Source: The 2020 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll.I am pleased to say that I was able to participate in this year’s poll (along with 147 of my closest friends). Recorded music has been more important than ever during the pandemic, with most jazz clubs closed and only a few streaming performances. As a result, we have numerous bands being led by talented artists who happen to be women. But while few albums were recorded during the pandemic so far (none on this list), a nonstop run of impressive jazz releases have been arriving throughout it. Spotify. Given how this year has gone, perhaps you're ready to fast-forward to 2021 (we're almost there!). Réécoutez les programmes de la radio en replay. Year in Music 2020: The Year in Jazz, Blues, R&B and Soul Artists and organizers across an array of scenes rolled with the many punches of 2020 Ron Wynn Dec 17, 2020 … But his musical messages are in especially good hands with his own ensemble, now directed by the 96-year-old saxophonist Marshall Allen. Charles Lloyd, “8: Kindred Spirits” (Blue Note) This saxophonist, well into his ninth decade, … You can find my individual ballot here if you scroll down a bit.. Below are the results of NPR Music’s 8th Annual Jazz Critics Poll (my 15th, going back to the poll’s beginnings in the Village Voice). Produced by Jason Moran, “Omega” features Mr. Wilkins’s working quartet of Micah Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass and Kweku Sumbry on drums, gliding and diving with a telepathic synergy through tunes that he composed with the nation’s racial ills in mind, and that thrive thanks to a buoyant, up-to-date sense of swing. Women In Jazz 2020 – What They Want You to Know. There’s little terrain that this big band is afraid to step into. On his debut, the 23-year-old alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins announces himself with a suite of 10 compositions that move with such grace, there’s no time to feel overwhelmed by the surfeit of ideas packed into each one. To enjoy Prime Music, go to Your Music Library and transfer your account to Amazon.com (US). Nicole Fara Silver for The New York Times. This year was uncommonly full of good debuts, providing some relief amid the eerie silence and a bit of hope for when it finally breaks. Shabaka and the Ancestors - We Are Sent Here By History. Updated Jan. 5, 2021. 83 13 reviews. New Music for Jazz Ensemble 2020. The 10 best contemporary music albums of 2020. Meanwhile, in America, the pull of jazz music was too strong to stop women from developing their personal taste for playing jazz. In a year unlike any other, music played a bigger role than ever to help confront, process, or simply drown out the tumult of our times. She revels in the acoustic, bluesy sounds of jazz, while pulling from the toolbox of hip-hop production, suturing together her own live instrumentals with endless overdubs of her voice. Shabaka and the Ancestors - We Are Sent Here By History. Go to the Jazz Ensemble YouTube Channel. The simple, pre-pandemic video that preceded the January 2020 release of Jeff Parker's Suite for Max Brown perfectly framed the album: people alone and at home, dancing to an edit of the 10-minute title track. … Smooth Jazz 2020. 90 iTunes. This solo piano album was recorded in late 2016, just months before what would be his possible final performance; from the title on down, the overtones of his most famous album, “The Köln Concert” (1975), are obvious, though he has moved away from the lengthy, unbroken improvisations of that era and plays here with a more untroubled sense of clarity — especially on the two songs that close the LP. On his Blue Note Records debut, the South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini and his band are doing serious work, drawing on his history in the Zulu tradition of ubungoma, or divine healing. As CapRadio’s jazz hosts review new releases, they find some that just have that magic about them. January 14, 2021 • 2020 was an annus horribilis if there ever was one, writes Francis Davis, the founder of NPR Music's Jazz Critics poll, and much of the year's best jazz … March 13, 2020. We are Jazz Fanatics! Brought up in earthquake-prone Armenia on a diet of prog rock, electronic era Miles Davis and local folk music, Hamasyan is a jazz … Fun stuff indeed. The music and ideas of Sun Ra have become talismanic among younger generations in the years since he died: Look to several albums on this list, like Ms. Muldrow’s, Mr. Mazurek’s and Mr. Gamedze’s. the 2021 GRAMMYs.Airing Sunday, March 14, 2021, on CBS, the 63rd GRAMMY Awards recognize excellence in music released in late 2019 and 2020. Ahead of the 2020 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll, the largest annual jazz critics poll, Lara Pellegrinelli and a team of independent reporters revisit – and question – claims of women's progress. The Virtual Festival will be streamed online each day from 5-7 pm Pacific Time on the Monterey […] Led by