Free Jazz Blog's 2018 Top 10 Lists

From: It's OK to Like Free Jazz

Today we present the Collective's top 10 albums of the year and invite you to vote in the annual New Ears Awards.

The contenders for the award were drawn from the lists below and can be found here. The collective also votes on the same list, but in a separate poll. The award winner for both polls will be announced on January 1st.

As you know, it's not so easy to come up with a top 10 list. There is teeth gnashing, tears of frustration, and sleepless nights over the difficult decisions that must be made, and then there is the haunting thought that these decisions will never be perfect. This of course is stacked up against all of the albums we didn't get to even listen to throughout the year. Requests for album reviews topped 2000 this year - even more than last year. Regardless, it is exciting that music making is alive and well and to be entrusted to give our opinions on the music.

Thank you all for being a part of the Free Jazz Collective and supporting improvised music in general. The creative music community is  small and everyone plays a part, whether it is as musician, promoter, writer/critic, listener, concert-goers, consumer, or a bit of each.

List are presented in alphabetical order by reviewer's last name: 

Paul Acquaro

• Paul Rogers, Olaf Rupp, Frank Paul Schubert - Three Stories About Rain, Sunlight And The Hidden Soil (Relative Pitch)*
  It all came together for me when I saw this trio play live. With Rupp’s textural guitar, Rogers unbelievable 7 string acoustic bass, and Schubert’s wide-ranging sax work, the output is daring and completely captivating.
• Duck Baker - Plays Monk (Triple Point)
  Hot on the heel’s of his 100th birthday, there have been many Monk related releases, from the historical to the obsessive, like guitarist Miles Okazaki who covered all of Monk's compositions on  "Work (Complete, Volumes 1-6)". Here, I chose Duck Baker's wonderful interpretations, but it was not an easy choice.
• Momentum - Brüllt & Monster Roster (Audiographic)
  A milestone for Ken Vandermark as a composer. I'm still working on it as a listener.
• Cataclysmic Commentary - Audience Participation (Eschatology)*
  Pianist Eli Wallace is a dynamic player and this recording, with saxophonist Ben Cohen and drummer Dave Miller is a great album debut for the fierce, but nuanced, trio.
• Henry Threadgill -14 or 15 Kestra: Agg - Dirt... And More Dirt (Pi Recordings)
  A large big band triumph, the music on Dirt and More Dirt carries the distinction of sounding both thoroughly forward thinking with its angular and twisting themes and complex harmonies, and at the same deeply rooted in tradition.
• Angelika Niescier, Christopher Tordini & Tyshawn Sorey -The Berlin Concert (Intakt)
  This 'classic' free jazz album, recorded at the Berlin Jazzfest, as my colleague Lee writes "Balances tenderness and vibrancy with ease."
• Devin Gray - Dirigo Rataplan II (Rataplan Records)
  Drummer Gray leads a group of fantastic musicians through a series of tunes show casing his ever growing compositional prowess.
• Andrew Cyrile, Wadada Leo Smith & Bill Frisell - Lebroba (ECM)*
  Lovely lines, fragile melogies, and muscle when it's called for. I am submitting this in lieu of  Jakob Bro's Bay Of Rainbows (ECM), which I would say similar things of.
• Jon Irabagon - Dr. Quixotic's Traveling Exotics (Irrabagast)
  It's not exactly free jazz, but the saxophonist's quixotic composition sensibilities and unbelievable technique are on full display on this gem.
• Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog ‎– YRU Still Here? (Yellowbird)*
  He's pissed and he's political. This is a monster album full of hard-charging proto-punk/funk tunes and snarling lyrics.
  
  *reviews forthcoming

Stuart Broomer

These are organized not by merit or alphabet but family resemblance—music that’s jazz in the most richly traditioned sense (including musicians with laurels of resting dimension who choose not to use them); music that at once stretches musical possibilities and the scale of the public dialogue; works of pure vision that highlight the alchemical nature of all these works. The list is bracketed by two musicians appearing together 50 years apart.

