Music Year 2024

Of course, it's too early for a year-end list. But as the proto-fascist organization of my youth insisted, one should always be prepared. For records in hand, * identifies an advance copy, ** something borrowed or streamed. Some albums released in previous years are included here, noted by a "-NN" (e.g., -23 for 2023) -- these are mostly imports or self-releases, often hard to figure out official dates, but they were either December 2020 releases or unknown (to me, at least) before the current year.

I keep adding to the 2023 until the end of calendar 2024, especially where the record was known to exist in 2023 and I'm just getting around to it.

New Records

Records in hand, but which haven't yet been graded (sorted by artist, or release date if future). Those marked ** are downloads in hand.

• Andy Haas: For the Time, Being (Resonant Music) []
• Laird Jackson: Life (self-released) []
• Pony Boy All-Star Big Band: This Is Now: Live at Boxley's (Pony Boy) [08-09]
• Shawneci Icecold/Vernon Reid/Matthew Garrison & Grant Calvin Weston: Future Prime (Underground45) [09-01]
• Michael McNeill: Barcode Poetry (Infrasonic Press) [10-01]
• The Attic & Eve Risser: La Grande Crue (NoBusiness) [10-04]
• Joel Futterman: Innervoice (NoBusiness) [10-04]
• Mavis Pan: Rising (self-released) [10-04]
• William Parker/Hugo Costa/Philipp Emsting: Pulsar (NoBusiness) [10-04]
• Jason Anick/Jason Yeager: Sanctuary (Sunnyside) [10-11]
• David Bailis: Tree of Life (Create or Destroy) [10-11]
• Dharma Down: Owl Dreams (Dharma Down) [10-11]
• Yuka Mito: How Deep Is the Ocean (Nana Notes) [10-11]
• Tyshawn Sorey Trio: The Suspectible Now (Pi) [10-11]
• Brandon Seabrook: Object of Unknown Function (Pyroclastic) [10-18]
• Randy Ingram: Aries Dance (Sounderscore) [10-18]
• Ryan Keberle & Catharsis: Music Is Connection (Alternate Side) [10-18]
• Nacka Forum: Peaceful Piano (Moserobie) [10-18]
• Kevin Sun: Quartets (Endectomorph Music, 2CD) [10-18]
• Ashtyn Barbaree: Sent Through the Ceiling (Artists 3 60) [10-25]
• T.K. Blue: Planet Bluu (Jaja) [10-25]
• Rich Halley 4: Dusk and Dawn (Pine Eagle) [10-25]
• Jason Keiser: Kind of Kenny (OA2) [10-25]
• Brian Lynch: 7X7BY7 (Holistic MusicWorks) [10-25]
• Western Jazz Collective: The Music of Andrew Rathbun (Origin) [10-25]
• Andy Wheelock/Whee 3 Trio: In the Wheelhouse (OA2) [10-25]
• Rebecca Kilgore: A Little Taste: A Tribute to Dave Frishberg (Cherry Pie Music) [10-28]
• Caleb Wheeler Curtis: The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Imani, 2CD) [11-01]
• Peter Lenz: Breathe: Music for Large Ensembles (GambsART) [11-08]
• Joe Fonda Quartet: Eyes on the Horizon (Long Song) [11-15]
• Hayoung Lyou: The Myth of Katabasis (Endectomorph Music) [11-15]
• Sara Serpa: Encounters & Collisions (Biophilia) [11-15]
• Spinifex: Undrilling the Hole (TryTone) [11-22]

Also Noted:

Records in hand, graded B+ or below, in alphabetical order within grade slots:

Limited sampling: Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect.

Reissues/Compilations/Vault Music:

In previous years I tried to separate reissues from compilations, including newly released vault items in the latter. This made sense when I was reviewing a lot of Recycled Goods material, but led to other problems with year-end lists, so anything containing any previously released material is collected here, and anything that is wholly previously unreleased is treated as new, above.

Pending

Records in hand, sorted by artist, or release date if future. Those marked ** are downloads in hand.

• Arthur Blythe Quartet: Live From Studio Rivbea: July 6, 1976 (NoBusiness) [10-04]
• Terry Gibbs Dream Band: Vol. 7: The Lost Tapes, 1959 (1959 [2024], Whaling City Sound) [10-11]
• Andrew Hill: A Beautiful Day Revisited (2002, Palmetto, 2CD) [11-01]
• Bill Evans: In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert (1970, Elemental Music, 2CD) [11-29]
• B.B. King: In France: Live at the 1977 Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival (Deep Digs/Elemental Music) [11-29]
• Emily Remler: Cookin' at the Queens (1984-88, Resonance, 2CD) [11-29]
• Sun Ra: Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank (1978, Resonance, 2CD) [11-29]

Also Noted: