photo: Brendon Heinst
2021 ARTIST PICKS
Many things sustained textura during 2021 in addition to the incredible music chosen for the ‘2021 TOP 30s & 20 Picks' article (here). On the musical front, two box sets were especially rewarding, The Beach Boys' Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surfs Up Sessions 1969-1971 and Joni Mitchell's Archives—Vol 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971); a literary highlight was Heather Clark's magnificent biography Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath and on the film front, Yasujiro Ozu's Late Spring, Tokyo Story, Late Autumn, Early Summer, and others. Much like last year, textura asked artists whose releases appear in the year-end roundup to choose a work, musical, literary, or otherwise, that helped get them through this difficult year. textura is immensely grateful to those who contributed and thanks them for their generosity.
ÆRA • Greg Amirault • Ashan • Jalen Baker • Nat Bartsch • Maya Beiser • Andrea Botticelli • Chronotope Project • CODE Quartet • Randal Despommier • Firm Roots Duo • GALÁN / VOGT • Jeff Greinke • Miho Hazama • The InterContinental Ensemble • Akira Kosemura • Lori Laitman • Tim Linghaus • Channa Malkin • Deborah Martin & Jill Haley • Yoko Miwa Trio • Kjetil Mulelid • Erin Propp & Larry Roy • Peter Sterling • Reed Tetzloff • Amanda Tosoff
ÆRA (#3 Ambient / New Age: A Winter's Tale, Faith Strange)
(Mike Fazio) I've not been made aware of or have been interested in much, if any, new music this year (for various reasons) and mostly recorded various new works in isolation, but I have had a full year of intense reading, especially of older books, which I have found enriched my own life immeasurably and my ability to compose.
The book that resonated the most with me is The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, written in 1949. Campbell is one of my all-time favourite authors, someone who effortlessly merges comparative mythologies with modern-day psychology, medieval theology, and, most of all, ethics and modern-day common sense. There are many passages if not all within this book that one can find solace in, especially in today's increasingly anarchic world, and one of my favourites is as follows: “Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.” Wise words indeed.
Greg Amirault (#29 Jazz: News Blues, Greg Amirault)
2021 was another year full of new challenges for many of us. One of the things that helped me through this time was not new to me at all, and that is finding inspiration and connection in listening to the two musicians who have “spoken” to me the most over the years, Jim Hall and John Scofield.
Jim Hall's Live Vol. 2-4 was recorded in 1975 and only released in 2012. Volume one is called Jim Hall “Live” and is only about forty-five minutes. It took thirty-seven years for the rest to be released and was worth the wait. The way musicians communicate with one another in a live situation is the essence of jazz, and it's very apparent on this recording; the interplay is easily palpable and at the highest level. John Scofield is a master of communication, and his A Moment's Peace brings us to the more mellow and relaxed side of his playing, with all of the depth intact. Both of these recordings helped inspire me to keep the creative process alive and stay connected to music and my own path.
Ashan (#6 Ambient / New Age: Sacred Spring, Inner Islands)
(Sean Conrad) Throughout 2021, I received multiple recommendations for the book Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young and checked it out from my local library. What a joyful trove of information! It's wonderfully well-written and an excellent gateway to over a hundred years worth of folk music, acoustic and electric music, and of course visionary music from the land of Albion. Vital sounds that still resonate and inspire today.
Jalen Baker (#4 Jazz: This is Me, This is Us, Outside In Music)
During the height of the pandemic, I'd say I wasn't really listening to a lot of music or watching anything that I would consider stimulating. I was really trying to embrace new things like working out and grilling since I had the time, but throughout the year the album that kept me coming back was Gerald Clayton's Happening: Live at The Village Vanguard. Gerald is one of my favourite musicians ever, and this album is such a great example of how musicians can organically create something incredible on stage. Plus it's always cool to hear the sound of the Vanguard on an album.
Nat Bartsch (#18 Classical / Opera: Hope, ABC Music)
Luke Howard's The Closing of the Gates: In 2021 I have had a constant, beautiful melody in my head, composed by my dear friend/pianist/collaborator Luke Howard. In 2020 between lockdowns 1 and 2 we were playing a double solo concert together. What was meant to be a single concert to a full house was converted into three shows in one night, each time to an audience of thirty, because of increasing Covid case numbers. Luke played this new piece, at that point untitled, and so I heard it three times in one night and was transfixed every time. Since then, this little melody has become a work for string orchestra, titled The Closing of the Gates, which I assume refers to the border closures/flight cancellations that occurred in Australia when Covid-19 hit. It's a single from Luke's forthcoming album. Whether played on a piano or by an orchestra, it is a deeply powerful and moving composition that says so much about the times we're living in.
