Here are my 50 favourite jazz CDs of 2011. Most were reviewed on this site and/or in The Birmingham Post, all are new releases and most are jazz. With each there is a link to a website where you can find out more and maybe even buy them. Most will be available from iTunes or Amazon or similar, though it pleases all of us who still value the traditional record shop if you attempt to buy them from a real human being behind a real counter. As usual, thejazzbreakfast’s record shop of choice is Polar Bear in York Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, UK (See IN THE SPEAKERS for more details).  I must stress that I don’t make any claims that these were the best jazz CDs to be released in 2011; they are just the ones I liked the best.

50 Denys Baptiste Identity By Subtraction (Dune): The saxophonist is not exactly prolific – this is his fourth disc in 11 years – but there is always a feeling that his music has benefitted from the long gestation period. It’s thoughtful, rich and has some real personality and depth. There is a timeless quality about the compositions which I rather like. Mainly Baptiste plays tenor with a smooth, dry tone suited to his quietly intense improvisations. They are full of melodic and rhythmic freshness, and the band, especially Andrew McCormack, provides strong support. For more go here.

49 Jacqui Dankworth It Happens Quietly (Specific Jazz): The first words you hear on this CD are those of Jacqui’s father, the late Sir John, counting the orchestra in. It’s the perfect start to an intimate family affair, with John writing the arrangements and playing alto saxophone, and brother Alec in on bass. The songs are classic jazz standards, from A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square through to The Folks Who Live On The Hill, and Jacqui sings them superbly. She has a great sound, perfect timing and the ability to add just the right nuances and decoration without ever getting frilly or self-indulgent. She is obviously a firm believer that the song is the thing and a singer does her job well if she draws attention to that rather than to herself. For more go here.

48 Corea, Clarke & White Forever (Concord): In the 1970s Return To Forever became in some ways the most bloated of jazz-fusion bands. With Forever, the band’s three core players are back in stripped down, acoustic fashion. Gone are the banks of keys, gone is the huge drum kit – here we have Chick Corea at the grand piano, Stanley Clarke at the double bass and Lenny White behind a small jazz drum kit. Disc one was recorded over a 2009 world tour and comprises jazz standards like On Green Dolphin Street and Waltz For Debby as well as Corea classics like No Mystery and Senor Mouse. Disc two is rehearsal sessions with guests. For more go here.

47 John Scofield A Moment’s Peace (Emarcy): This disc, a quartet affair with Larry Goldings on piano and organ, Scott Colley on bass and Brian Blade on drums, can be placed in the side of the scales marked delight. It’s a pretty set of gentle tunes, both original compositions and covers of others both well-known and slightly more obscure. They tunes we are used to hearing sung, and there is a happy logic to this, because if any guitarist can almost vocalise his instrument it is Scofield. Hear him on Lennon/McCartney’s I Will or Abbey Lincoln’s Throw It Away and you can virtually hear the lyrics. Goldings is an especial credit to the whole for his ability on both keyboard instruments. For more go here.

46 Ma The Last (Loop Records): This quartet is made up of leader and saxophonist Tom Challenger, drummer Dave Smith, organist Ross Stanley and electronic manipulator Matt Calvert. While the band and Challenger’s writing shares that rock/trance/industrial trend that many young British groups are finding attractive, it doesn’t really sound like those other bands. The most crucial participant here is Calvert, who provides some deeply dubby bass lines but also envelops the whole thing in a large and dark, echoey soundscape. The range and richness of the textures/atmospheres/grooves makes Ma, for me, the most interesting band working in this field, and supplanting Trio VD in that spot. For more go here.

45 Julian Lage Gladwell (Emarcy): The second release from this young and most interesting guitarist has really developed the sound and style of his first album, Sounding Point. While that album risked falling into that debut album showcase syndrome, this time around Lage eschews the celebrity guests to thoroughly explore the talents of his own touring band. He also brings his wide range of influences – jazz, Americana, bluegrass – into a much more cohesive whole. And his music now really does sound thoroughly personal and original, with an appeal that should extend beyond the jazz field. For more go here.

