Jazzwise Albums of the Year 2023

Friday, December 1, 2023

The complete shortlist of the year's best jazz albums, featuring Joshua Redman, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Lakecia Benjamin, Jaimie Branch, Shakti, Tyshawn Sorey and many more

With the world still recovering from the traumas of the pandemic – now overshadowed by two bloody wars, not to mention the ever-worsening climate crisis – it’s little wonder there’s a deep sense of catharsis, reflection and experimentation running through Jazzwise's 2023 Albums of the Year.

Topping the New Releases chart, Joshua Redman’s collaborative album spotlights the beguiling vocals of Gabrielle Cavassa and provides a necessary and bewitching balm in troubled times. It struck a chord with many writers – as did the daring creativity of three extraordinary women musicians: Cécile McLorin Salvant, Lakecia Benjamin and the sadly-departed Jaimie Branch. Shakti’s swansong too, is a memorable example of their transcendent, unique take on Indo-jazz fusion.

As always, each writer submits their top 10 choices in both categories, with 10 marks given for a number one, down to one point for a number 10, then we do the math!

Albums of the Year: Nos 1-20...

1

Joshua Redman

where are we

Blue Note

‘The New Orleans-based, Californian-bred vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa is quite a sensation, someone who sounds like she could have been influenced by Portishead’s Beth Gibbons as well as Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan... What is something of a diversion for Redman turns into one of the unexpected big hits of 2023.’ Selwyn Harris

Read the Jazzwise review

2

Cécile McLorin Salvant

Mélusine

Nonesuch

'Beautifully recorded at The Bunker Studio and Brooklyn Recording, Brooklyn, Salvant continues to confound and delight at every turn.' Peter Quinn

Read the Jazzwise review

3

Lakecia Benjamin

Phoenix

Whirlwind Recordings

'Since her 2012 debut Retox Benjamin has been an impressive soloist with the chops to hold the biggest of stages, but, as this accomplished release proves, she has the equally important ability to make records in which socio-political content sits very well with musical nouse. Like the magical creature that is born of the ashes, Benjamin is on metaphorical fire...' Kevin Le Gendre

Read the Jazzwise review

4

Jaimie Branch

Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))

International Anthem

'This album is a superb addition to a small but brilliant legacy: as a final statement, they don't come much better than this. It's a glorious listen, rather than the melancholy one I expected...' Kevin Whitlock

Read the Jazzwise review

5

Shakti

This Moment

Abstract Logix

'McLaughlin's western heritage shows him integrating the well-tempered scale and the harmonies that flow from it into to the harmony implied by raga, and at one point even weaving a couple of mischievous blue notes into the flow, while Mahadevan's voice, steeped in the complexities of Konokol, goes beyond anything heard before in jazz, with moments that can only be described as ‘high-tech scat’. This is my Album of the Year, since it is one of the finest albums of the last quarter-century...' Stuart Nicholson

Read the Jazzwise review

6=

Tyshawn Sorey

Continuing

Pi Recordings

'Very few jazz piano-trios in that long-honed method's brilliant history can have played with quite this spellbinding equilibrium of understatement and simmering power...' John Fordham

Read the Jazzwise review

6=

Espen Eriksen with Andy Shepherd

As Good As It Gets

Rune Grammofon

'Playing a set of seven Eriksen originals, Eriksen’s song writing ability often gets overlooked, but his compositions draw the listener into his music, his melodies finely tuned to stimulate those areas of the brain implicated in reward and emotion...' Stuart Nicholson

Read the Jazzwise review

8

Brad Mehldau

Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles

Nonesuch

"Mehldau’s highly expressive touch and use of rubato and dynamics are nothing less than exemplary and unexpected twists add a new dimension to the material without abstracting the original songs. It’s a recipe that’s likely to satisfy both jazz lovers and fussily dedicated Beatles fans alike." Selwyn Harris

Read the Jazzwise review

9=

Hedvig Mollestad

Weejuns Weejuns

Rune Grammofon

'This live double album captures the trio improvising extensively, with written-in hooks and riffs keeping the three oriented. But otherwise, the trio race and rail against each other, urging yet often contemplative...' Andy Robson

Read the Jazzwise review

9=

Bobo Stenson

Trio Sphere

ECM

"This session – made at Lugano’s Italian-Swiss radio studio – catches the immediacy of a group that approaches every session afresh, yet demonstrates years of shared understanding of one another’s playing." Alyn Shipton

