Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Albums of 2022

My annual list is the only time each year I try to get more personal with my writing, speaking in the first person and laying out my thoughts on the year passed. While at the outset of 2022, I decided to feature more interviews on the site, I never intended to focus so overwhelmingly on them. By my estimation, I wrote only one review during the year – of a concert by Pat Metheny’s Side-Eye Trio at a now-shuttered venue. writers – particularly John Chacona and Brian Kiwanuka – contributed album reviews. While I was given the honor of presenting a Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Heroes award to a central figure in the Austin music scene, it seems the rest of my efforts went into interviews.

And I certainly talked to some incredible artists, from the longtime signmaker for the Newport Jazz Festival to three NEA Jazz Masters- Ron Carter, Big Chief Donald Harrison, and Kenny Barron. No, wait; make that four. Yeah, I still can’t believe I talked to Sonny Rollins for nearly an hour either. I spoke to two people at the cutting-edge of music presentation during a given era: an MTV co-founder and the foremost expert in using Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) for music. One of the most sampled musicians of all time and a Pulitzer prize-winning opera composer. Legends of creative improvised music – Marshall Allen (with Tyler Mitchell), Bill Laswell (with Ulf Ivarsson), Oliver Lake, William Parker – and those who reflect its bright future – Mary Halvorson, Steve Lehman, Nate Wooley, Ches Smith, Angelica Sanchez, Benoit Delbecq, and Trevor Dunn. Defiers of the conventions of large ensembles – Michael Leonhart and Stuart Bogie – and a pair of top-notch producers. Percussionists who explore music from different cultures – Bill Summers, Adam Rudolph, and Alexander Flood – and emerging voices – Anna Butterss, Sasha Berliner, and Julius Rodriguez. An organ great returning to recording, a saxophonist equally at ease in jazz and jam bands, and one of today’s top bassists.

But my favorite musical moment of 2022 was not a singular recorded work, a specific performance, an artist interview, or even a specific point in time. This past summer, my wife and I welcomed our first child. Sharing a name with one of the great composers, he loves music. While he cannot yet speak in a language we can understand, his reaction to music when he’s fussy or bored makes his interest clear. While my focus is largely on newer music, pretty much all music is new to him. He gives me the gift of re-experiencing music I have long ago discovered, and that may have since become so commonplace that they lost some luster. While he cannot explain in technical terms why he likes a certain song, he does affirm the ineffable greatness of the works he hears. Yes, Charlie Parker’s solos are as bewildering as we remember. Mahalia Jackson’s vocals are as majestic and glorious as we make them out to be. It is impossible not to groove to James Brown. We have also listened together to most, if not all, of the albums listed below.

10. Sam Gendel, Cicada Lite (Live in Texas) (Unseen Worlds)

Sam Gendel is in the running for the most underrated saxophonist performing today. The ghostly ambiance of Gendel’s tone exhibits a unique chameleonic ability to absorb the sonic environment in which it is made. In this case, his music helps transport listeners to the acoustics of an urban ballroom, a rural ranch, and the space under a bridge. This capability to envelop its surroundings sets Cicada Lite apart from the long lineage of other solo saxophone recordings, even as the inclusion of Miles’ “Boplicity” makes the music’s ancestors known.

9. Ulf Ivarsson & Bill Laswell, Nammu (Ropeadope)

Nammu uses a dub underpinning to explore a wide range of music from 70s Miles influences to Delta blues. The record’s four tracks seem to organically flow through different stylistic lines, placing them on an equal footing. It is that rare type of recording that rewards repeat listening. Nammu announces the importance of the bass in almost all genres, even as it challenges the idea that we should categorize music at all.

Check out my conversation with both Laswell and Ivarsson here.

8. Wolfert Brederode, Matangi Quartet, & Joost Lijbaart, Ruins and Remains (ECM)

A suite for piano, percussion, and string quartet, Ruins and Remains occupies some musical no man’s land between the trenches of classical minimalism and improvised jazz. A work that began life as a way of commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I quickly morphed into something else reflective of the shared emotions of worlds gripped by pandemics spread a century apart. The music makes sagacious use of texture and space, for which Manfred Eicher was the perfect producer. The pieces are full of sorrow and wistfulness but with a glimmer of hope and optimism that keeps shining through. It is a gorgeous record.

