WNUR 89.3 FM

WNUR Jazz: Best of 1995

Compiled by:
Jim Zanghi, Jazz Music Director
jazz-md@wnur.org
(847) 491-7102
Evanston, IL

Top 40 for 1995

Our jazz DJ's were asked to pick their 10 favorite new releases of 1995. Reissues were not included. 16 of the DJ's participated (all but 2 regulars), and from these lists I compiled an overall top 40 listed below. The number of people who picked a particular CD as their #1 favorite is listed after the record label enclosed in square brackets.

The top 10 will be feature on the Jazz Show, one CD per day beginning with #10 this Monday and counting down to #1 on the following Friday.

Mainstream jazz was did fairly well in Chicago this year, with trumpeter Orbert Davis and singer Kurt Elling receiving much praise by the Chicago Tribune and other popular media sources. We played their new releases as well, but it was other local acts that made it on our top 40 and dominate the top of the list:

  1. Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble: Chicago Now - Thirty Years of Great Black Music (Silkheart) [LOCAL]
  2. Steelwool Trio: International Front (Okka Disk) [LOCAL - 2]
  3. Peter Brotzmann/Hamid Drake: The Dried Rat Dog (Okka Disk) [LOCAL - 1]
  4. Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio: Big Cliff (Delmark) [LOCAL - 3]
  5. John Coltrane: Stellar Regions (Impulse!) [1]
  6. Hamiet Bluiett Sextet: Young Warrior, Old Warrior (Mapleshade) [1]
  7. Anthony Braxton: Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project 1993 (hat ART) (2CD) [1]
  8. Mats Gustaffson: Parrot Fish-Eye (Okka Disk)
  9. Reggie Workman: Cerebral Caverns (Postcards)
  10. David S. Ware: Cryptology (Homestead Records) [1 - my fave]
  11. Marilyn Crispell/Fred Anderson: Destiny (Okka Disk) [LOCAL]
  12. Clusone Trio: I Am An Indian (Gramavision)
  13. Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio: Constellations (hat ART)
  14. Masada: Gimel (DIW)
  15. Bobby Previte: Weather Clear, Track Fast, Hue and Cry (Enja)
  16. Various: Wavelength Infinity: A Sun Ra Tribute (Rastascan)
  17. Figure 8 (Rova x 4): Pipe Dreams (Black Saint)
  18. Henry Threadgill: Makin' a Move (Columbia)
  19. Ken Vandermark: Standards: Four Improvising Trios (Chicago) with Ken Vandermark (Quinnah) [LOCAL]
  20. Gerry Hemingway: Slamadam (Random Acoustics)
  21. Lokomotiv Konkret: Kein Aber (Leo Lab)
  22. Buell Neidlinger Quintet: Blue Chopsticks (K2B2)
  23. Pigpen: Miss Ann (Tim/Kerr)
  24. William Parker & The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra: Flowers Grown in My Room (Centering)
  25. Giorgio Occhipinti Hereo Nonetto: The Kaos Legend (Leo Lab) [1]
  26. Carlo Actis Dato: Urartu (Leo)
  27. Marty Ehrlich's Darkwood Ensemble: Just Before the Dawn (New World/Countercurrents)
  28. Douglas Ewart: Bamboo Meditations (Arawak)
  29. Robert Dick: Worlds Of If (Leo)
  30. Shelley Hirsch: O Little Town of East New York (Tzadik)
  31. Luc Houtcamp: The Field Recordings 1 - Live in Geneve & Luzern 1994 (X-OR)
  32. Evan Parker: 50th Birthday Concert (Leo)
  33. John Zorn/Fred Frith: The Art of Memory (Incus)
  34. Brotzmann/Kondo/Parker/Drake: Die Like a Dog (FMP)
  35. Don Byron: Music for Six Musicians (Nonesuch)
  36. Cowws Quintet: Grooves 'n' Loops (FMP)
  37. Charles Gayle: Kingdom Come (Knitting Factory)
  38. Gold Sparkle Band: Earthmover (Third Eye)
  39. Joe McPhee/Lisle Ellis/Paul Plimley: Sweet Freedom -- Now What? (hat ART)
  40. Paul Motian Electric Bebop Band: Reincarnation of a Love Bird (jmt)

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