Jazz In January: Outliving its Namesake Month

Ah, the first month of the first year of the new decade is over. How did you do? Are things looking good for the 10's? We made sure to get things off to a solid start here at AccuJazz. We celebrated a made-up, month-long holiday called "Jazz in January," where we gave you, the listeners, some lovely new channels as gifts. Even though it's February, we're going to keep the JIJ decorations up on the site for a little while. You don't take the Christmas tree down on December 26th, do you?

As detailed in the last post, we launched a channel devoted to jazz musicians with January birthdays as well as channels based on the line-ups of both SFJazz and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

To finish up Jazz in January, we've launched channels devoted to two great jazz record labels that celebrated significant anniversaries last year: Blue Note, who just celebrated 70 years in business, and ECM, who turned 40.

My boss and I have been talking about the idea of label-specific channels for a while, but for some reason or another (probably the fact that we had no lack of ideas for channels), it has only now become a reality. Judging from listener feedback on the shoutbox (on the AccuJazz homepage) and on twitter, it was a good idea.

In an age when record labels are becoming less and less central to the dissemination of indie music styles (like jazz), Blue Note and ECM have stood the test of time as reliable curators of music with strong brand identities.

They are among the few record labels that have a specific "sound" associated with their name. In fact, "ECM feel" has been widely accepted as a musical term indicating a loose, straight 8th note rhythmic pulse. "The Blue Note Sound" is a commonly used phrase in jazz discussions, usually referencing the classic hard bop of Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon and Lee Morgan. To be sure, both labels have released plenty of music that doesn't fit either of those stereotypes, but the fact that their names have entered the lexicon as something beyond mere music business middlemen is notable.

What's exceptional about these two labels is that they have continued releasing all types of adventurous new music in the 21st Century. When you pop on the Blue Note channel, you'll hear everything from Sidney Bechet to Jason Moran. Likewise with ECM; you might hear Keith Jarrett's famous Koln Concert followed by some sax/accordion duets by Trygve Seim and Frode Haltli, from their spacious 2008 album Yeraz. You'll likely be surprised by the music on both channels.

Happy listening, and do let us know if you have any other suggestions for future channels. There are plenty in the bullpen now, but we're always looking for new ideas.

Put Your Party Hat On and Get Yourself to a Jazz Fest

As I noted in a previous post, we're celebrating "Jazz in January" over on AccuJazz.com. To get things started, we featured three channels: "Decade: 2000s," "2010 Jazz Grammy Nominations" and "Best of 2009." Now, the new channel rollout is off the ground: we're throwing an Internet radio-style Birthday party for a handful of jazz musicians with January birthdays, as well as previewing two major jazz festivals coming up this Spring. Head to AccuJazz.com to see what's going on.

If you listen to the January Birthday Channel, you'll hear music by 33 different artists who were born in the first month of the year. The listening experience is unique, with the playlist being based on a completely-non musical qualifier: the month in which an artist was born. Case in point: my most recent listening session began with avant-garde bassist William Parker and his quartet tearing through "The Golden Bell," a Parker composition with a folk-like bass line, rhythmically knotty horn lines, and the ferocious drumming of Hamid Drake. The next selection was fellow January birthday boy Cyrus Chestnut playing a solo piano version of the century-old Christian hymn, "I Surrender All." Also heard: Bobby Hutcherson (pictured), Chris Potter and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

The January Birthday Channel isn't the only place on the site that's throwing a B-Day party, though. For the rest of the month, our main channel is featuring the music of 9 select artists with January B-Days. Who are the chosen few, you ask? Django Reinhardt, Max Roach, Herbie Nichols, Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, Gary Burton, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Benny Golson and Bobby Hutcherson. The main channel is still playing all of the music it was playing before, but now you'll hear music by these 9 great musicians a little more often.

I feel pretty good about my picks, but if you want to argue with me, feel free. Notable January B-Day people I left out include Parker, Potter, John McLaughlin, Bucky Pizzarelli, Gene Krupa, Jeff "Tain" Watts, James Carter, Alex and Nels Cline, Henry "Red" Allen and Jason Moran. Wow, now that I list those guys, I feel bad for leaving them out. No worries though: they're still on the main channel, just not with the same frequency, and you can hear all of the birthday buddies on the January Birthday Channel.

Also new today are two channels devoted to musicians performing at spring's two biggest American jazz festivals: SFJazz and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest. Technically, SFJazz is a series of concerts taking place over a few months, and the NOLA fest is heavily weighted towards non-jazz artists (Pearl Jam and Simon & Garfunkel are the headliners), but they both have a whole lot of great jazz artists performing. We've made a channel for the Chicago Jazz Festival the last two years, and I thought it was about time to highlight some other festivals.

