Read about picks 40 through 31 and 30 through 21.
18) John Luther Adams, The Wind in High Places (Cold Blue)
Another remarkable evocation of natural beauty from composer John Luther Adams, The Wind in High Places takes inspiration from the principles of the Aeolian harp (in a piece performed by New York’s fantastic JACK Quartet), the song of the canyon wren, and the way atmospheric conditions can create the suggestion of a multitude of suns or moons in the arctic and the Sonoran Desert. You don’t necessarily need to know this sort of backstory to be enriched by this meticulously articulated music, but it helps.
13) Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth, Epicenter (Clean Feed)
The second album by Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth celebrates the bassist’s adopted hometown of New York: the title Epicenter refers to the city’s position in the world of jazz, and his compositions reflect its melting-pot ethos. Saxophonists Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek, inventive drummer Gerald Cleaver, and brilliant keyboardist Craig Taborn (playing a lot of Wurlitzer here) join Lightcap to dig deep into a collision of African grooves, postbop modes, classic minimalism, and blues, all of it given a thoroughly contemporary drive. And as though the album weren’t New York enough, it closes with a terrific cover of the Velvet Underground’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties.”
