2018 TOP 10s & 20s
Similar to the format adopted for last year's year-end list, textura's 2018 selections are grouped into jazz, classical, ambient, general, compilation/reissue, and EP/cassette categories. A few cases arose where a release qualified for multiple categories, but for the most part selections aligned themselves naturally to a particular grouping. As in the past, selections were made according to a simple principle: only those releases reviewed in 2018 were eligible. Here, then, are the recordings to which we repeatedly returned and which repeatedly rewarded that return (reviews excerpts, typically modified for this article context, have been included for the highest-ranking selections, and links to the original reviews are also included).
TOP 20 GENERAL • TOP 20 CLASSICAL • TOP 20 JAZZ • TOP 10 AMBIENT • TOP 10 COMPILATIONS / REISSUES • TOP 10 EPS / CASSETTES • THANK YOU • RIP
TOP 20 GENERAL (Electronic / Experimental / Folk / Pop / Prog / Rock)
01. Anne Garner: Lost Play (Slowcraft Records)
Anticipation steadily grew in these parts for the follow-up to Anne Garner's 2015 release Be Life, and with Lost Play it finally arrived. Many of the qualities that made the earlier release so special are present on the new one, which features eight deeply engrossing incantations. Her inimitable voice captivates whenever it appears, especially on a representative song such as “Fall Before the Night." Similar to Be Life, Lost Play little strays from its balladic, slow-motion delivery, but however the songs are presented, they're transporting vehicles that usher you from this world to another.
02. Toby Hay: The Longest Day (The state51 Conspiracy)
The Longest Day, guitarist Toby Hay's follow-up to 2017's The Gathering, is that rare thing: authentic, genuine music that one imagines will sound just as strong 100 years from now as it does today. It is, simply put, an album to cherish, celebrate, and savour. Recorded live over four days in Wales, the new release presents a more expansive sound than Hay's debut and also at times feels restless, a quality perhaps reflective of the peripatetic lifestyle Hay adopted whilst touring to promote the debut.
03. Ben Chatwin: Staccato Signals (Village Green)
Ben Chatwin's work has always been distinguished, whether we're talking about the guitar-based recordings he issued using the Talvihorros alias or the recent ones under his birth name. Over time, his music has grown increasingly sophisticated and ambitious with respect to compositional form and artistic conception, so much so that Staccato Signals must be seen as a major accomplishment for this South Queensferry, Scotland resident.
04. Chloë March: Blood-Red Spark (Hidden Shoal)
Chloë March's many strengths are on display throughout Blood-Red Spark. She shares with a small number of other female vocalists a delivery that's never less than alluring; whether presented as an unadorned lead or as harmonizing choir, her voice is the key that unlocks an intimate soundworld straddling dream-pop, trip-hop, and electronica. The resplendent, deeply atmospheric character of her music is in place the moment “Orchardie” inaugurates the album, but nowhere is it more ravishing than during “Calypso Wants,” where her singing achieves an effect that's positively celestial.
05. bvdub: A Different Definition of Love (Dronarivm)
Longtime followers of Brock Van Wey's bvdub project already know how special the productions are, and anyone who's fallen under the spell of past releases will do so all over again with A Different Definition of Love. Van Wey has a remarkable gift for infusing his electronic productions with an emotional dimension that's powerfully moving, and this latest bvdub set (his thirtieth, apparently) is no different in that regard.
06. Keiron Phelan: Peace Signs (Gare du Nord Recordings)
A shame Nick Lowe nabbed the Pure Pop For Now People title all those years ago, as it certainly would have been a proper choice for this extraordinary exercise in folk-pop songcraft from Keiron Phelan of State River Widening, Smile Down Upon Us, and littlebow renown. Such projects present him as more instrumentalist than crooner, but on this new outing he proves himself a more-than-passable singer: imagine if you will a blend of Bowie, Bolan, Ian Hunter, Richard Hawley, Kevin Ayers, Leonard Cohen, and Morrissey and you'll have a pretty good idea of his delivery. Peace Signs impresses on so many levels, you'd be forgiven for leaving the recording wondering why Phelan's not a better-known property in pop circles.