44 Neil Yates Five Countries (Edition Records): Trumpeter Neil Yates has straddled the jazz and folk genres for a while now. Here he works with Romanian acoustic guitarist Zsolt Bende and Irish bodhran player Cormac Byrne, and the results are truly lovely, taking inspiration from the music and landscape of Scotland, Ireland, Romania and elsewhere. This is gentle, warm music with loads of space in it, in which Yates can trill and skirl his decorations on the track Snowdonia/Sail The Sky, and the band can explore some flamenco sketches on Izabella’s Dream. Imagine the views from all the country cottages of your dreams, translated into music. For more go here.

43 Seamus Blake Quintet Live At Smalls (Smalls Live): This disc features a pretty experienced crew, including Dave Kikoski on piano and Bill Stewart on drums, with Lage Lund on guitar and Matt Clohesy on bass. With the exception of the standard Stranger In Paradise, all the tunes are Blake originals, and the mood, down in that terrific little Greenwich basement with Louis Armstrong looking on imperiously from behind the bandstand, is luxuriously relaxed. It has that slight rough-round-the-edges feel of a genuine Village night and musicians at ease, just having a ball. The next best thing to being there. For more go here.

42 The New Gary Burton Quartet Common Ground (Mack Avenue): The four-mallet vibraharpist has always shown an ear for a young guitarist with potential. After all, Burton band alumni include Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Kurt Rosenwinkel. But his earliest guitar signing has to be the teenage Julian Lage, who’s older now and back for this one. The interlinking of all four instruments is fascinating, and even when one of them is soloing, one never feels they are stepping out from the quartet, merely leading the mood for a while. Burton has always had this lovely countryish (though not country & western), wide open spaces feel to his music. For more go here.

41 Paolo Fresu Mistico Mediterraneo (ECM): Sardinian-born trumpeter Paolo Fresu has developed a distinctive and individual style. On the nearby island of Corsica an all-male group called A Filetta has been developing an ancient vocal music with both respect for the tradition and a new vitality. Add the bandoneon of Daniele de Bonaventura and the result is a strikingly original disc.  A song cycle that intersperses the sometimes strident, sometimes lush vocal septet with rich and gracious trumpet. A bit like a Garbarek/Hilliard project, but less ethereal, much more earthy and physical. And better, therefore. For more go here.

40 Mark McNight Organ Quartet featuring Seamus Blake Do Or Die (Whirlwind Recordings): Irish guitarist Mark McKnight took the logical route and studied at Berklee College Of Music, and was awarded third place in the Montreux International Guitar Competition in 2008. He has a rich, modern guitar sound which can be clean and singing, and often has a tinge of Scofield distortion to add burnish to the gleam. This would be a fine album without Blake, But, as usual, the Anglo-Canadian tenor man does add the cherries. For more go here.

39 Mason Brothers Two Sides One Story (Archival Records): Two brothers from Norwich, one a trumpeter and the other a trombonist, fall asleep and dream that they are in the famous Avatar Studios in New York. They are joined by Antonio Sanchez on drums, Scott Colley on bass, Dave Kikoski on piano, Chris Potter on saxophone and Joe Locke on vibes. Together they record a debut album, and Wynton Marsalis writes the sleeve notes. Except that this has actually happened. When it comes to mutual understanding, Brad and Elliott are brothers in the Brecker class, I’d say. They really are living the dream. For more go here.

38 Eliane Elias Light My Fire (Concord): While all manner of new female singers try to combine cool and hot in one effective package, the Brazilian Eliane Elias continues to knock them off their pedestals with one swing of the hips and one well placed piano solo. Because while some of the new pretenders can sing OK, none of them can back it up with such sophisticated instrumental prowess. The usual winning combination of more obscure songs from the finest Brazilian composers with cool bossa readings of such household favourites as the Doors’ Light My Fire and Paul Desmond’s Take Five. The band includes legendary Brazilian guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves. For more go here.

37 Phil Robson The Immeasurable Code (Whirlwind Recordings): The guitarist continues to show what a strong composer and conceptualist he is in addition to wielding the mighty axe. This band’s main attraction might be US tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, but just as interesting is the instrumental line-up of guitar, saxophone and flute in the front line, giving the opportunity for textural variation and a lot of strong interweaving melody writing and improvisatory exploration. Flautist Gareth Lockrane does some tasty stuff and the backline of Michael Janisch on bass and Cuban drummer Ernesto Simpson keeps things cooking. For more go here.

