As every year following is my personal Best of list in terms of records I heard, concerts I saw, etc. and as every year, it was not easy to pick out of the great amount of good music released or great performances, which I was happy enough to hear and see. In the album section there are no OKeh Records releases, as they would obviously take most of the top spots, as I really like the artists and records I work with.
Best Albums:
Tigran Hamasyan Luys I Luso
Hakon Kornstad tenor battle
Brad Mehldau 10 Years Solo Live
Jef Neve One
Melody Gardot Currency of Man
John Scofield Past Presence
Christian McBride Trio Live at the Village Vanguard
Perez Patitucci Blade Children of Light
Cecile McLorin Salvant For One to Love
Robert Glasper Covered
Kamasi Washington The Epic
Kurt Elling Passion World
Bugge Wesseltoft Bugge & friends
Eivind Aarset I.E.
Various Entre 20 Aguas – a la musica de Paco de Lucia
Doran, Stucky, Studer, Tacuma Call me Helium
Various Homage a Eberhard Weber
Chris Potter Imaginery Cities
Maria Schneider The Thompson Fields
Antonio Lizana Quimeras de mar
Best of Live:
Best live act of the year has – again- been Branford Marsalis – I saw him in 2015 a few times: whether it was with the quartet, solo or with the quartet and Kurt Elling, he always manages to draw me in, touch and surprise me and maintains a level of musicianship that is simply astonishing.
Dee Dee Bridgewater, Irvin Mayfield Jr. & The NOJO Rotterdam and Alicante
Marc Ribot & The Young Philadelphians Madrid
Jose James Rotterdam
James Brandon Lewis Trio Vitoria
John Scofield with Joe Lovano Madrid
Rebekka Bakken Madrid
Gregory Porter Madrid
Taylor Eigsti’s Free Agency New York
Kurt Elling Madrid & New Orleans
Avishai Cohen (tp) Madrid
Bugge Wesseltoft, Dan Berglund & Henrik Schwartz Rotterdam
Christian Mc Bride Trio Madrid
Ganavya Madrid
Airelle Besson Bremen
Best of the rest – among the many books I read last year I think that Leonardo Padura’s The Man Who Loved Dogs was the most impressive – a great birthday present from a close friend who seem to know what I may enjoy reading. Some great TV – An honorable woman, True Detective (Season 2), and documentaries about Nina Simone and Amy Winehouse.
Remembering the people in the business I knew whom we lost in 2015 – Ornette Coleman, Bruce Lundvall, Bob Belden and Natalie Cole, whom I met a few times working two of her Verve releases internationally in the early/mid 2000’s. A great lady with a good sense of humor and a very professional attitude. Rest In Peace.