07. Brona McVittie: We Are the Wildlife (Company of Corkbots)
While Irish singer-songwriter and harpist Brona McVittie has made critical contributions to recent albums by Keiron Phelan, Anne Garner, and littlebow (in which she partners with Phelan and Katie English), her solo debut We Are the Wildlife provides a more complete portrait of this talented artist. Recorded at Corkbot Castle in the UK, the album presents an utterly beguiling collection of originals and covers of traditional Irish folk ballads. Her songs are distinguished by the softness and sweetness of her singing and the crystalline textures of her harp, and there's a pronouncedly pastoral character to much of it, making We Are the Wildlife play like a document of McVittie communing with nature.
08. Hammock: Universalis (Hammock Music)
When every Hammock release is so disarmingly beautiful, it's easy to lose sight of just how special each is. Every year or so brings another into our lives as if to remind us of the incredible project Nashville duo Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson have brought into being. Though Universalis drinks from the same deep orchestral well as 2017's Mysterium, the new release perpetuates the earlier's elegiac tone with a difference: whereas Mysterium, dedicated to Clark Kern, Byrd's nephew, who died in 2016, was shadowed by grief, Universalis conveys hope and recovery.
09. Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay: The Hawksworth Grove Sessions (Cambrian Records)
10. Todd Tobias & Chloë March: Amialluma (Hidden Shoal / Tiny Room Records)
11. Michael Robinson: Nectar-Spells (Azure Miles Records)
12. Goldmund: Occasus (Western Vinyl)
13. Same Waves: Algorithm of Desire (flau)
14. Moster!: States of Minds (Hubro)
15. Birds of Passage: The Death of Our Invention (Denovali Records)
16. Sverre Knut Johansen: The Vast Expanse (Spotted Peccary)
17. Buck Curran: Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas (Obsolete Recordings)
18. Tomorrow We Sail: The Shadows (Gizeh Records)
19.
P. J. Philipson: Linotopia (LCR Records)
20.
Jochen Tiberius Koch: Walden (Schole)
01. Maya Beiser / David Lang: the day (Cantaloupe Music)
On the day, the events of September 11, 2001 at New York's World Trade Center resonate powerfully through two works David Lang composed for cellist Maya Beiser, with the 2016 title piece conceived as a prequel to world to come (2003). The latter, written specifically in response to 9/11, is a meditation upon the soul's post-mortal journey, whereas the day focuses on life lived before that journey. In world to come, her cello and voice operate as separate yet connected elements, much like the body and soul, and Lang's piece documents their struggle to reunite in some post-earthly spiritual realm. To create the day, Lang searched the phrase ‘I remember the day that I . . .' and catalogued the responses into text spoken by Kate Valk in this remarkable performance.
02. Frederic Hand: Samatureya (New Focus Recordings)
Before listening to Samatureya, I wondered whether it could possibly match the high standard set by the classical guitarist's earlier Odyssey. No more than a single listen was needed to confirm that the new set is in every way as satisfying. It impresses on multiple levels: as both a composer and guitarist, Hand is remarkably gifted, and though the release features ten chamber and solo works, many of which were recorded at different times and in a small number of cases by musicians other than the composer, Samatureya holds together remarkably well as a cohesive statement.
03. Mark John McEncroe: My Symphonic Poems (Navona Records)
Mark John McEncroe came to composing late in life and based on the number of recent recordings bearing his name would seem to be making up for lost time. Performed by the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra, much of My Symphonic Poems is plaintive and reflective in character; a title such as “Summer's Last Hurrah” alone suggests the tone of the material in play. He professes no allegiance to any particular school or style and eschews any ambition to advance music's theoretical, intellectual, or technical boundaries; instead, his focus is on expressing his thoughts, feelings, and life experiences through musical means, to create a genuine “emotional platform” that will resonate with listeners and inspire them to also feel something and reflect on their own lives.
04. Lara Downes: For Lenny (Sony Classical)
Could there be a more perfect pairing than Leonard Bernstein and Lara Downes? Each incarnates the American spirit in resplendent manner, the former in his magnificent writing and the latter in her captivating piano playing. True to her generous nature, Downes has shared the credit for her tribute to Bernstein on the occasion of his hundredth birthday with “friends,” four of who accompany her on four of the twenty-eight tracks. Selection details aside, two things in particular distinguish For Lenny, Downes's always exquisite playing, of course, but also the audacity of Bernstein's lyrical writing and his bountiful melodic sensibility. In her hands, his songs sing.