As you can see from the website, SFJazz's lineup is enough to make any jazz fan drool. Keith Jarrett, Joshua Redman, Pharoah Sanders, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Kurt Elling... the list goes on and on. For folks thinking about attending an SFJazz concert or two, the channel will serve as a great way to get pumped up, and for those drooling over the lineup from far away, it's the next best thing to actually being there.

As noted before, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is a definite misnomer, and at least one New Orleanian agrees with me on that. Among the hundreds of artists slated to perform, I'd estimate that about 5% are playing jazz. Nevertheless, there still will be a lot of great jazz performed at the fest, and we're doing our part to draw attention to it. Check out the channel and hear for yourself. If you're going, you just may find a jazz musician worth missing Pearl Jam for. Most of the jazz will be coming from NOLA natives -- including Brian Blade, Terence Blanchard, Irvin Mayfield, Galactic, Allen Toussaint and more -- but there are some notable out-of-towners too, such as the Wayne Shorter Quartet, Joe Lovano and Hiromi.

Between celebrating Jazz in January birthdays and previewing a couple of jazz festivals, it looks like you have a lot of listening to do. Get on it!

AccuJazz Channels Available on the iPhone!

For those of you out there who are both AccuJazz fans and iPhone obsessives, it's like Christmas is happening again, a month later. The AccuRadio iPhone app is now available, and it includes all the AccuJazz channels you know and love. Go find it here. I've already gotten a lot of positive feedback from users on Twitter about the app, and I'm pretty sure that you're going to love it, too.

I, unfortunately, am not among the fortunate legions of iPhone owners. My phone is a little more low-tech, but I was able to poke around on the app using my boss' iPhone, and I'm very impressed with it. You start out with a list of available genres, within which you'll find Jazz as well as dozens of other options. AccuRadio does have over 400 channels, after all.

Once you select "Jazz," you'll be able to scroll through all of our channels, from "2010 Jazz Grammy Nominees" to "Women of Jazz" (listed alphabetically, not chauvinistically.) Click on a channel, and a song will start playing, complete with all pertinent info and the album cover art. Underneath the cover art you'll see a few icons dealing with customization features. You can "favorite" a channel, "deselect" artists that you don't want to hear, and pause and skip songs, just like when you listen on your computer.

I wish I had an iPhone so I could enjoy it all myself, but I'll be content for now to live vicariously through my iPhone-wielding listeners. Let me know how you like it, and, especially, if there are any glitches you notice or suggestions you'd like to make.

Happy listening! One more time, you can get the app right here.

Jazz in January - That's Now!

Well, the Jazz Holidays are over, and it's time to look forward to a new year that will, hopefully, be full of all sorts of good things for you, me, and the greater jazz community. We thought it would be a good idea to hit the ground running in 2010, introducing some new channels and shedding the spotlight on AccuJazz.com. Our new "Jazz in January" promotion is doing just that, directing AccuRadio listeners over to our swingin' little corner to hear the wealth of jazz music they may have been missing out on.

So far, everything's going according to plan. We sent a mass email to AccuRadio listeners and put up the Jazz in January graphic on AccuRadio's homepage, and voila!, AccuJazz had its biggest listener numbers ever yesterday, and they're holding up pretty well today.

So far, we're just featuring the year-end/decade-end channels that we rolled out in December. Starting next week, we'll get a little more creative. Look forward to a channel devoted to Jazz musicians with January birthdays, channels based on the rosters of two notable spring jazz festivals, and channels honoring the recorded legacy of two of jazz's most iconic record labels.

If you still aren't done drafting your New Year's resolutions (I'm not), then make a resolution to start the year off right by listening to all the great jazz on AccuJazz.com.

Last Two New AccuJazz Channels of the Decade!

Just in time for Christmas, we have two new channels to finish up both our "Jazz Holiday" roll-out and the decade. First, we have a channel that looks back on everything that happened in jazz over the last decade.

The last decade was by all accounts a great one for jazz. I don't know exactly how history will judge the time period, but I wouldn't be surprised if the last ten years or so were regarded as a high-water mark for creativity in jazz. There are too many artists, albums, labels, and mini-movements to detail in any justice right now, but the good news is that AccuJazz has a new channel playing all sorts of great jazz from the last 10 years!

We're launching "Decade: 2000s," the last and final channel in the decades category (for a while, anyway). It's playing over 3,000 songs from artists as diverse as Ray Brown and Rudresh Mahanthappa, Wynton Marsalis and Maria Schneider [pictured]. I really don't even know how to begin to express the breadth of the music involved, so, just listen and see what you think.

