Tim Mah's Top Jazz Picks of 2017

My good friend Tim Mah has once again painstakingly and very generously put together his yearly list featuring his favourite Jazz recordings of 2017. Lots of great music here to take note of.

Tim hosts the Jazz radio program "Jazz Today" on CJSW 90.9 FM (Calgary) and it airs every Thursday morning from 5:30 - 7:00am MST. Archives and track lists are available here: https://cjsw.com/program/jazz-today/

This program is also available as a live stream on CJSW.com and the program is available as an iTunes podcast.

So without any further ado...

"Tim Mah's Top Jazz Picks of 2017"

Below is a list of 50 of my favourite jazz albums for 2017 (released from December 2016 to November 2017) and in no particular order:

1. Kurt Rosenwinkel “Caipi”



2. Cecile McLorin Salvant “Dreams and Daggers”



3. Jazzmeia Horn “A Social Call”



4. Linda May Han Oh “Walk Against Wind”



5. Chris Potter, David Virelles, Joe Martin, Marcus Gilmore “The Dreamer is the Dream”



6. Bill Charlap Trio “Uptown, Downtown”



7. Billy Childs “Rebirth”



8. Aaron Parks, Ben Street and Billy Hart “Find the Way”

9. Nate Smith “KINFOLK: Postcards from Everywhere”



10. Vijay Iyer Sextet “Far From Over”



11. Craig Taborn “Daylight Ghosts”



12. Kamasi Washington “Harmony of Difference”

13. Thundercat “Drunk”

14. Alan Broadbent “Developing Story” (with the London Metropolitan Orchestra)



15. Alan Ferber Big Band “Jigsaw”

https://soundcloud.com/sunnysiderecords/alan-ferber-big-band-jigsaw

16. Blue Note All-Stars “Our Point of View”



17. Terrace Martin Presents The Pollyseeds “Sounds of Crenshaw, Vol. 1”



18. Christian McBride Big Band “Bringin” It”



19. Ambrose Akinmusure “A Rift in Decorum: Live”



20. Nicholas Payton “Afro-Caribbean Mix-Tape"



21. Ron Miles “I Am A Man”

https://vimeo.com/207517821

22. Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band “Body and Shadow”

23. Miguel Zenon “Tipico”



24. Christian Scott and Tunde Adjuah “Ruler Rebel”, “Diaspora” and “The Emancipation Procrastination”

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/05/christian-scott-quintet-full-session.html



25. Antonio Sanchez “Bad Hombre”



26. Binker & Moses “Journey to the Mountain of Forever”

27. Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet “Jersey”

28. Mammal Hands “Shadow Work”



29. Christian Sands “Reach”



30. Keyon Harrold “The Mugician”



31. Becca Stevens “Regina”



32. Fred Hersch “Open Book”



33. George Colligan “More Powerful” (featuring Linda May Han Oh, Rudy Royston, Nicole Glover)



34. Matt Wilson “Honey and Salt”



35. Yotam Silberstein “The Village”



36. John Beasley “Monk’estra Vol 2”



37. Natasha Agrama “The Heart of Infinite Change”

38. Sarah Elizabeth Charles “Free of Form”



39. Portico Quartet “Art in the Age of Automation”

40. Ben Allison “Layers in the City”

41. Walt Weiskopf “Fountain of Youth”

https://soundcloud.com/posi-tone-records/walt-weiskopf-backstage-blues

42. Miles Okazaki “Trickster”



43. Kneebody “Anti-Hero”



44. Tigran Hamaysan “An Ancient Observer”;



45. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra “The Music of John Lewis (feat. Jon Batiste & Wynton Marsalis”

46. SFJAZZ Collective “Music of Miles Davis & Original Compositions Live: SFJazz Center 2016



47. Somi “Petite Afrique”

48. Ulysses Owens Jr. “Falling Forward”



49. Simon Premazzi “Outspoken”

50. Riverside “The New National Anthem"

*Honourable Mentions*

Joe Sanders “Humanity”

David Virelles “Gnosis”

Mostly Other People Do the Killing “Paint”

Phronesis, Julian Arguelles & Frankfurt Radio Big Band “The Behemoth”

Jane Ira Bloom “Wild Lines: Improvising on Emily Dickinson”

Willie Jones III “My Point Is…”

Bob Reynolds “Hindsight”

Josh Nelson “The Sky Remains”

Chris Speed Trio “Platinum on Tap"

Maurice Brown “The Mood”

Harold Mabern “To Love and Be Loved”

Lucas Pino “The Answer is No”

Roxy Coss “Chasing the Unicorn”

MAE.SUN “Vol. 1: Inter-be”

Joey Alexander “Joey.Monk.Live!”

Avishai Cohen “Cross My Palm With Silver”

Katie Thiroux “Off Beat”

Johnny O’Neal “In the Moment”

Edward Simon, Scott Colley & Brian Blade “Steel House”

Jeremy Pelt “Make Noise!”

Dayme Arocena “Cubafonia”

Champian Fulton “Speechless”

Champian Fulton & Scott Hamilton “The Things We Did Last Summer”

Steve Coleman’s Natal Eclipse “Morphogenesis”;

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis “Find the Common, Shine a Light”

Sean Jones “Live from Jazz at the Bistro”

Mark de Clive-Lowe “Live at the Blue Whale”

Rodney Green Quartet “Live at Montmarte (feat. Warren Wolf)”

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra “Handful of Keys”

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra “All Jazz is Modern”

Hear in Now “Not Living in Fear”

Zara McFarlane “Arise”

Braxton Cook “Somewhere in Between”

Hermeto Pascoal & Big Band “Natureza Universal”

Arturo O’Farrill and Chucho Valdes “Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico”

Fabian Almazan & Rhizome “Alcanza”

Butcher Brown “Live at Vagabond”

Matt Mitchell “A Pouting Grimace”

Gerald Clayton "Tributary Tales"

Emmet Cohen "Masters Legacy Series, Volume One: Jimmy Cobb"