05. Joe Sheehan: Songs of Lake Volta (Ansonica Records)
Some erect walls, others bridges. Proudly embracing the latter approach is Joe Sheehan, whose Songs of Lake Volta draws magnificent connecting threads from classical music and contemporary jazz to the music of West Africa. In another's hands, the attempt to fuse three such fundamentally different forms might produce an unwieldy result; Sheehan, on the other hand, blends classical strings and jazz ensemble playing with nine traditional Ghanaian songs (augmented by original music composed by him) as if it's the most natural thing in the world.
06. Seraph Brass: Asteria (Summit Records)
Recorded in Finland last summer, Asteria is the first studio album by Seraph Brass, the quintet founded four years ago by trumpeter Mary Elizabeth Bowden. The dynamic Asteria sees her and fellow trumpeter Amy McCabe, horn player Rachel Velvikis, trombonist Hana Beloglavec, and tuba player Joanna Ross Hersey augmenting material by Mendelssohn, Grieg, Liszt, and Albéniz with contemporary works by Anthony DiLorenzo, Rene Orth, and Catherine McMichael. One comes away from the release marveling at the performances and the rich, soaring sound generated by the five musicians.
07. Anthony Roth Costanzo: Glass/Handel (Decca Records)
As rapturous as Anthony Roth Costanzo's singing is on his debut solo album, the even more brilliant aspect has to do with the recording concept: arias and songs by contemporary composer Philip Glass and baroque master G. F. Handel, the juxtaposition of new and old combining to consistently glorious effect. The impact of Costanzo's voice is ably supported by the resplendent playing of Les Violons du Roy, which demonstrates as assured a hand in performing Glass's minimalism-based charts as Handel's elegant baroque settings.
08. Jacob Greenberg: Hanging Gardens (New Focus Recordings)
In sequencing this two-hours-plus collection, pianist Jacob Greenberg could have elected to place the Debussy material on disc one and the Second Viennese School pieces on the second. As orderly as such an arrangement would have been, it also would have undermined one of the project's fundamental goals: to show how much their respective musics share, not just with respect to textural richness and sensuality but compositionally, too. Obviously extreme differences in approach separate Debussy from Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg, yet Hanging Gardens goes a long way towards showing the divide to be less than normally presumed.
09. ROCO: Visions Take Flight (Innova)
10. Vanderbilt Chorale: Music in the Listening Place (Navona Records)
11. Brooklyn Rider & Magos Herrera: Dreamers (Sony Music Masterworks)
12. Eliane Rodrigues: Reflets (Navona Records)
13. Bruce Levingston: Windows (Sono Luminus)
14. Joanna Estelle: Emergence (Navona Records)
15. Reuben Blundell and the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra: American Romantics III (New Focus Recordings)
16. John Luther Adams: Everything That Rises (Cold Blue)
17. Gillian Whitehead: Shadows Crossing Water (Rattle)
18. Simone Dinnerstein & A Far Cry: Circles (Orange Mountain Music)
19. Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra: All In (Decca Gold)
20.
Sandro Ivo Bartoli: Giacomo Puccini: Complete Piano Works and Selected Opera Transcriptions (Solaire Records)
01. Mary Halvorson: Code Girl (Firehouse 12 Records)
At a glance, Mary Halvorson's Code Girl might appear radically different from the guitarist's other projects, but in supplementing Thumbscrew members Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara with two others it's maybe not as huge a departure as it first appears. Yet if on paper the difference appears modest, in practice it's substantial when the two additions are trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and vocalist Amirtha Kidambi. However different the new album's presentation is from her previous recordings, a clear through-line connects them to Code Girl, specifically her penchant for intertwining arrangements and compositions that are meticulously mapped out yet still allow room for improvisation.
02. Matt Ulery: Sifting Stars (Woolgathering Records)
Bassist Matt Ulery's a proud ambassador for Chicago's ever-vital jazz scene, yet Sifting Stars, his eighth as a bandleader since his 2008 debut, is hardly a jazz recording in the conventional sense of the word; in fact, a listener coming to his music for the first time might be shocked by how dramatically it departs from standard jazz practice. Issued on his own Woolgathering Records, Sifting Stars presents two works, the first a gorgeous quartet of chamber orchestra art songs, three of them vocal-based, and the second a suite performed by the Chicago-based quintet Axiom Brass. Ulery's gifts as a composer, melodicist, and arranger are clearly evidenced by this magnificent recording.
