Adrianna TanStarting a #music thread to share the music I've loved this year. Whether or not it was actually released this year.
I'm making a conscious choice to move away from 'best of' anything lists, but towards 'stuff I love'. Here goes:
Kahlil El'Zabar, legendary Chicago jazz musician, had a great album called "A Time for Healing" that connects jazz with its African roots. The best way to describe it is 'healing'. This is clear on the track 'Urban Shaman'.
Its cover of 'Summertime' is also special.
I bought an album on Bandcamp: https://kahilelzabar-is.bandcamp.com/album/a-time-for-healing
A Time For Healing, by Kahil El'Zabar Quartet
9 track album
I don't usually listen to Americana or folk at all, but Allison Russell's music defies genres.
Her album "Outside Child" is transformational. Part memoir, part journey, this is the first album that I've heard that is almost entirely about SA. Yet it defies all expectations.
Watch her on Tiny Desk: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/14/1121277047/allison-russell-tiny-desk-concert
Ahmad Jamal's lost Paris recordings were recently issued by the French publisher: I bought a vinyl, it's so precious!
Stream it here also:
Live in Paris (1971), by Ahmad Jamal
3 track album
Here's a collaboration I never expected: Khruangbin made an album with Vieux Farka Touré.
Ali, by Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin
8 track album
If you've liked Mongolian music like The Hu, check out Mongolian metal.
MIIIST's album on Bandcamp is pay what you want. (Caution: loud and amazing)
Let it ever be remembered…, by MIIIST
4 track album
As a clarinet player myself, Anat Cohen has been such an inspiration. She's been called the greatest living clarinet jazz player, for good reason! I had an opportunity to see her live at SFJazz this year. Took my breath away.
This year, she released Quartetinho. Listen to it here:
Cuban big band Orquesta Akokán's 2021 album '16 Rayos' has been playing on repeat all of 2022 and will probably continue well through the next year.
Fearless and intimate are the best words for this album.
16 Rayos, by Orquesta Akokán
9 track album
The guitarist Jun Xiao is the first Chinese musician to have an album on Blue Note. There's a bit of emo, trip hop, rock... I love it.
There was a big band x Chinese folk x jazz scene in China in the 20s, you can still see snippets of it in Shanghai. But the contemporary stuff, I want to learn more about. Jun Xiao is a sterling place to start.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/atypical-airship/1644243906
South African jazz has such a storied history.
Nduduzo Makhathini's "In The Spirit of Ntu" explores indigeneity, ancestry, spirituality, with urgency and beauty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y62yYslF3n8&list=PLXeeNKNC4Ws9hL5n6GLm0yh1OuM6k2Es1
Nduduzo Makhathini - Unonkanyamba (Visualizer)
Queen G is a Kuwaiti hip hop star. Many people compare her to the other female rapper who is now an anti-vaxxer, but Queen G is better.
Sadly, there's only been a bunch of singles. Happily, it's magical. The video is cool too.
كوين جي - عبقر || QUEEN G - Genius
Tom Skinner's "Voices of Bishara" EP is a winner if you're a fan of his other work on Sons of Kemet. Also moving, a little dissonant, but always beautfiul
billy woods' Aethiopes: one of the best hiphop albums this year, for sure. Poetic, brave and meaningful, like great hiphop is.
Aethiopes, by billy woods
13 track album
Kibrom Behane's Ethiopian-Californian Coltrane-ish jazz is a balm for my soul
https://kibrombirhaneflyingcarpetrecords.bandcamp.com/album/here-and-there
Here And There, by Kibrom Birhane
11 track album
I’m a sucker for Cat Power. Her “Covers” is exactly what you’d imagine a Cat Powers cover album will be. She definitely has a distinct sound.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMzepslwWUzo7llO2l82HqPwHpiKUm_kp
Quelle Chris's Deathframe is one of my favorite #hiphop albums of the year.
DEATHFAME, by Quelle Chris
14 track album
My wife grew up in France and she listens to a lot of French music. Sometimes I like some of it.
Belgian-Rwandan musician Stromae has a great track out this year (and also a wonderful recent Tiny Desk concert, after many years of not performing due to anxiety). What a comeback!
Stromae - L’enfer (Official Video)
Stromae - L’enfer (Official Music Video)Listen to "La solassitude" here: https://stromae.lnk.to/la-solassitudeOrder my new album "Multitude" here: https://st...
Michael Thériault@skinnylatte Discovered Stromae in the last year, and, given what was going on with me, quand c’est? ripped me up, then Invaincu was my motto after nuking therapy and a busted neck, and Santé is just good stuff for a former union organizer.
https://youtu.be/8aJw4chksqM
https://youtu.be/rw0XBin_r9s
https://youtu.be/P3QS83ubhHE
https://youtu.be/8aJw4chksqM
https://youtu.be/rw0XBin_r9s
https://youtu.be/P3QS83ubhHE
Stromae - quand c'est ? (Official Video)
sophia@skinnylatte
my beloved 🥰
my beloved 🥰
John Mark 
☑️@skinnylatte cat power! I discovered her on emusic.com, back when that was a thing
Mr. Completely@skinnylatte okay so I just begged for no more bandcamp lists for my poor wallet's sake but this list absolutely crushes. Fantastic!
This album is glorious, glossy, mesmerizing. Love it
@mrcompletely This was posted last year before the Bandcamp shenanigans! Hopefully I can make a new list soon. Enjoy!
@skinnylatte if you haven't heard it, I think his newer one Maps with Kenny Segal is great too, especially the jazz-heavy tracks which have a splintered, surreal sound to them. And he's on Shabaka Hutchings' Kofi Flexx project, and apparently Shabaka will be on his next album under a pseudonym, that's a cool pairing (Shabaka is also on that Tom Skinner album you posted of course)
@mrcompletely Thank you! Will check it out
John@skinnylatte my first thought was "oh shit is Shadia Mansour an anti-vaxxer?!" but now I realize you mean *that* other female rapper.
Very cool video.
@skinnylatte wow killer example of what @nnedi has named Africanfuturism
David Chase (dr2chase)@skinnylatte here's one, not jazz, but interesting: https://youtu.be/v7wkxwb_Iqo
First heard Fred O's work by a local chorus, "who is that guy?", and now looking for more things played by Rebecca Omordia.
First heard Fred O's work by a local chorus, "who is that guy?", and now looking for more things played by Rebecca Omordia.
Fred Onovwerosuoke - Studies in African Rhythms: #24 Raging River, Rebeca Omordia piano
Charles Hartman@skinnylatte Thank you for the recommendation! I like it! 🎧
Alon@skinnylatte Am listening on YouTube - In the Quest for the High Tower is really cool, thanks.
But wait - are they from Mongolia or China? YT says it's from China and I am confused.
@Alon Inner Mongolia is part of China, Mongolia is a country, but they are both culturally Mongolian
@skinnylatte Oh! Okay, that makes sense, thanks :).
Mike Cohen@skinnylatte I need to check that out. I love the HU
irwin@skinnylatte WHAT
Thank you for posting this!! ❤️
@skinnylatte I really love that one.
Green Hombre@skinnylatte
Cool stuff. Just downloaded.
Cool stuff. Just downloaded.
KateG@skinnylatte Thanks so much for putting that up. I really enjoyed the Tiny Desk with Allison Russell. Never would have seen it otherwise.
Jesse Atkinson@skinnylatte my friend Megan is the drummer in this tiny desk concert!
@jsatk that’s amazing! They are so good!
webonaire has moved!@skinnylatte His America the Beautiful is great, too!
33rpmPVC.de
Luke@skinnylatte I'm working through this one slowly, so far so good 😃