Monday, December 28, 2009

Rounding up the "Best Jazz of 2009" lists

Once again, it's that time of year when jazz journalists, DJs, critics and bloggers publish their annual "Best Of" lists, and once again this year, St. Louis Jazz Notes is offering a meta-list with links to all of the "Best Jazz of 2009" lists we can locate.

This year's list o' lists is alphabetized by writers' names. In those cases when a list was collaborative or presented as a staff-written project, the name of the publication or media outlet is used instead. Here's what we've found so far:

* AccuJazz AccuBlog - The Best of 2009, According to People Older and Smarter than I
* David Adler, Lerterland - Jazz impressions 2009, Top shows 2009,
* AllMusic.com - Favorite Jazz Albums of 2009
* Clifford Allen, Ni Kantu - Best of 2009!!!
* Avant Music News - Best of 2009
* Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast - Festive 50
* C. Michael Bailey, AllAboutJazz.com - Top 10 Best Releases of 2009
* Chris Barton, Los Angeles Times - Vijay Iyer, Allen Toussaint, Joe Lovano and the rest of 2009's most notable jazz releases
* Josh Bayer, Michigan Daily - Jazzed about year-end lists
* Larry Blumenfeld, Wall Street Journal - Toasting 2009's Best CDs
* Chip Boaz, Latin Jazz Corner - Best of 2009 Awards
* Philip Booth's Scribe Life - The Best Jazz Discs of 2009
* Bob Brainen, WFMU - Faves of 2009
* Nate Chinen, New York Times - Free Jazz, Futurism, Funk and Ferocity
* Dean Christesen, RVA News - Favorite albums of 2009
* Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com - Best of 2009
* J.D. Considine, Toronto Globe and Mail - Analysis: The Year In Jazz
* Jason Crane, The Jazz Session - My Top 10 Jazz Cds of 2009
* Curt Davenport, Curt's Jazz Cafe - Best Jazz Albums of 2009, Part 1 and Part 2
* Destination: Out’s Fave Jazz Jamz of 2009
* eMusic - Best Albums of 2009 (includes some jazz releases)
* Doug Fischer, Ottawa Citizen - Top 10 jazz shows of 2009
* Ken Franckling, AllAboutJazz.com - 2009: The Year in Jazz
* Free Jazz blog - Top 10 - 2009
* Jack Garner, Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle - Top CDs of 2009
* Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix - 2009: The year in jazz
* Ted Gioia, Jazz.com - The Best CDs of 2009
* Andrew Gilbert, Seattle Times - Top Jazz CDs of 2009 and, in slightly different form, for KQED
* John Gilbreath, KBCS - Best of 2009
* Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe - Top jazz albums for 2009
* J Hunter, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Jazz Discs of 2009
* Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen - My Favourite Discs of 2009
* Ashante Infantry, Toronto Star - The year in jazz, R&B and hip hop
* Josh Jackson, The Checkout, WBGO - The Year of Living Improvisationally
* Patrick Jarenwattananon, A Blog Supreme (NPR) - The year-end list of lists 2009
* Jazz Journalists Association - Top 10 of 2009 lists from JJA members
* Jazz on 3, BBC 3 - Best Albums of 2009
* JazzTimes - Top 50 new jazz releases of 2009 from their critics poll, plus the individual ballots.
* Kalamazoo Gazette - The 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2009
* Fred Kaplan, Slate.com & Stereophile - Best Jazz of 2009
* John Kelman, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Releases of 2009
* Chris Kelsey - Begrudgingly Submitted for Your Approval: My Top Ten List
* Devin Leonard, New York Observer - The 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2009
* Love, Gloom, Cash, Love - Top 10 of 2009
* Shaunna Morrison Machosky, WDUQ - The Year In Jazz
* Jim Macnie, Lament For A Straight Line - 10 Best Jazz CDs of 2009
* Howard Mandel - Best "Beyond Jazz" Recordings of 2009
* Scott McDowell, WFMU - Top 10 Musical Delights of 2009
* Dan McClenaghan, AllAboutJazz.com - Top Ten for 2009
* Owen McNally, Hartford Courant - Best of 2009: Jazz
* Gabe Meline, North Bay Bohemian - Top 20 Jazz Discoveries of 2009
* Matt Merewitz, The Jazz Clinic - My Top 10 of 2009 + Honorable Mentions
* Bill Milkowski - Top 100 for 2009
* Ralph A. Miriello, Notes on Jazz - My Picks for Best Jazz CDs for 2009
* Tim Niland, Music and More - Best of 2009, Part 1 - New Releases; Part 2 - Historical Releases; Part 3- New Releases Honorable Mentions
* Brian Patneaude, Nippertown - Top 10 Albums of 2009
* Popmatters' Best Jazz of 2009
* Michael J. Ramsey, Washington City Paper - The Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2009
* Ben Ratliff, New York Times - Notable Dispatches From the Edge of Jazz and Beyond
* Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune - Top 10 innovative jazz releases of 2009 and Best jazz box sets of 2009
* Brett Saunders, Denver Post - Elders rule year's big-band limelight
* Richard Scheinin, San Jose Mercury News - For the jazz lover, 2009's best CDs
* Gene Seymour, Seymour & Nahikian - Top 10 Jazz Discs of 2009
* Spinner.com - Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2009
* Karl Stark, Philadelphia Inquirer - Best in Jazz
* Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press - Top 10 new jazz recordings for 2009
* NPR's Take Five - Top 10 jazz records of 2009
* Derek Taylor, Dusted - Best jazz, blues and country of 2009
* Jacob Teichroew, About.com - Best Jazz Albums of 2009
* Jim Tuerk, Greenleaf Music - The Year In Music
* Village Voice Jazz Critics' Poll - introduction by Francis Davis, poll results, individual ballots, and an alternate top 10 from Tom Hull.
* Brett Watanabe, KBCS - Top 10 of 2009

Also, while it's not a list per se, the year-end email dialog among critics Nate Chinen, Andrey Henkin, Peter Margasak, Ben Ratliff and Hank Shteamer published over the past week on Chinen's blog The Gig is worth a look:
Part 1: A Gate-Crashing Year
Part 2: Supergroup Outbreak, But No Generation Gap
Part 3: Midwest Represent: Scrambling Purity, Fiercely Independent
Part 4: Hitting the Road
Part 5: Let's Hear It For New York
Part 6: The Oughts, Meet the Dustbin
Part 7: Someone's Tradition, Anyway
Part 8: Final Round: Can You Dig It?

There still are a couple of annual lists that are anticipated but yet to be published, notably the Village Voice's jazz poll, and those will be added to the 2009 meta-list as they appear. And if you've seen any other 2009 year-end jazz lists that aren't mentioned here, please use the comments (or send me an email) to share the information and I'll update this post as needed. Finally, please feel free to use the comments to share and discuss thoughts about your own favorite jazz releases, shows and moments of 2009.

(Edited 12/28/09 to correct a last name and add a couple more lists. Edited again 12/29/09 to add the Village Voice poll link. Edited again 12/30/09 to add seven more lists. Edited again 1/2/10 to add five more lists. Edited again on 1/6/10 to add six more lists.)

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