03. Jonathan Barber: Vision Ahead (Vision Ahead Music)
We expect debut albums to show promise, but we don't necessarily expect them to be fully realized and mature statements. A rare example of the latter, Jonathan Barber's Vision Ahead presents a twelve-track collection of modern jazz by the Hartford, Connecticut native that dazzles on performance, writing, arranging, and sequencing grounds. Eight out of the twelve pieces on the release were composed by the drummer, and the material is performed with conviction by the leader, pianist Taber Gable, guitarist Andrew Renfroe, saxophonist Godwin Louis, bassist Matt Dwonszyk, and vocalists Denise Renee and Sasha Foster.
04. Meg Okura & The Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble: Ima Ima (Meg Okura & The Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble)
Though IMA IMA's a studio date, violinist Meg Okura's wonderful fourth album with her Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble exudes the energy and effervescence of a live performance; furthermore, all seven settings were laid down on a single December day in 2015, suggesting that the participants came to the session with a number of run-throughs under their collective belt. Comfortably transitioning between composed and solo sequences, the musicians navigate the intricate pathways of the leader's writing with seeming ease, and woodwinds, strings, harp, and percussion work together to create the impression of an ensemble considerably larger than a tenet.
05. Scott Petito: Rainbow Gravity (Planet Arts Records)
Scanning the names of musicians included on Scott Petito's Rainbow Gravity, jazz-fusion listeners might understandably think they've died and gone to heaven: the drum chair alone's occupied by no less than Jack DeJohnette, Peter Erskine, Simon Phillips, and Omar Hakim. Though the material Petito's crafted for his musicians harks back to the classic ‘70s period when Return To Forever, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, and The Mahavishnu Orchestra built on the foundation Miles established with Bitches Brew, Rainbow Gravity never feels like some stale retrograde exercise or nostalgia trip.
06. Thumbscrew: Ours / Theirs (Cuneiform Records)
Mere months after triumphing with her Code Girl project, Mary Halvorson returns with longtime partners Michael Formanek and Tomas Fujiwara for not one but two volumes of Thumbscrew music. The first set features material written by the trio; Theirs, naturally, is a collection of covers. Certainly one of the greatest satisfactions Thumbscrew's trio format affords is that it presents Halvorson's playing in plentiful supply, and her partners impress too, not only for locking so solidly into place with the guitarist but for being so consistently responsive to the music as it's happening.
07. Snowpoet: Thought You Knew (Edition)
Though Snowpoet's second album is but a half-hour in length, its impact isn't diminished by brevity. The London-based outfit's show-runners, singer/lyricist Lauren Kinsella and multi-instrumentalist Chris Hyson, are experts in the art of songcraft, and the arrangements fashioned for Thought You Knew are consistently strong. Musically, Snowpoet traffics in a refined blend of acoustic folk and jazz, though elements of classical and electronic music work their way into a few songs, albeit subtly.
08. Marie Goudy 12tet: The Bitter Suite (Marie Goudy)
The Bitter Suite is a preternaturally mature debut from trumpeter Marie Goudy, a 2017 graduate of University of Toronto's Masters in Jazz Performance program and the beneficiary of performance opportunities with Cleo Laine, Maria Schneider, Michael Buble, Donny McCaslin, and others. Fronting a jazz ensemble consisting of twelve instrumentalists and vocalist Jocelyn Barth, Goudy has accomplished something rather remarkable with this thematically rich release.
09. Tim Garland: Weather Walker (Edition)
10. Wako: Urolige Sinn (Øra Fonogram)
11. Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble: From Maxville to Vanport (PJCE Records)
12. Jaimie Branch: Fly or Die (International Anthem)
13. Steve Coleman and Five Elements: Live at the Village Vanguard Vol 1 (The Embedded Sets) (Pi Recordings)
14. Russ Johnson: Headlands (Woolgathering Records)
15. Geir Sundstol: Brodlos (Hubro)
16. Jonathan Finlayson: 3 Times Round (Pi Recordings)
17. Reginald Chapman: Prototype (Fresh Selects)
18. Yelena Eckemoff: Better Than Gold and Silver (L&H Production)
19. Frode Haltli: Avant Folk (Hubro)
20.
