I love sifting through mid-year music lists. The surveys provide a chance to catch up on overlooked music. Rather than create a genre-agnostic list or compiling my usual best-of Kansas City tabulation, I’ve elected to do my part to address the scarcity of mid-year jazz lists. I graded 70 of the more than 200 new jazz and jazz-leaning albums I’ve heard in 2023 as very good or better. A ranking of my 25 favorite titles follows.
1. Jason Moran- From the Dancehall to the Battlefield
2. Aja Monet- When the Poems Do What They Do
3. Tilo Weber- Tesserae
4. Orrin Evans- The Red Door
5. Joe Lovano, Marilyn Crispell and Carmen Castaldi- Our Daily Bread
6. Christian McBride’s New Jawn- Prime
7. Henry Threadgill- The Other One
8. Ingrid Laubrock- The Last Quiet Place
9. Cécile McLorin Salvant- Mélusine
10. The Art Ensemble of Chicago- The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris
11. Laura Schuler Quartet- Sueños Paralelos
12. Rudy Royston’s Flatbed Buggy- Day
13. London Brew- London Brew
14. The Necks- Travel
15. James Brandon Lewis- Eye of I
16. Mike Dillon and Punkadelick- Inflorescence
17. Brandee Younger- Brand New Life
18. Mette Henriette- Drifting
19. Alexander Hawkins- Carnival Celestial
20. Enzo Carniel, Hermon Mehari, Stéphane Adsuar and Damien Varaillon- No(w) Beauty
21. Fred Hersch and Esperanza Spalding- Alive at the Village Vanguard
22. Wadada Leo Smith- Fire Illuminations
23. Adam Larson- With Love, From New York City
24. Jeremy Pelt- The Art of Intimacy Vol. 2: His Muse
25. Sebastian Rochford- A Short Diary