Also showing up just in time for the new decade is the latest addition to our composer channels, "Composers: Jobim," playing the timeless and gorgeous compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim was the compositional force behind the classic "Getz/Gilberto" album, which launched the international bossa nova craze. The gorgeous melodies and rich chords of tunes like "Desafinado" and "Corcovado" helped make him one of the most played composers in the history of jazz.

Our channel is playing over 200 versions of Jobim songs, including tribute albums by Frank Sinatra, Rosa Passos, Joe Henderson, and more. If you only know the hits, give the channel a listen and you'll no doubt fall in love with lesser-known tunes like "Zingaro" and "Inutil Paisagem."

Until next time, Happy Holidays and happy listening! Thanks so much for your support of AccuJazz!

The Best of 2009, According to People Older and Smarter than I

I knew that I wanted to create a Best of 2009 channel this year, but I still haven't made a top-10 list of my own yet. So, instead of relying on my own opinion, I looked to a whole bunch of people who are smarter, more experienced and better-listened than I am to guide the channel's programming.

Critics and bloggers have been posting best-of lists on their own websites as well as on the Jazz Journalists Association site for well over a month now. JazzTimes also conducted a critics poll, tallying up everyone's votes and aggregating the results into a top-50. I expect the Village Voice to publish their critics poll soon.

For the last few weeks, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for year-end lists and compiling the results in a spreadsheet, awarding an album one "point" for every list on which it appeared, and half a "point" if it was granted an honorable mention. The objective was to have a document that showed which albums were deemed the best by the largest number of experts, so that I could create a channel that reflected their opinions.

Now, I know this is an inexact method: some people published a top-10, others had a top-25, and one guy even had a top-130(!). One critic's #11 would be actually be as good as another critic's honorable mention. Also, the JazzTimes poll included the opinions of 40 different critics -- should I have awarded points based on every single critic's individual list, or make up some other points system based on the final results? In the end, I just made up the rules as I went along, and ended up with a spreadsheet that I think fairly accurately reflects the "critical consensus."

You can check out a document showing all of the lists I referenced here. Below is the list of high scorers. With my simplistic point system, many albums received the same amount of points, so I've indicated the ties with letters placed after the numbers. Also, I've only included albums that we have in the AccuJazz collection, so you [regrettably] won't see Miguel Zenon or John Hollenbeck -- gotta get on that. Without further ado, the heavyweight champions of Jazz in 2009:

1) Vijay Iyer - Historicity
2a) Darcy James Argue's Secret Society - Infernal Machines
2b) Steve Lehman Octet - Travail, Transformation and Flow
3) Henry Threadgill Zooid - This Brings Us To, Vol. 1
4) Allen Toussaint - The Bright Mississippi
5a) Keith Jarrett - Paris/London: Testament
5b) Joe Lovano Us Five - Folk Art
6a) Fly - Sky & Country
6b) Darius Jones Trio - Man'ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing)
6c) Gary Burton/Pat Metheny/Steve Swallow/Antonio Sanchez - Quartet Live
7a) Linda Oh - Entry
7b) Matt Wilson - That's Gonna Leave a Mark
7c) Jeff "Tain" Watts - Watts
7d) Monterey Quartet - Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival

Total, there are 242 different albums on my spreadsheet, the majority of which are not in the AccuJazz collection. There are dozens more albums that received less points but were still singled out by critics as being among the best. You will hear many of these on the channel, too, but with less frequency. Chances are you'll hear a Vijay Iyer track within your first 6 songs, but it may take a while before you hear something from Mike Reed's About Us, an album that only received a half a point but which I personally place among the best.

There were exactly 2 albums that made it on the JazzTimes poll and which are in my collection but I didn't deem deserving of a place on the channel. What albums are they? I'd rather not publicly ridicule anyone on the blog. If you really, really want to know, you can DM me on Twitter.

I really love listening to this channel, and I sincerely hope you do too. It's as good of evidence as any that the art of jazz is alive and well in 2009. An hour of music from this channel is as good a rebuttal as any to NYT columnist Glenn Branca's recent claim that "Jazz has stopped evolving and become a dead art." From Henry Threadgill's brainy explorations of free improvisation to Darcy James Argue's fusion of big band tradition with modern rock sensibilities, jazz in 2009 was as varied and exhilarating as ever, perhaps moreso than ever.

Enjoy.

Taking a Jazz Holiday

I know I used a Louis Armstrong photo at the top of my last post, but can you ever really see enough of that smile?

In case you didn't know, AccuRadio (AccuJazz's daddy) is well-known for its obscenely extensive Holiday music programming. In fact, said programming was even featured on Chicago Tonight, the nightly news program of Chicago's PBS affiliate, WTTW.