Toronto Jazz Orchestra: 20 (TJO)
01. Slow Dancing Society: The Torchlight Parade Vols. I-II (Hidden Shoal)
More than a decade after the release of his first Slow Dancing Society collection, The Sound of Lights When Dim, Drew Sullivan continues to uphold the high standard of that debut with his two-volume The Torchlight Parade. Totaling twenty-seven tracks, the double album offers an encompassing portrait of this distinguished ambient-electronic artist. Much of it conjures images of the neon-lit city at night, with streetlights bringing parts of it out of the shadows and the others retaining degrees of mystery when shrouded in darkness.
02. Jeff Greinke: Before Sunrise (Spotted Peccary)
An exquisitely nuanced collection of ambient chamber music, Jeff Greinke's Before Sunrise blurs the lines between classical and electronic genres in the most striking manner. A project that pairs live musicians with electronic textures and embeds their playing within soundscape structures can produce a result where the contributions of the acoustic players feels grafted onto the backdrops crafted by the electronic artist. Not so here: Before Sunrise sees the two components integrated seamlessly, with all elements working in tandem to achieve specific ends.
03. Madhavi Devi: The Truth of Being (Spotted Peccary)
The Truth of Being is, formally speaking, Cheryl Gallagher's first solo Madhavi Devi album on Spotted Peccary, but it isn't her first appearance on the label. In 2004, Gallagher collaborated with Deborah Martin on Tibet and two years ago as Madhavi Devi with Howard Givens on Source of Compassion. She thus brings a breadth of experience, musical, spiritual, and otherwise, to The Truth of Being, and such background goes a long way towards making this eloquent set of modern-day meditative ambient as rewarding as it is.
04. Meg Bowles: Evensong: Canticles for the Earth (Kumatone Records)
An exceptional example of instrumental New Age-styled soundscaping, Evensong: Canticles for the Earth is a remarkable suite of ambient-orchestral meditations inspired by nature, the cosmos, and spiritual matters. Bowles's album is one of those albums that to be properly appreciated suggests certain conditions should be met: normal activity suspended and the mind cleared of real-world preoccupations.
05. James Murray: Falling Backwards (Home Normal)
06. Dirk Serries: Epitaph (Consouling Sounds)
07. Ruptured World: Exoplanetary (Cryo Chamber)
08. Northumbria: Vinland (Cryo Chamber)
09. Pausal: Volume Flow (Hibernate)
10. Zazz: Soft Harbinger (Inner Islands)
TOP 10 COMPILATIONS / REISSUES
01. VA: EP Box Set (1631 Recordings)
1631 Recordings recently paired material by artists Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka, Oskar Schuster and Dmitry Evgrafov, and Sophie Hutchings and Library Tapes onto three split EP releases. As credible as they are as standalones, when collected into a box (issued in a limited 300-copy edition, the set comprises three CDs, three LPs, and a booklet) the cumulative effect is considerably greater. The compilation also serves as a representative label portrait, given its focus on neo-classical piano compositions, many of which exude the hushed melancholy of a Chopin nocturne.
02. Edna Michell: The Compassion Project (Innova)
This encompassing, decades-spanning anthology could as easily have been titled The Passion Project for the dedication demonstrated by violinist Edna Michell in bringing it into the world. The idea for the collection originated in 1993 when she responded to Yehudi Menuhin despairing over “atrocities of the world” by suggesting a project that would feature short classical works inspired by the theme of universal compassion. One could regard the collection as a portrait of late-twentieth century classical composition, considering the composers involved: among those featured are John Tavener, Hans Werner Henze, Poul Ruders, Wolfgang Rihm, Luciano Berio, Chen Yi, Lukas Foss, György Kurtág, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Kaija Saariaho.
03. VA: Circles (Flau)
To celebrate ten years of operations, Tokyo-based flau asked a number of artists to contribute to its waltz-themed compilation Circles. The results are predictably stirring, but how could they be otherwise when the waltz is the foundation. No other form captivates as affectingly for the way it conveys both carefree light-heartedness and sweet sadness. At the same time as its lilting triplet rhythm is drawing the body to the dance floor, its oft-plaintive melodies are tugging at the heartstrings.
04. Hans Bakker / Jan Jarvlepp / Shirley Mier / Clive Muncaster: Legends & Light (Navona Records)
Given that multi-movement works by four composers are featured on Legends & Light, one understandably would expect it to be less cohesive than an album of material by a single figure; surprisingly, this well-curated collection impresses for how satisfyingly complementary its compositions are, an impression in part attributable to the symmetrical design of the presentation. Respective full-orchestra works by Han Bakker and Shirley Mier frame two strings-only settings by Jan Järvlepp and Clive Muncaster on the release; further, the compilation's contents are unified by the strong melodic emphasis each composer brings to the work in question.