Read the Jazzwise review

9=

Johnathan Blake

Passage

Blue Note

'Running through this varied and absorbing record are Johnathan Blake’s reflections on and tributes to his late father, the violinist John Blake Jr, who died in 2014. After a solo drum memory of fellow percussionist Lawrence Leathers, the band launches into ‘Passage’ which has a long alto solo by Wilkins at its core, but an equally strong and direct contribution from Virelles...' Alyn Shipton 

Read the Jazzwise review

12=

Mette Henriette

Drifting

ECM

"Drifting may remind you of a dream, or an embrace, or a preoccupied woodland wander a lot more than a wild bop-blasting night in a jazz club, but that's what the unique Mette Henriette is all about." John Fordham

Read the Jazzwise review

12=

BlankFor.ms/Jason Moran/Marcus Gilmore

Refract

Red Hook Records

'This is trio music hinged on the immediacy of a finger on a laptop as well as a piano, and, as is the case in the work of roughly comparable artists, such as Gerald Cleaver, Ikue Mori and Tyondai Braxton, man and machine appear to be as close as body and soul...' Kevin Le Gendre

Read the review

14=

Ambrose Akinmusire

Beauty Is Enough

Origami Harvest

'Courageous, creative work from an artist who continues to boldly grow in stature...' Kevin Le Gendre

Read the review

14=

Rob Luft

Dahab Days

Edition

'Luft has already reached the point where his lush, melodic music sounds like no one else’s. It’s neither cautious nor introspective. Instead, it encourages us to look outwards, freed from time and place, to be continually inspired by curiosity and optimism. The whole album is a thrilling voyage of discovery...' Peter Jones

Read the review

14=

Billy Valentine and the Universal Truth

Billy Valentine and The Universal Truth

Flying Dutchman/Acid Jazz

'Valentine has gone into classic 1970s soul territory with an album that is classily helmed...' Kevin Le Gendre

Read the review

17=

Pat Metheny

Dream Box

BMG

'This album is an unqualified success and an important addition to his distinguished discography...' Stuart Nicholson

Read the review

17=

James Brandon Lewis

Red Lily Quartet “For Mahalia, With Love “

Tao Forms

'Playing a repertoire associated with Mahalia Jackson, arguably the greatest exponent of the Negro spiritual tradition, Lewis captures the intensely emotive character of timeless standards such as ‘Let My People Go’, but most importantly, has found a personal route into this very specific vocabulary...' Kevin Le Gendre

Read the review

17=

Matthew Halsall

An Ever Changing View

Gondwana

'In Halsall’s jazz, the dancefloor and the meditative retreat merge in mutual rhythmic recognition...' Nick Hasted

Read the review

20

Alex Hitchcock Dream Band

Live In London

Whirlwind Recordings

'It’s impossible to do justice in a short review to a long album as varied and richly satisfying as this. Suffice to say that the composer is an unabashed modernist. He has developed the knack of writing tunes whose shape is hard to discern at first, but which gradually assume recognisable form as they approach the end...' Peter Jones

Read the review


Albums of the Year: Nos 21-100...

Joe Chambers

Dance Kobina

Blue Note


Donny McCaslin

I Want More

Edition Records


Wolfgang Muthspiel

Dance of The Elders

ECM


Jason Rebello and Tim Garland

Life to Life

Whirlwind Recordings


Emma Rawicz

Chroma

ACT


Scott Dunn with Claire Martin and the RPO

I Watch You Sleep

Stunt Records


Tori Freestone & Alcyona Mick

Make One Little Room an Everywhere

self release/ Bandcamp


Madeleine & Salomon

Eastern Spring

Tzig'Art


Simon Spillett Big Band

Dear Tubby H

mister PC


Peter Brötzmann/Majid Bekkas/Hamid Drake

Catching Ghosts

ACT


Meshell Ndegeocello

The Omnichord Real Book

Blue Note


Elina Duni

A Time To Remember

ECM


Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz 

Ex Machina

Pi Recordings


Sam Eastmond

Bagatelles Vol. 16

Tzadik


Fire! Orchestra

Echoes

Rune Grammofon


Brandee Younger

Brand New Life

Impulse!


Christine Tobin

Returning Weather

Trail Belle Records


Mike Westbrook

The Piano and Me: Dartington Hall 26th  June 2022

Westbrook Records/Bandcamp


George Freeman

The Good Life

High Note


The Necks

Travel

Northern Spy


Irreversible Entanglements

Protect Your Light

Impulse!