• Dave Holland/ Evan Parker/ Craig Taborn/ Ches Smith: Uncharted Territories (Dare 2 Records, 2018)
  Multiple associations from the SME to Rocket Science come into play.
• Rodrigo Amado/ Joe McPhee/ Kent Kessler/ Chris Corsano: A History of Nothing (Trost: 2018)
  This band’s first recording was the 2015 reader’s choice of this site for record of the year. This one extends the dialogue.
• Anthony Braxton: Sextet (Parker) 1993 (New Braxton House, 2018)
  The only thing that could make this better is if Parker, out of time, out of space, out of and into all sorts of stuff, en route with his unpawnable Grafton to Edgard Varèse’s apartment, happened by one of these sessions, thus meeting his legacy coming the other way (mea culpa, full disclosure: I wrote the liner notes).
• Matthew Shipp/ William Parker/ Daniel Carter: Seraphic Light (AUM, 2018) 
  Three musicians test the limits of continuous improvised melody.
• Veryan Weston/Element Choir: The Make Project (Barnyard Research, 2018).
  20 years in, the great English pianist/composer continues to develop his Tessellations project, in which every pentatonic scale is present, moving from one to another with one pitch change at a time—this time in Toronto with seven other musicians, Christine Duncan’s 45-voice conduction choir and sung texts from women writers ranging from 13th century mystics to 20th century anarchists, all most compatible.
• Christopher Fox: Topophony. WDR sinfonia orchester; conductor: Ilan Volkov; soloists: John Butcher; Thomas Lehn; Axel Dörner; Paul Lovens. (HatArt, 2018)
  The world needs more large-scale orchestral compositions with space for Butcher, et al.; Ilan Volkov is making a habit of expanding the territory sighted by Giuffre in Mobiles 59 years ago with a different German Radio symphony orchestra.
• Tyshawn Sorey: Pillars (Firehouse Twelve) 
  Eight musicians. 4 ½ hours of music, Pillars plumbs the depths of pitch and meaning.
• Cyril Bondi/ Pierre-Yves Martel/ Christoph Schiller: tse (another timbre, 2018)
  Three musicians from Switzerland, Canada and Germany make new music out of old instruments: improvisations on starkly limited pitches with harmonium, viola da gamba and spinet.
• Common Objects (John Butcher/Angharad Davies/ Rhodri Davies/ Lina Lapelyte/ Lee Patterson/ Pat Thomas): Skullmarks (ftarri, 2018)
  Distinctions among ear, eye, mind, object, time, space, individual and group (and everything else) either clarify or disappear.
• Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Karyōbin (are the imaginary birds said to live in paradise) (Emanem, 2018)
  Music that’s been stretching the possibilities of the contemporary for 50 years, now sounding better than ever.  

Tom Burris

We are living on this planet in a strange time. Earth is determined to be rid of us all through one catastrophe or another if one of our madmen “leaders” doesn't do the job first. I don't have any answers. But for fuck's sake, don't go out without a fight! Vote. Let your voices be heard. Take to the fucking streets. Fight the good fight, people. Don't forget this simple fact: we still outnumber the assholes. Unfortunately, when it comes to music we are painfully outnumbered. However, the albums on this list are intelligent, hopeful, soulful, optimistic, original, beautiful & crucial. All are 5-star caliber recordings. Bundle up and put some music on. Happy Holidays!

• Matthew Shipp – Zero (ESP-Disk)
  A solo piano masterwork. Absolutely essential in every way.
• Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt – Brace Up! (Palilalia)
  Not only the face-melter you expected, but also a fucked-up visionary work of stunning beauty & power.
• Tashi Dorji & Tyler Damon – Leave No Trace: Live in St. Louis (Family Vineyard) / Kuzu – Hiljaisuus (Astral Spirits)
  Dorji and Damon released two of the finest records of the year, with new project Kuzu adding saxophonist Dave Rempis to the brotherhood. The FJC gave both of these records well-deserved 5-star ratings. Is it cheating to put them both into one entry? #sorrynotsorry
• Tyshawn Sorey – Pillars (Firehouse 12)
  Seemingly influenced by every possible form of introspective music in existence, Sorey takes his time luring you into his Tibetan Feldman cave. You'll never want to leave.
• Satoko Fujii – Solo (Libra)
  Another solo piano masterwork. Absolutely essential in every way.
• Frame Trio – Luminaria (FMR)
  Frame Trio knock out a brooding, drone-based work more reminiscent of Cale-era Velvet Underground than anything jazz-based, making it an excellent driving companion.
• Henry Threadgill 14 or 15 Kestra: Agg – Dirt & More Dirt (Pi Recordings)
  I probably could've put both of Threadgill's 2018 Pi releases on here, but didn't wanna push it after that Dorji/Damon entry. These albums push Threadgill's group compositional concepts forward yet again, this time with a larger band mostly made up of the maestro's former ensembles.
• Tim Daisy's Fulcrum Ensemble – Animation (Relay)
  Daisy renames his Celebration Sextet and throws down his latest (and greatest) compositions with the all-star group. Amazingly executed and over far too soon. More!
• Locksmith Isidore – After Caroline (Northern Spy)
  Another artist I could've doubled up entries on this year, Jason Stein also released an excellent second album by his alternate trio Hearts and Minds on the unbelievably prolific Astral Spirits label. The band gels so well on After Caroline they make impossible things sounds easy.
• Rodrigo Amado / McPhee / Kessler / Corsano – A History of Nothing (Trost)
  Can this ridiculously stellar lineup possibly deliver on its promise? Why yes son, it certainly can – and does. There is a goddamn Santa Claus.

Reissues / Unearthed recordings:

• Anthony Braxton – Sextet (Parker) (New Braxton House)
  Professor Braxton re-interprets Bird's catalog on this extended-to-boxed-set reissue that leaves no idea shelved. Like all of Braxton's best, it's both exhausting and indispensable.
• John Coltrane – Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album (Impulse!)
  As essential as anything the man ever recorded, so buy the deluxe version & thank Naima's family as you hand over your cash.   

