{"id":13685,"date":"2022-01-14T17:51:18","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T23:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=13685"},"modified":"2022-03-04T16:43:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T22:43:07","slug":"here-are-the-results-of-an-international-critics-jazz-poll-with-kevernaculars-contribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=13685","title":{"rendered":"Here’s the results of an International Critics Music Poll, with Kevernacular’s contribution"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chicago Trumpeter Amir ElSaffar and his Rivers of Sound Orchestra, pictured above, produced my choice for jazz album of the year. Photo by Tom Beetz.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, but what were the best<\/em> of the year, and what does all that add up to?<\/p>\n

Here’s one man’s opinion.*<\/p>\n

I participated in the 14th Annual International Critics Poll of El Intruso<\/em>, the Spanish publication dedicated to jazz, experimental and creative music. I have included the results of the NPR critics poll here in recent years. But for a change of perspective, it’s interesting to see what critics from all around the world come up with, as the best of the year (see entire international poll link at bottom).<\/p>\n

Special mention:<\/strong> The documentary film Summer of Soul,<\/em> directed by The Roots drummer Questlove, captures the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which reportedly drew 300,000, but got little fanfare, elsewhere. This provided the best new film soundtrack. Nina Simone, B.B. King, the 5th Dimension, the Staple Singers, and more. Here’s info on it\u00a0 https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/news\/summer-of-soul-soundtrack-release-announced\/<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The international poll does not ask for top 10 album lists, I will list my choices of best albums of the year for the NPR poll:<\/p>\n

Best Jazz Albums for 2021 NPR Critics Poll<\/strong><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

1. Amir ElSaffar Rivers of Sound Orchestra<\/strong> \u2013 The Other Side<\/em> (Out Note) This was the surprise of the year. I didn’t expect ElSaffar do a big band and a very unconventional pan-cultural creature. But this is actually their second recording and a rare symbiosis emerges, beautifully conceived and executed. Yet one must set aside preconceptions of what a jazz orchestra should sound like. He’s a Chicagoan but has deeply investigated his Iranian roots and allowed the bitonal modalities to flourish like an exotic garden.<\/p>\n

2. Charles Lloyd<\/strong> and<\/strong> the Marvels<\/strong> \u2013 Tone Poem<\/em> (Blue Note) Tenor sax guru Lloyd and his stylistically elastic quintet, with simpatico guitar innovator Bill Frisell, lays his ineffable touch on Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Leonard Cohen and Gabor Zsabo, a concoction enfolded with a few worthy originals.<\/p>\n

3.. Anthony Braxton<\/strong> \u2013 2 Comp (Zim) 2017<\/em> (firehouse) _- One of the true geniuses and intrepid and prolific visionaries of the music called jazz or Black music (or what Braxton calls “Language Music” or “Holistic Modeling Musics”) surfaces again with a stimulating 12 hours of original music packed into a single Blue-Ray disc. Rediscover Braxton’s uncannily self-generated world of music, or take the plunge — into this transformative experience of creative possibility.\"\"<\/p>\n

4. Johannes Wallmann<\/strong> \u2013 Elegy for Undiscovered Species<\/em> (Shifting Paradigm) — Another masterful statement from the Madison-based pianist-composer, who shows how deftly he extends his compositional and conceptual palette to a chamber string orchestra. He spotlights two brilliant soloists for his jazz quintet with strings — Dayna Stevens, a limpidly inventive saxophonist whose plangent tone and superb phrasing almost mystically invoke Stan Getz. He also plays luminous EWI (electronic wind instrument). And trumpeter Ingrid Jensen has developed a deeply personal lyrical voice on her horn. Wallmann’s taut yet supple string writing remains always integral to the force of his expressive purpose, even in the surging romanticism of “Longing.” This elegy stirs the imagination (what species?) while deeply commenting on our global environmental malaise.<\/p>\n

5. Lionel Loueke<\/strong> \u2013 Close your Eyes<\/em> (Sounderscore) Wow, what a brilliant guitarist he’s become, extending the modern, harmonically weighty tradition from Wes Montgomery. He has dazzling rhythmic acumen and plays with tension like a master basketball dribbler. This was his first full-album statement “in the tradition” as the compulsive original Braxton once did, and almost all his takes are meaty and revelatory. He got a bit too clever by crunching the closer, Trane’s “Naima,” which lost the tune’s arching, iridescent lyricism.<\/p>\n

6. Marcin Wasilewski Trio<\/strong> — en Attendant<\/em> — (ECM) With this sad news this year of Chick Corea’s passing, and of Keith Jarrett’s apparently disabling stroke, Marcin Wasilewski joins the conversation as a darkhorse for “greatest living (and active) jazz pianist, or perhaps “best jazz piano trio.” Here’s my review of this recording:<\/p>\n

Is this the best? Marcin Wasilewski’s cutting-edge piano trio forges ahead<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n