05. VA: Piano Cloud Vol 4 (1631 Recordings)
06. VA: Arctic Dub Vol 4 (Arctic Dub)
07. Entourage: Ceremony of Dreams (Tompkins Square)
08. Robbie Basho: Live in Forli, Italy 1982 (Obsolete Recordings)
09. Carl Stone: Electronic Music from the Eighties and Nineties (Unseen Worlds)
10. VA: Bassment Beats Vol. 3 EP (Translation Recordings)
01. Kenji Kihara: Scenes of Scapes (Inner Islands)
The material crafted by Kenji Kihara for Scenes of Scapes draws for inspiration from nature, in this case the sea and mountains of his Horiuchi, Japan home base. An enveloping glow emanates from the seven settings, which merge field recordings of nature with percussive tinklings and assorted other instruments. All elements work together to create peaceful, painterly soundscapes guaranteed to soothe the soul and relax the mind and body, and even when it's reduced to its minimal essence Scenes of Scapes casts a powerful spell.
02. Ashan: Far Drift Afield (Inner Islands)
How fitting that Far Drift Afield, Sean Conrad's eleventh Ashan release, should have been mastered at ‘The Gentle Ways.' This cassette release from Inner Islands' overseer soothes in the best way imaginable, and its title is especially apt: Far Drift Afield is hardly hermetic material designed for indoor spaces. Instead, it hikes leisurely through luscious nature settings, with shimmering sprinkles of instrument sounds blending with the crackle of a campfire and the whoosh of a sudden wind.
03. Ant'lrd & Benoit Pioulard: Deck Amber (Sounds et al)
Naturally, the first thing you notice about this excellent, hour-long collaboration between ant'lrd (Colin Blanton) and Benoît Pioulard (Thomas Meluch) is the striking mode of presentation: a double-cassette release, its two components are snugly housed within a butterfly case, itself adorned with photographic artwork by Meluch. The reason for the split's a good one: in featuring seven pieces the two created together, one cassette represents the formal collaboration; the second features two ten-minute tracks, solo pieces by each participant.
04. 36: Circuit Bloom EP (3six Recordings)
Dennis Huddleston is the very model of consistency. Every six months or so, a new 36 collection appears, each one as solid as the last and each one reminding us of his unerring talent for crafting state-of-the-art electronic music. In its cassette presentation, Circuit Bloom presents six pieces; the digital release, on the other hand, includes five bonus tracks as alternate “Versions” that aren't simply alternate takes but instead rain-drenched ambient remixes of the cassette pieces.
05. Alison Cotton: All Is Quiet at the Ancient Theatre (Bloxham Tapes)
06. Julia Kent & Jean DL: The Great Lake Swallows (Gizeh Records)
07. Everyday Dust: Landscape X and the Valley of Foghorns (Sparkwood Records)
08. Echonaut: Satya (Arctic Dub)
09. Dave Wesley: Anja Cerração Ligeira EPv1 (Arctic Dub)
10. LQ & Headland: Fat Neck / Headland (ZamZam Sounds)
textura is indebted to the following for their contributions to the site in 2018 and for their support and encouragement: Erlend Olderskog Albertsen, Kate Amrine, Jonathan Barber, Sandro Bartoli, Reuben Blundell, Reginald Chapman, Yelena Eckemoff, Mike Fazio, Anne Garner, Marie Goudy, Jacob Greenberg, Frederic Hand, Keith Kenniff, Chloë March, Adi Meyerson, James Murray, Keiron Phelan, Michael Robinson, Seraph Brass, Joe Sheehan, and Drew Sullivan.
Max Bennett, Hamiet Bluiett, Glenn Branca, Leon “Ndugu” Chancler, Annapurna Devi, Dennis Edwards, Sonny Fortune, Aretha Franklin, Roy Hargrove, Jon Hiseman, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Oliver Knussen, Didier Lockwood, Reggie Lucas, Dolores O'Riordan, Pete Shelley, Tomasz Stanko, Ryan “Glen Porter” Stephenson, Cecil Taylor, Bill Watrous, Randy Weston, Brendon “Alias” Whitney, and many more.
December 2018