Kendrick Scott

Corridors

Blue Note


Marius Neset

Geyser- Live At Royal Albert Hall

ACT


Ambrose Akinmusire

Owl Song

Nonesuch


Artemis

In Real Time

Blue Note


Get The Blessing

Pallett

All Is Yes


David Virelles

Carta

Intakt


Superblue: Kurt Elling and Charlie Hunter

The Iridescent Spree

Edition Records


Eliane Elias

Quietude

Candid


Matana Roberts

Coin Coin Chapter Five: In The Garden

Constellation


Five-Way Split

The Good Life

Ubuntu


Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke

Lean In

Edition Records


Uriel Herman

Different Eyes

Ubuntu


Jeremy Rose / Zela Margossian

Daughter of the Seas

Earshift Music


Robert Mitchell / Neil Charles / Mark Sande

Towards The Flame Vol.1

577


Angel Bat Dawid

Requiem For Jazz

International Anthem


Lorenzo Di Finti

Lullabies From An Unknown Time

Losen


Rymden and Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra (KORK)

Rymden + KORK

Jazzland


Louis Hayes

Exactly Right!

Savant


Michael Blake

Dance of the Mystic Bliss

P&M


Joshua Jaswon

Polar Waters

Ubuntu


Matthew Shipp

The Intrinsic Nature of Matthew Shipp

Mahakala


Paul Dunmall Ensemble

It's A Matter of Fact

Discus


Phi-Sonics

Octava

Gondwana


Chris Potter

Keys To the Kingdom: Live At The Village Vanguard

Edition Records


Imogen Ryall

Sings the Charles Mingus/Joni Mitchell Songbook

Rubicon Jazz


David Preston

Purple/Black Volume One

Whirlwind Recordings


Joe Magnarelli

New York Osaka Junction

Steeplechase


Sebastian Rochford

A Short Diary

ECM


Conic Rose

Heller Tag

Conic Rose Music


Naïssam Jalal

Healing Rituals

Les Coulers du Son


Joe Lovano Trio Tapestry

Our Daily Bread

ECM


Nite Bjutie

Nite Bjutie

Whirlwind Recordings


Canadian Jazz Collective

Septology: The Black Forest Sessions

HGBS Blue


Monika Roschew Bigband

Witchy Activities and the Maple Death

Zena


Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double

March On

Bandcamp


David Hazeltine Trio

Blues For Gerry

Criss Cross


Bill Laurance & Michael League

Where You Wish You Were

ACT


Billy Childs

The Winds of Change

Mack Avenue


Zoe Rahman

Colour of Sound

Manushi


Eddie Gripper

Home

Ubuntu


Hiromi

Sonicwonderland

Concord


Scott Hamilton Quartet

At Pizza Express Live

PX Records


Christine Jensen

Day Moon

Justin Time


Sissko/Segal/Parisien/Peirani

Les Égarés

No Format! Records


Ralph Towner

At First Light

ECM


Siema Ziema

Second

Byrd Out


Ishmael Ensemble & Rider Shafique

New Era

Severn Songs


Native Dancer

At Pizza Express Live In London

PX Records


Jesper Thilo Quartet

Live At Jazz Cup

Stunt Records


Joachim Kuhn

New Trio Jazz At Berlin Philharmonic XIV: Komeda

ACT


Angelika Niescier

Beyond Dreams

Intakt


Paul Mottram

Seven Ages of Man for Jazz Sextet and String Orchestra

Ubuntu


Christian McBride's New Jawn

Prime

Mack Avenue


Kenny Barron

The Source

Artwork Records


Phil Bancroft

Degrees Of Freedom

Myriad Streams


Matt Wates Sextet

Ballad For Steve

ABCD


Kahil El'Zabar Ethnic Heritage Ensemble

Spirit Gathrer: Tribute to Don Cherry

Spiritmuse


John Scofield Trio

Uncle John's Band

ECM


Harald Lassen

Balans

Jazzland


Helge Lien Trio & Tore Brunberg

Funeral Dance

Ozella


Alexander Hawkins Trio

Carnival Celestial

Intakt


Snazzback

Ruins Everything

Worm Discs


Satoko Fujii

Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams

Libra


Bex Burch

There Is Only Love and Fear

International Anthem


The Full Circle Quartet

The South Downs Suite

New Leaf


Ingrid Laubrock

The Last Quiet Place

Pyroclastic Records


Gabriel Latchin Trio

Viewpoint

Alys Jazz


Knoel Scott feat. Marshall Allen

Celestial

Night Dreamer


Kit Downes / PJEV / Hayden Chisholm

Medna Roso

Red Hook Records


Jasmine Myra

Horizons

Gondwana


Mark Turner

Live At the Village Vanguard

Giant Step Art


Beats & Pieces Big Band

Good Days

EFPI Records


Matt Ridley

The Antidote Live AT The London Jazz Festival

Ubuntu


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