Lists

2025 was a year of great growth for our site. In addition to Brian Kiwanuka and John Chacona’s reviews, friend turned staff writer Jim Hynes, joined us in a big way. That includes his review of the Big Ears Festival, an event I  have long wanted to attend, but for which the timing never seems… Read more: EIC Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Albums of 2025

Deeming any album the “best” of a given year is inherently fraught with problems. First, there are the logistical issues. Generally, thousands of recordings are released annually. Given that a year has only 8,760 hours, it is logistically impossible to listen to everything. Often, classifications can help limit the scope. Focusing on only the “best… Read more: PostGenre’s Best of 2025

[Editor’s Note: We are excited to have Anthony Dean-Harris join us again for our year-end lists. Anthony is a longtime friend to the site, a Downbeat contributor, and the former Editor-in-Chief of Nextbop back when that site was both enjoyable and relevant. He’s also a great broadcaster. After many years at KTRU in San Antonio,… Read more: Anthony Dean-Harris’ Favorite Albums of 2024

In pieces reviewing a year past, writers often try to find a few narratives and blanketly apply them. The problem with this approach, however. While providing some coherence, such simplification completely overlooks much of what happened that year. One can posit how, through albums like Mary Halvorson’s ‘Cloudward’ or David Murray’s ‘Francesca’,  avant-garde music was… Read more: Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Albums of 2024

The albums we collectively felt were the best of 2024 (technically from Thanksgiving 2023 to Thanksgiving 2024) show a beautiful range of diverse voices. I don’t think any of us consciously chose our albums based on identifiers like race, gender, or nationality. The fact it is replete with musicians from around the globe – from… Read more: PostGenre’s Best of 2024

Below are the albums we collectively felt were the best of 2023 (technically from Thanksgiving 2022 to Thanksgiving 2023). Ties are ordered alphabetically by the leader’s last name. Following the list are honorable mentions; recordings multiple members of our small group thought worthy of merit but did not make the top ten. One trend that… Read more: PostGenre’s Best of 2023

In terms of my music writing, 2023 started off frustratingly with a few interviews that fell through and one that took place but ultimately exploded in my face.  However, the year ended very strongly. During 2023, I produced several album reviews and released thirty-two interviews, with many more done but yet to be released.   Many… Read more: Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Albums of 2023

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… Read more: Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Albums of 2022

From the mixes of a beat scientist to a double work with a string quartet, our team’s selections for the best albums of 2022 reflect the vibrancy of the contemporary improvised music scene. Some works pull your heartstrings, others are incredibly cerebral, yet others are super funky and make you want to groove. In many… Read more: PostGenre’s Best of 2022

In some ways, 2021 can be seen as a return of music. In reality, through live-stream and various recordings, music continued to be created the year before. But 2021 felt like- to steal a subtitle of one of the albums on my top ten list- a freeing out of our constrictions. Certainly, live music returned.… Read more: Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Albums of 2021

[Editor’s Note: We are excited to have Anthony Dean-Harris join us again for our year-end lists to share his 25 favorite “jazz” albums and 10 “other” albums of 2021. Anthony is a skilled writer whose credits include being a contributor to Downbeat and serving as the former Editor-in-Chief of Nextbop. He is also an accomplished… Read more: Anthony Dean-Harris’ Favorite Albums of 2021

Immediately following the year that artificially paused many releases, in 2021, the floodgates broke loose. It was nearly impossible to keep track of all recordings released between this Thanksgiving and the prior one. And, even ignoring this, the quality and volume made it especially difficult to rank even the ones you did notice. Consider even… Read more: PostGenre’s Best of 2021

Remember the old “Saturday Night Live” parody of the “60 Minutes” Point/Counterpoint debate, the one remembered for the line “Jane, you ignorant slut”? Things didn’t get that heated on the December 3, 2021, edition of WBGO’s excellent “Jazz United” podcast, but co-hosts Nate Chinen and Greg Bryant revealed a definite difference of opinion in their… Read more: An Alternative Holiday Playlist

After a year canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the historic Newport Jazz Festival has announced it will be presenting the 2021 Festival at its home for the past four decades, Fort Adams State Park. To ensure safety, however, it will be scaled back from its usual scope. Four stages will be reduced to two, and… Read more: Five Genre-Defying Selections from the Newport Jazz Festival’s 2021 Lineup

Here it is, a “Best Of” list for the worst of years. Alright, that’s a bit jokey; the fact is that 2020 produced an extraordinary efflorescence of great music. Lilacs out of the dead land of pandemic-ravaged, polarized America. This list was culled from a larger list of superb recordings, 20 of them in all.… Read more: John Chacona’s Best 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/.]… Read more: Anthony Dean-Harris’ Best “Jazz” Albums of 2020

Historians will probably remember 2020 primarily for the COVID pandemic, movements for racial justice, and lots and lots of politics. While all of that is true, to me it will also mark the creation of this site. Postgenre was born on February 20, 2020, less than a month before state and local governments would begin… Read more: The Editor’s Reflections on a Crazy Year and his Best of 2020

For nearly everyone, 2020 has been a time of difficulty. A pandemic. Intense political uncertainty. Murder hornets (?). It has not been an easy twelve months. To help cope, many look to the artist to provide an escape from their current circumstances. Fortunately, we are in the midst of a creative quasi-renaissance in which musicians… Read more: PostGenre’s Best of 2020

As the PostGenre Team is working on their list(s) of Favorites from 2020, here is a flashback to Brian Kiwanuka’s 2019 list. This list originally appeared at Nextbop. 10. Brandee Younger – Soul Awakening (Self Release) The harp is a spellbinding instrument and throughout Soul Awakening Brandee Younger is a sorceress. The harpist’s playing is… Read more: Brian Kiwanuka’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2019

As the PostGenre Team is working on their list(s) of Favorites from 2020, here is a flashback to Rob Shepherd’s 2019 list. This list originally appeared at Nextbop. ————————————————————————————————————-Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from 2019 is the number of artists adapting music from the past into something new. Many of the past year’s releases have… Read more: Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2019

On August 29, 1920, Charles Parker Jr. was born in a home at 852 Freeman Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas. The name of the street was also fortuitous as he would be the one to free music from its confines to a higher plane of expression. Despite living only a short thirty-four years, Parker established himself… Read more: Five Non-Traditional Tributes to Charlie Parker

The historic Newport Jazz Festival has released a list of 36, out of approximately 60, groups which will appear across its four stages at Fort Adams this summer. As the first modern music festival, one may mistakenly assume that most of the acts reflect a more traditional view of jazz. While some masters of this… Read more: Five Genre-Defying Selections from the Newport Jazz Festival’s First Wave of 2020 Performers

Editorial Note: Although PostGenre is the home of more than just “jazz” music, much of “jazz” consists of an amalgamation of various styles and approaches to music. This list, a republication of one that appeared on Nextbop on December 24, 2019, particularly shows the eclecticism of much of today’s “jazz.” Practically none of the ten… Read more: Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Jazz Albums: 2009-2019