36 Kairos 4tet: Statement of Intent (Edition Records)
From the first soprano saxophone-stated bustling melody with a Middle Eastern tinge, into the beautifully articulated double bass solo and on to the determinedly building piano solo that opens this disc – it’s the title track – it is clear that this is going to be as enjoyable ride as the band’s first disc, Kairos Moment. The band feels even tighter, probably as a result of quite a bit of touring in between, and the character of saxophonist Adam Waldmann’s music is even more clearly defined. His compositions are strong with not necessarily just one good tune apiece. For more go here.

35 Wadada Leo Smith’s Organic Heart’s Reflections (Cuneiform Records): The trumpeter continues to mine the spiritual depths while maintaining a distinctly funky feel. He is joined by guitarists Michael Gregory and Brandon Ross and drummer Pheeroan akLaff, among many others. While Smith will never really escape the electric Miles soundalike tag, he does it so well, and brings that atmosphere so expertly into the 21st century, we end up not really caring too much about the similarities. This double disc includes dedications to Don Cherry, Toni Morrison and Leroy Jenkins around the central 11-part suite of the title. For more go here.

34 David Binney: Graylen Epicenter (Mythology)
The alto saxophonist’s latest release features some of New York’s most in-demand musicians, including Craig Taborn, Chris Potter, Brian Blade, Eivind Opsvik, Gretchen Parlato and Wayne Krantz. Reviewing it for thejazzbreakfast, JJ Wheeler wrote: “what results is a set of forward-thinking, complex yet surprisingly inclusive tunes. Binney achieves a mixture of complexity and accessibility through combining tricky rhythmic figures and long-winding harmonic structures with folkloric melodies, highly singable and immediately engaging.” For more go here.

33 Francois Couturier Tarkovsky Quartet (ECM 274 2526)
This is the third in the French pianist’s albums inspired by the works of film director Andrei Tarkovsky. The band is a quartet with Couturier at the grand piano, Anja Lechner on cello, Jean Matinier on accordion and Jean Marc Larche on soprano saxophone. The fact that three of the instruments can play solo lines or chords and that all can cover a similar range, means the can act almost like a mini orchestra, and can interweave their lines very closely, defined very much by their individual timbres. Mostly contemplative and gentle, sometimes ominous and disquieting, yet always strangely, quietly exciting. For more go here.

32 Tom Harrell The Time Of The Sun (High Note): The sounds that open this disc and its title track are actually made by the sun. They quickly give way to the sounds of trumpeter Harrell, tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, pianist Danny Grissett, basist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Johnathan Blake, as fine an ensemble as you can hear anywhere on Manhattan island, I reckon. The tune burns darkly, especially when Grissett is on Fender Rhodes and Blake and Okegwo are in processional mode behind the horn lines. For more go here.

31 Donny McCaslin Perpetual Motion (Greenleaf Records): I can hear him alongside Dave Douglas in his Quintet, and as a star soloist with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, but I’ve always found I can’t quite get enough of this amazing tenor saxophonist. This album goes a long way to feeding that appetite. It’s quite an electric album, flirts with fusion at times, and really paints a rounded portrait of a hugely talented and characterful player. If you don’t know Donny but like Michael Brecker or Chris Potter, he just could be your man. For more go here.

30 Marilyn Mazur Celestial Circle (ECM): The percussionist leader is perhaps best known for her work with Jan Garbarek, with whom she spent 14 years on the road. This is the debut of a new quartet, a band she assembled when artist-in-residence for the Molde Jazz Festival in Norway in 2008. John Taylor is the pianist, Josefine Cronholm is the singer and Anders Jormin is on the double bass. If the basic instrumentation on paper looks like a singer and a piano trio, the nature of the individual musicians and the scope of the sounds they  work with means the musical landscape is far more varied. Rich and lasting music in which less is more and the depths are as lovely as the surfaces. For more go here.

