2013's Top Ten Lists

The highly anticipated, carefully selected, and impeccably curated top 10 lists of 2013 from the Free Jazz Collective, an incredibly subjective selection based on an amazing 1,166 albums which came our way during the year that roughly fit this blog's profile, without counting all the unbelievable sh*t that we also receive, now that our blog's popularity has reached its peak, so impossible to completely listen to all albums even once, let alone sufficiently to listen deeply and to review properly. But then luckily we shared forces this year, with Martin, Paolo, Dan, Tom, Joe, Colin, Troy, Paul and Stef.

A crazy year again, with lots of great music, and as the individual lists can testify, it was also impossible to restrict ourselves to a top-10 list even.

We aggregated our end-of-year lists and came up with this actually quite balanced must-haves for the year, with a calculation based on the most complex mathematical algorithms and algorhythms (including the number of stars and the number of mentions in the lists below as critical aspects of it).

The Free Jazz Collective Top-10 albums of 2013

1. Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile 
2. Hera with Hamid Drake - Seven Lines
3. John Tchicai- Tribal Ghost 
4. Convergence Quartet - Slow and Steady 
5. Various Artists: Long Story Short 
6. Fire Orchestra: Exit! 
7. Barry Guy New Orchestra Small Formations - Mad Dogs 
8. The Thing: Boot! 
9. DKV + Gustafsson/Pupillo/Nilssen Love - Schl8hof
10. Looper - Matter 
11. Okkyung Lee - Ghil 
12. Mary Halvorson Septet – Illusionary Sea 

Happy holidays to everyone and we look forward to hearing your top choices of the year!

Stef Gijssels:

1. John Tchicai, Charlie Kohlhase, Garrison Fewell, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart - Tribal Ghost
2. Convergence Quartet - Slow and Steady
3. Okkyung Lee - Ghil
4. John Butcher - Winter Gardens
5. Hera with Hamid Drake - Seven Lines
6. Lotte Anker, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Hernâni Faustino - Birthmark
7. Power Of The Horns - Alaman
8. Alvin Curran - Shofar
9. Herb Robertson, David Kaczorowski & Adrian Valosin Party Enders
10. Kaze - Tornado
11. Nor Cold - Nor Cold
12. Angelica Sanchez & Wadada Leo Smith - Twine Forest

Martin Schray:

1. Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
2. Various Artists: Long Story Short
3. Fire Orchestra: Exit!
4. Convergence Quartet: Slow and Steady
5. The Thing: Boot!
6. Fire!: (Without Noticing)
7. John Tchicai: Tribal Ghost
8. Hera feat. Hamid Drake: Seven Lines
9. Spunk: Das Wohltemperierte Spunk
10. William Parker: Wood Flute Song

Paolo Casertano's bakers dozen:

1. DKV + Gustafsson/Pupillo/Nilssen Love - Schl8hof
   
2. John Butcher, Thomas Lehn & John Tilbury - Exta
3. Mitchell/Marsh/Edwards - Improvisations
4. Brötzmann/Drake - Solid And Spirit
5. The Thing - Boot!
6. Looper - Matter
7. Red Trio - Rebento
8. Susana Santos Silva & Torbjorn Zetterberg - Almost Tomorrow
9. Katy Perry - Prism
10. Trumpets and Drums - Live in Ljubljana
11. Joe McPhee - Sonic Elements (For Pocket Trumpet and Alto Saxophone)
12. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 3 To See More Light 
13. Barry Guy New Orchestra Small Formations - Mad Dogs

Dan Sorrells:

1. Mikołaj Trzaska  - Gra Różę 
2. SPUNK - Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK
3. Carate Urio Orchestra - Sparrow Mountain
4. Nor Cold - Nor Cold
5. Evan Parker - Vaincu.Va! Live at Western Front 1979
6. Tatsuya Nakatani & Shane Perlowin - The Anatomy of a Moment
7. Angles 9 - In Our Midst
8. Kristoff K. Roll & Daunik Lazro - Chants du Milieu
9. John Tilbury & Oren Ambarchi - The Just Reproach
10. Matana Roberts - Coin Coin, Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile

Joe Higham:

1. Axel Dörner & Mark Sanders: Stonecipher 
2. Tom Challenger and Kit Downs: Wedding Music
3. Looper: Matter
4. Alexander Hawkins: Song Singular
5. Dunmall, Hanslip, Gibbs & Ricart: Weeping Idols 
6. Alexander Hawkins Ensemble: Step Wide, Step Deep
7. The Engines (w/ John Tchicai): Other Violets
8. Parker, Guy & Lytton: Live at Maya Recordings Festival
9. Mark Solborg: The Trees
10. Rempis Percussion Quartet: Phalanx

Troy Dostert:

1. Thomas Chapin - Never Let Me Go 
   
2. Curtis Hasselbring - Number Stations
3. Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
4. Wayne Shorter Quartet – Without a Net
5. Mario Pavone – Arc Trio
6. Hera with Hamid Drake – Seven Lines
7. DKV Trio + Gustafsson/Nilssen-Love/Pupillo – Schl8hof
8. Mary Halvorson Septet – Illusionary Sea
9. Craig Taborn Trio – Chants
10. Black Host – Life in the Sugar Candle Mines

Colin Green:

I predict that 2013 will be known as the year of the great box set (or in the case of Barry Guy, the novel use of an LP sleeve): a testament to the outstanding range and musical depth that improvised music has achieved. In no particular order:

1. Barry Guy New Orchestra (Small Forces) - Mad Dogs
2. Peter Brötzmann - Long Story Short
3. Paul Dunmall - The Entire 50 CD Collection on FMR Records
4. Various Artists - Just Not Cricket!
5. William Parker - Wood Flute Songs
6. Instant Composers Pool - The Complete Catalogue 
7. Anthony Braxton - Echo Echo Mirror House
8. Quat Quartet - Live at Hasselt
9. Fabrik Trio - Murmurs
10. Joe McPhee and Chris Corsano - Scraps and Shadows

Tom Burris' sneaky dozen:

1. Keefe Jackson's Likely So – A Round Goal
   
2. Peter Evans Trio – Zebulon 
3. MOPDTK – Red Hot 
4. Fire Orchestra – Exit! 
5. Tim Daisy Trio – A Fine Day in Berlin + Rempis Percussion Quartet – Phalanx  + Frank Rosaly / Cicada Music – s/t 
6. John Tchicai – Tribal Ghost 
7. Pandelis Karyorgis Quartet – Circuitous
8. Mary Halvorson Septet – Illusionary Sea + Halvorson / Knuffke / Wilson – Sifter 
9. Joe McPhee / Thurston Moore / Bill Nace – Last Notes 
10. Okkyung Lee – Ghil 

Paul Acquaro:

1. Tim Berne's Snakeoil - Shadow Man 
   
2. Ingrid Laubrock's Anti House - Strong Place
3. Jon Irabagon, Hernani Faustino, Gabriel Ferrandini - Absolut Zero 
4. Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - Your Turn 
5. Lucien Dubois  Trio & Spacetet - Design Your Future
6. Ross Hammond - Cathedrals 
7. Mars Williams, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten & Tim Daisy - Moments Form 
8. Mary Halvorson, Kirk Knuffke & Matt Wilson - Sifter 
9. Elliott Sharp Aggregat - Quintet 
10. Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet - Circuitous 

Check out past year's top 10s