Maya Beiser (#6 Classical / Opera: Maya Beiser x Philip Glass, Islandia Music Records)
Psychiatrist and author Viktor Frankl's 1946 memoir Man's Search for Meaning tells of the author's horrific experience in Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration death camp. Frankl, in the midst of an unimaginable experience, was able to find hope and meaning, and he lived to write about it immediately after he was liberated.
This brilliant book provides insights into how humans can survive even the worst, hopeless adversity by searching for a meaning. Since life does not have an inherent meaning, it is up to us to create one for ourselves, whether we are in Auschwitz or in a blissful, beautiful palace. By recognizing that life is inherently meaningless, we get the opportunity to create life's meaning for ourselves. The main thrust of Frankl's Logotherapy—the treatment modality he developed based on his experience—can serve each one of us in the quest to pour meaning into our lives.
I have long admired Frankl, both for his heroic survival of Auschwitz (more than a quarter of my grandparents' extended family was murdered in that camp) and for his brilliant insight into the human mind and capacity. One realizes that if he could create a meaning to his life where people were literally expendable as “subhumans,” then we all can do it in our much better circumstances. I read the book again during the long lockdown days. It is a resounding reminder to recreate the meaning of my life each and every day and a call for meaning where there seemingly is none.
Andrea Botticelli (#20 Classical / Opera: Stimme aus der Ferne - A Voice From the Distance, Céleste Music)
F. Schubert's Sonata in A major, D.959: A profound and meaningful work, this sonata is one of Schubert's last piano compositions, written near the end of his life when he was struggling with illness. It resonated with me during the past year because there is a lot of pathos in the work, but it also projects a profound and sublime feeling of calm: an acceptance of one's fate.
Chronotope Project (#4 Ambient / New Age: Gnosis, Spotted Peccary Music)
(Jeffrey Ericson Allen) I read a lot of philosophy during lockdown, particularly the art-of-life philosophy of the Hellenistic era. In particular, I found the essays and letters of Lucius Seneca to be most helpful. My pick is “On the Shortness of Life,” by Seneca. This essay, by the first century AD Roman Stoic philosopher, teaches me to live without expectancy for an imagined future but rather to engage with what is truly meaningful in life, which for me is love and friendship, philosophy and literature, and making art. Seneca reminds us that life is short but that living it fully gives it worth and purpose.
CODE Quartet (#18 Jazz: Genealogy, Justin Time Records)
(Lex French) The idea of writing music based on paintings is something I've been interested in for a number of years: the title track from Genealogy was inspired by the paintings of New Zealand artist Gordon Walters. It was the topic of my doctoral thesis, and my research, undertaken in late 2020 and early 202, involved interviewing a number of prominent jazz composers who had written compositions based on works of art.
One of these composers was the great Jim McNeely, who had been commissioned by the Swiss Jazz Orchestra to write an album of pieces inspired by the Swiss-German artist Paul Klee. My conversations with McNeely were fascinating, but the discovery of Klee's art served as a source of continual joy during the bleak days of the COVID curfew in Quebec. Playful and bright, at once complex and childlike, Klee's paintings served as both respite from the dark days of winter and inspiration for me as a composer. I can't help but look at a Klee work like 1938's Reicher Hafen (Rich Harbour) and feel happy. If I really need to relax, though, I'll put on Charles Lloyd's The Water is Wide. The album opens with Brad Mehldau playing an Eb major scale, and instantly makes me feel at peace.
Randal Despommier (#8 Jazz: Dio C 'è , Outside In Music)
When I wanted to forget about Covid, I'd put on my headphones and get lost in the soundtrack to the film Cinema Paradiso by the late Ennio Morricone. My favourite tracks are “Tema d'Amore” and “lnfanzia e Maturità”; there is a kind of beautiful innocence in their leitmotifs. They help you connect with the characters and their struggles, hopes, and dreams.