Troy Dostert

• Steve Coleman and Five Elements - Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1: The Embedded Sets (Pi)
• Mary Halvorson - Code Girl (Firehouse 12)
• Sylvie Courvoisier Trio - D’Agala (Intakt)
• Angelika Niescier, Christopher Tordini and Tyshawn Sorey - The Berlin Concert (Intakt)
• Susana Santos Silva - All the Rivers: Live at Panteão Nacional (Clean Feed)
• Akira Sakata & Chikamorachi with Masahiko Satoh - Proton Pump (Family Vineyard)
• Ingrid Laubrock - Contemporary Chaos Practices (Intakt)
• Myra Melford’s Snowy Egret - The Other Side of Air (Firehouse 12)
• Marty Ehrlich - Trio Exaltation (Clean Feed)
• Here’s to Us - Animals, Wild and Tame (Hoob)

Alexander Dubovoy

• Cecil Taylor – Poschiavo (Jazzwerkstatt)
  An important reminder of whom we lost this year and of the sheer power of his solo playing.
• Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Paul Lytton - Music for David Mossman (Intakt)
  Not only is this one of my favorite Evan Parker albums, it pays homage to David Mossman. He was the founder of the Vortex Jazz Club in London and an extremely decent, kind human being, and he passed away this year.
• Daniel Carter, William Parker & Matthew Shipp - Seraphic Light (AUM)
  Of all the albums this year, this was the one I just couldn’t stop listening to. There’s something deeply addictive to it.
• Mahobin - Live at Big Apple in Kobe (Libra Record)
  This was some of the most interesting music to come out of Japan this year, and I absolutely love Ikue Mori’s work with electronics. A beautiful exploration of timbre.
• Matthew Shipp – Zero (ESP-Disk)
  A stunning solo piano album. Shipp’s approach to harmony and touch is unparalleled.
• Dave Holland, Evan Parker, Craig Taborn, and Ches Smith - Uncharted Territories (Dare2 Records)
  The “super group” free jazz album of the year, and it lives up to its pedigree. I particularly love the references to Conference of the Birds and the amazing communication within the ensemble.
• Christian Lillingers GRUND— COR (Plaist Music)
  Lillinger has a unique voice and is an amazing contributor to the Berlin scene. I just love this album.
• Henry Threadgill - Double Up Plays Double Up Plus (Pi Recordings)
  Of the two stellar Threadgill albums released this year, this is the one I keep on listening to. It is a work of sheer compositional genius.
• Cory Smythe - Circulate Susanna (Pyroclastic)
  A radical and gorgeous rethinking of American culture—something we desperately need at this time in history.
• Miles Okazaki - Work (The complete compositions of Thelonious Monk) (2018)
  A painstaking and beautiful compilation of Monk’s compositional oeuvre.

Lee Rice Epstein

• Stephanie Richards - Fullmoon (Relative Pitch, 2018)
• Mary Halvorson - Code Girl (Firehouse 12, 2018)
• Tyshawn Sorey - Pillars (Firehouse 12, 2018)
• Fay Victor’s SoundNoiseFUNK - Wet Robots (ESP-Disk’, 2018))
• Okkyung Lee - Cheol-Kkot-Sae (Steel.Flower.Bird) (Tzadik, 2018)
• Han-earl Park, Catherine Sikora, and Nick Didkovsky - Eris 136199 (Buster and Friends, 2018)
• Kira Kira - Bright Force (Libra, 2018)
• Henry Threadgill - Double Up, Plays Double Up Plus (Pi Recordings, 2018)
• Ben LaMar Gay - Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun (International Anthem, 2018)
• Kuzu - Hijaisuus (Astral Spirits, 2018)

Stef Gijssels

• Tyshawn Sorey - Pillars (Firehouse 12, 2018)
  A wonderful album with a very unique vision on music : captivating in every possible sense.
• Daniel Carter, William Parker & Matthew Shipp - Seraphic Light (AUM, 2018)
  A grand and majestic album by three musicians who trust each other blindly and dive into their musical heritage
  
• Barre Phillips - End To End (ECM, 2018)
  The inventor of the solo bass album produces his last solo album, and he surpasses himself.
• Chaos Echoes & Mats Gustafsson - Sustain (Utech, 2018)
  A wonderful collision between genres and a great unity of horrifying terror.
• Satoko Fujii’s Orchestra Berlin - Ninety-Nine Years (Libra, 2018)
  It could have been another album by Fujii, but just to show that I changed my mind about her orchestral works.
• Frame Trio - Luminaria (FMR, 2018)
  Anything these guys do is fresh, inventive,clever and moving.
• Jeremiah Cymerman - Decay of the Angel (5049 Records, 2018)
  Headstrong, visionary and deeply emotional. A personal story by one of today’s more adventurous musicians.
• Mazen Kerbaj - Walls Will Fall - The 49 Trumpets of Jericho (Bohemian Drips, 2018)
  A strong political and musical statement.
• Susana Santos Silva - All the Rivers – Live at Panteão Nacional (Clean Feed, 2018)
  A solo trumpet album, explorative, expressive, sensitive.
• Peter Jacquemyn - Fundament (El Negocito, 2018)
  One of the best concerts I ever saw bundled in an excellent album. Ambitious, unique and rewarding.

