2011 Top Ten

Here are my top ten albums of 2011, in alphabetical order:

• Ambrose Akinmusire - When the Heart Emerges Glistening (Blue Note)
• J.D. Allen Trio - Victory! (Sunnyside)
• Ben Allison - Action-Refraction (Palmetto)
• Bill Frisell - All We Are Saying... (Savoy)
• Stefon Harris/David Sanchez/Christian Scott - Ninety Miles (Concord)
• Roy Haynes - Roy-Alty (Dreyfus)
• Gretchen Parlato - The Lost and Found (ObliqSound)
• Sonny Rollins - Road Shows, Vol. 2 (Doxy)
• Jeff "Tain" Watts - Family (Dark Key)
• Ben Williams & Sound Effect - State of Art (Concord)

The Haps - December 22, 2011

• Miles Davis - What I Say (Davis) from Live-Evil [Columbia, 1971]
• B3 Kings - Have Yourself a Merry Little Xmas (Martin/Blaine) from You Better Watch Out! [Cellar Live, 2011]*
• One For All - Moment's Notice (Coltrane) from Invades Vancouver! [Cellar Live, 2010]
• José James & Jef Neve - Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You? (Razaf/Redman) from For All We Know [Impulse!, 2010]
• Kelly Jefferson Quartet - Next Exit (Jefferson) from Next Exit [Cellar Live, 2010]*
• Jimmy Smith - Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Coots/Gillespie) from Christmas Cookin' [Verve, 1964]
• Brad Mehldau Trio - Black Hole Sun (Cornell) from Live [Nonesuch, 2006]

*Canadian

The Haps - Dec. 15th, 2011

• Lionel Loueke - Prelude to Virgin Forest/Virgin Forest (Loueke) from Virgin Forest [ObliqSound, 2006]
• J.D. Allen Trio - Victory!/Sura Hinda (Allen) from Victory! [Sunnyside, 2011]
• Cory Weeds - 323 Shuter (Weeds) from Everything's Coming Up Weeds [Cellar Live, 2009]*
• Nicholas Payton - Indigo (Payton) from Bitches [In and Out, 2011]
• Adam Cruz - Secret Life (Cruz) from Milestone [Sunnyside, 2011]
• Antonio Sanchez - Challenge Within (Sanchez) from Migration [CAM, 2007]
• Maceo Parker - Sister Sadie (Silver) from Mo' Roots [Verve, 1991]
• Larry Roy & Steve Kirby - Wicked Grin (Kirby)/Dre's Blues (Hayward/Kirby) from Wicked Grin [dig!, 2008]**
• Bill Charlap Trio - My Shining Hour (Arlen/Mercer) from Live at the Village Vanguard [Blue Note, 2007]
• Kurt Rosenwinkel - Tone Poem/Heartcore (Rosenwinkel) from Heartcore [Verve, 2003]

*Canadian

**Local

The Haps - December 8th, 2011

• Marcus Strickland - Time To Send Someone Away (M. Strickland) from Idiosyncrasies [Strick Muzik, 2009]
• E.J. Strickland - Asante (for the tribes of Ghana) (E.J. Stickland) from In This Day [Strick Muzik, 2009]
• Vincent Gardner - Shiny Stockings (Foster) from The Good Book: Chapter One [SteepleChase, 2007]
• Gretchen Parlato - E.S.P. (Shorter) from In A Dream [ObliqSound, 2009]
• Dejan Rafajlovic - Peasant's Chochek (Rafajlovic) and Seven (Rafajlovic) from Balkan Folk Tales [Indie, 2011]**
• Christian McBride - Boogie Woogie Waltz (Zawinul) from Live at Tonic [Ropeadope, 2006]
• Gerald Clayton - Boogablues (Clayton) from Two-Shade [ArtistShare, 2009]
• Trace Element - Back and Forth (Visentin) from Blueprint [Indie, 2010]*
• Jeff "Tain" Watts - Dancin' 4 Chicken (Watts) from Watts [Dark Key Music, 2009]
• George Colligan - Come Together (Lennon/McCartney) from Come Together [Sunnyside, 2009]

*Canadian

**Local

Name Change!

As of today, Dec. 9th.  Rhythm-a-ning will now be known as Tomorrow Is the Question!
It turns out there are couple of long-running jazz radio shows on Vancouver Island called Rhythm-a-ning,  one in Victoria, and the other in Nanaimo.  These shows have been running since the early 1990's, which is truly inspiring.  Check them out!


In other news, last week's podcast (which is 90 mins. long) is up here.  

The Haps - December 1st, 2011

• Wynton Marsalis - Black Codes (Marsalis) from Black Codes (from the Underground) [Columbia, 1985]
• Ben Allison - Someday We'll All Be Free (Hathaway) and Philadelphia (Young) from Action-Refraction [Palmetto, 2011]
• Fieldtrip (feat. Kelly Jefferson and Jim Head) - Samadhi (Power) from No Destination [Addo, 2009]*
• Taylor Eigsti - Chaos (Mutemath) from Daylight at Midnight [Concord, 2010]
• Will Bonness - Gingerbread Boy (Heath) from Subtle Fire [Indie, 2009]**
• Ben Williams - Home (Williams) from State of Art [Concord, 2011]
• Kurt Rosenwinkel - Fall (Shorter) from Reflections [Word of Mouth, 2009]
• George Benson - Clockwise (Benson) from It's Uptown [Columbia, 1966]
• Leonard Shaw - Movin' Out (Shaw) from Barely Blue [CBC, 2002]**
• The Blue Note 7 - Inner Urge (Henderson) from Mosaic [Blue Note, 2009]
• Esperanza Spalding - Really Very Small (Spalding) from Chamber Music Society [Heads Up, 2010]
• Ambrose Akinmusire - Confessions To My Unborn Daughter (Akinmusire) from When The Heart Emerges Glistening [Blue Note, 2011]

*Canadian

**Local