Being around so much Christmas radio cheer, I've naturally tried to think of ways to get AccuJazz in on the fun. Last year, I created an AccuJazz channel called "Swingin' Christmas." It was essentially AccuRadio's "Holiday Jazz" channel minus the smooth jazz, and it garnered lots of listeners. This year I thought I'd take the Holiday programming idea one step further and offer a whole lineup of new channels as a sort of gift basket to you, our faithful listeners. Thus, "Jazz Holiday" was born.





Before even creating any new channels, I took the time (and the company's credit card) to beef up our collection of Christmas jazz, hand-picking some choice tunes from the Amazon mp3 store and contacting record labels and artists who released Christmas albums this year. "Swingin' Christmas" is a much better listen this year than it was last year, with new CDs by Carla Bley, Hot Club of San Francisco, Typhanie Monique and more, as well as new-to-us CDs by Willie Pickens, Ramsey Lewis and Harry Allen among others.

For the first batch of new channels, I followed up on some listener suggestions I got through Twitter and Facebook and created three Swingin' Christmas subchannels: Christmas Vocals, Christmas Instrumentals, and New Christmas Jazz. Interestingly enough, there have been many points in the last week when I've noticed that the vocal and instrumental subchannels have each had more listeners than the main channel.

Now we're going to roll out some pretty awesome Non-Christmas channels, starting with one simply called "Best of 2009." This is not merely a compilation of my favorite music from 2009 (though I hope to create that channel in the coming weeks); the playlist is based on the results of over 20 critics' lists, including the JazzTimes critics poll. I compiled the results in a spreadsheet, awarding "points" based on how many lists selected an album and whether it was on the top or merely an honorable mention.

Vijay Iyer's Historicity was the top scorer, by far, with Steve Lehman and Darcy James Argue tied for second. Other high achievers include Joe Lovano, Henry Threadgill and Allen Toussaint. I programmed the channel based on the results, so it's very likely that you'll hear Vijay Iyer and a little less likely that you'll hear Bobby Broom, whose wonderful Monk tribute only appeared on a couple of lists. If you want to know what's been going on in jazz circa 2009, this channel is the place to start.

The rest of the Jazz Holiday roll-out includes a channel playing music from 2010 Grammy Jazz Nominees, a Decade: 2000s Channel, and one more surprise next week! I hope these gifts of music brighten up your season and help you discover some new favorite jazz artists. Please keep checking back for the updates, and have yourself a very, very happy Holiday!

2010 Grammy Jazz Nominations or: Dang, It's Been a While Since I've Written Anything Here

I was reminded last night by none other than my loving mother that I hadn't posted anything on the AccuBlog in an embarrassingly long time. Combine those pangs of guilt with the NARAS' unveiling of the nominations for the 2010 Grammy Awards, and here I am writing on Ye Olde AccuBlog. Fun fact: last year's take on the 2009 Grammy Nominations constituted the 4th post ever on the AccuBlog. Now wasn't that fact fun?

Each year there is plenty of griping among music fans about the awards: the voters are out of touch, the winners don't reflect artistic merit and innovation, results are influenced by money and marketing, etc. I, for one, take part in this griping as much as the next guy. Most of the nominations are for the biggest, most lucrative pop stars in the world, not necessarily for the "best" or "most accomplished" musicians. I don't know a whole lot about today's pop and rock scene myself, but I'm pretty sure that any song off of Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca is ten times more worthy of an award than any of the five Record of the Year nominees.

BUT: I'm not in any place to pass judgment on the non-jazz nominees, because, for better or for worse, I've mostly listened to jazz this year. So let's do as I do far too often in casual conversation and change the subject to JAZZ!

My personal list surely would look different from that of the Grammy folks, but that's a given. Under-the-radar and/or way-out-left-field artists simply won't be in the running, and that's just the way it goes. Much of the music that was nominated was worthy, however, and none of it is blatantly commercial (Michael Buble and Chris Botti are relegated to other categories).

The consensus among jazz fans seems to be that the Grammy folks made some solid choices this year. Super-blogger Peter Hum posted his opinions on the jazz nominations at some point Wednesday night, and JazzTimes has a bit of insight, too. NPR's Blog Supreme posted an interesting piece about jazz musicians whose work is represented in nominations for non-jazz categories.

So, does anything else need to be said about the nominations? Not really. But that's the point of having a blog, right? Nobody's making you write (except maybe my mom, a little bit), you just do it because you have something to say and an open forum in which to say it. So, behold: the list of jazz nominees with my opinions inserted into the mix. My favorites in each category are in bold.

Category 44
Best Contemporary Jazz Album
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of INSTRUMENTAL tracks.)

