I would like them to add another count: number of #1 nominations, since most of the critics do choose to go through deep mulling to label their favorite.
One interesting fact is that if you look at the labels, it is quite clear that at least 50% would have been available from eMusic two or three years ago. I miss that opportunity that looking at such lists, finding something you like available there so can download it. I'll have to get into using Spotify or Amazon Prime more that I do.
Seems like there's "room" for bandcamp, say, to offer a subscription option, where you subscribe with $N/mo and get M% (~10% or whatever scaling work) off anything there. It's possible the subscription benefits wouldn't average out over all labels, so maybe they just don't want to try to increase volume that way. I'd do it tho.
If you look at the whole list of albums Sunnyside has the most albums with something like 26, but that merited just 57 mentions. (Sunnyside releases a lot of albums.) ECM had 17 releases mentioned for a total of 74. Pi had just 6 albums mentioned but all of them were very popular for a total of 107 mentions. And one can't ignore that popular label self-released which garnered 25 mentions for 18 different albums. And Blue Note - old reliable Blue Note - had just 4 albums mentioned a total of 35 times.
There is an interesting phenomenon with these types of aggregate polls, in the sense that there is a "mandatory" winner, with no real lower threshold for being crowned champion, so to speak.
Contrast that with Japanese professional baseball, where this year no pitcher was awarded their equivalent of the "Cy Young" award, because no pitcher was deemed outstanding enough this year to merit the award. Someone got the most votes, but the tally was not considered close enough to consensus to award the prize. In the US, whether the Cy Young or Heisman or whatever "best of" award, there is ALWAYS a winner. I say this not to take anything away from any of the excellent artists and albums on the list - I own several, in fact (incl. the Kris Davis album). I just find the statistical aspects of compiling lists that, in some ways, have very little correlation, and declaring a winner from them to be strangely interesting. :-)
My favorite part of the NPR compilation is actually reading through all the individual lists and looking for critics whose interests seem to align with mine. That tends to lead to more discoveries for me than the combined top ten (in part because the combined list tends to steer heavily towards well-known artists on well-known major or indie labels).
Funny that some of my favorite sources for reviews are among the last to post lists. Emusers very own @jonahpwll is obviously one of them, with the still unfolding Bird Is The Worm list (see the BITW website for multiple daily updates as he counts down his list - always a great read), and now Filipe has his very compelling top 30 albums of 2019 up at jazztrail.net. Take a look if you are so inclined...
TG is always an interesting list and my very first look-up yielded this which is not only floating my boat but is a mid-priced charity album produced in, more or less God's own Country - Cumbria. Glorious playing with a meeting of acoustic instruments,synth and beats.
Some more jazz... JJA (jazz journalists) site that collects lots of best of lists submitted by individual authors (refresh regularly to see new posts). Most or all of these find their way into the Francis Davis NPR jazz poll.
(incoming pet peeve: if you are a reviewer, and find yourself needing phrases like "frames soul’s soaring vocals and funk’s smooth guitars as agitated gasps for freedom" or "compact riffs" or "spoken word captured from off-the-cuff, passionate dialogues" or "captures the jarring combination of electric energy and immense grief that swept cities" you make me wonder what on earth makes this an "ambient" recording even more than I do when I listen to it.)
Dave's list. Happy to see the recognition for Josh Johnson and especially "The Avondale Addition," which I have listened to as much as anything this year
^^ Yep, great list, Dave. I certainly have a few non-BC faves as well, but for an all-BC list of best jazz of 2020, a remarkable amount of great music. I particularly like the focus on more indie labels and artists that don't always get the attention from the corporate publications driven by advertising $$$. (Not to say such publications aren't sincere in their coverage or picks, just that they get bombarded with major label material, so that is what they listen to most often, it seems).
If I were to throw a few other BC jazz options out there that I really enjoyed in 2020, they might include Omer Avital - "New York Paradox", Mike Fahie Jazz Orchestra - "Urban(e)", Mammal Hands - "Captured Spirits", Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra, Jacob Garchik - "Clear Line" and Chad McCullough - "Forward". Thankfully I don't have the task of ranking those vs. the ones already in Dave's list, so really just adding to the pile of great jazz to check out from 2020.
Pitchfork. I am even familiar with some of these artists! Will have to check out the Fiona Apple album
It’s not so long since we used to swap notes here on how many albums we had from these relatively mainstream end of year lists. I have one from this list (the Dylan) and have vaguely heard of maybe two or three more. Never have I felt as completely disassociated from the music appearing on the magazines’ end of year lists as this year. I think I am finally too old to be hip.
Pitchfork. I am even familiar with some of these artists! Will have to check out the Fiona Apple album
I like the Fiona album quite a bit. It's a "grower" - not immediately accessible, but really enjoyable after several listens. I've returned to it many times throughout the year.
It’s not so long since we used to swap notes here on how many albums we had from these relatively mainstream end of year lists. I have one from this list (the Dylan) and have vaguely heard of maybe two or three more. Never have I felt as completely disassociated from the music appearing on the magazines’ end of year lists as this year. I think I am finally too old to be hip.
