Anthony Dean-Harris’ Best “Jazz” Albums of 2020

[Editor’s Note: We are honored to have Anthony Dean-Harris join us as a special contributor for this year’s lists. Several of our staff have worked with Anthony on other projects in the past and greatly respect his insight and skills as both a writer and broadcaster. More information on Anthony can be found at https://www.anthonydeanharris.com/.]

Honorable Mention

15. Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet, Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet (Astral Spirits)

14. Thundercat,  It Is What It Is (Brainfeeder)

13. Rob Mazurek and the Exploding Star Orchestra, Dimensional Stardust (International Anthem) 

12. Eric Revis,  Slipknots Through a Looking Glass (Pyroclastic)

11. Tineke Postma, Freya (Edition)

10. Norah Jones, Pick Me Up off the Floor (Blue Note)

For over twenty years now, Norah Jones has worked as an artist who does whatever she wants and it has been a delight over all this time to see every turn of her interests woven into each of her works. As much as her Blue Note release, Pick Me Up off the Floor can be called another “return to jazz” for her (particularly when backed by drummer Brian Blade and bassist John Patitucci), her sound is as much influenced by the country, rock, and “singer-songwriter” turns she has made, integrating them all into her personhood and artistry into something that is a synthesis of brilliance.

Pick Me Up Off the Floor is available at your nearest music shop or can be purchased in our Amazon Affiliate Store. PostGenre’s Rob Shepherd also has a full review of Pick Me Up off the Floor, which is available here.

9. David Lord, Jeff Parker, Chad Talyor, Billy Mohler, Forest Standards, Vol. 2 (BIG EGO)

It’s easy to get lost in David Lord’s sparing compositions. There’s plenty of space between his notes for Chad Taylor to stomp about on the kit and Billy Mohler to find new ways to expand the back end. Lord plays the angles of everything with a restraint that can explode into surprise at times but gently eases all the while. This is an album that gently floats through the air.

Forest Standards Vol. 2 is available on Bandcamp or in our Amazon Affiliate Store.

8.  Lionel Loueke, HH (Edition)

It’s guitarist Lionel Loueke playing a solo album of Herbie Hancock songs. It sounds just as great as this concept already sounds. Loueke goes through every nook and cranny of these songs but uses every part of himself and his guitar to do so, as he constantly does in the fullness of himself as his instrument. Like I said, it sounds just as great as this concept already sounds.

HH is available on Bandcamp or in our Amazon Affiliate Store.

7. Chicago Underground Quartet. Good Days (Astral Spirits)

Rob Mazurek, Jeff Parker, and Chad Taylor have joined up with Josh Johnson to form the Chicago Underground Quartet due to the tricky, clever wheedling of Chris Schlarb producing the album at his BIG EGO Studios in Long Beach, California. The result is a reconfiguration almost twenty years in the making that is a whirlwind of hypnotic forces. These songs are trances that grip and don’t release until they’re ready. There are moods here that shift fluidly and naturally. It’s a total trip.

Good Days is available on Bandcamp or in our Amazon Affiliate Store.

6. Kurt Elling & Danilo Perez, Secrets are the Best Stories (Edition)

This is a two-hander of sheer beauty. Kurt Elling, voice still smooth as butter, sweetly makes every turn of original compositions and inspired covers with Perez on piano all throughout providing texture and additional grace. The two make a good pair leading through these lush songs.

Secrets are the Best Stories is available on Bandcamp or in our Amazon Affiliate Store.

5. Takuya Kuroda, Fly Moon Die Soon (First World)

Takuya Kuroda has for some time found just the right pocket of cool to inhabit. Album after album, he stays just as soulful a player and composer, especially any time he’s collaborating with Corey King. Yet again, Kuroda has released an album of cool jams that are show stoppers. He’s gotten quite the knack at it.

Fly Moon Die Soon is available on Bandcamp or in our Amazon Affiliate Store. PostGenre’s Rob Shepherd also has a full review of Fly Moon Die Soon, which is available here.

4. Makaya McCraven, Universal Beings E&F Sides (International Anthem)

McCraven as a producer can continue to warp and bend material and find things anew. So, of course, he found a way to make his 2018 album into the goose that lays the golden eggs. Some of this is work you’ve never heard before, some is reworkings of recordings you have heard before. All of it is as brilliantly crafted as the rest of McCraven’s work, consistently the jam.

Universal Beings E&F Sides is available on Bandcamp or in our Amazon Affiliate Store.

3. Jeff Parker – Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem)

As hard as Jeff Parker went in on his first album for International Anthem in 2016, The New Breed, he goes even harder melding more soundscapes in the midst of the groove. It’s all a bout of brilliance that builds to the ten and a half minute closer, “Max Brown”, that is almost impossible not to dance to. All along the way with compatriots like drummer Jamire Willaims, bassist Paul Bryan, Rob Mazurek on piccolo trumpet, his daughter Ruby Parker singing vocals, and numerous others, Parker warps the ear in a feeling that’s hard to let go.

Suite for Max Brown is available on Bandcamp or in our Amazon Affiliate Store.

2. Bill Frisell – Valentine (Blue Note)

On its face, Valentine is a simple guitar trio album with Bill Frisell alongside Thomas Morgan on bass and Rudy Royston on drums, but these three are brilliant musicians, so things aren’t quite so simple. Whether it be their inspired takes on Boubacar Traore’s “Baba Drame,” or Burt Bacharach & Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” or the natural flow from Frisell original composition to the next, these three are in sync with Morgan and Royston the perfect support for every one of Frisell’s weird, shimmery ideas.

Valentine is available at your nearest music shop or can be purchased in our Amazon Affiliate Store.

1. Pat Metheny – From This Place (Nonesuch)

Still innovating the game, guitarist Pat Metheny spent time playing with his quartet of drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and newcomer Gwylim Simcock on piano. He recorded their work together then had the Hollywood Studio Symphony conducted by Joel McNeely play arrangements to back the quartet. That said, it’s still very much a Pat Metheny album, the compositional ticks are there, which if you’re a sucker for them after all this time, they definitely satisfy here because Metheny is always going to do his thing, even while still innovating the game.

From this Place is available on Bandcamp or can be purchased in our Amazon Affiliate Store.

Stay turned as we continue to celebrate our season of lists. Agree or disagree with the choices above? Please comment below.