29 Steve Coleman’s Five Elements The Mancy Of Sound (PI Recordings): I don’t begin to understand the weird and wonderful concepts behind this music, but I am trying, and the same goes for the music that results, made by Coleman with Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Tim Albright on trombone, Jen Shyu on vocals, Thomas Morgan on bass, Tyshawn Sorey and Marcus Gilmore on drums, and Ramon Garcia Perez on percussion. The horns and voice move together and in overlapping patterns over a sinuous and inviting groove. There is a Yoruba chart of dot patterns on the cover, and Coleman has used these patterns to directly inform the  rhythms of the central suite. For more go here.

28 Empirical Elements Of Truth (Naim Jazz): Another strong outing from the quartet that last time around were reflecting upon Eric Dolphy. Here they are reflecting on disparate influences, from Steve Lehman to Monk, and on their own place in British society and in the international music world. There are some particularly strong compositions by bassist Tom Farmer, and the whole affair is infused with great energy within some pretty demanding structures. The alto, vibes, bass and drums format is distinctive and the playing amazingly integrated and tight – clearly this is a band with focus and a lot of hard work behind it. For more go here.

27 Giovanna Pessi/Susanna Wallumrod If Grief Could Wait (ECM 277 7197): Wallumrod, previously the Susanna who sang with the one-man Magic Orchestra, makes her ECM debut with baroque harpist Pessi and additional help from Jane Achtman on viola da gamba and Marco Ambrosini on nyckelharpa (a Swedish keyed fiddle, apparently). Sussana’s quiet power and meticulous diction is perfect for the arrangements of songs by Henry Purcell which form the theme of this album, and that cool, slightly breathy voice is the ideal partner to the rich and rounded harp sound. The programme is brilliant, with two Leonard Cohen songs and a Nick Drake, worked in with the 17th-century stuff. For more go here.

26 Kit Downes Quiet Tiger (Basho): The trio of Kit, double bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer James Maddren is once again the band and its solo elements, while James Allsopp on tenor saxophone doubled with bass clarinet , and Adrien Dennefeld on cello act as a kind of backdrop to the action. They set off the trio rather than interact with it, and give Downes the chance to write some rich and strangely enigmatic charts against which he, Calum and Maddren can work their magic.It’s beautifully recorded, doing full justice to the depths of the bass and bass clarinet, and the heights of the cymbals. Gorgeous cover art, too. For more go here.

25 Marcin Wasilewski Trio Faithful (ECM): Pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz interlock their three instruments and three musical brains into one seamless whole of execution. The material is equally split between original tunes by Wasilewski and shrewd choices from a variety of sources. Sometimes they can get quite busy and still there is space in the music. And then they can almost slow to a standstill and still maintain a flow and sense of structure. Three musicians supremely comfortable in each other’s company, but still with a lot to talk about, and a lot of feelings to share. For more go here.

24 Stefon Harris, David Sanchez & Christian Scott Ninety Miles (Concord Picante): The three band leaders join forces for a trip to Havana and work with a Cuban band featuring, depending on the track, two different but equally fine young local pianists, Rember Duharte and Harold Lopez-Nussa. Of course, American jazz men have been visiting Cuba and finding inspiration there for well over half a century now, but it’s nice to know that the magic is still working. Certainly all three star names play their socks off here, and the Cubans are, of course, easily up to matching the chops and musicianship of their visitors. A supergroup is born, methinks. For more go here.

23 Magnus Ostrom Thread Of Life (ACT): The E.S.T. drummer left it a lot longer after the sudden death of pianist Esbjorn Svensson than his bassist colleague Dan Berglund, before bringing out some music under his own name. But it’s well worth the wait. The publicity blurb refers to this band sounding like a rock band playing jazz, as opposed to E.S.T. sounding like a pop group playing jazz. I’m not sure the comparison is quite accurate, but you get the gist. Certainly the guitar, the song structures and the general feel are rockier, and Ostrom deserves a wide and vast audience for what is very accessible and attractive music. For more go here.

