2020: The Year’s Top-Rated Albums

News, From the Magazine, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, John Beasley, Carla Bley/Andy Sheppard/Steve Swallow, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Bill Frisell, Bill Frisell Trio, Guillermo Klein, Kurt Rosenwinkel Bandit 65, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Emilio Solla Tango Jazz Orchestra

By DownBeat I Dec. 15, 2020

Carla Bley (left), Steve Swallow and Andy Sheppard recorded *Life Goes On* for the ECM label.
(Photo: Caterina di Perri/ECM)

Kurt Rosenwinkel Bandit 65, Searching The Continuum (Heartcore)

Because jazz remains a mostly acoustic music, the striking thing about guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel’s Bandit 65 is how overwhelmingly electronic it sounds. Rosenwinkel, fellow guitarist Tim Motzer and drummer Gintas Janusonis all are credited with “electronics.” The range of tones and textures are so deep and beguiling that it’s easy to get lost in the sheer lushness of the sound. Doing so, however, would be a bit like missing the forest for the trees, because the real genius of Searching The Continuum is that each of these tracks was spontaneously conceived of and recorded live.

Emilio Solla Tango Jazz Orchestra, Puertos: Music From International Waters (Avantango)

The high concept that drives Puertos: Music From International Waters has no right to work. Dedicating each song to a different port seems like a hokey idea lifted out of the era of stereo demonstration LPs. But what moves Puertos beyond a simple pastiche is that Emilio Solla has invested heavily in each of the pieces here. It’s the difference between seeing each city from the deck of a ship and exploring the back alleys of each place. The thread running through the various ports is how imperialist conquests, the slave trade and immigration mixed with native traditions to create distinctive yet linked music from Cadiz to Buenos Aires and New York.