7. Steven Bernstein, Manifesto of Henryisms (Community Music, Vol. 3) (Royal Potato Family)

Manifesto of Henryisms is, at its heart, slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein honoring his departed friend, pianist Henry Butler. But it also more generally honors the tradition Butler represents. A cursory listen reveals only more ancient music. But a deeper and more thoughtful listening shows that while the music retains the stereotypical jauntiness of New Orleans blues and Dixieland, it also stretches outward to more “modern” music. “Dippermouth Blues,” a century-old composition credited alternatively to King Oliver and Louis Armstrong, melodically disintegrates into a piece more reminiscent of the AACM than its source. The inclusion of John Medeski on most tracks also draws connections to jam band music. The highlight of the album, however, is the closer. “Newport Aperitif/ Diminuendo & Crescendo in Blue” reflects the inescapable energy of Ellington’s performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival while simultaneously tying it to its musical roots and pulls to the musical present. Manifesto is a reminder that while greats like Butler are no longer with us, their musical gifts still very much remain.

You can read my interview with Steven Bernstein on Henry Butler and more here.

6. Wayne Shorter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Leo Genovese, esperanza spalding, Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival (Candid)

Any new recording featuring the legendary, and now-retired, Wayne Shorter is instantly a serious contender for several “best of “ lists. But Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival is more than “just another Wayne Shorter album.” It is an exposition on the fearlessness that Shorter has exhibited throughout his entire career. The group easily could have performed some of Shorter’s better-known compositions – “Footprints” or “Sanctuary” perhaps- but instead targeted music from Shorter’s less warmly received 80s oeuvre. The decision to focus on “Some place called ‘Where’” and “Endangered Species” speaks to the trust Shorter places in those pieces, critical voices be damned. But what is particularly fascinating about Live is spalding’s vocal ability to complement the saxophonist’s idiosyncratic soprano tone. In spalding’s voice, Shorter seemingly finds a fraternal twin- someone by no means identical but cut from the same cloth. Live is a welcome reminder that even towards the end of his performing career, Shorter continued to take risks and stay true to his artistic vision.

5. Mary Halvorson, Amaryllis and Belladonna (Nonesuch)

Much attention has been paid to Mary Halvorson’s compositions for these complementary works with the Mivos Quartet, one with (Amaryllis) her new sextet and the other (Belladonna) without. Such praise is well-deserved as the pieces are each thoughtful, inspired, and rich in subtleties. The songs further cement Halvorson as one of the most compelling composers in today’s creative music.

But even the best songwriter is limited by other artists’ ability to interpret their work. Lesser discussed is the characteristic brilliance with which the Mivos Quartet approaches Halvorson’s written score. Or the sheer firepower of the sextet, an amalgamation of long-time collaborators and newer acquaintances. The ensemble of bassist Nick Dunston, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, trombonist Jacob Garchik, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara are not only capable collaborators but impressive improvisers and performers in their own right. The latter three released their own excellent recordings this year.

Read my two-part interview with Halvorson on the albums here.

4. Sélébéyone, Xaybu: The Unseen (Pi)

Sélébéyone’s initial release in 2016 was nothing short of groundbreaking. The idea of melding Wolof rap, samples, spectral harmony, and free improvisation was not only never before recorded, but it’s doubtful anyone else had ever conceived of such a project. The follow-up, Xaybu, is an even stronger effort as the passage of time has seemingly allowed the group to be more judicious with their compositional choices. The album is mesmerizing and fascinating. The inclusion of spoken word samples by Billy Higgins and Jackie McClean further underscores the work’s ties to the jazz tradition even as it pushes up against and stretches the form’s conventions.

You can read my two-part discussion with Lehman on this album and the band here.