Urbanus
Stefon Harris & Blackout
[Concord Jazz]

Sounding Point
Julian Lage
[Emarcy/Decca]

At World's Edge
Philippe Saisse
[E1 Music]

Big Neighborhood
Mike Stern
[Heads Up International]

75
Joe Zawinul & The Zawinul Syndicate
[Heads Up International]

My take: I'm assuming "Contemporary Jazz" implies some sort of jazz/funk influence. In that case, Stefon Harris' Urbanus is the undisputed champ of this category. His longstanding ensemble, Blackout, is a heaven-sent mixture of sophisticated post-bop and hard-grooving hip-hop. The CD is great, but, as I've witnessed on 3 separate occasions over the last 4 years, the band is just SICK in live performance. SICK. So I'm going to let that skew my judgment.

Oh dang, you know what else skewed my judgment? I haven't heard three of the other nominated CDs. Whoops. I'm pretty sure I'd still think Stefon should win, though. The other one I have heard, Sounding Point by wunderkind-turned-genuinely-talented-mature-musician Julian Lage, is also worthy of recognition. I do, however, find it a little bit strange to lump Lage in with the more funky, electric sounds of the other "Contemporary Jazz" artists. His disc is often pensive and hushed. The percussion is limited mostly to delicate djembe playing (no drum set), and many of songs are for acoustic stringed instruments only. Not exactly the funky fusion of Zawinul or Stern.

Category 45
Best Jazz Vocal Album
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of VOCAL tracks.)

No Regrets
Randy Crawford (& Joe Sample)
[PRA Records]

Dedicated To You: Kurt Elling Sings The Music Of Coltrane And Hartman
Kurt Elling
[Concord Jazz]

So In Love
Roberta Gambarini
[Groovin' High/Emarcy]

Tide
Luciana Souza
[Verve]

Desire
Tierney Sutton (Band)
[Telarc Jazz]

My take: I've actually listened to all but one of the vocal nominees (Sutton never made it to my desk), and my vote for the win would go to Kurt Elling. I really enjoyed Souza's tranquil Tide and Gambarini's tastefully traditional So In Love, but I've long held an affinity for Elling's aesthetic, and my fondness remained when he produced the live tribute album Dedicated to You (a big departure from his sprawling, imaginative studio efforts like The Messenger and Man in the Air).

There's just something about the guy's voice that says "No one has ever possessed an instrument like mine, and no one else ever will." Plus, the arrangements for string quartet and the tight, swinging backing band are perfectly matched to the alternately exhilarating and reflective mood of the album. JazzTimes columnist Nate Chinen recently wrote that Elling is the "most influential jazz vocalist of our time," and got a bit of flack in the comment section for his claim. What do you think? Is Elling over-rated? It might be partly Chicago pride, but I think he's a remarkable vocalist whose music will stand the test of time.

Related: Elling's personal recollections of performing at President Obama's state dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Category 46
Best Improvised Jazz Solo
(For an instrumental jazz solo performance. Two equal performers on one recording may be eligible as one entry. If the soloist listed appears on a recording billed to another artist, the latter's name is in parenthesis for identification. Singles or Tracks only.)

Dancin' 4 Chicken
Terence Blanchard, soloist
Track from: Watts (Jeff "Tain" Watts)
[Dark Key Music]

All Of You
Gerald Clayton, soloist
Track from: Two-Shade
[ArtistShare]

Ms. Garvey, Ms. Garvey
Roy Hargrove, soloist
Track from: Emergence
[Groovin' High/Emarcy]

On Green Dolphin Street
Martial Solal, soloist
Track from: Live At The Village Vanguard
[CamJazz]

Villa Palmeras
Miguel Zenón, soloist
Track from: Esta Plena
[Marsalis Music]

My take: This is a curious category. Thousands of jazz albums were released during the Grammys' window, with thousands more solos on those albums. How to single out the one "best" solo out of all of this musical material? I don't know. I'd really like to know what goes through a voter's mind when considering this category. Do they go for the solo with the most immediate emotional impact, or do they consider external factors like an artist's reputation or the overall quality of the album in question? If anybody knows, or is a voting member of the Academy, let me know.

I'm going with Miguel Zenon. Esta Plena is an ambitious album, a prodigious young musician's exploration of his Puerto Rican roots. Zenon's solo on "Villa Palmeras" is an expertly crafted statement, running the gamut from plain-spoken motifs to breakneck polyrhythmic runs. The solo also does that thing that every jazz combo director has told their students to do: it builds. Zenon interacts with the rhythm section with empathy, ramping up the intensity towards the end of the solo, with drummer Henry Cole following Zenon every step of the way.

