2018: The Year’s Top-Rated Albums

News, From the Magazine, Bob Dylan, Oscar Peterson, Woody Shaw, Muddy Waters, JD Allen, Big Heart Machine, Anouar Brahem, Emmet Cohen, Eddie Daniels, Josephine Davies, Josephine Davies’ Satori, Roxy Coss, Adi Meyerson, Allison Miller, Allison Miller/Carmen Staaf, Ambrose Akinmusire, Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet, Jamie Saft, The Jamie Saft Quartet, Antonio Sánchez, Fay Victor, Fay Victor’s SoundNoiseFunk, Tiffany Austin, Amy Cervini, Art Pepper, Mia Dyberg Trio, Monika Herzig, Sun Ra, Orrin Evans, Orrin Evans and The Captain Black Big Band, Kamasi Washington

By DownBeat I Dec. 28, 2018

Ambrose Akinmusire and Kris Davis perform in New York at Vision Festival, which ran May 23-28. Akinmusire’s Origami Harvest earned one of the few 5-star reviews in DownBeat during 2018.
(Photo: Eva Kapanadaze)
Stacey Kent issued I Know I Dream: The Orchestral Sessions on OKeh.
(Photo: Diane Sagnier)

FOUR-STAR ALBUMS (New)

13 O’clock Blues Band, Devil’s Dance (Free Note) Kiran Ahluwalia, 7 Billion (Six Degrees) Cyrille Aimée, Cyrille Aimée Live (Mack Avenue) Eric Alexander, Song Of No Regrets (HighNote) Karrin Allyson, Some Of That Sunshine (Kasrecords) Arild Andersen, In-House Science (ECM) Julian Argüelles, Tonadas (Edition) Tim Armacost, Time Being (Whirlwind) Tiffany Austin, Unbroken (Con Alma) Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin Awase (ECM) Roni Ben-Hur/Harvie S, Introspection (Jazzheads) Nate Birkey, Rome (Household Ink) Black Art Jazz Collective, Armor Of Pride (HighNote) Blake/Correa, Streaming (Red Piano) Blind Boys Of Alabama, Almost Home (BBOA) Benjamin Boone/Philip Levine, The Poetry Of Jazz (Origin) Borderlands Trio, Asteroidea (Intakt) Geof Bradfield, Yes, And ... Music For Nine Improvisers (Delmark) Craig Brann, Lineage (Steeplechase) Jakob Bro, Bay Of Rainbows (ECM) Rosa Brunello Y Los Fermentos, Volverse (CamJazz) John Butcher, Last Dream Of The Morning (Relative Pitch) Tania Chen, John Cage: Electronic Music For Piano (Omnivore) Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, Contraband Love (Red House) César Cardoso, Interchange (Antenna) Daniel Carter/William Parker/Matthew Shipp, Seraphic Light (AUM Fidelity) Amy Cervini, No One Ever Tells You (Anzic) Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop, Rev (Anzic) Reginald Chapman, Prototype (Fresh Selects) Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Free Of Form (Stretch Music/Ropeadope) Jean Chaumont, The Beauty Of Differences (Misfitme Music) Francesco Chiapperini Extemporary Vision Ensemble, The Big Earth (Rudi) Scott Clark, ToNow (Clean Feed) Nels Cline, 4 Currents, Constellations (Blue Note) Steve Coleman And Five Elements, Live At The Village Vanguard Vol. 1 (The Embedded Sets) (Pi) Shemekia Copeland, America’s Child (Alligator) Marc Copland, Nightfall (Innervoicejazz) George Cotsirilos Quartet, Mostly In Blue (OA2) Sylvie Courvoisier Trio, D’Agala (Intakt) Cowboys and Frenchmen, Bluer Than You Think (Outside In Music) Dedekind Cut, Tahoe (Kranky)

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