Coltrane’s “Lost Album” Is The Best Find Of 2018’s Jazz, Blues Offerings

Courtesy: Verve Records

Jazz and the blues are among the great genres of music to ever grace the world’s airwaves.  From the days of the “chitlin circuit” that featured so many of the greatest blues musicians of all time, to the fusions sounds of Weather Report, Yellowjackets and others to the more modern jazz and blues of Joe Bonamassa and The Jamie Lawrence Sextet, both genres have produced an infinite number of timeless, influential albums and songs.

That is why as with past years, Phil’s Picks is featuring again, a list of the year’s top new jazz and blues albums.  The two genres are being combined as they are invariably connected to one another.  It has not made crafting this year’s list any easier than in year’s past.  Keeping that in mind, there are no bad albums here.

Taking the top spot in this year’s list is the long lost studio recording from John Coltrane, Both Directions at Once.  Up until this year, the recording had been long thought lost to time, and its “resurrection” of sorts this year is welcome.  The arrangements show a unique side of the famed saxophonist and his fellow musicians featured throughout.

Second Place in this years list goes to Yellowjackets’ new album Raising Our Voice.  This record is everything that the jazz outfit’s fans have come to expect with a little something extra thanks to the record’s guest vocalist.

Third Place belongs this year to The Jamie Lawrence Sextet and its debut album New York Suite.  The record’s arrangements throw back to some very interesting influences while also using those influences to generate an identity of their own in the process.

Also featured in this year’s list are new releases from the likes of Joe Bonamassa, The James Hunter Six, The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band and Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite just to name a handful of other acts.

As always, the list features 15 total acts and titles.  The first 10 records are the Top 10, while the five that follow are honorable mention titles.  Without any further ado, here is Phil’s Picks’ 2018 Top 10 New Jazz & Blues Albums.

PHIL’S PICKS 2018 TOP 10 NEW JAZZ & BLUES ALBUMS

1. John Coltrane — Both Directions at Once
2. Yellowjackets — Raising Our Voice
3. The Jamie Lawrence Sextet — New York Suite
4. Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite — No Mercy in This Land
5. Ry Cooder — The Prodigal Son
6. Onyx Collective — Lower East Suite Part Three
7. The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band — Poor Until Payday
8. Joe Bonamassa — Redemption
9. Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa — Black Coffee
10. James Hunter Six — Whatever It Takes
11. Tony Bennett & Diana Krall — Love Is Here To Stay
12. Gary Moore — Blues & Beyond
13. Brian Bromberg — Thicker Than Water
14. Kamaal Williams — The Return
15. Victor Wainright & The Train — Victor Wainright & The Train

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Bonamassa’s New Blues Record Is No Desperate Act From The Veteran Performer

Courtesy J&R Adventures

Phil’s Picks has focused a lot lately on rock and other genres of music in the vastness of the musical universe.  Today, the focus shifts away from those genres to something a little bit less mainstream.  In today’s list, Phil’s Picks presents the year’s best new Jazz and blues records.  This year’s list presents a wide variety of acts, from more well-known acts such as The Rolling Stones, Joe Bonamassa and Yellowjackets to perhaps lesser known, but still talented acts such as Hazmat Modine, Takuya Kuroda and others.  It wasn’t an easy list to work up, either.  That’s because there was so much great material out there this year.  Combining jazz and blues into one list didn’t make things any easier.  But it got done.

As with every other list, the Top 10 New Jazz and Blues Albums features the year’s top 10 new jazz and blues albums.  It also includes five honorable mention titles for a total count of 15 albums.  That is not to take away anything from those honorable mention titles.  They are enjoyable in their own right and deserved to be noted, too.  Enough rambling.  Here, for everyone’s consideration, is Phil’s Picks’ 2016 Top 10 New Jazz and Blues Albums.

 

PHIL’S PICKS 2016 TOP 10 NEW JAZZ AND BLUES ALBUMS

 

1. Joe Bonamassa – Blues of Desperation

 

2. Yellowjackets – Cohearance

 

3. Joseph C. Smith Orchestra – Songs of the Night

 

4. John Coletrane – Trane 90

 

5. The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome

 

6. James Hunter Six – Hold On!

 

7. Takuya Kuroda – Ziggerzagger

 

8. Fela Ransom Kuti & His Koola Lubites – High Life: Jazz & Afro Soul (’63 – ’69)

 

9. Gregory Porter – Take Me To The Alley

 

10. Quinn Sullivan – Midnight Highway

 

11. Charles Lloyd & The Marvels – I Long To See You

 

12. Logan Richardson – Shift

 

13. Hazmat Modine – Extra – Deluxe – Supreme

 

14. Keely Smith – The Intimate Keely Smith

 

15. Jazz Haunts & Magic Vaults – The New Lost Classics of Resonance

 

 

 

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