No One Asked By Opinion, But…

Favorite CDs of 2011
By George W. Harris

If you noticed, I titled this section “Favorite,” not “Best” cds for the year. Who can really objectively say what is the “best” of anything? One man’s dementia is another one’s vision. All I can let you in on is what releases I have kept coming back to over and over again. Sure, Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz is an important disc, but how many times are you REALLY going to listen to it?

With that in mind, here are the releases of 2011 that I kept coming back to.

New
1. Les Doigts de l’Homme; 1910; Alma Records
2. Jane Bunnett & Hilario Duran; Cuban Rhapsody; Alma Records
3. Karrin Allyson; ‘Round Midnight; Concord Records
4. The Tierney Sutton Band; America Road; BFM Records
5. Rudresh Mahanthappa; Samdhi; Act Records
6. Miguel Zenon; Alma Adentro; Marsalis Music
7. Lalo Schifrin; Invocations; Aleph Records
8. Richie Kaye; Richie Kaye’s Music and Mirth; Classic American Jazz
9. Herb Geller & Charlie Mariano: Halle Opera House; Hep Jazz
10. Houston Person; So Nice; High Note Records

Reissue/Historical:

1.Al Viola; Guitars, Volume 1 & 2; Fresh Sound Records
2.The Boswell Sisters; The Boswelll Sisters Collection; Storyville
Records
3.Miles Davis Quintet; Best of The Bootleg Vol. 1: Live In Europe;
Columbia/Legacy
4. Johnny Cash: Bootleg Vol III; Live Around The World; Columbia Legacy
5. Charlie Christian; Electric; Uptown Records
6. Gigi Gryce; Doin’ The Gigi; Uptown Records
7. Stan Getz; Quintets: The Clef and Norgram Studio Albums;
Hip-Oselect/Mosaic Records
8. Wes Montgomery; Movin’: The Complete Verve Recordings; Hip-Oselect
9. Duke Ellington and his Orchestra; At The Crystal Gardens, Salem,
Oregon, 1952; Hep Jazz Records
10. Various Artists like George Benson, Stanley Turrentine and Freddie Hubbard; California Concert: Hollywood Palladium; CTI Masterworks