Geniuses Collide In 2008's Best Jazz
Dave Holland 300 - Dave Holland Sextet's
Cross-pollination of excellent musicians made for some amazing jazz in 2008. The year's best CDs find guitarist Lionel Loueke making an appearance on albums by Francisco Mela and Kenny Barron, Mela playing on Barron's new CD as well as his own, Joe Lovano releasing one album solo and one with Saxophone Summit, and pianist Jason Moran appearing on recordings by Mela and Cassandra Wilson.
Hearing the best musicians work with other geniuses is a wonderful thing to witness.
There were so many new jazz releases this year that it's virtually impossible to have heard everything. For that reason, there's likely some great music out there that was overlooked only because I didn't hear it. (Feel free to nominate your own favorites in the comments section below.) That said, in no particular order, here are the year's 10 best jazz CDs.
Click here for more entries in the Best CDs of 2008 series.
9(MDAyNzUwMDI2MDEyNTA3MTU5NzcyNTQyNA004))
- Invisible Cinema by Aaron Parks
- Tragicomic by Vijay Iyer
- Symphonica by Joe Lovano
- Cirio: Live at the Blue Note by Francisco Mela
- Earfood by The Roy Hargrove Quintet
- Pass It On by Dave Holland Sextet
- It's Magic by Ahmad Jamal
- Saxophone Summit: Seraphic Light by Saxophone Summit
- Traveler by Kenny Barron
- Loverly by Cassandra Wilson
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
That report comes out at the end of the year, a time when many of us thing about the future, and also a bit about the past. As we reach the end of this year, we're taking stock of some of the best recordings that came out over the last twelve months. And our latest pick comes from Shaunna Morrison Machosky of member station WDUQ.
SHAUNNA MORRISON MACHOSKY: Picking out the best CDs of 2008, something I really look for is fresh music, things that haven't been done before. Artists that don't really rely on jazz standards. Or if they do have jazz standards, they have some new ideas and new interpretations of things. Because there are a lot of jazz artists that do great work, but things kind of start sounding the same after a while.
My best selection for 2008 is a CD by a young artist whose 25. His name is Aaron Parks, and the name of his CD is Invisible Cinema. And one of the great things about this CD is that it holds together really well, as an entire body of work. It's like a sound track that you provide your own movie to in your head. One of the great things about Aaron's CD is that it's all original ideas. It's all original compositions, and the compositions are just beautiful, and they're varied. There's a song on there called "Peaceful Worrier," and it starts off really, well, kind of peaceful. And then it just goes into this idea where you could kind of feel yourself walking along through fields, like going through Japanese country side. It's really interesting and it's not like any other jazz that I've heard this year at all. It really tells a story.
INSKEEP: There it is. The choice for best jazz album of the year, from Shaunna Morrison Machosky of member station WDUQ in Pittsburg. You can hear songs from this and other best of 2008 albums by going to nprmusic.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