Firm Roots Duo (#6 Jazz: Firm Roots, Firm Roots Music)
(Lara Driscoll) Firm Roots Duo gained a member in 2021, and I concurrently experienced new sublime love, infinite awe, and raw postpartum blues. A book of very short poems called Brave New Mama by Vicki Rivard was an important source of nourishment, as was my “labour playlist.” The beautiful and authentic vulnerability of Rivard's poetry touched my core to the point of tears and also empowered me to embrace a universal connection with other mothers. For my playlist, I resorted to chill music already embedded in my soul, with tracks from Keith Jarrett's Melody At Night With You, Miles Davis's Relaxin,' the Bill Evans Trio's Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Hank Mobley's Soul Station, Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years, Astor Piazzolla's Quintet performing "The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires," and much more.
I also spent some of 2021 diving deeper into deconstructing my understanding of jazz history (and life) through an intersectional feminist lens. While doing so, I have been continually inspired by Terri Lyne Carrington's leadership and especially enjoyed revisiting her 2011 release The Mosaic Project.
GALÁN / VOGT (#17 Ambient / New Age: The Sweet Wait, Editions Furioso)
(Karen Vogt) Exploring the local neighbourhood (within the 1-kilometre radius granted), taking pictures and video of the street art/graffiti and abandoned buildings, and walks along the river during lockdown have been welcoming, almost therapeutic distractions during this second year of the pandemic. The simple act of watching the sunset feels like observing an art installation when you're limited in what you can do. I spent most of lockdown time creating music, but there are some artists/albums I always came back to for comfort, such as The Durutti Column, John Martyn, and Talk Talk; I also listened to music from many of my musician friends. But the back catalogue of UK band Epic 45 has been a constant companion on my walks. They make the kind of music that you can get lost in and forget about everything stressful or difficult for a while. Their music is so beautifully introspective, warm, and atmospheric.
Jeff Greinke (#5 Ambient / New Age: Other Weather, Spotted Peccary Music)
The album I found myself going to most often this past year, particularly during the first half of the year, was Some Kind of Peace by Olafur Arnolds. Released toward the end of 2020, coinciding with a time of great upheaval in American politics that sadly persists today, I find this work to be the perfect antidote to that turmoil as well as the various existential threats we all experience on some level every day.
I have been a fan of Jon Hassell's music for over 40 years. His music never fails to transport me to beautiful and exotic otherworldly places. His passing in June was a great loss. Upon his passing, I revisited some of his work I hadn't heard in some time and re-discovered his track “Blue Period” from his 2009 ECM release Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street. The silky, rich, and beautiful melodic lines of this piece and his warm and passionate trumpet playing I find utterly beautiful and soothing. This gorgeous piece has brought me to tears on several occasions.
Miho Hazama (#1 Jazz: Imaginary Visions, Edition Records)
I would pick Joel Ross's piece “When My Head Is Cold” from his latest album Who Are You? as my favourite music of the year. I had the privilege of having him work with the Danish Radio Big Band this fall, and that week was this year's highlight for me. Not only was his playing inspiring, but also his writing was an eye-opener. He said he doesn't need to hear any backbeats on his compositions because he already hears so many rhythmic pulses in his mind. As a person not coming from jazz-tradition or percussionist-tradition, I always have to pay extra attention to make sure if I feel the right groove or rhythm—I was quite jealous of his rhythmic sense! His perspective on writing opened up a new possibility for my own writing and was such an inspiring lesson.
photo: The InterContinental Ensemble
The InterContinental Ensemble (#12 Classical / Opera: In Motu, TRPTK)
(Ernst Spyckerelle) In 2021, my then-girlfriend—now wife—was working in Brussels while I had most of my professional activities in Amsterdam. Both cities were a two-and-a-half-hour drive away from each other. It gave me the occasion to dive back into my CD collection. Thanks to this, I rediscovered my love for the British band Muse, more specifically their 2009 album Black Holes and Revelations.
On it, Matthew Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard show their most creative side. From the Tchaikovsky-like chords that combine with an intro reminiscent of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood in “Hoodoo,” the Spanish flair of solo trumpet and strings in “City Delusion,” the bittersweet lullaby of the “Soldier's Poem,” combined with certified crowdpleasers such as “Knights of Cydonia” and “Starlight,” Muse's fourth album is an ode to creativity, and its tremendous musical power and prowess remain intact more than a decade later. It is also responsible for some excessive speeding on the highway between Amsterdam and Brussels, but, luckily, no one got harmed.