Colin Green

• Anthony Braxton ‎– Sextet (Parker) 1993 (New Braxton House)
  New takes on bebop classics, freshly oxygenated.
• Ingrid Laubrock – Contemporary Chaos Practices / Two Works For Orchestra with Soloists (Intakt)
  Featuring a stellar cast, this album reinforces Laubrock’s status at the interface of composition and improvisation.
• Martin Blume, Tobias Delius, Achim Kaufmann, Dieter Manderscheid ‎– Frames & Terrains (NoBusiness)
  Nervy and buzzing with intensity, yet strangely elusive.
• Spectral – Empty Castles (Aerophonic)
  A fascinating collection of dialogues between Dave Rempis, Darren Johnston, Larry Ochs and a 12,000-square foot concrete bunker.
• Assif Tsahar, William Parker, Hamid Drake – In Between the Tumbling a Stillness (Hopscotch)
  An inventive saxophonist who deserves greater exposure, and a rhythm section that provides it.
• Cecil Taylor – Poschiavo (Black Sun)
  A reminder of what we lost, and an opportunity to digest the achievements of quite possibly the most important free jazz musician thus far.
• Rodrigo Amado, Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler, Chris Corsano ‎– A History of Nothing (Trost)
  Maintains the standard set by This Is Our Language, the previous studio album, and the good news is that a live set has been recorded.
• Kaze – Atody Man (Circum-Libra)
  So much to choose from in Satoko Fujii’s 60th anniversary year, with a quartet that displays her talent for diversity and synthesis.
• Barry Guy@70 - Blue Horizon - Live at Ad Libitum Festival 2017 (Fundacja Słuchaj!)
  Another anniversary treat celebrated in Warsaw last year – Guy with Agustí Fernández, Marilyn Crispell and Paul Lytton, and his first duo performance with Joëlle Léandre.
• Dave Holland, Evan Parker, Craig Taborn and Ches Smith ‎– Uncharted Territories (Dare2)
  A welcome return to improv for Holland, teaming up with his old friend and two musicians from a later generation in a delightful set of duos, trios and full quartet offerings.

Eyal Hareuveni

• Extra Large Unit - More Fun, Please (PNL)
  Just imagine a session of Nino Rota, Cecil Taylor and a Korean royal music and you may begin to understand the great fun potential of this piece.
• Chesterfield - Consuelo (Mikroton)
  Austrian experimental guitarist Burkhard Stangl and and sound artist-composer Angélica Castelló poetic meditation on the ballad “Bésame Mucho”.
• Kim Myhr / Quatuor Bozzini / Caroline Bergvall / Ingar Zach - pressing clouds passing crowds  (Hubro Music, 2018)
  The most emotional work of the Norwegian guitarist, inspired by the work of French-Norwegian poet Caroline Bergvall and the music of American composer Robert Ashley.
• Peter Brötzmann / Heather Leigh - Sparrow Nights (Trost)
  German reeds titan and American pedal steel guitar play sketch most comprehensive overview of their turbulent, chaotic and complex love relationship.
• Mahobin - Live at Big Apple in Kobe (Libra Records)
  It is almost impossible to pick only one album of the twelve, excellent one that Satoko Fujii released this year, celebrating her 60th birthday, but this free-improvised performance with Danish sax player Lotte Anker, electronics wizard Ikue Mori and partner-trumpeter Natsuki Tamura is my favorite.
• Tania Giannouli | Rob Thorne | Steve Garden - Rewa (Rattle)
  Deep listening, spontaneously improvised meeting of the Greek pianist and New Zealand, Māori exponent of the traditional ngā taonga pūoro instruments, with some subtle treatments.
• The End - Svårmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen (Rare Noise)
  Two baritone sax heavyweights - Mats Gustafsson and Kjetil Møster, Deerhoof’s powerhouse drummer Greg Saunier, avant-noise-metal guitarist Anders Hana and great vocalist Sofia Jernberg. You don’t need more.
• Johan Lindström Septett - Music for Empty Halls (Moserobie)
  This Swedish guitarist-multi-instrumentalist finally released his debut album and it is  a beautiful lush melodies, playful jazz sensibilities, breezy blues riffs and eccentric art rock edges performed by an elite unit.
• Hilde Marie Holsen - Lazoli (Hubro Music)
  This Norwegian trumpeter-electronic player compares her work process to the one of painter, meticulously laying sonic colors and shades and painting with sounds. 
• Biliana Voutchkova / Michael Thieke - Blurred Music (Elsewhere)
  Three hours of exemplary creativity, mutual trust and intimacy by these Berlin-based violinist and clarinetist. 

