The nominees are:
- James Farm (Nonesuch). James Farm is a two-year-old group consisting of saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland. They first played together at the 2009 Monterrey Jazz Festival, and this, their debut album, "not only confirms the group's egalitarian nature, but positions this über-quartet of established and rising stars as a clear force with which to be reckoned," according to critic James Kelman. Reviewer Ian Mann adds that James Farm is "a wonderfully inventive album that draws on all of the groups various influences (jazz, rock,hip hop, film music etc.) but roots them firmly within an acoustic jazz context." (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
- Keith Jarrett, Rio (ECM). Jarrett, called "one of the most significant pianists to emerge since the 1960s" by critic Scott Yanow, recorded these solo piano improvisations live in Rio de Janeiro in April 2011. Jarrett felt that this was his best performance in years, and reviewer John Fordham agrees, calling it "Jarrett at his most exuberant." Reviewer Thom Jurek states that "After one listen, it becomes obvious Rio is indeed very special [and] is therefore the new standard by which the pianist's future solo recordings will be judged ..." (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
- Christian McBride's Big Band, The Good Feeling (Mack Avenue Records). Bassist McBride's Big Band has been called "one of the most intoxicating, least predictable bands on the scene today," and this album marks the group's recording debut. Critic Dan Bilawsky says that the album features "McBride at the top of his game" and that "like its creator, [the album] is steeped in tradition while remaining tapped into what's current and exciting in jazz today." Reviewer Nick DeRiso adds that The Good Feeling is "challenging, forward-looking big band music." (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
- Sonny Rollins, Road Shows, Vol. 2 (Doxy Records). The seemingly ageless Sonny Rollins has won numerous awards, including Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts, two Grammies, and induction into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. Road Shows, Vol. 2 contains music from Rollins's 80th birthday concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York in September 2010 along with two tunes recorded less than a month later in Japan. The album features guest stars Ornette Coleman, Roy Hargrove, Jim Hall, Christian McBride, and Roy Haynes, among others, but as reviewer Thomas Conrad notes, "the player here with the most ideas, the most muscle, the most stamina, the most juice, is Sonny Rollins." (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
- Wadada Leo Smith's Organic, Heart's Reflections (Cuneiform Records). Mississippi-born Smith is a trumpeter and composer who has won three National Endowment for the Arts grants, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship, and an NEA recording grant. This album represents his 14-piece ensemble Organic's first set of studio recordings and was called by reviewer Phil Freeman "a masterwork by one of the great heroes of American avant-garde jazz." Critic Ivan Hewett adds that Smith's "sound has tremendous emotional weight, as if a seer is speaking wordless messages, and he can hold a long burnished note over seemingly endless stretches of time." (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
- Craig Taborn, Avenging Angel (ECM). This album is the first unaccompanied solo recording by keyboardist and composer Taborn, who has made over 100 recordings as a side man or co-leader but few under his own name. Critic John Kelman calls the album "a masterpiece of invention and evocation that places Taborn squarely amongst those other esteemed pianists who've contributed to ECM's pantheon of significant solo recordings." Reviewer Thom Jurek adds that it "is a major contribution to the actual language of the piano as an improvisational instrument: its 13 pieces feel like a suite: seamless, economical, original, and visionary." (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
- Miguel Zenón, Alma Adentro – The Puerto Rican Songbook (Marsalis Music). Puerto Rican native Zenón is an alto saxophonist, composer, and bandleader who has received multiple Grammy Nominee as well as Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships. In this album, he arranges and explores the music of five legendary Puerto Rican composers: Bobby Capó, Tite Curet Alonso, Pedro Flores, Rafael Hernández, and Sylvia Rexach. The album has already been selected as the Best Jazz Recording of 2011 by iTunes and NPR and was Nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. As critic Dan Bilawsky notes, "this album is about bringing Zenon's voice and originality into new arrangements of classic songs from his native country" and is "is another conceptual landmark and musical milestone in his already-impressive discography." (Purchase at Amazon.com.)
Robert
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