past year (many in conjunction with the 2.0/7Digital crossover, but some gone prior, and some disappeared since). If anyone from eMusic reads these posts, consider this a Santa's Wish List for jazz labels to return in 2018! :-)

    Ten Jazz Labels We'd Like Back, eMusic:

    Pi Recordings

    ECM

    Sunnyside

    Posi-Tone

    Palmetto

    Whirlwind

    AUM Fidelity (only some pre-2016 back catalogue remaining)

    BJU/Brooklyn Jazz Underground

    Cuneiform

    Resonance Records (again, only some back catalogue remaining)


  • edited December 2017
    @soulcoal Welcome to Emusers  !

    Here's a little different list:

    ACL 2017 ~ The Year’s Best Packaging


    And another one from The New Yorker:

    Notable Performances and Recordings of 2017


  • Thanks for the list Soulcoal - that last one is sadly the most significant.  From your main lists, I've probably got the majority but will check out a few more
  • Good idea, @soulcoal, and thanks for posting. I'll try to add something similar later.
  • edited December 2017
    Thanks, BN. Also, ACL's top ten ambient.

    It re-surprises me every year how little I match up with ACL's ambient list, given that I buy quite a bit of ambient.  I have 2 of these, and my likely choice for album of the year did not make their list. One more reminder of just how much is out there.


  • This seems like a smart jazz list from Stereogum. I had forgotten that JD Allen's 'Radio Flyer' and Harriet Tubman's 'Araminta' were this year - both strong albums. It is fun to see the popular picks emerge, and a gratifying surprise to see Jamie Branch getting so many high rankings.
  • Here's another list (really a set of lists) of MusicWeb editors' individual and collective picks for best classical releases of 2017.    

    www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2017/ROTY_2017.pdf

    There are quite a few of these available on eMusic (the usual labels - BIS, Naxos, BR Klassik, Ondine, Channel Classics, Chandos, Supraphon, etc.).   Among my eMusic favorites from these lists this past year were the Flaminis Aura/Tommie Haglund (BIS), the Dvorak and Suk Quartets (Supraphon), the Minimal Piano Collection Vols  XXI - XXVIII (Brilliant Classics - and several hours of music for under $7!), the Elliot Carter Late Works (Ondine), the Bruckner Symp. 4 (Profil) and Symp. 9 (Profil),  Beyond/Los Angeles Percussion Quartet (mentioned elsewhere in this forum already),  the Nimrod Borenstein Orchestral Works (Chandos) and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Job (Chandos).    But there are quite a few others from this list available on eMusic, too, so happy hunting...







  • edited December 2017
    Also, here is NPR's Top 50 albums of 2017.  As an aside, although these lists are interesting and useful, I almost never get around to purchasing albums in the same year they are produced. It often takes a few years to catch up.....

    To give an example, this past week I've been listening to Indonesian pop albums from the 60s on emusic. I'll be sharing my picks on the Bargains thread on this forum when I'm ready. 
  • edited December 2017
    Following the lead of @soulcoal here are the 2017-released jazz things I liked and purchased that can be bought at emusic (with emusic links), some of them for very cheap prices. Thanks to the various people here (especially @Doofy and @jonahpwll) who led me to several of them:

    Bought and LOVED:

    Daniel Herskedal - The Roc

    Hudson – Hudson

    Brot & Sterne – Tales of Herbst

    Yazz Ahmed – La Saboteuse

    Bobby Watson – Made in America

    Anat Cohen Tentet – Happy Song

    Emile Parisien, Vincent Peirani, Andreas Schaerer & Michael Wollny – Out of Land

    Helge Lien Trio – Guzuguzu

    Also bought and ENJOYED:

    John Zorn – The Interpretation of Dreams

    Malija – Instinct

    Phronesis, Julian Argüelles & Frankfurt Radio Big Band – The Behemoth

    Talibam! – Hard Vibe

    Peter Bernstein - Signs Live! (with Brad Mehldau, Christian Mcbride & Gregory Hutchinson)

    (I'll spare you the small "things-I-bought-and-really-wish-I-hadn't-darn-those-deceptive-samples" category).



  • On Bird is the Worm, things get started tomorrow...


  • ^^ Jay !  ^^

    NewMusicBox Mix: 2017 Staff Picks

    - Mostly classical from labels such as New World and New focus
  • BITW is one of my favorite sources of jazz recommendations and discoveries, so I always look forward to his end of year list.   And moving from 30 to 50 this year - no wonder Dave is tired!  :-)    Bring it on!
  • edited December 2017
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  • I imagine we'll see a number of these in Dave's BITW list, too...    ;-)
    https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/12/19/the-best-bandcamp-jazz-of-2017/
  • soulcoal said:
    I imagine we'll see a number of these in Dave's BITW list, too...    ;-)
    https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/12/19/the-best-bandcamp-jazz-of-2017/

    And I might add that a few other really good Bandcamp jazz releases, at least to my ears, were Brian McCarthy Nonet (The Better Angels of Our Nature), Ernesto Cervini's Turboprop (Rev) [now also available on eMu], Jason Moran (MASS {howl, eon} ) [seems to be a digital-only release?], Miek Reed (Flesh & Bone) and Steve Coleman (Morphogenesis) [Never showed up on eMu even back when Pi Recordings was available there].
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