Rounding up the "Best Jazz of 2014" lists

It's that time of year again, as jazz journalists, DJs, critics, and bloggers are publishing their annual "Best Of" lists. And once again, for the eighth consecutive year, St. Louis Jazz Notes eschews the compilation of such a list, instead offering a meta-list with links to all of the other "Best Jazz of 2014" lists we can locate.

As in the past, the meta-list is alphabetized by writers' names. When a list was collaborative or presented as a staff-written project, the name of the publication or media outlet is used instead, with the writers' names noted if available. This post will be updated multiple times over the next several weeks as more lists become available. Here's what's out there so far:

* 100 Greatest Jazz Albums - The Top 20 best jazz albums of the past year
* A Closer Listen - Top Ten Modern Composition; Top Ten Field Recording & Soundscape; Top Ten Experimental; Top Ten Drone
* S. Victor Aaron, Something Else - Best of 2014 - Modern + Mainstream Jazz; Avant Garde + Experimental Jazz;; Fusion Jazz
* Judy Adams, The Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe Blog - Top Ten List for 2014 – A Definitive Guide to This Year’s Best Jazz Recordings
* David R. Adler, The Village Voice - Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2014
* Album of The Year - Best Jazz Fusion Albums of 2014; Users' Highest Rated Jazz Fusion Albums of 2014
* AllAboutJazz.com - Top 25 MP3 Downloads: 2014; Top 12 "Most Read" Album Reviews; Top 12 "Most Recommended" Album Reviews; Top 12 "Most Read" and "Most Recommended" Articles; Top 15 "Most Read" Interviews; The Year In Jazz
* AllAboutJazz.com (Italian edition) - Best of 2014/I Dischi Del 2014
* AllMusic.com - Best of 2014: Favorite Jazz Albums
* Larry Appelbaum, Let's Cool One/Jazz Times - 2014 Favorites
* Bridget Arnwine, Examiner.com - Best jazz recordings of 2014
* Avant Music News - Best of 2014
* Hector Aviles, Latino Music Cafe - Best Latin Music of 2014
* Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast - Festive 50
* Jung Bae, HelloKPop.com - 2014 in Review: Day 8 – Jazz and Blues
* Jakob Baekgaard, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Releases of 2014
* David Becker, AXS - Highlights (and one sad bit) from 2014 in Bay Area jazz
* C. Michael Bailey, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Recordings of 2014
* Phil Barnes, AllAboutJazz.com - Favourite Albums of 2014
* Chris Barton, Los Angeles Times - Best jazz albums of 2014 
* Adam Baruch, Polish Jazz - Top Ten 2014
* Dan Bilawsky, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Releases of 2014
* Larry Blumenfeld, Blu Notes/Wall Street Journal - Best Jazz Of 2014
* Philip Booth, Jazz Lands - Best Jazz of 2014: Tom Harrell, Chick Corea, Frank Kimbrough, Snarky Puppy & more
* Cisco Bradley, Jazz Right Now - Best Albums of 2014
* Richard Brody, The New Yorker - The Best Jazz Reissues of 2014
* Albert Brooks, Nippertown - Top 11 Albums
* Bill Brownlee, Plastic Sax - Top Albums of 2014; Top Performances of 2014; The Top Jazz-Related Stories and Trends of 2014
* Chris Burnett, Musings In Cb - My Favorite Recordings Released in 2014
* Robert Bush, KNSD/AllAboutJazz.com - Sweet 16: Top SD Jazz Concerts of 2014; Best of 2014
* CapitalBop (Luke Stewart & Giovanni Russonello) - Top 5 Albums of 2014
* Capital Public Radio (Sacramento, CA) - Top Five Jazz Albums of 2014
* David Cazares, Minnesota Public Radio - Jazz favorites of 2014
* Chicago Reader - Our favorite music of 2014
* "The Checkout," WGBO - Lehman, Jarenwattananon & Rentner's "Best Of" 2014 CDs
* Nate Chinen, New York Times - Top Albums of 2014, With Beyoncé, Fred Hersch Trio and More
* Dan Coffey, Avant Music News - Top Albums of 2014
* "The Colin McEnroe Show," WNPR - Best Jazz of 2014
* Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Releases of 2014
* James Cooper (aka firstcitybook), Red Moon Cafe - Jazz Favorites for 2014
* Thomas Cunniffe, Jazz History Online -  2014: The Summation