As for the other nominees that I've heard, Blanchard's solo (on drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts' Watts album) takes second place. It's a freewheeling, open-ended showcase of the trumpeter's technical prowess, accompanied by the brawny freebop time-keeping of drummer Watts and bassist Christian McBride. As for the Hargrove solo, I don't think it deserves the nod. Hargrove is undoubtedly one of the best trumpet players in recent times, but this is nowhere near his best work. 52-seconds of predictable blues licks, on the most straight-ahead track on his most straight-ahead album in some time, it offers nothing new or notable. It's good, it's swinging, and it calls to mind past trumpet giants like Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard, but it's nothing to write home about.

Category 47
Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of INSTRUMENTAL tracks.)

Quartet Live
Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow & Antonio Sanchez
[Concord Jazz]

Brother To Brother
Clayton Brothers
[ArtistShare]

Five Peace Band — Live
Chick Corea & John McLaughlin Five Peace Band
[Concord Records]

Remembrance
John Patitucci Trio
[Concord Jazz]

The Bright Mississippi
Allen Toussaint
[Nonesuch]

My take: Yes! Finally a category where I'm really familiar with all of the nominees. I'm going with my gut on this one and rooting for Allen Toussaint's The Bright Mississippi. Wait, didn't I just chastise Roy Hargrove for being too traditional, and now I'm praising an album on which most of the songs were written over 80 years ago? Yup.

Just listen to it and you'll hear what I hear. I couldn't take this CD out of my player for weeks. Where much of the music I enjoy is food for the brain, this was good old home cooking for my soul. Warm and cozy, but also totally new and intriguing in a way. Toussaint and his all-star band (featuring heavyweights like Nicholas Payton, Don Byron and Marc Ribot), approach the ancient music of Toussant's native New Orleans with sincerity and heartfelt emotion. The alt-country rhythm section team of David Piltch and Jay Bellerose add some grease to the proceedings. Piltch's minimalist solo on the title track just might be my vote for best solo of the year, over Zenon.

As for the others: all strong efforts, with the Clayton Brothers and John Patitucci rising above the two all-star live albums, but nothing from this year stands out in my mind like The Bright Mississippi.

Category 48
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
(For large jazz ensembles, including big band sounds. Albums must contain 51% or more INSTRUMENTAL tracks.)

Legendary
Bob Florence Limited Edition
[MAMA Records]

Eternal Interlude
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble
[Sunnyside]

Fun Time
Sammy Nestico And The SWR Big Band
[Hänssler Classic]

Book One
New Orleans Jazz Orchestra
[World Village]

Lab 2009
University Of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band
[North Texas Jazz]

My take: Wow. I haven't heard any of these CDs. However, John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble produced one of my favorite albums of the last few years with A Blessing, so I'd assume that I would end up voting for Hollenbeck's Eternal Interlude. But I can't say. I'd appreciate input from anyone who has heard any of the nominees.

Category 49
Best Latin Jazz Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)

Things I Wanted To Do
Chembo Corniel
[Chemboro Records]

Áurea
Geoffrey Keezer
[ArtistShare]

Brazilliance X 4
Claudio Roditi
[Resonance Records]

Juntos Para Siempre
Bebo Valdés And Chucho Valdés
[Sony Music/Calle 54]

Esta Plena
Miguel Zenón
[Marsalis Music]

My take: I haven't heard the Valdes or Corniel records, but of the three with which I'm familiar, I was most taken with Keezer's Áurea. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a little bit weird about picking a white fellow from Wisconsin over natives of Brazil (Roditi) Puerto Rico (Zenon), but, just hear me out.

Áurea is Keezer's personal take on the music of Peru, and he staffs his band with both Peruvian musicians and fellow Americans. He fell in love with Peruvian music while playing at Festival Jazz Peru in Lima with the Maria Schneider Orchestra. (Side note: my college roommate at the time was a trombone sub in the orchestra at the festival, and has fond memories of hanging out with Schneider and Keezer).

Áurea is a wonderfully diverse album, ranging from the offbeat funk of "Una Bruja Buena" to the tender ballad singing of vocalist Sofia Rei Koutsovitis on "La Flor Azul." The common thread is lyricism -- every tune is singable, melodic, and just downright pretty, in the best possible way.

As I already mentioned, Esta Plena is also very worthy. The Roditi is a strong modern Brazilian jazz outing, but doesn't have the same ambition or sheer beauty of the Zenon and Keezer discs.

Now Playing on AccuJazz - 10/30

The biggest part of my job at AccuRadio is getting new music, putting it on our server, and deciding what channels should play it. This process of discovering new music is also the most rewarding part of my job, so it's always a pleasure to let you, the listeners, know exactly what great new stuff is playing on AccuJazz.