Chris Haines

• Bill Frisell – Music IS (Okeh)
• Nels Cline 4 – Constellations (Blue Note)
• Ian Brighton / Henry Kaiser – Together Apart (Fractal)
• Santiago Quintans & Ramon Lopez – Espadas Como Labios (Creative Sources)
• Kaoru Abe / Sabu Toyozumi – Mannyoka (NoBusiness)
• Dave Holland, Evan Parker, Craig Taborn & Ches Smith – Uncharted Territories (Dare2)
• Louis Beaudoin-de-la-Sablonniere, Eric Normand, Louis-Vincent Hamel – Brulez Les Meubles (Tour de Bras)
• Miles Okazaki – WORK: The Complete Compositions Of Thelonious Monk (self-released)
• Samuel Blaser with Marc Ducret & Peter Brunn – Tatklos Zurich 2017 (Hatology)
• Juhani Aaltonen / Raoul Bjorkenheim – Awakening (Eclipse Music)  

Gustav Lundqvist

• Miles Okazaki - WORK: The complete compositions of Thelonious Monk (Self-released)
  I don't know if it's because it's such a monumental project or because it's Monk or both, but regardless of which, Okazaki just offered this to all of us to enjoy for years and years. Any follow-up solo guitar work of Monk's will have to stand up against this.
• Anthony Braxon - Sextet (Parker) 1993 (New Braxton House)
  This release is to have, to hold and to cherish for years and years to come. I'd go so far as saying this is as essential as having Parker's releases. They will forever be side by side in my collection. Bird and Braxton.
• Ben LaMar Gay - Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun (International Anthem)
  Accidental finding, shocking first listen! This got to me the same way as Fly or die (Jaimie Branch) from the same label.
• Peter Brötzmann, Heather Leigh - Sparrow Nights (Trost)
  It's almost dark became the track that I probably heard the most times this year. Peeled off, full of anxiety and darkness.
• Johan Lindström Septett - Music For Empty Halls (Moserobie)
  Run is the track in which I envision myself walking down the street in a fur coat with a cane and a top hat, feeling like a million dollars and with no more fucks to give. Back to reality I walk the streets of Barcelona smoking a H. Upmann Magnum 46, listening to Sleepless Lapsteels and I feel less of being misplaced in this world and more a part of it. This is indeed a real feather in Jonas Kullhammars hat!
• Marker - Roadwork 1 / Roadwork 2 / Homework 1 (Catalytic Sound)
  Marker. Love at first listen. Vandermark return with Marker and does it in such a creative way! He's such a giant, and I can't wait to hear what comes next.
• Jason Stein's Locksmith Isidore ‎– After Caroline (Northern Spy)
  This is always what I listen to before, or after, Marker. There's a companionship between the two albums, and when I hear the passive aggressive build-up in Walden's Thing I smile and enjoy.
• Fire! - The Hands (Rune Grammofon)
  Darkness, oh lovely darkness. I keep finding new layers with every listen.
• Martin Küchen - Lieber Heiland, laß uns sterben (Sofa)
  Yes, released in 2017 - but reviewed in 2018 so I'll include it here. I had it in my list for 2017 as well, but perhaps it wasn't fair - given that my review wasn't published until 2018. Fantastic album that I wish would reach more listeners.
• Anguish - Anguish (RareNoiseRecords)
  Not reviewed on blog yet, but I'm hoping it will be before the end of the year. Chaotic, industrial, free!

David Menestres

• Ingrid Laubrock - Contemporary Chaos Practice (Intakt)
  I mostly wanted to focus on small group recordings, this is the large exception to that. My brain cracked open wide during the first listening. More fissures appear with with each spin.
• Miles Okazaki - WORK: The complete compositions of Thelonious Monk (set-released) Okazaki should add alchemist to his list of accomplishments. Turning Monk’s piano compositions into guitar compositions is no easier than turning lead into gold, but here it is. A massive accomplishment.
• Barre Phillips & Motoharu Yoshizawa - Oh My, Those Boys! (No Business)
  A live recording from 1994 finally seeing the light of day. An rare document from two uniquely different masters of the bass.
• Discovery Festival 2017 - Channel (Weekertoft)
  Over six hours of music documenting the 2017 Discovery Festival featuring a wide variety of musicians from across Ireland and the UK in all manners of combinations.
• Ensemble Grizzana - Early to Late (Another Timbre)
  This album was my introduction to the music of Magnus Granberg. Last month we gave the US premiere of his piece included on this album. I couldn’t write an EOY list that didn’t include this album.
• Biliana Voutchkova, Michael Thieke - Blurred Music (Elsewhere)
  One of a handful of excellent releases from the new label Elsewhere, this three CD-set features live violin and clarinet improvisations interacting in unexpected ways with pre-recorded material.
• Ben LaMar Gay - Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun (International Anthem)
  A white hot greatest hits set culled from seven albums that havev’t previously been released, though IA is in the process of releasing them now.
• Séverine Ballon - inconnaissable (All That Dust)
  My favorite solo cello album of the year, and there were several that were beyond excellent.
• Shanna Sordahl - Radiate Don’t Fear the Quietus (Full Spectrum)A beautifully inward-looking solo album featuring cello, voice, and electronics, that has been haunting me since early this summer.
• Charles Mingus - Jazz in Detroit / Strata Concert Gallery / 46 Selden (BBE Music)
  So many dead musicians suffer from reissues that are nothing but endless cash grabs for their estates, but this previously unavailable live set from February of 1973 is an essential addition to the Mingus catalog.

