Pianist Brad Mehldau topped the list of the songs we couldn’t stop spinning in 2019. (Photo: Courtesy the artist)
Here at JAZZIZ, we have a few longstanding holiday traditions: seeing who can eat the most candy canes at work, wearing Kenny G hoodies around the office and, of course, making end-of-year lists. We’ll leave you to your own Christmas candy binges and ugly sweater parties, but we’re more than happy to provide you with our list of the Best Jazz Songs of 2019.
Now, you may have seen our annual Critics’ Picks list in the most recent issue of JAZZIZ Magazine (available in digital form here), in which we list our favorite albums of the past 12 months. But reading about the year’s best jazz is one thing. Listening to it is another. Our Critics’ List 2019 playlist collects all the songs we couldn’t stop spinning in 2019. With more than 80 tracks, it’s more than enough music to keep you swinging from now to New Year’s Eve. Enjoy.
The Garden
Brad Mehldau
Finding Gabriel
12 Little Spells (thoracic spine)
Esperanza Spalding
12 Little Spells (Deluxe Edition)
Absolute Zero (feat. Jack DeJohnette)
Bruce Hornsby, Jack DeJohnette
Absolute Zero
Boomtown
Otmaro Ruiz, Jimmy Branly, Jimmy Haslip
Elemental
Cosmic
Daniel Szabo, Peter Erskine, Edwin Livingston
Visionary
Bicycle
Dominic Miller
Absinthe
Hope
Tom Harrell
Infinity
Ronneby
Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano, Jan Lundgren
Mare Nostrum III
Usher
Jamie Cullum
Taller (Expanded Edition)
I Heard You Singing (feat. Becca Stevens & Chris Thile)
Jacob Collier, Becca Stevens, Chris Thile
Djesse Vol. 2
Pretty Beauty
Andrew Cyrille, Wadada Leo Smith, Bill Frisell
Lebroba
London, Pt. 1
Evan Parker, Kinetics
Chiasm
Reflections of My Heart Feat. Jamison Ross
Jazzmeia Horn, Jamison Ross
Love And Liberation
Folklorism
Fabian Almazan Trio
This Land Abounds with Life
Black and Tan Fantasy
Don Byron, Aruan Ortiz
Random Dances & (A)Tonalities
The Way
Matthew Shipp Trio
Signature
Affective Affinities
Brian Lynch Big Band, Regina Carter
The Omni-American Book Club
Two Thirds Radial
Mario Pavone Dialect Trio
Philosophy
A Call Beyond
Paul Nedzela, Dan Nimmer, David Wong, Aaron Kimmel
Introducing Paul Nedzela
On the Red Clay
Nancy Kelly
Remembering Mark Murphy
Groove For Peace
Oscar Hernandez, AlmaLibre
Love the Moment
Las Tumbas
Miguel Zenón
Sonero: The Music of Ismael Rivera
This is Not America
Camila Meza
Ambar
Mas
Josean Jacobo & Tumbao
Cimarron
I Didn’t Know What Time It Was
Bob Sheppard
The Fine Line
Voa
Sofia Ribeiro
Lunga
El Cantante
Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis, Rubén Blades
Una Noche Con Rubén Blades
Touched By An Angel
Joel Ross
KingMaker
Yesterdays
Jimmy Cobb
This I Dig of You
Summon The Fire
The Comet Is Coming
Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery
Armando’s Rhumba
Chick Corea, The Spanish Heart Band
Antidote
The Climb
Flying Lotus, Thundercat
Flamagra
You’re Gonna Hear from Me
Veronica Swift
Confessions
Wildwood Flower / Save The Last Dance For Me
Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan
Epistrophy (Live At The Village Vanguard, New York, NY / 2016)
Nos Miraran Pasar
Guillermo Klein
Los Guachos Cristal
Xavi
Snarky Puppy
Immigrance
SJL
Kirk Whalum, Keiko Matsui
Humanité
Adrift at Sea
Flow, Will Ackerman, Fiona Joy (Hawkins), Lawrence Blatt, Jeff Oster
Promise
Little Black Dress
Lisa Addeo, Steve Cole
Listen to This
It Happened Once Before
Mark Winkler
I’m with You: Mark Winkler Sings Bobby Troup
Painted on Canvas
Judy Wexler
Crowded Heart
You Better Run
Mindi Abair
No Good Deed
The Windmills of Your Mind
The Tierney Sutton Band
Screenplay
Chega de Saudade
Scott Wilkie
Brasil
How Deep Is The Ocean (feat. Rick Braun)
David Benoit, Rick Braun
David Benoit And Friends
Before Sunrise
The Rippingtons
Open Road
Ochún
Chucho Valdés
Jazz Batá 2
Ripple Effect (feat. Ganavya Doraiswamy)
Rajna Swaminathan, Ganavya Doraiswamy
Of Agency and Abstraction
Jabula
Abdullah Ibrahim
The Balance
The Green Book Blues
Harriet Tubman
The Terror End Of Beauty
real/unreal (for ursula k. le guin)
Taylor Ho Bynum 9-tette
The Ambiguity Manifesto
La Casa Azul
Kassa Overall, Roy Hargrove
Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz
The Windup
Branford Marsalis Quartet
The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul
Abre Tus Ojos
Melissa Aldana
Visions
5th Ray: Knowledge
Jerry Bergonzi
The Seven Rays
I’m All Smiles – From “The Yearling”
George Cables
I’m All Smiles
Flip the Script
Orrin Evans, Captain Black Big Band
Presence
Lined With A Groove
Larry Fuller, Hassan Shakur, Lewis Nash
Overjoyed
I Hear a Rhapsody
Luke Gillespie
Moving Mists
Spirit Lake
Joe Lovano, Marilyn Crispell, Carmen Castaldi
Trio Tapestry
Along Came Betty
Ralph Peterson and The Messenger Legacy
Legacy Alive, Vol. 6 at the Side Door
Los Muñecos
Javier Colina, Pepe Rivero
El Pañuelo de Pepa
Dreams Foretold
Luis Muñoz, Lois Mahalia
The Infinite Dream (feat. Lois Mahalia)
Oyá
Daymé Arocena
Sonocardiogram
Blue Train
Poncho Sanchez
Trane’s Delight
Odeon
Carlos Barbosa-Lima
Delicado
Habana De Noche (Havana At Night)
Jane Bunnett, Maqueque
On Firm Ground/Tierra Firme
Breaking Down The Door
Santana, Buika
Breaking Down The Door
Dindi
Duduka Da Fonseca, Helio Alves
Samba Jazz & Tom Jobim
Cordeiro de Nana
Trio Elf, Marco Lobo, Margareth Menezes
The Brazilian Album
Today, Not Today
Miho Hazama
Dancer In Nowhere
The Colors That You Bring
Damon Locks, Black Monument Ensemble
Where Future Unfolds
We Are Starzz
Angel Bat Dawid
The Oracle
particle / spectra
Ambrose Akinmusire
Origami Harvest
The Shiver
Nature Work
Nature Work
Chasin’ Kendall
Stefon Harris, Blackout
Sonic Creed
Fiasco
Russ Lossing
Motian Music
Live Normal
Nick Sanders
Playtime 2050
Old Melody
Marilyn Mazur
Shamania
Black Arthur’s Bounce (in memory of Arthur Blythe)
Mark Dresser Seven
Ain’t Nothing but a Cyber Coup & You
Oxide
Ralph Alessi, Ravi Coltrane, Andy Milne, Drew Gress, Mark Ferber
Imaginary Friends
Mitote
Cochemea
All My Relations
Zigsaw
Noah Preminger
Zigsaw
Zero Point Five
Chris Lightcap
SuperBigmouth
Shir Eres (Lullaby)
Avishai Cohen, Yonathan Avishai
Shir Eres (Lullaby)