Night Lights Best of 2009, Music Edition

On the heels of this week’s show (devoted exclusively to reissues and historical releases) here are ten artists and/or labels and anthologies, presented in alphabetical order:

Darcy James Argue, Infernal Machines. From the opening minute of “Phobos” on, we know we’re in the presence of a composer and arranger who digs both Radiohead and Gil Evans. (And Evans himself was no stranger to mixing rock influences with big band.) But Argue’s approach is no marketing gimmick; it’s an attempt to extend the work of mentors like Bob Brookmeyer while at the same time acknowledging the value, pleasure, and organic effect of the alternative-music culture in which many of us have grown up.

Josh Berman, Old Idea. Another bright light from the seemingly-inexhaustible Chicago jazz scene. Berman’s cornet influences range from Bill Dixon to Ruby Braff, and I hear a fair amount of Don Cherry in his groupthink on this album, where vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz adds a moody, early-60s Bobby Hutcherson feel to the proceedings. Berman’s Chi-town running mate saxophonist Keefe Jackson provides deceptively quiet fire as well.

Von Freeman, Vonski Speaks. The senior Chicago generation checks in with this 2002 concert date that finds tenor saxophonist Von Freeman once again unspooling long lines of improvisation steeped in old-school mastery; we should all hope to do anything as well at the age of 80+ as Mr. Freeman does playing saxophone. “Darn That Dream” is a ballad tour de force for the bittersweet bite of his sound.

Melody Gardot, My One and Only Thrill. An updated take on Julie London/Jeri Southern/Sinatra’s torch-jazz albums of the 1950s, but there’s more than one thrill here; Gardot writes her own songs, which are strong enough to stand up to the beautifully-brooding, subtle strings and settings provided by producer Larry Klein.

Freddie Hubbard, Without a Song: Live in Europe 1969. The trumpeter helped put this concert compilation together not long before his death, drawn from several quartet dates with a killer rhythm section of pianist Roland Hanna, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Louis Hayes. Full of relaxed intensity, the 31-year-old Hubbard sails through five standards and two originals at the peak of his powers.

Vijay Iyer, Historicity. Yes, yes, it’s on everybody’s best-of list (just like Infernal Machines), but sometimes the conventional wisdom’s right, dammit. Iyer’s joyously percussive lyricism and his trio’s fluid snap catch the vibe of jazz in the Information Age. Plus this record makes me smile simply on the basis of reviving Andrew Hill’s “Smoke Stack” alone.

Various artists, Spiritual Jazz: Esoteric, Modal + Deep Jazz From the Underground 1968-77. Overlooked gem of the year in this programmer’s humble opinion–an extensively documented anthology of the immediate post-Coltrane landscape in American underground jazz in the 1970s, and yet more evidence (if we needed any more) of that decade’s jazz fertility. If you’re at all into Sun Ra and/or grooving collective jazz, check this one out.

The Mosaic label. The Rolls-Royce of jazz reissue labels delved deep into the swing era this past year with Louis Armstrong and Artie Shaw collections and also put out a treasure trove of previously-unreleased 1950s small-group Bing Crosby recordings. Smaller 3-CD sets chronicled the mid-1960s modernist doings of pianist Denny Zeitlin and saxophonist John Handy.

The Nessa label. Where to start? Chuck Nessa, the godfather of avant-garde jazz producers, was busy this past year, reissuing fantastic titles by Charles Tyler, Wadada Leo Smith, Bobby Bradford and John Stevens, Lester Bowie, and Roscoe Mitchell. All of it great music made by artists of great integrity, and jazz fans everywhere are in Mr. Nessa’s debt for first recording it, then making it available again (a true labor of love, believe me).

The Uptown label. Another label with several strong releases this past year, following their standard pattern of digging up broadcasts and live dates that often highlight some of the music’s most perennially underrated performers. Saxophonist Lucky Thompson, lost-legend trumpeter Dupree Bolton, and Kenny Dorham (in his early-1960s incarnation with Joe Henderson, no less) all received superlative new entries in their hardbop discographies in 2009 via Uptown.

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