Akira Kosemura (#14 Ambient / New Age: 88 Keys, Schole)
2021 was a tough year for me personally because overwork made me sick and had me recuperate for a month in the summer. I spent that time with my son and wife, watching some movies, anime, and listening to music to heal myself and restore energy. That's why I chose Cast Away by Robert Zemeckis, which is a film I'd seen before but saw by chance again, and its solitude-related content moved me. Watching the animes Adventure of Dai and Dragon Ball with my boy reminded me about what is truly important, time spent together. And when I recovered, M83's Saturdays=Youth became the best accompaniment to my jogging.
Lori Laitman (#13 Classical / Opera: Are Women People? The Songs of Lori Laitman, Acis)
The music that sustained me during the pandemic were the many songs written by my husband, Bruce Rosenblum—as time away from his office allowed him to return to his youthful folk-song composer days; he even cajoled me into dusting off my flute and piccolo to join him for some of the songs. He produced everything, playing a multitude of instruments, and graduated from using the Acapella app to more professional productions using a Mac and Garage Band. All are available on his channel at YouTube.
Hearing him sing and play and watching him work out the lyrics was a sweet throwback to our early courtship over forty years ago. I remained amazed by his many talents and his commitment to social justice. Among his songs, these are my top three: “Undertow,” “Stop It Now, I'm Brushing My Teeth” (a collaboration with our six-year-old grandson Edward), and “Out of the Cloister” (written after the vaccines were developed).
Tim Linghaus (#7 Ambient / New Age: Memory Sketches II, Schole / 1631 recordings)
I live in a little house that's located in a tourist area by the sea with a lot of little houses. All of them stayed empty during the first lockdown, which meant that I was the only human being around on my street, literally the only one; even the beach and the promenade were empty in March and April. It was then that I discovered FKJ's Ylang Ylang EP, and I guess I must have listened to it a hundred times, mostly on my terrace. I love this little record so much because it conveys a special form of safety and positivity I hadn't heard before. It definitely helped me to look forward and it still does.
Channa Malkin (#24 Classical / Opera: This is Not a Lullaby, TRPTK)
When it's dark and cold and the world seems bleak, nothing picks me up like some fiery baroque music. My favourite album right now is Amazoneu by mezzo Lea Desandre and Ensemble Jupiter led by Thomas Dunford. They picked some unknown gems from the baroque repertoire centred around the powerful female warrior character of the Amazon, and their interpretations burst with energy and freedom.
One of my favourite books this year has been A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. The charming writing and touching story are really heart-warming. It's about a Russian count who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, is forced to spend the rest of his life under house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel. How to find purpose when your world has been reduced to your immediate surroundings? It's a theme we can unfortunately relate to all too well these days…
Deborah Martin & Jill Haley (#1 Ambient / New Age: The Silence of Grace, Spotted Peccary Music)
(Deborah Martin) Monet's Water Lilies have always been a source of inspiration to me, and whenever there have been challenges to overcome I found myself returning to them for the tranquility and peaceful repose they represent. The past couple of years has presented many changes to our world. Working with Jill Haley on The Silence of Grace project was a blessing in looking forward, not backwards, to the potential of what could be to the seed planted for new growth. Monet's work provided that which eludes from time to time—the mysteries of life that unfold as potential awakens. A blessed new year awaits, and I wish that for all of us. Thank you for this opportunity to share.
Yoko Miwa Trio (#30 Jazz: Songs of Joy, Ubuntu Music)
For a musician, 2021 required holding out hope but without too much expectation. I'm not a religious person, but I am spiritual. I don't know too much about gospel music, and although I'm a jazz musician I'm attracted to any music that has integrity no matter the style. When I saw Kirk Franklin's Tiny Desk Concert (see here) it hit me on so many levels. Here was this amazing trio of keyboard, bass, and drums along with six outstanding vocalists led by Franklin on keyboards and vocals. They were playing and singing in this little room with such phenomenal energy, it sounded like a gospel choir with an orchestra. Most of all they were having so much fun while putting every ounce of their souls and emotions into the music in a tiny room with no audience. It literally brought me to tears and reminded me of the original reason why I wanted to be a musician: for the pure love of it!