Nick Metzger

• Assif Tsahar, William Parker, Hamid Drake – In Between the Tumbling a Stillness (Hopscotch)In my opinion it's the single best album by a saxophone trio this year. The almost perfect interplay is shaded with a colorful inventiveness rarely heard as vividly since Ayler's trio with Murray and Peacock.
• Bad Luck - Four (Origin)
  Their skillful combination of atmosphere, unconventional rhythm, and blazing free jazz fire prove to be a winning combination for this reviewer.
• Dave Holland – Uncharted Territories (Dare2)
  This spent the summer in my car stereo, fantastic variety from some top notch improvisers. I especially enjoyed the multiple combinations of players.
• Henry Threadgill 14 or 15 Kestra: Agg – Dirt . . . And More Dirt (Pi)
  I had a lot of trouble choosing between this and Double Up, Plays Double Up Plus, both should really be on here, but my device shows that I listened to this album more so I’ll go with it. You can’t go wrong with either, brilliant stuff from a living legend.
• Makaya McCraven – Universal Beings (International Anthem)
  McCraven takes his ‘organic beat music’ to new heights with four different bands in four different cities across two continents. A truly ambitious album executed to perfection by one of Chicago’s (via France and the NE US) finest. Pick up McCraven’s Where We Come From while you’re at it, you won’t be disappointed.
• Marker - Roadwork 1&2/Homework 1 Boxset (Audiographic)
  There is so much music in here and it’s all so satisfying. This is an amazing collection from one of Vandermark’s most exciting ensembles, not to be missed!
• Matthew Shipp - Zero (ESP-Disk)
  Again, this is a close one. Sonic Fiction is a special record, but I feel that Shipp is at his most remarkable when he plays solo. Removed from distractions and left to do his own thing he astounds with his inventiveness. Pair this with hatOLOGY’s reissue of his solo debut Symbol Systems.
• Szilárd Mezei Vocal Ensemble - Hotel America (Not Two)
  Mezei's brilliant tribute to the victims of post-WWII atrocities committed in Vojvodina is one of his most moving, demanding, and exciting works yet. Szilárd is making some of the most important music out there and is quickly amassing a vast back catalogue.
• Tashi Dorji & Tyler Damon – Leave No Trace (Family Vineyard)
  Two words: Hot Fire. We’ve come to expect the incredible from this duo and they don’t let us down here. The telepathy and ability to push boundaries that these two display is really special.
• Tyshawn Sorey - Pillars (Firehouse 12)
  When I first got this I had it on repeat for a week just trying to absorb everything. Sorey’s brilliant epic is unlike anything I've heard, he’s making his own myth right now.

Gregg Miller

• Anouar Brahem - Blue Maqams (ECM)
  With Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette and Django Bates. In 2018, I have been listening over and over to this one record, both when I want to listen to it, and also when I want to do other things but have something on in the background. I've probably listened to it 200 times. So good, I sent it to my mother-in-law. Try it!
• Lori Goldston - The Passion of Joan of Arc (Substrata)
  Slow-moving cello silent film score. I challenge you to concentrate on it the entire time -- can't be done! It puts you in a dream state.
• Jack Wright - You Haven't Heard This (Spring Garden Music)
  The first group improvisation (30 minutes) manages to be completely inventive every single second, an astonishing feat. This disk accompanies Jack Wright's incisive theoretical treatise, The Free Musics, well worth your time.
• Dave Holland -  Uncharted Territories (Dare 2 Records)
  Easy listening, Evan Parker is especially good here, of course.
• Tyshawn Sorey - Pillars (Firehouse 12)
  So much patience, so many sounds!
• Andrew Cyrille, Wadada Leo Smith, Bill Frisell - Lebroba (ECM) 
  Trumpet, guitar, drums, just doin' it the way it should be done (on the mellow side of free).
• Bad Luck - Four (Origin Records) 
  An energetic sax/drums duo with electronic washes. Uplift meets downdraft.
• Matthew Shipp Quartet - Sonic Fiction (ESP)
  With Mat Walerian, Michael Bisio and Whit Dickey. Walerian's bass clarinet is noteworthy. The disk is a close mate to Shipp's outing from 2017 on ESP with Walerian and William Parker (under the band name, Toxic). If you liked that one, this one is cake.
• Triptet - Slowly, Away (Engine)
  Tom Baker on fretless guitar can do no wrong. Greg Campbell finds melody in percussiveness wherever it is. Ambient, but frothing with arresting sonic textures.
• Burrows/Campbell/Goila/Reed - Tales from the Zoo (Third Rail)
  I am delighted by this record-- a superior outing of clarinets, cornet, guitar, bass and percussion. Clarinet's in the lead mostly. They play the range: soft as whispers to energetic runs over bass throbs, to noisy guitar to searching cornet/clarinet interleaving. 

Fotis Nikolakopoulos

This year started with the loss of Mark E. Smith so it was supposed to be weird. And it was. While our societies continue to consume products and keep destroying the planet, I try to find solace in music. I say music and not jazz because 2018 was a year i tried to listen more to new musics

and less to jazz related sounds. So, only seven new albumss that go along with three blasts from the past that came out in 2018.

I hope you enjoy them, until then let's all keep supporting non-corporate free thinking music.