* Curt Davenport, Curt's Jazz Cafe - Best Jazz Albums of 2014
* Clive Davis, Sunday Times - Top ten jazz albums for 2014 (via jazzfm.com)
* Anthony Dean-Harris, Nextbop - Favorite Jazz Releases of 2014
* Nick DeRiso, Something Else - Best of 2014 (Blues, R&B + Jazz)
* Zlatan Dimitrijevic, Jazzin.rs - The Best of 2014 
* Down Beat - Best Albums of 2014
* Tony Dudley-Evans, The Jazz Breakfast -  My 10 favourite gigs of the year
* Jeff Duperon, WRTI - Top 20 Jazz CDs of 2014
* Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music Review - Records of the Year, 2014
* Pamela Espelund, Bebopified - Our two cents in the 2014 Twin Cities Music Critics Tally, with reasons why
* John Fenton, JazzLocal32 - Jazz stories that need retelling (2014) 
* The Free Jazz Collective - Albums of the Year - 2014; Happy New Ears Award 2014
* Phil Freeman, Burning Ambulance - Best Jazz of 2014
* Jon Garelick, Boston Globe - 2014 best jazz album picks
* Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - Top jazz albums of 2014
* Ted Gioia, The Daily Beast - The Best Albums of 2014
* Kurt Gottschalk, AllAboutJazz.com - Top 12 for 2014
* Ben Gray, Nextbop.com - Favorite Jazz Releases of 2014
* George Grella, The Big City - Best Jazz Albums of 2014; The Brooklyn Rail - My Year In Music
* James Hale, Down Beat/Jazz Chronicles - Top CDs of 2014
* Eric Harland, drummer & SFJAZZ artistic director - Top 5 of 2014
* John Hendrix,  Hubert on the Air (L1, The Netherlands) - Best of Jazz 2014
* Lyn Horton, The Paradigm for Beauty - Top Ten, 2014
* C. Andrew Hovan, AllAboutJazz.com - Top 10 for 2014
* Tom Hull, Tom Hull on the Web - The Best Jazz Albums of 2014
* Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen - 2014 Jazz List Bliss
* J Hunter, Nippertown/WVCR - Best Jazz Albums, Part I; Part II; Top 10 Concerts (And More)
* Jazz Journal (UK) - Critic's Poll 2014 (.pdf)
* Jazz Journalists Association - 2014 Best of Jazz lists
* Jazzonline.gr - Critics Poll 2014
* Jazz Times - Top 50 CDs: Individual Ballots - Our contributors' lists of the best releases of 2014; Critics Poll 2014
* Willard Jenkins, Open Sky Jazz - Favorite 2014 Sightings
* David Brent Johnson, WFIU - Best Historical Jazz Releases 2014
* Bojan Jovic, Jazzin.rs - The Best of 2014 
* Fred Kaplan, Slate/Stereophile - The Best Jazz Albums of 2014, Plus the best reissues
* John Kelman, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Releases of 2014; Best Live Shows of 2014
* KSDS Jazz 88.3 (Claudia Russell & Joe Kocherhans) - Top Ten Discs of 2014
* Charles L. Latimer, I Dig Jazz - Drum Roll Please, I Dig Jazz Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2014
* Bo Leibowitz, KCRW - Top Albums of 2014
* Bruce Lindsay, AllAboutJazz.com - Favorite Albums Of 2014
* London Jazz News - Jazz Musicians of 2014; Jazz Musicians of 2014 (Under 35); The Jazz Moments To Treasure Of 2014; Jazz Wishes for 2015
* Tomek Łuczak, Polish Jazz - Top Ten 2014
* Mateusz Magierowski, Polish Jazz - Top Ten 2014
* Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader - My favorite jazz albums of 2014
* Dan McClenaghan, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Releases of 2014
* Andrew McDonald, PopMatters - The Best Avant-Garde and Experimental Albums of 2014
* Bob "Radio Bob" McWilliams, Kansas Public Radio - Best Jazz CDs of 2014
* Jay Miller, Quincy (MA) Patriot Ledger - Jazz is alive and well, with hot new, and old, talent
* Chris Monsen, Perfect Sounds - 2014: favorites – getting there
* NewMusicBox - 2014 Staff Picks
* New York Times - The Year in Jazz (podcast MP3)
* Jessica Nicholas, ABC Jazz - Best of 2014
* Nextbop/Art of Cool - Favorite Jazz Releases of 2014
* Tim Niland, Music and More - Francis Davis 8th Annual Jazz Critics Poll
* NorthernJazzLive (UK) - Best gigs of 2014! (1); (2); (3); (4); (5); (6)
* Rick Nowlin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Best Jazz Concert: Spyro Gyra
* Maciej Nowotny, Polish Jazz - Top Ten 2014