Kjetil Mulelid (#9 Jazz: Piano, Rune Grammofon)
I've listened to so much great music this year, and I'm so grateful for all of it for helping me through it. I've been a huge fan of Jakob Bro's guitar playing for some years, but this year I really discovered his music. The albums Returnings, Streams, and Balladeering are so great! I also discovered the Swiss pianist Colin Vallon and his trio this year. The album Danse has inspired me a lot. All of these albums are filled with nice sounds, harmonies, melodies, and interesting dramaturgy in music. As with every year, I also have the tendency to go back to Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left, my favourite album of all time I would say. Something about that music never bores me.
If I need to pick one particular song that has inspired me this year, it must be Maria Kannegaard Trio's “Sand i en vik (til Pål).” There's a great flow in the tune, and I love the dramatics in the song, from the nice melody to the improvised texture part where anything can happen.
Erin Propp & Larry Roy (#22 Jazz: We Want All The Same Things, Chronograph Records)
(Erin Propp) This year I have spent many evenings slowly reading through poems. Simple moments indulged by Mary Oliver were particularly lightening, and tangled lines from Leonard Cohen were welcome as added complexities to the tight weave of the past year.
I found the most challenge, comfort, and curiosity from a local (to me) Winnipeg writer, Sally Ito, in her book, Alert to Glory. Here were notes from a writer who observes life through the same long winter months of soft grey horizon and weeks of blinding summer as I do with a perspective different from mine. There were many moments in reading this collection where I knew my small understandings were being expanded because of her words. From “On Hope and Death,” Ito writes:
What is hope then? Mostly, a scalloped heart of waiting,
a bruised flesh of wing awaiting deliverance, remembering flight.
It is about singing to bide the time and losing oneself in the song.
Peter Sterling (#10 Ambient / New Age: The Winding Way, Harp Magic Music)
In 2020 I released my award-winning Sanctuary of Light as I was guided to create an album that would be a peaceful oasis of calm and healing. I had not made an album quite so soft and ethereal like that in quite some time, and this was the first album I'd produced where I played all the instruments. Little did I know how much we would need this type of music. Then the pandemic came and it all made sense to me why I was guided to create music of this nature. Then during the lockdown, like many of our musical comrades, I took to the recording studio to find solace and to channel the fear and anxiety during this darkest time into something positive, something that would bring uplift to humanity. From the beginning with my music I have always sought a higher power, a higher source of inspiration to move me to create, and it was from this approach during such unnerving and unsettling times that the music of The Winding Way was born. Locked down in my home with my ten-year-old boy, I would take to the harp, hit the record button, and play from my heart and soul. Often, in the darkness of the middle of the night, I would allow spirit to play through me to bring forth something of rare and exceptional quality and timelessness. From the response I have received to The Winding Way, it is apparent that my wish and my dream for this special music has come true.
Reed Tetzloff (#22: Classical / Opera: Schumann, Master Performers)
A piece of music that has meant a lot to me, especially this year, is the Concord Sonata by Charles Ives. This monumental work, like its composer, is infused with courage, independence, and fortitude—virtues that feel more important now than ever before. One gets a strong idea of the world of this piece by simply considering its two major influences: Ludwig van Beethoven, whom Ives quotes constantly, and one of America's greatest visionaries, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The first movement of the Sonata embodies Emersonian oration and rhetoric in a way that's unique among all of the music I know. It's as if one can physically hear the process of thoughts being formed, and as if the music actually inhabits the mind of the great philosopher. Ives was a maverick who followed his own path, wrote the radical music that he wanted to write, regardless of what anyone else thought, and the magnitude of his achievement always inspires and moves me.
I also was blown away this year by Cormac McCarthy's 1985 novel Blood Meridian (which I finally finished on my third attempt!). McCarthy's ideas and almost biblical prose have stayed with me ever since.
Amanda Tosoff (#5 Jazz: Earth Voices, Empress Music)
This year, I've been discovering the world of Brazilian music—Eliane Elias, Egberto Gismonti, Luciana Souza, and many more. Being a jazz pianist, I've of course checked out classic recordings of Jobim, Elis Regina, and Joao Gilberto, but it took having a little extra time this year to dive deeper into this amazing and rich musical culture, and I discovered some beautiful music that sustained me during this time! I don't think I can pick one particular album as I've enjoyed so many, but what I will say is that this music does something special to the soul. I'd put it on and instantly I'd be transported to a completely different world, mood, and energy, and in almost every case, my mood was instantly lifted by the energy and rhythms of the music.
December 2021