• John Coltrane Quartet - Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album
  1963 was an important year in John Coltrane's evolution just before his music took off on to another spiritual level. This album is another document of this transition made by the best jazz quartet of all times.
• Kaoru Abe / Sabu Toyozumi ‎– Banka
  Kaoru Abe's presence on this planet was short, but his music is eternal. Here, along with master percussionist Sabu Toyozumi in a never heard before live reording. A big praise to all those involved to make this happen and especially to NoBusiness records, maybe the best label in jazz right now.
• Catherine Sikora /Christopher Culpo – The spectral life of things
  A constant flow of notes, melodies and collective improvisational ethos. Check the small feature of Catherine Sikora's recordings, one of the most important jazz voices of this year.
• Birchall / Cheetham / Webster / Willberg - Plastic Kneecap
  Raw Tonk is building a catalog of very fresh and strong free jazz recordings while these four musicians never stop exploring their music. First release on vinyl from the label.
• Paul Flaherty / Chris Corsano ‎– The Hated Music
  Some 18 years after it came out, this release, first time on vinyl from the ever weird Feeding Tube Records, reminds us why this duo is maybe the most important in free jazz for the last two decades.
• Akira Sakata & Chikamorachi featuring Masahiko Satoh - Proton Pump
  Like the legend of King Midas, whenever Akira Sakata is involved, gold comes out.
• Jack Wright, Dylan van der Schyff ‎– ... Two In The Bush
  Jack Wright is a true maverick of free thinking-no borders music. Here in a more conventional drums-sax duo both musicians achieve a balance that makes the cd a must to buy.
• Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt - Brace Up!
  Not exactly the typical jazz (or even free) album but their need for exploring and taking risks is on the spot.
• Marco Colonna, Agustí Fernandez, Zlatko Kaučič - Agrakal
  Maybe it's Fernandez's magic, maybe the interplay between the three is the most crucial factor. Not sure why i really enjoy and cherish this album. Maybe because it is just a masterpiece.
• Dave Rempis, Tomeka Reid, Joshua Abrams ‎– Ithra
  The warmness of their playing goes along with high energy and pathos.

Nick Ostrum

• Assif Tsahar, William Parker, Hamid Drake – In Between the Tumbling a Stillness (Hopscotch Records)
  Spirited, Ayler-inspired free jazz at its best.
• Peter Brötzmann and Heather Leigh – Sparrow Nights (Trost)
  I love Brötz, but this still came as a very welcome surprise.  Wow!
• Chaos Echoes and Mats Gustafsson – Sustain (Utech)
  Wild, cacophonous stuff.
• Salim Washington – Dogon Revisited (Passin’ Thru Records)
  At once looking back to the 1970s and addressing its legacies a half-century later.
• Jürg Frey and Magnus Granberg/Ensemble Grizzana – Early to Late (Another Timbre)
  Two incredible contemporary composers.  Eminently entrancing.
• Satoko Fujii and Joe Fonda – Mizo (Long Song Records)
  I have not kept up with Fujii as much as I should especially during her sexagenarian celebration.  This release, however, gripped me.  It is slow, winding, intimate, and endlessly creative.
• Anthony Braxton-Sextet (Parker) 1993 (New Braxton House)
  This is a lot to digest at once (and I am still digesting a couple of the later discs).  That said, this collection is absolutely superb.
• Gabriela Friedli Trio – Areas (Leo)
  I still cannot put my finger on exactly why this release impressed me as it did, but I keep coming back to it.  Captivating.
• Canadian Composers Series Part II (Another Timbre)
  This series/boxed set of contemporary Canadian composers is absolutely incredible! It includes discs dedicated to the work of Linda Caitlin Smith, Alex Jang, Cassandra Miller, and Lance Austin Olsen. Formal review to follow at the beginning of the new year.

And, a noisy outlier that merits greater attention:

• MoE and Marhaug – Capsaicin (Utech)
  Electronics, guitar, bass, percussion.  Largely improvised (I think), deeply textured, abrasive droning noise.  Pays increasing dividends with each additional listen.

Antonio Poscic

• Peter Brötzmann / Heather Leigh - Sparrow Nights (Trost Records)
• Tyshawn Sorey - Pillars (Firehouse 12)
• Ingrid Laubrock - Contemporary Chaos Practices (Intakt Records)
• Joëlle Léandre / Elisabeth Harnik - Tender Music (Trost Records)
• Nicole Mitchell - Maroon Cloud (Firehouse 12)
• Henry Threadgill 14 or 15 Kestra: Agg - Dirt... And More Dirt (Pi Recordings)
• Rodrigo Amado / Joe McPhee / Kent Kessler / Chris Corsano - A History of Nothing (Trost Records)
• Dave Holland - Uncharted Territories (Dare2 Records)
• Anthony Braxton - Sextet (Parker) 1993 (New Braxton House)
• Biliana Voutchkova / Michael Thieke - Blurred Music (Elsewhere)

