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Mike Jurkovic's Best Recordings of 2021

By Mike Jurkovic
December 8, 2021
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Once again we give thanks to the artists that kept us real. Kept us sane. Kept us from going off the rails like the whole rest of the reality around us. Fortunately there was so much more than this. Here is the music that hit in a big way and that stays foremost on the radar. No particular order mind you, just the music that inspired a way past the national exhaustion.

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane
A Love Supreme -Live In Seattle
Impulse! Records

Joni Mitchell

vocals
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Joni Mitchell
Archives: Volume 2 The Reprise Years (1968-1971)
Rhino

Veronica Swift

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Veronica Swift
This Bitter Earth
Mack Avenue Records

Art Blakey

drums
1919 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Blakey
First Flight To Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings
Blue Note Records

Orrin Evans

piano
b.1975

" data-original-title="" title="">Orrin Evans
The Magic of Now
Smoke Sessions Records

Charles Lloyd

saxophone
b.1938

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Lloyd
Tone Poem
Blue Note Records

Christian McBride

bass
b.1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Christian McBride
Christian McBride & Inside Straight Live at the Village Vanguard
Mack Avenue Records

Vijay Iyer

piano
b.1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Vijay Iyer
Uneasy
ECM

Chick Corea

piano
1941 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Chick Corea
Live
Concord Music Group

Renee Rosnes

piano
b.1962

" data-original-title="" title="">Renee Rosnes
Kinds of Love
Smoke Sessions Records

Jihye Lee

composer / conductor

" data-original-title="" title="">Jihye Lee
Daring Mind
Motmema Records

Zacc Harris

guitar
b.1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Zacc Harris Group
Small Wonders
Shifting Paradigm Records

Rachel Eckroth

piano and vocals
b.1976

" data-original-title="" title="">Rachel Eckroth
The Garden
Rainy Day Records

Shai Maestro

piano
b.1987

" data-original-title="" title="">Shai Maestro
Human
ECM

Emmet Cohen

piano
b.1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Emmet Cohen
Future Stride
Mack Avenue Records

Carlos Henriquez

bass
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Carlos Henriquez
The South Bronx Story
Tiger Turn

Lisa Hilton

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Lisa Hilton
Transparent Sky
Ruby Slippers Productions

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