This update is pretty big, as always, and includes mostly recent releases, though there is a section of older discs that recently came in to our possession at the bottom of the post. You can purchase the CDs online by clicking the titles, and discs that come heavily recommended are adorned with the envied double asterisk (**). To hear all of these new releases and lots of other great ones from the last 7 months, listen to the New Releases channel on AccuJazz.com while you peruse the post.

Without further ado:

New Releases:

Poncho Sanchez - Psychedelic Blues (Concord Records)
Latin Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

**Keith Jarrett - Paris/London: Testament (ECM)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Live Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz

Gerald Wilson Orchestra - Detroit (Mack Avenue)
Straight Ahead, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Big Band, Nothin' But the Blues

**Robert Glasper - Double Booked (Blue Note)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Groove Jazz, Jazz Fusion

Ramsey Lewis - Songs From the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey (Concord Records)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Chicago, Mellow Jazz

**Jackie Ryan - Doozy (Openart)**
Vocal Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

**Mike Reed's People, Places and Things - About Us (482 Music)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Regions: Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

**Fred Anderson - 21st Century Chase (Delmark)**
New School, Live Jazz, Regions: Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Henry Threadgill - This Brings Us To, Vol. 1 (Pi Recordings)**
New School, Cutting Edge, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Jon Irabagon - The Observer (Concord Records)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Regions: Chicago, New York Now

**John Wojciechowski - Lexicon (Self-Released)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Chicago

**Joe Morris - Today on Earth (AUM Fidelity)**
Guitar Jazz, New School, Avant-Garde Jazz

Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings - Madeleine Dreams (Firehouse 12)
New School, Cutting Edge, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz, Third Stream

**Chad Taylor - Circle Down (482 Music)**
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Chicago, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

Sachal Vasandani - We Move (Mack Avenue)
Vocal Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Composers: Monk

Fay Victor - The Freesong Suite (Greene Avenue Music)
Vocal Jazz, New School, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz

**Curtis Stigers - Lost in Dreams (Concord Records)**
Vocal Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Pop Composers

**Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - One Day in Brooklyn (Kinnara Records)**
New School, Cutting Edge

**Josh Moshier & Mike Lebrun - Joy Not Jaded (OA2 Records)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, Regions: Chicago

**Laurent Coq - Eight Fragments of Summer (88 Trees)**
Piano Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Regions: Europe

The Fonda/Stevens Group - Memphis (Playscape Recordings)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz

Quartet San Francisco - QSF Plays Brubeck (Violinjazz Recordings)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern Mainstream, Third Stream

Jason Stein - In Exchange for a Process (Leo)
Avant-Garde Jazz

John David Simon - John David Simon and Friends (WarmGroove Records)
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, Composers: Ellington

**Jacam Manricks - Labyrinth (Manricks Music)**
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Cutting Edge, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Third Stream

Chris Schreiner - Only Human (Furious)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Emerging Voices, Fusion

Pamela Rose - Wild Women of Song (Three Handed Records)
Vocal Jazz, Modern West Coast, Women of Jazz

Benny Reid - Escaping Shadows (Concord Records)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices

Plunge - Dancing on Thin Ice (Immersion Records and Media)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: New Orleans, Trombone Jazz

Doug MacDonald - Fourth Stream (Blujazz Records)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Third Stream

Ben Perowsky - Moodswing Orchestra (The Royal Potato Family)
New School, Cutting Edge, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

Mark Levine - Off & On (Left Coast Clave)
Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast

Ithmara Koorax & Juarez Moreira - The Complete Joao Gilberto Songbook (Motema Music)
Guitar Jazz, Vocal Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz

Jason Parker Quartet - No More, No Less (Broken Time Records)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Modern West Coast, Trumpet Jazz

Mark Isham and Kate Ceberano - Bittersweet (Earle-Tones Music, Inc.)
Vocal Jazz, Composers: Ellington, Mellow Jazz, Women of Jazz

Mike DiRubbo - Repercussion (Positone)
Straight-Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Nothin' But the Blues

**Brian Charette - Upside (SteepleChase)**
Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Organ Jazz, Composers: Ellington

Agustin Barreto - Between My Walls (Blending Fusion)
Covering all the Bassists, Jazz Fusion

Lilly Abreu - Brasileira (Self-Released)
Vocal Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz

Darius Jones - Man'ish Boy (A Raw and Beautiful Thing) (AUM Fidelity)
Saxophone Jazz, New School, New York Now, Avant-Garde Jazz

Kelley Suttenfield - Where Is Love? (Rhombus Records)
Vocal Jazz, New School, Composers: Beatles, Women of Jazz

