Episode 306: Some Personal Favourites from 2024

Discovering Jazz

Next week I'm playing what I've selected as being my 9 favourite jazz albums of 2024. (At least of those I was able to listen to).

This week, I'm playing records that I wanted on my top 9....but I just couldn't fit them in. And as I listen to this episode now, there is at least one that really should be in that personl 'best of' list. That's the album I start and end with.

Here is the list of 8 amazing albums I'm featuring this week:

1. Stream, by Fergus McCreadie. This Scottish pianist specializes in melodies that sound like they should be British folk songs. But they aren't! And this particular album conveys a sense of a stream or river in all its many manifestations. And what phenomenal piano work! Those notes truly flow.

2. Time and Place by Joel Jeschke, a drummer and composer from where I live---Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

3. As I Travel by pianist Donald vega. Melodic and rhythmic tunes with Vega, bassist John Patittuci, Lewis Nash on drums, and a deligtful percussionist named Luisito Quintero. The album traces Vega's travel experiences right from his fleeing of Nicaragua as a young boy.

4. Blues Blood by Immanuel Wilkins. This is where jazz saxophone is going! He has two previous albums out, and this is the first one to employ vocals.

5. Jamie Saft Trio Plays Monk. What can I say? This pianist is a Monk scholar, who has studied Monk, his tunes, and his style so closely.

6. All Species Parade, by Jenny Scheinman. A violinist! Full of amazing energy. And on this track you hear two of today's most loved guitarists, Bill Frisell and Julien Lage.

7. Crossing Paths by Renee Rosnes, originally from Vancouver, now based in New York, I believe. And the path she is crossing is the one that goes far South, as it is an album of Latin music, written by some of the most highly rated Brazilian composers.

8. Standards II by Noah Haidu. What a trio---of Haidu, Buster Williams, and Billy Hart. I like this album even better than Standards I---which was also a favourite of mine.

9. Another track from the first album....12 and a half minutes of Fergus McCreadie.

Next week: my official "top 9 jazz albums of 2024". For what its worth :)