3. Jamaaladeen Tacuma & Mary Halvorson, Strings & Things (self-release)

Often Halvorson’s brightest musical moments come in the smallest of groups, as they reveal her prowess as a spontaneous composer in its starkest light. Stripping away the large collective often exposes her ideas at their rawest and provides a deeper insight into her mind. Her lone solo record thus far, Meltframe (Firehouse 12, 2015), and pairings with Bill Frisell, Sylvie Courvoisier, and John Dieterich all add credence to this perspective. Strings & Things builds upon this to provide her most revealing duo album yet. In no small part, its power comes from her choice of collaborative partner.

Not long ago, Guitar Player stated that Jamaaladeen Tacuma was becoming “regarded as one of the most distinctive forces on bass guitar to emerge in the past decade.” While any recognition of the underappreciated bassist is welcome, they are also several years too late. Since the late 1970s- across his Harmolodic funk work with Ornette, his Grammavision recordings, and the Free Form Funky Freqs- Tacuma has become, arguably, the most consequential bassist since Jaco. 

Strings is an entrancing dialogue between two master artists. Neither sacrifice, yet both find common ground. The best moments come when they go completely out in left field, as on “Anesthetic Cloud,” where a deep P-Funkish groove meets plinky and skitterish guitar, or on “Another Day (Night),” where a comforting folkish anthem turns quickly disorienting.

2. Columbia Icefield, Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes (Pyroclastic)

Trumpeter Nate Wooley is a decorated general in the battle to change the misconception that experimental music is somehow unlistenable. His publication, Sound American, uses words as its weapon of choice to attack the concept that the abandonment of strictures renders music utterly unapproachable. Columbia Icefield’s sophomore release capably uses an arsenal of sounds.

Ancient Songs transports the listener to frozen tundras and ragged desolate shores. Dizzying winds and crashing waves. In the distance, a small crew of voyagers tries to make their way through the rugged terrain. The brave crew’s calls reflect a fight for survival and an enthrallment by the, though vicious, beauty surrounding them. These are things listeners can pick up on and appreciate from the album, partly because of that persevering struggle inherent in the album’s folk roots. Even if the language is a little foreign, a listener can understand Wooley’s intent without fully appreciating the works of Éliane Radigue or Anthony Braxton.

But permitting better audience understanding does not equate to a diminishment of Ancient Songs’ artistic significance. Beneath the surface, meaningful commentary on humanity’s relationship with nature and the interaction between silence and sound emerge. As to the latter, distorted waves dissolve into nothingness on the final interlude, “(……………),” to allow for the power of space to enter the room. At times haunting, melancholic, and triumphant, Ancient Songs is consistently beautiful as much for what it explicitly states as that which does not.

Check out my two-part interview with Nate Wooley on this album here.

1. The Philadelphia Experiment (Christian McBride, Questlove, Uri Caine, DJ Logic), Live at Newport Jazz 2017 (Newport Jazz)

Over its almost seven-decade history, many significant records have been captured at the Newport Jazz Festival. Some – cough cough Ellington at Newport (Columbia, 1956) – are even iconic. Live at Newport Jazz 2017 isn’t your father’s or grandfather’s Newport jazz recording. Its historical context makes this clear.

The 2017 Newport Jazz was a bit of an artistic turning point. Since 1954, Festival founder, George Wein, served as the primary decision-maker for stacking the legendary event’s annual lineups. Wein’s choices resulted in some of the finest moments in musical history, from Miles Davis’ “‘Round Midnight” solo spurring a thirty-year relationship with Columbia Records to Duke Ellington’s career “rebirth.” While Wein announced Christian McBride as his successor Artistic Director in 2016, the bassist did not take full artistic reign until the following year. With this backdrop, a recording from the 2017 Newport Jazz Festival featuring McBride inevitably reflects a generational shift. In many ways, this recording demarcates the beginning of a new era.

But mere historical significance does not a great record make. Instead, Live at Newport must stand on its own, and it does handily. The core trio of McBride, Questlove (Ahmir Thompson), and Uri Caine recorded the original Philadelphia Experiment (Ropeadope, 2001) album a decade and a half prior. But due to their busy schedules, the three had not reunited much on the bandstand in the ensuing years. Newport marks only their fifth live set as a trio. The passage of time and limited preparation could spell a disaster even for the most skilled artists. But instead, the lessened preparation provides fluidity and looseness to the affair. The artists permit themselves to relax and rely upon what they refer to on the record as “musical coding”; their knowledge of one another and spontaneously respond to one another. In some cases, these “codes” go back far as McBride and Thompson’s high school days.