Massimo Sammi - First Day (Self-Released)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Avant-Garde Jazz

**David Ashkenazy - Out With It (Positone)**
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Give the Drummers Some

Jared Gold - Supersonic (Positone)
New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Organ Jazz, Groove Jazz

Eldad Tarmu Chamber Jazz Ensemble - Songs for the Queen of Bohemia (Queen of Bohemia Productions)
Regions: Europe, Good Vibes, Third Stream

Mario Adnet - Afro Samba Jazz (Adventure Music)
Latin Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

The Manhattan Transfer - The Chick Corea Songbook (Four Quarters)
Vocal Jazz

Carol Welsman - I Like Men (Welcar Music)
Vocal Jazz, Women of Jazz

Mimi Jones - A New Day (Hot Tone Music)
Vocal Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Emerging Voices, New York Now, Covering All the Bassists, Women of Jazz

Terry Waldo's Gutbucket Syncopators - The Ohio Theatre Concert (Delmark)
Old School

Petra Van Nuis & Andy Brown - Far Away Places (String Damper Records)
Vocal Jazz, Regions: Chicago

Paul Wertico - Impressions of a City (Chicago Sessions)
New School, Modern Mainstream, Chicago, Avant-Garde Jazz, Give the Drummers Some

Ratko Zjaca - Continental Talk (In and Out Records)
Guitar Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Europe

Howard Levy - Tonight and Tomorrow (Chicago Sessions)
Piano Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Chicago

Angela Hagenbach - The Way They Make Me Feel (Resonance Records)
Vocal Jazz, Women of Jazz, Mellow Jazz, Third Stream

Tessa Souter - Obsession (Motema Music)
Vocal Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, New York Now, Pop Composers

Older Releases:

**Empty Cage Quartet - Stratostrophic (Clean Feed)** 2008
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern West Coast, Avant-Garde Jazz

Tin/Bag - And Begin Again (Evander Music) 2007
New School, Cutting Edge, Modern West Coast, Avant-Garde Jazz, Trumpet Jazz

Salsamba - Brazilia (North Star) 2007
Brazilian Jazz

Tiner / Phillips / Schoenbeck Trio - Breathe In, Feed Out (pfMentum) 2004
Cutting Edge, Modern West Coast, Avant-Garde Jazz

Bryan Vargas y Ya Esta - Afro Latino Soul (Mofongo Music) 2004
Latin Jazz

Salsamba - The Traveler (Clave Records) 2003
Latin Jazz, Modern Mainstream, Composers: Monk

Chris Greco - Well You Needn't: Standards, Vol. 1 (GWSFourwinds Records) 1999
Straight Ahead, New School, Modern Mainstream, Composers: Monk

**Plunge - Falling With Grace (Accurate Records)** 1997
New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: New Orleans, Trombone Jazz, Groove Jazz

Nicolai Panov - Jazz Gallery (PanovMusicProduction) 1995
Straight Ahead, Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream, Regions: Europe, Third Stream

Chris Greco - Trane of Thought (GWSFourwinds Records) 1994
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Modern Mainstream

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Blacknuss (Collectables) 1971
New School, Pop Composers, Groove Jazz, Decade: '70s

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Volunteered Slavery (Collectables) 1969
Saxophone Jazz, New School, Groove Jazz, Decade: '60s

New Channels: "Composers: Beatles" and "Pop Composers"

We're a little late to the party, but AccuJazz is now officially part of the resurgent Beatlemania sweeping the world right now. We've just launched a new channel called "Composers: Beatles," playing over 150 jazz covers of Beatles songs. Accompanying the Beatles channel is "Pop Composers," which includes the Beatles material plus jazz versions of other "non-jazz" composers, like Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach and more.

"Composers: Beatles" includes everything from Buddy Rich's screaming big band doing "Norwegian Wood" to Gene Harris laying down the funk on "Get Back" and Baptiste Trotignon getting all sensitive on "Julia." It really makes for a fun and interesting listen, and it has quickly become one of the most-listened-to channels on AccuJazz.

It was also a lot of fun to create. It was the first new channel where I had the go-ahead to take AccuRadio CEO Kurt Hanson's credit card to the Amazon mp3 store and go crazy. Thanks to my faithful Twitter followers who made a lot of great suggestions about worthwile Beatle covers. I never knew quite how many Beatles covers there were out there, and I'm sure there are thousands more. The channel was also fun for me because I've totally fallen victim to the wider Beatle craze. I think I've listened to Abbey Road, Revolver, Rubber Soul, and Sgt. Pepper's a combined 20 times in the past couple of weeks.

Go on now and listen. Then, if you're so inclined, let your friends know about it, and let me know what you think!