Anna Webber and Angela Morris, two rising saxophonist-composers on the Brooklyn scene, the 19-piece ensemble has been performing their compositions for five years but just released its debut. Clockwise from center: Nicole Fara Silver for The New York Times; Nina Westervelt for The New York Times; Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images; Elijah Ndoumbe. This was a difficult decision, but the safety of our patrons, artists, crews, and staff is our top priority. Quarantine is especially challenging when it comes to making jazz, which usually means getting together in a little room and cutting loose. “Pedernal” features Ms. Alcorn accompanied by Mark Feldman’s violin, Mary Halvorson’s guitar, Michael Formanek’s bass and Ryan Sawyer’s drums; across five original compositions, melody is liable to be traded between the stringed instruments, or to disappear completely into texture. The pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn’s album includes five original compositions. This is a joyously introspective record, with stylistic jumps that feel like afternoon epiphanies. The slippery, protean flow of Charles Lloyd’s saxophone playing seeps into the rest of his band on this live album, recorded live in Santa Barbara, Calif., on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Here are 10 artists to watch in 2020 who have that something special. Share with people learning about Jazz. The Covid-19 pandemic halted live performance, the lifeblood of the genre, but a run of powerful albums — and standout debuts — provided respite, and hope. You can hear him mining the soil for information, creating melodies with a centripetal pull, building rhythms that leave a listener no option but to pick up on the momentum. His debut album, “Omega,” is a 2020 standout. The simple, pre-pandemic video that preceded the January 2020 release of Jeff Parker's Suite for Max Brown perfectly framed the album: people alone and at home, dancing to an edit of the 10-minute title track. Webber/Morris Big Band, ‘Both Are True’ There’s little terrain that this big band is afraid to … Clockwise from top left: Asher Gamedze, Eric Harland and Charles Lloyd, Immanuel Wilkins and Jyoti. He revealed this year that he may never perform in public again. Saxophone At Your Service* - 58:43Angel Biscuit* - 63:10Where Is The Love? Smooth Jazz 2020 • Bring in the New Year with Dr. SaxLove. Almost one entire tune consists of a testy, nipping conversation between Dustin Carlson’s distorted electric guitar and the rest of the band, punching back at him in big brassy chords. Beyond it no longer being 2020, next year has some other big things going for it, including Music's Biggest Night, a.k.a. SUBSCRIBE for updates. Click here to view 2020 New Releases for … His music is optimized for relaxation, studying, dinner music, sensual moments, and any time chill out saxophone music is desired.Reuse of audio/video not permitted. … Immanuel Wilkins onstage in January. The drummer Asher Gamedze released a strong debut, “Dialectic Soul.”. Rising jazz artists: who to look out for in 2020 Thursday, November 28, 2019 It’s that time again when we ask our crack team of writers, assorted taste-makers and trend-spotters to gaze into their crystal balls and divine the names set to shine in the year ahead (Zela Margossian, photo: Armen Aghayan) Jazz shibboleths all come in for a questioning here. By referring to the music she makes under the name Jyoti as jazz, the vocalist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Georgia Anne Muldrow is opening back up the conversation about what it means to be an improvising musician in the Black American tradition. 84: 84. March 13, 2020. February 21, 2020 4.4 out of 5 stars 12 ratings. Text SUPPORtJAZZ TO 44321 to Donate! The music world was stricken this fall by the news that Keith Jarrett had suffered a pair of strokes, and is unlikely to play the piano in public again. Unique and memorable jazz moments will be across the three days, September 25-27, 2020. Enjoy, and have a great year!► Subscribe to Dr. SaxLove: http://bit.ly/2s0tLE4► Reach out to Dr. SaxLove: https://drsaxlove.com/contact► Get the backing tracks: https://backingtracks.pro Smooth Jazz 2020 Playlist All Night Long - 00:00Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - 04:59After The Dance - 08:41I’ll Follow The Sun - 14:51Come Together - 18:55Let’s Stay Together - 23:12What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) - 27:33Purple Rain - 33:09Thank You (Falletinme By Mice Elf Agin) - 38:25Use Me - 43:54Planet Groove* - 48:53Savannah* - 53:40Dr. Half of the top 10 spots in 2019's NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll went to women. We survey the best albums from the experimental edges of classical, jazz and more, from ambient sludge to blissful electronica. Keith Jarrett’s solo piano album was recorded in late 2016. Anna Webber, left, and Angela Morris lead a 19-piece ensemble. The Arkestra was a vessel built