Yeah, I can relate to that sentiment, though in this particular case I have several (incl. #1 and #2, both of which are quite good, albeit in very different ways). I also have the RTJ, Dylan and Adrianne Lenker (whose main gig, Big Thief, is also well worth a listen or three). Nice to see at least a bit of jazz crossover in the Pitchfork list (Nubya Garcia, for instance). I most enjoy the lists that ignore genre (like several already posted in this forum).
It’s not so long since we used to swap notes here on how many albums we had from these relatively mainstream end of year lists.
The only one I have is the Nubya Garcia - an amazing London based saxoponist. I've heard of a handful more - the obvious ones. In the past I was prepared to have a go with new to me music with eMusic. It wasn't that costly, even if I only played a handful of times. Now I will often stick to things I know, especially if downloading. I should use streaming sites more to keep up. I actually probably listen more pop music than I do indie music, as I have to listen to Radio 1 when doing the school run! Very few would however be my choice. It is intersting though in the UK this year the charts are full of old Christmas tracks. I amaze my grandchildren when I actually know them!
Nubya Garcia is one of my favourites and thanks to @soulcoal for introducing me to her via the album "Nubya's 5ive".
I know that it is a bit off topic for this stream but the other side of the coin on being hip is that a lot of those in their 20s and 30s think that the top bands from the 60s and 70s are precisely that - hip and cool!
As you may have read elsewhere on emusers, I am based in Melbourne, Australia where we have been in lockdown with compulsory mask wearing for the last four months. I can't begin to tell you how many young people have come up to me and said how cool they think my The Doors first album face mask and t-shirt are! And that The Doors are amongst their favourite bands of any decade.
So the moral of the story is that age is no barrier to being "hip" and "cool"!
JazzFM91 (Toronto's jazz station) has its 2020 top 20 here: https://jazz.fm/best-jazz-albums-2020/ It includes some excellent Canadian releases that unfortunately seldom get mentioned in the US.
peterfrederics said: I can't begin to tell you how many young people have come up to me and said how cool they think my The Doors first album face mask and t-shirt are! And that The Doors are amongst their favourite bands of any decade.
So the moral of the story is that age is no barrier to being "hip" and "cool"!
I was equally surprised by something similar that happened to me. I was in the small town of Silver City, New Mexico (pop: ca. 9000) and one afternoon a guy is walking down the downtown sidewalk in the opposite direction. He sees my "Neu!" t-shirt, points directly at it and loudly says, "Best krautrock ever!"
@rostasi just goes to show that they must have good taste in Silver City!
My equivalent was chatting to a big, big bartender covered in tatts in a local bar. It came out that I had seen Jimi Hendrix live. He literally bowed in my honour!
And just to prove that I do sometimes abide by the theme of a stream, here's a link to the NY Times "Best Albums of 2020".
Comments
https://jazztrail.net/best-jazz-albums-2019
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/dec/01/the-50-best-albums-of-2020
https://jja.wildapricot.org/2020MembersBestJazz
There is a link to a youtube video where they talk about the lists.
If I were to throw a few other BC jazz options out there that I really enjoyed in 2020, they might include Omer Avital - "New York Paradox", Mike Fahie Jazz Orchestra - "Urban(e)", Mammal Hands - "Captured Spirits", Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra, Jacob Garchik - "Clear Line" and Chad McCullough - "Forward". Thankfully I don't have the task of ranking those vs. the ones already in Dave's list, so really just adding to the pile of great jazz to check out from 2020.
I like the Fiona album quite a bit. It's a "grower" - not immediately accessible, but really enjoyable after several listens. I've returned to it many times throughout the year.
I know that it is a bit off topic for this stream but the other side of the coin on being hip is that a lot of those in their 20s and 30s think that the top bands from the 60s and 70s are precisely that - hip and cool!
As you may have read elsewhere on emusers, I am based in Melbourne, Australia where we have been in lockdown with compulsory mask wearing for the last four months. I can't begin to tell you how many young people have come up to me and said how cool they think my The Doors first album face mask and t-shirt are! And that The Doors are amongst their favourite bands of any decade.
So the moral of the story is that age is no barrier to being "hip" and "cool"!
I was in the small town of Silver City, New Mexico (pop: ca. 9000)
and one afternoon a guy is walking down the downtown sidewalk
in the opposite direction. He sees my "Neu!" t-shirt, points directly
at it and loudly says, "Best krautrock ever!"
My equivalent was chatting to a big, big bartender covered in tatts in a local bar. It came out that I had seen Jimi Hendrix live. He literally bowed in my honour!
And just to prove that I do sometimes abide by the theme of a stream, here's a link to the NY Times "Best Albums of 2020".
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/arts/music/best-albums.html?campaign_id=53&emc=edit_ms_20201218&instance_id=25204&nl=louder®i_id=62557984&segment_id=47344&te=1&user_id=2a22257abf2e89f9bd7a81c96ef44f9c