While those familiar with the original album will find songs from it here, they are more general guidelines than rigid structures. McBride’s funky bass lines seemingly alternate between the influences of Bootsy, Marcus Miller, and Larry Graham, while Questlove’s renowned tight snare hits provide the aesthetic of a hip hop beat with breathing room. DJ Logic, who is not on the 2001 release, brings the party atmosphere to a new level. Caine weaves between ideas, citing various works along the way, everything from James Brown (“Ain’t it Funky Now” and “Living in America”) to Nelly (“Hot in Herre”). The result is a fascinating organic fusing of jazz, funk, R&B, and hip-hop destined to make the listener groove. In this author’s estimation, Live at Newport is the best record from the storied event in a long time. Given the Festival’s history, that’s saying something.

Read my unofficial history of the Newport Jazz Festival here. The series includes a two part interview with Christian McBride from 2021, as well as an interview from 2022.

Here are numbers 11-25:

11. Adam Rudolph and Bennie Maupin, Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef (Strut)

A touching and poignant tribute to Yusef Lateef – by artists who knew him for a long time- that sounds nothing like his music but captures his artistic spirit perfectly.

Read my interview with Rudolph on this recording and more here.

12. The Bogie Band featuring Joe Russo, The Prophets in the City (Royal Potato Family)

The Prophets in the City captures the liveliness that once drew people to big band music but which seemed to be underrepresented in the ensuing decades. The pieces also incorporate various concepts from outside the traditional swing band structure, including Afrobeat and jam music. The group’s membership is impressive, and the songs are memorable and upbeat. I kept returning to this album a lot, often without realizing it.

Check out my two-part conversation with Stuart Bogie here.

13. Sérgio Carolino, Below 0 (Clean Feed)

Below 0 easily wins the contest for the most unusual album on this list, but that lack of familiarity is where its brilliance lies. Carolino is usually found on the tuba; a device already rare in improvised music. He could have satiated his desire to take risks simply by recording the solo album’s lone thirty-four-minute track entirely on tuba. Instead, he chose to be even more daring and feature an instrument of his own creation: the Lusophone. The Frankenstein monster of instruments was born of old parts from some frontal bell tubas used in the 50s and 60s and the concept of the Jazzophon: a saxophone-shaped trumpet with two bells. Carolino’s abandonment of convention, even in terms of instrumentation, produces a fascinating and unpredictable experience.

14. Charles Lloyd, Trios: Sacred Thread (Blue Note)

All three of Lloyd’s trios are worth noting, but this grouping is particularly noteworthy. Zakir Hussain’s tablas emphasize the cross-global exploratory nature of Lloyd’s works, while Julian Lage’s guitar underscores their American folk and rock connections. Lloyd is still making great boundaryless music, as this album attests.

15. Sun Ra Arkestra under the Direction of Marshall Allen, Living Sky (Omni Sound)

Still led by the now 98-year-old Marshall Allen, the Arkestra is as strong as ever despite its founder returning to Saturn nearly thirty years ago. The inclusion of music by Chopin and the Disney theme “Wish Upon a Star” is not only quintessentially Sun Ra but shows how his Arkestra has been trying to escape artistic labels for decades.

You can read my two-part interview from earlier this year with Allen and Arkestra bassist Tyler Mitchell here.

16. Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant, Séances (Pyroclastic)

Seancés is a trance-inducing work possessesing some musical space – all its own- between metal, jazz, and chamber music. The decision to add the “Folie à Quatre” or “Madness for Four” to the already heavy-duty trio was an inspired choice. The album was worth the almost two decade wait since Trio-Convulsant’s last.

Check out my interview with Dunn on this album here.