* NPR Music - 2014 Jazz Critics Poll; An Upset Either Way, Steve Lehman and Wadada Leo Smith Triumph
* Vojislav Pantic, Jazzin.rs - The Best of 2014
* Pitchfork.com (Grayson Haver Currin & Mark Masters) - Experimental Artists of the Year 2014
* Denis Poole, Smooth Jazz Therapy - Top Twenty Of 2014
* PopJazzRadio.com - Pop Jazz Best of 2014
* PopMatters.com (Will Layman & John Garratt) - The Best Jazz of 2014
* Craig Premo, Improvised - The Top Jazz Releases of 2014
* Proper Music - Best Jazz of 2014
* Ben Ratliff, New York Times - Top 10 Albums and Songs of 2014
* Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune - Henry Butler, Regina Carter, Orbert Davis among the year's best in jazz; For Chicago jazz lovers, it was a very good year
* Revive Music - Top 15 Songs of 2014 Pt. I; Pt. II
* Juan Rodriguez, Montreal Gazette - Sound of 2014: Juan Rodriguez's top picks
* Bret Saunders, Denver Post - A look back at the best releases of '14
* Richard Scheinin, San Jose Mercury News - Best of 2014: Our Top 10 jazz CDs
* John Sharpe, AllAboutJazz.com - Best Releases of 2014
* Sean Smith, Tokyo Jazz Notes - Pick of 2014 - Albums of the Year
* Stewart Smith, Complete Communion (The Quietus) - Favoured Jazz Albums Of 2014
* Sorties Jazz Nights - 2014 TVJazz Best Of (International), 2014 TVJazz Best Of (Québec) & CDJazz Best Of
* Hank Shteamer, Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches - 2014 jazz top 10, plus
* Sputnik Music - Best Jazz Albums of 2014
* W. Royal Stokes, WRoyalStokes.com - Best & Notable New Releases 2014
* Mike Stratton, WLNZ - Top 12 Jazz Releases of 2014
* Dave Sumner, Bird is the Worm - Best of 2014; Albums 21-25;
* Derek Taylor, Dusted (in Exile) - Year End 2014
* The Telegraph (UK), Ivan Hewett and Martin Chilton - The 33 best jazz albums of 2014
* Larry Reni Thomas, WCOM-FM - Top Ten Jazz 2014
* Mark F. Turner, AllAboutJazz.com - Best of 2014
* George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune - 2014: The year in jazz concerts; The year in jazz albums & more
* Predrag Vlahovic, Jazzin.rs - The Best of 2014
* Seth Colter Walls, Rhapsody.com - Top 25 Jazz Albums of 2014; Top 50 Tracks of 2014
* WDCB - Faves: Top Five Jazz Discs in 2014
* Carol Banks Weber, AXS.com/Examiner.com - Top 15 jazzy vocal albums of 2014: Get ‘em while they’re hot!; Keeping jazz alive: Top 5 straight-ahead albums of 2014; Moving Jazz Albums of 2014: Shawn Maxwell’s Alliance leads pack
* Christopher R. Weingarten, Rolling Stone - 20 Best Avant Albums of 2014
* Michael J. West, Washington City Paper - The Jazzies: D.C.’s Best Jazz in 2014
* Jim Wilke, KPLU - Some Of The Best Northwest Jazz of 2014
* Richard Williams, The Blue Moment - 2014: the best bits
* Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Radio Arts Foundation - Jazz, dance had a very good year
* Alex Woodward, Gambit - The lists: New Orleans music in 2014
* Wondering Sound - Best Jazz Albums of 2014
* WQXR - 10 Imagination-Grabbing, Trailblazing Artists of 2014

Active scouting for more lists will continue for at least a couple more weeks, but your input is welcome, too. If you've seen any other 2014 year-end jazz lists that aren't mentioned here, please use the comments (or send me an email) to share the information. And if you like, please feel free also to use the comments to discuss your own favorite jazz releases, shows and moments of 2014.

Finally, if you want to re-visit StLJN's past "best of" list round-ups, here are the meta-lists for 2007 (parts 1 and 2), 2008 (parts 1 and 2), 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Updated 12/29/14 with six more lists. Updated 12/30/14 with seven more lists. Updated 12/31/14 with five more lists. Updated 1/1/15 with seven more lists. Updated 1/2/15 with eight more lists Updated 1/3/15 with eight more lists. Updated 1/4/15 with two more lists. Updated 1/5/15 with five more lists. Updated 1/8/15 with three more lists. Updated 1/11/15 with four more lists. Updated 1/14/15 with three more lists.