{"id":561,"date":"2019-12-24T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-25T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=561"},"modified":"2020-11-09T15:46:14","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T21:46:14","slug":"rob-shepherds-favorite-jazz-albums-of-the-2010s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/rob-shepherds-favorite-jazz-albums-of-the-2010s\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Jazz Albums: 2009-2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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<\/a>, particularly shows the eclecticism of much of today’s “jazz.” Practically none of the ten sit comfortably within a specific box. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Compiling a list of the greatest works of the last ten years is an inherently difficult proposition. The first complication lies in the fact that so many of my musical memories from the last decade are tied to recordings released prior to the period. Some of my best memories include the Charlie Parker song from 1950 that played at my wedding, the New Year\u2019s Eve I first stumbled upon Duke Ellington\u2019s 1960 version of Tchaikovsky\u2019s Nutcracker Suite<\/em>, or when I first extensively studied Miles Davis\u2019 1970s music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second difficulty lies in the fact that jazz is undergoing a Renaissance. Although not financially, jazz is arguably at its strongest creatively since 1959. This has occurred both within the genre itself, as well as in how it approaches other musical forms. It is fitting, then, that only a portion of the story of jazz during the decade is told by \u201cjazz\u201d albums as strictly defined. Indeed, the three best \u201cjazz\u201d recordings from 2009 to 2019 were not technically within the genre at all \u2013 Kendrick Lamar\u2019s To Pimp a Butterfly<\/em> (Top Dawg\/Aftermath\/Interscope, 2015), followed by Flying Lotus\u2019 You\u2019re Dead!<\/em> (Warp Records, 2014) and Thundercat\u2019s Drunk<\/em> (Brainfeeder, 2017). Even within the genre itself, both the quantity and quality of output has been unparalleled. So, although the list below is limited in number to ten titles, also included are additional recommendations of those that were close contenders and have some connection \u2013 obvious or otherwise \u2013 with the ones selected. -Rob Shepherd<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Robert Glasper Experiment \u2013 Black Radio<\/em>, 2012 (Blue Note)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight, it is quite easy to minimize the impact Black Radio<\/em>had in 2012 and continues to hold. Pianist Robert Glasper was hardly the first to meld jazz with R&B or Hip Hop. The former had been trending since the late 1960s and the latter since the late 1980s. However, Black Radio<\/em> in many ways prominently ushered in a new area of these types of fusion, an area upon which those in the Experiment \u2013 Glasper, bassist Derrick Hodge<\/a>, drummer Chris Dave, woodwind player Casey Benjamin<\/a>, turntablist Jahi Sundance<\/a> \u2013 and countless others outside of the core band have only further continued to develop. In many ways, much of the jazz-hip-hop hybrids which permeated the 2010s are connected to the RGE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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