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Dan Bilawsky's Best Releases Of 2013

By Dan Bilawsky
December 12, 2013
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The annual rite of writing a "best of" list at All About Jazz is a most pleasurable and difficult task; pleasurable for the reflections on great art that come along with the task and difficult because of the need to make hard choices. I've been inspired by dozens of new jazz recordings this year, but I've whittled down the list to these eighteen albums. This year's list includes perennial favorites, critically acclaimed giants, oft-unheralded veterans, up-and-comers, virtual unknowns and more. As per usual, only albums that I reviewed at All About Jazz were up for consideration (Note: these albums are not ranked in order of preference):

Dave Holland bass b.1946 " data-original-title="" title="">Dave Holland Prism (Dare2 Records)	Tierney Sutton vocals b.1963 " data-original-title="" title="">Tierney Sutton After Blue (BFM Jazz)	Alexis Cuadrado bass b.1971 " data-original-title="" title="">Alexis Cuadrado A Lorca Soundscape (Sunnyside)
Nicky Schrire vocals " data-original-title="" title="">Nicky Schrire Space And TIme (Magenta Label Group)	Fred Hersch piano b.1955 " data-original-title="" title="">Fred Hersch and Julian Lage guitar, electric " data-original-title="" title="">Julian Lage Free Flying (Palmetto Records)	Dick Hyman piano b.1927 " data-original-title="" title="">Dick Hyman & Ken Peplowski woodwinds b.1959 " data-original-title="" title="">Ken Peplowski ...Live At The Kitano (Victoria)
Frank Wess saxophone, tenor 1922 - 2013 " data-original-title="" title="">Frank Wess Magic 101 (IPO Recordings)	David Ake Bridges (Posi-Tone Records)	Jim Snidero saxophone, alto b.1958 " data-original-title="" title="">Jim Snidero Stream Of Consciousness (Savant Records)
Ryan Keberle trombone b.1980 " data-original-title="" title="">Ryan Keberle + Catharsis Music Is Emotion (Alternate Side Records)	Marc Cary piano " data-original-title="" title="">Marc Cary For The Love Of Abbey (Mot��ma Music)	Kait Dunton piano b.1983 " data-original-title="" title="">Kait Dunton Mountain Suite (Self Produced)
Heather Masse " data-original-title="" title="">Heather Masse and Dick Hyman piano b.1927 " data-original-title="" title="">Dick Hyman Lock My Heart (Red House)	Asuka Kakitani Jazz Orchestra band / ensemble / orchestra " data-original-title="" title="">Asuka Kakitani Jazz Orchestra Bloom (19/8)	Nilson Matta bass, acoustic b.1949 " data-original-title="" title="">Nilson Matta Nilson Matta's Black Orpheus (Motema Music)
Tommy Flanagan piano 1930 - 2001 " data-original-title="" title="">Tommy Flanagan / Jaki Byard piano 1922 - 1999 " data-original-title="" title="">Jaki Byard The Magic Of 2 (Resonance Records)	Duduka Da Fonseca drums " data-original-title="" title="">Duduka Da Fonseca Trio New Samba Jazz Directions (Zoho Music)	3 Cohens band / ensemble / orchestra " data-original-title="" title="">3 Cohens Tightrope (Anzic Records)

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