primarily for survival — Ra insisted that space would be a more hospitable home for Black people than Earth, if only the music could get him there — and more than 25 years after his death it continues to thrive. On “Swirling,” the first Arkestra album of newly recorded material in two decades, the band’s loose, sweeping power reanimates classic material from his repertoire, plus a couple of never-before-recorded items. Browse through new selections below! Various artists. Jazz music produces mould-breakers by its very nature, but the seismic sound of pianist Tigran Hamasyan is something else. Passages of long, open harmony are common; sometimes those become lengthy stretches of collective improvisation, musicians conversing at a low simmer, resisting the typical urge to raise the temperature or set a course. 2020 Jazz album releases. - YouTube This is a joyously introspective record, with stylistic jumps that feel like afternoon epiphanies. Another debut that augurs more brilliance ahead. And with 2020 finding many of us with more spare time than ever, the prospect of new and exciting music to hear — and having the time to savor it — made it seem like a very good year for jazz. It’s fitting that when she finally put together a combo of her own, it didn’t look like anyone else’s. ©️2021 by SaxLove Productions, Inc#smoothjazz#smoothjazzinstrumental#jazzmusic#softjazz#jazzsaxophone#jazzinstrumental A mix of longtime associates and new collaborators, the all-star group reworks four highlights from his back catalog, treating them as open questions, letting moments of intensity bubble up organically in unexpected places. For the latest recording from this loosely configured group of Chicago avant-garde all-stars, the cornetist Rob Mazurek wrote detailed music with a focus on pairs (two cellos, two flutes, two drums), then let the energy of joyful convocation take over. Best music of 2020 Jazz. - 66:45Spooky - 71:47Open Your Heart* - 77:58Always* - 83:26The Road Less Traveled* - 89:55Road (Reprise)* - 95:37Fallin’ - 97:03Blackberries* - 101:13Groovin’ (On A Sunday Afternoon) - 105:41Funkingruvin’* - 110:00Spangled Banner - 115:46*composed by Dr. SaxLove..................................Dr. SaxLove specializes in smooth jazz, jazz music, smooth jazz instrumental, soft jazz, Motown jazz, jazz blues, jazz saxophone, and saxophone jazz. From this young, Cape Town-based drummer and bold political thinker, an album that seems to have almost everything you could ask for — lovely songcraft; farseeing poetry, spoken and sometimes sung; patient, evocative improvising; generations of history coursing through it like a bloodstream — but leaves enough open space to suggest he is not overplaying his hand. SHARE THIS PLAYLIST with other Classic Jazz Fanatics! Find the best music on Album of the Year. Marshall Allen, left, and Knoel Scott of the Sun Ra Arkestra. Jazz : retrouvez toute l'actualité, les dossiers et les émissions sur France Musique. A well-regarded member of the improvising avant-garde, the pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn makes iconoclastic, ambientish music on an instrument that’s usually not heard on the stylistic fringe. Cory Wong Elevator Music for an Elevated Mood (2020) Jazz-Funk, Smooth Jazz, Jazz Pop Favorite tracks: “Winslow” 1.5: Jazz-Funk, Smooth Jazz, Jazz Pop Your Amazon Music account is currently associated with a different marketplace. Smooth Jazz 2020 • Happy New Year from Dr. SaxLove! Jazz clubs shut their doors and live performance, the driving force of the genre, came to a grinding halt. The group, now under the direction of the 96-year-old saxophonist Mr. Allen, released its first album of recorded material in nearly two decades. Bay Area jazz awards 2020: These musicians made great music in a bad year Kenny Washington, John Santos, Bobi Cespedes, more delivered gems in 2020 Share this: After the recording was made, he cut and spliced and added electronic sounds, ending up with an intoxicating android of an album. In a moment when spiritual jazz has become a dangerously buzzy concept, trust a musician who has truly devoted his life to divination practices. After much reflection regarding the still-evolving outlook on COVID-19 and the uncertainty it brings to the live entertainment industry, we must announce the cancellation of the 2020 Richmond Jazz and Music Festival. A list of all music releases for 2020. This incredible lineup features exclusive new and previously unreleased archival performances from the Monterey Jazz Festival! Listen Now Buy MP3 Album $9.49. Perfume Genius and Dua Lipa had us dancing in our homes, Thundercat and Angelica Garcia dug deep to reach new heights, and long-running acts like the Strokes, AC/DC, and Stephen Malkmus reminded us that rock isn't dead. The result sounds like a message arriving from a past we haven’t met yet. Now is a great time to preview new jazz ensemble arrangements from Hal Leonard for 2020! 2020 was a tough year for a lot of jazz artists.