22 Marius Neset Golden Xplosion (Edition Records): There have been lots of lovely jazz CDs released in the last few months, but it’s been a while since a disc has leapt from the speakers and pinned the listener against the wall in quite this way. There is quite a lot of fast and funky playing with tricky time signatures abounding, with Neset multi-tracking his saxophone lines and Django Bates often playing two lines at once. Couple all this action with the forceful drumming of Anton Eger and the powerful articulation and counter melody of Jasper Hoiby’s bass lines and you have an extraordinarily full sound for a band of four. For more go here.

21 Kurt Elling The Gate (Concord): The Gate is another step forward for a variety of reasons. The material is, for the most part, unusual; the techniques Kurt uses are more expansive; the production is bigger and rounder.  The singer chooses pop and rock material from the ‘70s and ‘80s but, in between all that, is the Beatles’ Norwegian Wood, Herbie Hancock’s Come Running To Me, Miles Davis’s Blue In Green, and two Elling re-workings of instrumental tunes by Marc Johnson and Don Grolnick.  Kurt Elling makes each song he sings something new and somehow more complete than you’ve ever heard it before. For more go here.

20 Gwilym Simcock Good Days At Schloss Elmau (ACT): Playing solo piano and in impressive surroundings, Simcock gets to explore all his influences and musical education, feeding not only his jazz improvisations but also his classical background into these eight solo pieces. They were written with one exception – the gorgeous Plain Song – specially for this recording. They are by turns lyrical and energetic, rhapsodic and light-hearted. It’s joyful stuff in every sense, having the excitement and barely contained enthusiasm of spontaneous dance and shout, but a deep and satisfying spiritual joy also. For more go here.

19 Dino Saluzzi/Anja Lechner/Felix Saluzzi Navidad de los Andes (ECM): One of the most unusual and striking musical relationships revealed briefly in the ECM film Sounds And Silence is that of Argentinean bandoneon master Saluzzi and German classical cellist Lechner – he like a slightly grumpy bear, she the most elegant and accommodating of side-kicks. Of course in music they blend exquisitely, and on this disc they are joined by Dino’s brother Felix on clarinet and tenor saxophone, with the timbral riches enhanced even further as a result. The richness of a Beethoven string trio, the earthiness of a village band, and the overall impression that what we are listening to is not three musicians but the sound of the world in motion. For more go here.

18 Branford Marsalis/Joey Calderazzo Songs Of Mirth And Melancholy (Marsalis Music): The US tenor and soprano saxophonist is here with the virtuosic regular pianist from his quartet, maintaining a conversational tone, with both men remaining very much themselves while exchanging views on anything from an original composition to a Wayne Shorter tune to a bit of Brahms. The pair have leant increasingly towards classical music in their compositions in recent quartet recordings, and that feel is very much in evidence here on The Bard Lachrymose and La Valse Kendall, with Branford putting his exquisite soprano tone to good use. For more go here.

17 Enrico Rava Quintet Tribe (ECM): The trumpeter is a true master, and, like Art Blakey and Miles Davis and that other great ECM trumpeter, Tomasz Stanko, he has always encouraged the next generation of musicians, and the one after that, by hiring them. For his current quintet Rava has trombonist Gianluca Petrella beside him, with Giovanni Guidi at the piano, Gabriele Evangelista on bass and Fabrizio Sferra on drums. On some tracks they are joined by Giacomo Ancillotto on guitar. All the music has that characteristic Rava mood of darker shadows within a generally sun-drenched Mediterranean landscape. It is both chic and at the same time deep with complex emotions. For more go here.

16 Craig Taborn Avenging Angel (ECM): If your only experience of pianist Craig Taborn has been with, for example, Tim Berne’s Science Friction band, then this solo piano disc might come as something of a surprise. It is for the most part fairly quiet, fairly reflective and the barely-held fury of the Science Friction music is rarely even hinted at. At the same time that extraordinary precision of touch and tone that Taborn has, even when things are moving at quite a lick, is very much in evidence. This disc was recorded in an acoustic – the recital room at Lugano’s Studio RSI – that Taborn can really explore. It has quite an echo when he needs to exploit it with hard-hit high notes, yet he can soften and smooth it too when he wants to. For more go here.

