The Best Jazz Of 2017: The Quietus – Complete Communion

In 2017, jazz and improvised music showed that another world is possible. Stewart Smith picks his top ten new releases and five archival gems.

 

10. Amir El Saffar – Not Two (New Amsterdam) 

9. William Parker Quartets – Meditation/Resurrection (AUM Fidelity) 

8. Goncalo Almeida, Rodrigo Amado, Marco Franco – The Attic (No Business/Tombed Visions) 

7. Hear In Now – Not Living In Fear (International Anthem)

6. Tyshawn Sorey – Verisimilitude (Pi Recordings)

5. Jaimie Branch – Fly Or Die (International Anthem)

4. Pat Thomas – The Elephant Clock Of Al Jazari (Otoroku)

3. Irreversible Entanglements – Irreversible Entanglements (International Anthem/Don Giovanni)

2. Roscoe Mitchell – Bells For The Southside (ECM)

1. Nicole Mitchell – Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds (FPE Records

Reissues and archival

 

5. Ornette Coleman – Ornette at 12/Crisis (Real Gone Music)

4. Ton-Klami – Prophecy of Nue (No Business)

3. Brother Ah – Divine Music (Manufactured Recordings)

2. Byron & Gerald – Unity (Eremite)

1. Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda – World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of… (Luaka Bop)