My list began in March when I joined the All About Jazz staff. Over the ten months, I have had the wonderful opportunity to sample and listen to in depth, a wealth of great new music, running the gamut of styles now found under the jazz umbrella. My choices are releases I've listened to many times in preparation for my review or that I found compelling. We all have our musical preferences and biases borne out of a lifetime of jazz appreciation. However, I have been pleasantly surprised at many artists and sounds I had previously missed out on during an extended gap in listening to much new music in the 21st century.

The list ranges from hard-driving bop to a pair of lovely duos. There are also several mainstream bop and adventurous post-bop releases, a few small group recordings, a vocalist and the New Orleans-infused jazz styling of Dr. John that made the final cut. This is an exciting time for jazz recordings with the advent of the smaller independent labels releasing an incredible amount of new music by artists both well-known and those below the radar. So much music, so little time...