15 Meadow: Blissful Ignorance (Edition Records): Tore Brunborg, the Norwegian saxophonist, John Taylor, the British pianist, and Thomas Stronen, the Norwegian drummer, together for the first time in a recording studio, and striking ideas off each other with great freshness. Each track is a fresh joy. As far as the playing is concerned, it’s very much an equilateral triangle, a thoughtful three-way conversation of equals. The first three tunes – all Brunborg’s – give you a rich introduction to the disc’s variety – not huge in dynamic terms, or eclectic in any way, but luxuriant in harmonic, melodic and rhythmic breadth. If you heard the band in concert here in the autumn you’ll probably have this already. If you missed the gig, don’t miss out on the music. For more go here.

14 Charles Lloyd/Maria Farantouri Athens Concert (ECM): The US saxophonist and his band – Jason Moran on piano, Reuben Rogers on double bass and Eric Harland on drums – sharing the open air stage at the foot of Mount Acropolis with Greek resistance singer Farantouri and her musicians. Hearing Lloyd’s saxophone alongside a singer is to realise just how wonderfully vocal his sound and phrasing are, and in turn, having the saxophone there, gives Farantouri the chance to add resonance and timbre to her singing. It’s a long and richly varied programme across two discs, taking in a three-part Greek Suite which includes traditional songs, and pieces by the great Greek composers like Theodorakis and Karaindrou. For more go here.

13 Yellowjackets Timeline (Mack Avenue Records): They might have a new record label and a new drummer (well, an old drummer but back for a second stint) but overall it’s very much business as usual for the thinking person’s jazz fusion quartet. So,while the jazz side of the scales might have found more weight in recent years, the fusion side of trickily timed melodies, rock back beats and R ‘n’ B soulfulness still pays a crucial part in the band’s sound and style. There’s a lovely recording sound which gives the drums great depth and places the whole band nicely around the room. If you missed their week at Ronnie’s during the London Jazz Festival, now’s your chance to catch up. For more go here.

12 Vinicius Cantuaria & Bill Frisell Lagramas Mexicanas (Naive): Cantuaria is the singer, guitarist and percussionist from Brazil, long resident in New York and making some of the most creative modern bossa nova there is; Frisell of course is Frisell. Together the two men have turned their attentions to the Latin rhythms and traditions from Cuba, Puerto Rica, Colombia, Venezuala and Mexico that have found their way into the sound of New York. Cantuaria’s gentle voice, with Spanish, Portuguese and English lyrics, floats above a rich groove of interlocking electric and acoustic guitars and other percussion and electronic sounds.I think this one ranks with the best both musicians have made separately. For more go here.

11 Brad Mehldau Live In Marciac (Nonesuch): This sounds and looks like a complete concert in sequence, rather than the edited highlights of a few nights – I say “looks” because in addition to the two CDs you get a DVD which contains 13 of the 14 songs. They include originals, and tunes by Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Bobby Timmons, Nick Drake, Radiohead, Lennon and McCartney and Kurt Cobain. A good hour and a half here of solo piano playing which never becomes samey or self-indulgent, which continues to surprise, delight, excite and comfort in turn. Possibly the greatest melodist of our jazz age at a time when it sometimes feels like melodies are gems in short supply. For more go here.

10 Sid Peacock’s Surge La Fête (Peacock Angel): Composer Sid Peacock is the ringmaster of contemporary British jazz, and the 16-piece Surge is his circus. To hear the band in full cry – saxophone quartet punching out staccato stabs, violins and flute adding a counter riff, horns sustaining a strange chord, drums and percussion rumbling beneath and marimba and Fx babbling constantly – is to see the full troupe piled pyramid-high and wide on the creaking but sturdy frame of a recycled bike making its way across a high wire. Peacock has found a thoroughly fresh way of building on the Hermeto Pascoal/Django Bates foundations of big band jazz. For more go here.

9 Verneri Pohjola: Aurora (ACT): This is the first album under the young Finnish trumpeter’s name, and it really is a great start, not only in its quality but in its breadth of expression, its wide range of sounds, and in the strength of the playing. Some of the music is written in detail, some is free, some is harmonically “in”, some “out”, and this variety and contrast serves to enhance each element. Pohjola describes the pieces as short stories, and they have all that narrative and atmosphere. It’s orchestral in its ambitions and succeeds extraordinarily well. As the culmination of a long career it would be impressive; as the first album under the 33-year-old’s own name, it really is amazing. For more go here.