17. Myra Melford, For the Love of Fire and Water (Rogue Art)

The quintet’s ten movement suite draws inspiration from the drawings of artist Cy Twombly. Twombly’s works from which the group is named consist of colorful lines that appear chaotic to the untrained eye. They are a fitting parallel for the all-star quintet of artists from today’s creative music scene. Melford, Mary Halvorson, Ingrid Laubrock, Tomeka Reid, and Susie Ibarra each stay true to their individualistic voices while forming a collage of vibrancy.

18. Makaya McCraven, In These Times (International Anthem)

McCraven’s last two works have been explorations of Gil Scott-Heron’s final album and the Blue Note catalogue. They provided interesting insight into the drummer-beat scientist’s background, but didn’t seem to match the excellence of Universal Beings (International Anthem, 2018), perhaps, in part, because they put some constraints on the full expression of his artistic voice. The thoughtful orchestrations on In These Times exceed those albums; it may even be his best to date.

19. Ilhan Ersahin, Dave Harrington, Kenny Wolleson- Invite Your Eye (Nublu)

The trio’s first album captures a late night vibe by pulling from funk, electronica, afrobeat, psychedelica, noir film scores, and krautrock. Jazz provides a base but is not a straightjacket. The improvisers have free reign to explore and use it well.

20. Dezron Douglas Quartet, Atalaya (International Anthem)

Douglas’ seventh album for International Anthem finds him with a quartet of artists – George Burton, Joe Dyson Jr., and Emilio Modeste- who have been making fascinating music over the last decade or so but largely have yet to receive the credit they deserve. Together they travel the history of jazz, borrowing elements from each era and finding ways to fuse them into a cohesive whole. It is an exciting work, especially if you have a knowledge of the antecedents from which they mine.

Click here for my interview from 2021 with Dyson on his debut album or here for my review of Burton’s most recent album under his own name. Interview with Douglas coming soon.

21. Jeff Coffin, Between Dreaming and Joy (Ear Up)

Coffin offers a super funky album with the help of a notable cast of guest artists. Between Dreaming and Joy draws not only from the saxophonist’s experiences with the Flecktones and the Dave Matthews Band but also the influences of Charles Lloyd and Hermeto Pascoal, among others. The instrumentation – whether a bungee chair bass or the sound of an ice cream truck- is also quite inventive.

You can read my two-part conversation with Coffin on this album here.

22. Edrix Puzzle, Coming of the Moon Dogs (On the Corner)

I felt this year’s The Comet is Coming (Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam (Impulse!, 2022) was a bit of a letdown. Thankfully, another British group, Edrix Puzzle, was able to fill my need for some psyched out space jazz with their debut. The small band of voyagers- drummer/drum programmer Nathan Curran, (acoustic) bassist Tom Mason, percussionist Oli Savill, violinist Darren Berry, and woodwindist Martin Slattery – build upon the sonic environment cartographed by Hancock’s Mwandishi but chart off in their own direction.

23. Ches Smith with Bill Frisell, Interpret it Well (Pyroclastic)

Smith’s trio with violist Mat Maneri and keyboardist Craig Taborn follow-up their initial work with minimalist compositional structures on The Bell (ECM, 2016) with this nebulous musical jaunt. The addition of the legendary Bill Frisell adds an additional level of atmospheric openness.

Check out my interview with Smith on this record here.

24. The Chicago Experiment, The Chicago Experiment (Ropeadope)

While many of the members of the Greg Spero led septet with Makaya McCraven, Marquis Hill, Jeff Parker, Joel Ross, and Irvin Pierce are no longer in the metropolis, the most recent Ropeadope “Experiment” project underscores the immense amount of talent with Windy City ties. Those well-versed in the city’s musical history will find shadows of electric blues, soul, or the AACM. But the music is approachable enough that even someone who thinks Green Mill is some rural granary can still appreciate it.

You can read my conversation with Spero on this album, NFTs, and other matters here.

25. Erik Friedlander, A Queens’ Firefly (Skipstone)

It was by mere happenstance that Uri Caine would be in the bands at both the top and bottom of my top 25 albums of 2022. Here he trades in funky riffs for heavy swinging. Friedlander leads Caine and the rest of his group, “The Throw”- Mark Helias and Ches Smith- through eight concise, moving, and gorgeous compositions penned by the cellist-leader.

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