Keith Prosk

• Marker - Roadwork 1/Roadwork 2/Homework 1 (Audiographic Records)
  From one of the most exciting composers and improvisers right now, this one expertly showcases his developing modular compositional technique and I can't get enough of it.
• Henry Threadgill 14 or 15 Kestra: Agg - Dirt... And More Dirt (Pi Recordings)
  I typically shy away from larger ensembles because I feel they're overcrowded (and often bogged down by tradition), but this one gains the timbral diversity without losing the space (and is subject to no tradition but Threadgill’s own).
• Anthony Braxton - Sextet (Parker) 1993 (New Braxton House)
  Braxton's upcoming GTM (Syntax) 2017 boxset and impending ZIM recordings are what I'm really excited about and would be a shoe-in for this type of list, but more presently I've consistently returned to this great archival boxset with an ear to how one of my favorite musicians treats and transforms the influence and compositions of Parker.
• Okkyung Lee - Cheol-Kkot-Sae (Tzadik)
  I have a soft spot for both strings and free music that incorporates folk music, so I've really enjoyed this release from one of my favorite cellists around, on which she embraces her ethnic roots and incorporates traditional Korean percussion and singing (not to mention the other stellar improvisers present).
• Barre Phillips/Motoharu Yoshizawa - Oh My, Those Boys! (NoBusiness Records)
  Phillip's melancholy, ominous environments are perfectly complimented by Yoshizawa's electric counterpoint.
• Denman Maroney/Leroy Jenkins/Rich O'Donnell - Unknown Unknowns (self-released)
  Leroy Jenkins' Driftwood's The Art of Improvisation is among my five most-listened-to recordings from the violinist, so it's been a real treat to hear a couple of long sets further documenting the language of the core trio from that recording.
• Peter Jaquemyn - Fundament (El Negocito Records)
  An awe-inspiring inquisition into the effects of the low end on the mind, body, and soul as well as vibrations, not just from the strings on an instrument's neck but in the throat too.
• Biliana Voutchkova/Michael Thieke - Blurred Music (Elsewhere)
  Process-based music that's not just interesting but addictively listenable, playing with time and identity.
• Brandon Lopez - quoniam facta sum vilis (Astral Spirits)
  A powerful, physical solo statement. Conjures up the darker side of emotions - anger, sadness, fear - with diverse and masterful technique.
• Elisabeth Harnik/Joëlle Léandre - Tender Music (Trost Records)
  A contested spot, but I have been too frequently drawn back to the magic of this intimate recording.

Martin Schray

• Christian Lillingers GRUND— COR (Plaist Music)
  Lillinger was my favourite musician last year, and he has released even more exciting stuff this year. Complex, yet intriguing music at the interface of jazz, improv and new classical.
• Kuzu - Hiljaisuus (Astral Spirits)
  Energy, tightness, blind understanding. The way they catapult their improvisations from staccato patterns is breathtaking.
• Kammerflimmer Kollektief - There Are Actions Which We Have Neglected And Which Never Cease To Call Us (Bureau B)
  A band who has created their own planet - free ambient. Their darkest album so far.
• Kaja Draksler/Petter Eldh/Christian Lillinger - Punkt.Vrt.Plastik (Intakt)
  What I said about GRUND goes for this spectacular trio as well. Here Lillinger shows how precisely he can use musical quotes. And Draksler is someone we should always have on the screen.
• Dave Holland, Evan Parker, Craig Taborn, and Ches Smith - Uncharted Territories (Dare2 Records)
  The reunion of Dave Holland and Evan Parker plus two of the best musicians of the next generation. A band that has raised high expectations …. and fulfils them all.
• Spring Heel Jack and Wadada Leo Smith with Pat Thomas and Steve Noble - Hackney Road (Treader)
  The return of one of my favourite projects. John Coxon’s and Ashley Wales’ drum’n’bass past shines through and collides with Smith’s lyrical trumpet and Thomas’s clusters.
• Cecil Taylor – Poschiavo (Jazzwerkstatt)
  The saddest news in 2018 was the one about Taylor’s death. This recording reminds us what we have lost. There will never be one like him again.
• David S. Ware Trio - The Balance (Vision Festival XV +)  (AUM Fidelity, 2018)
  Ware’s Onecept trio plays a set moves you to tears, his death is still a horrible loss for the free jazz community.
• Rodrigo Amado/ Joe McPhee/ Kent Kessler/ Chris Corsano - A History of Nothing (Trost)
  Traditional free jazz, existential, soulful, spiritual, straight to the point, played by an all-star band.
• The End - Svårmod Och Vemod Är Värdesinnen (Rare Noise)
  Sofia Jernberg vs. a free rock monster. She’s trying not to get crushed …. and actually makes it.

Sammy Stein

• Thibault Gomez - La Grande Reveuse ( Parallel Records)
• Peter Brotzmann/Heather Leigh - Sparrows Nights
• Paul Jolly and Mike Adcock -  Risky Furnitue (33xtreme records)
• Han Bennink, Steve Noble, Alexander Hawkins - 11-8-17 (Otoruko)
• Ivo Perelman - The Art of Perelman-Shipp (Leo)
• Fire! - The Hands (Otoroku)
• John Edwards, Mark Sanders, John Wall - FGBH (Entr'Acte)
• Sam Leak and Paula Rae Gibson - Permission (33xtreme)
• Lars Fill - Frit Falt 11 (Fiil Records)
• Binker and Moses - Alive in The East (Gearbox)