8 Gilad Hekselman Hearts Wide Open (Le Chant du Monde): A CD by a leader I had heard of but never heard, and containing attractive pieces played beautifully that just get under the skin and bring a grin to the face. I suppose I should have been ready for the experience, due to the presence of Mark Turner on tenor saxophone (on some of the tracks) and Marcus Gilmore on drums. But it’s mainly guitarist Gilad Hekselman who instigates the smiles. The tunes and performances conjure up images –  a lovely virtual soundtrack to some unmakeable film. There are lots of CDs out there by artists you’ve never heard of, but do trust me on this one: here is a leap into the unknown that is pretty risk free. And hugely rewarding. For more go here.

7 Fred Hersch Alone At The Vanguard (Palmetto): On the cusp of November and December last year, the pianist was invited to do another solo week at the Greenwich Village club, and this time he had tapes running for every set. So, a whole week of recordings to choose from, and in the end, what he chose, and what we have here is the final set from the final night, from first note to last. From standards to originals dedicated to Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz and Robert Schumann, among others, it’s all a wonderfully assured and remarkably calm performance, full of joy and thanksgiving, from a man who has been through some dreadful times in recent years. For more go here.

6 Julian Siegel Urban Theme Park (Basho Records): This music just envelops the listener with a big bearhug. Why is that? I think it has something to do not only with the individual musicianship – which is exemplary not only from a technical point of view but is also full of an often impossible to explain depth –  but it has to do with the equally impossible to explain energy that is created communally by these four musicians. Yes, that’s it: it’s the sense of joy in the creation. And, damn! It’s funky. One For J.T., for example, swings like the blazes. I’ve nearly dislocated my neck a couple of times doing the jazzhead to this. For more go here.

5 Avishai Cohen Seven Seas (Blue Note): You can never quite predict what an Avishai Cohen album is going to sound like, though all possess his strong and inimitable character and his muscular, energetic and tightly focussed playing. This sea-themed second release on the Blue Note label is probably the most cohesive of his recordings to date. He plays mostly double bass and sings quite a bit, but the music melds and merges jazz and world music styles in a more successful manner than he has ever achieved before. The decision to make the writing unashamedly unjazzy and then to take a jazzy approach to playing it, might give it the Marmite factor, but to my ears it sounds just delicious. For more go here.

4 The Impossible Gentlemen (Basho Records): The first recording by this perfectly balanced transatlantic band – guitarist Mike Walker and pianist Gwilym Simcock from this side of the pond;  drummer Adam Nussbaum and electric bassist Steve Swallow from the other side – builds upon and confirms what those of us who heard them playing live in the spring of 2010 already knew: that it’s one of the most exciting and satisfying collaborations for a very long time. There is also, for me, a particular joy in hearing Mike Walker finally getting some of the attention and acclaim he so thoroughly deserves. For more go here.

3 Keith Jarrett Rio (ECM): He might start out in jagged abstraction, but it’s not long before Jarrett – playing solo in Rio De Janeiro in April this year – lets the home of bossa nova and samba seduce him with its melody and rhythm. We’re only at Part II of this double disc’s XV and already the opening trilled chords have a Jobimesque sweet sadness to them. Part III has the kind of groove we have come to associate with another, younger pianist: I like to call it “the Mehldau stroll”. What is remarkable about this concert – and you hear every note Jarrett plays – is its happy exuberance and clear contentment – not always a defining factor of Jarrett in his solo, most emotionally revealing, mode. For more go here.

2 Gretchen Parlato The Lost And Found (ObliqSound): Parlato sings with that half-whisper, close to the mic, and it’s clear that in the two years since her last recording, In A Dream, and a lot of gigging, the singer has really focused her distinctive tone and style even more. The breathiness, the apparently slurred articulation (interesting because in fact the words are always clear despite the way she has of swallowing consonants), the incredibly controlled delivery, the calmness and almos