Greatest jazz albums since 1980?

My faves from the 80s (maybe I'll do 90s and 2000s later):

1980

Mr Hands - Herbie Hancock
Nude Ants - Keith Jarrett/Jan Garbarek/Palle Danielsson/Jon Christiansen
M'Boom - Max Roach
Journey to the One - Pharoah Sanders
Solo Concert - Ralph Towner
Night Passage - Weather Report
Little Movements - Eberhard Weber Colours
Around Six - Kenny Wheeler

1981

Invocations/The Moth and the Flame - Keith Jarrett
Word of Mouth - Jaco Pastorius

1982

Concerts: Bregenz/Munich - Keith Jarrett
Psalm - Paul Motian

1983

Wayfarer - Jan Garbarek Group
Standards, Vol. 1 - Keith Jarrett Trio

1984

[Nothing in my collection HELP ME OUT HERE, GUYS!]

1985

It's OK to Listen to the Gray Voice - Jan Garbarek
Standards, Vol. 2 - Keith Jarrett Trio
It Should've Happened a Long Time Ago - Paul Motian Trio
Slide Show - Ralph Towner/Gary Burton
Chorus - Eberhard Weber

1986

Trio Music Live in Europe - Chick Corea/Miroslav Vitous/Roy Haynes
The State of the Tenor: Live at the Village Vanguard - Joe Henderson
Standards Live - Keith Jarrett Trio

1987

Cloud About Mercury - David Torn

1988

Dark Intervals - Keith Jarrett

1989

Changeless - Keith Jarrett Trio
Sex - The Necks

As you can see, I have a bit of an ECM problem...

 

Favorite Jazz albums from the last several years that I would recommend:

When the Heart Emerges Glistening - Ambrose Akinmusire
Graylen Epicenter - David Binney
Rio - Keith Jarrett
Made Possible - The Bad Plus
Snakeoil - Tim Berne
Accelerando - Vijay Iyer
Portico Quartet - Portico Quartet
Indicum - Bobo Stenson Trio
Shadow Man - Tim Berne's Snakeoil
Lifted Land - David Binney
Live with the Britten Sinfonia - Jaga Jazzist
Without a Net - Wayne Shorter Quartet
Anacapa - David Binney
You've Been Watching Me - Tim Berne's Snakeoil
Mockroot - Tigran Hamasyan
Vista Accumulation - Matt Mitchell
Balance 38-58 - Alex Sipiagin
A Multitude of Angels - Keith Jarrett [recorded 1996]

 

I have these from that year - some are not their best.

Art Ensemble of Chicago - The Third Decade
Jack DeJohnette - Inflation Blues
Egberto Gimsonti / Nana Vasconcelos - Douas Vozes
Miles Davis - Decoy
Ronald Shannon Jackson - Decode Yourself
Pat Metheny - Rejoicing
Paul Motian - It Should Have Happened A Long Time Ago
Weather Report - Domino Theory (I'd like this more but the sound, to me, is way too brash)
Roscoe Mitchell - And the Sound and Space Ensemble
Henry Threadgill - Subject To Change

I'm missing Kenny Wheeler's Double, Double You which I;m pretty sure would be high on the list given his consistency.

 

Try Jamaaladeen Tacuma's 'Renaissance Man'.

 

World Saxophone Quartet, W.S.Q., Black Saint

 

Bill Frisell - Quartet

 

Au Lait is soooooooooo good

 

The classic 'Winelight' an album I never tire of.

and the fabulous

'Double Vision' Bob James and David Sanborn

 

Joe Henderson - Relaxin at Camarillo 1980, State of the Tenor - 1986, and his 90's "rebirth" albums - So Near So Far, Lush Life
Blue Note all stars - One Night with Blue Note Preserved 1985
Horace Tapscott - as others have said Dark Tree, but treat yourself to Aiee! the Phantom from 1996
Donald Byrd (with Joe) - Getting Down to Business 1990

 

I like Kamasi Washington-The Epic and Ferit Odman-Dameronia with Strings.

 

I'll see if I can come up with one recommendation per year.

1980 - Al Di Meola - Splendido Hotel
1981 - Jaco Pastorius - Word Of Mouth
1982 - Pat Metheny - Off Ramp
1983 - Jaco Pastorius - Invitation
1984 - Wynton Marsalis - Hot House Flowers
1985 - Stanley Jordan - Magic Touch
1986 - Wynton Marsalis - J Mood
1987 - Ray Brown - The Red Hot Ray Brown Trio
1988 - Joe Pass - Blues For Fred
1989 - Bill Frisell - Before We Were Born
1990 - Maceo Parker - Roots Revisited
1991 - Bela Fleck - Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo
1992 - Charlie Haden Quartet West - Haunted Heart
1993 - Cassandra Wilson Blue Light Til Dawn
1994 - Ginger Baker Trio - Going Back Home
1995 - Charlie Haden & Hank Jones - Steal Away
1996 - Ben Sidran - Mr P's Shuffle
1997 - Jacky Terrasson & Cassandra Wilson - Rendevouz
1998 - Patricia Barber - Modern Cool
1999 - Bill Frisell - The Sweetest Punch: Songs Of Burt Bacharach And Elvis Costello
2000 - Wayne Horvitz - Forever
2001 - The Anthony Wilson Trio - Our Gang
2002 - Wayne Horvitz - Sweeter Than The Day
2003 - Branford Marsalis Quartet - Romare Bearden Revealed
2004 - Tomas's Stanko Quartet - Suspended Night
2005 - Manu Katche - Neighborhood
2006 - Stanton Moore - III
2007 - Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters
2008 - Roy Hargrove Quartet - Earfood
2009 - The Stanley Clarke Trio With Hiromi And Lenny White - Jazz In The Garden
2010 - Keith Jarret Charlie Haden - Jasmine
2011 - Bob Belden (various artists) - Miles Espanol: New Sketches Of Spain
2012 - Todd Gustavsen Quartet - The Well
2013 - Trombone Shorty - Say This To That
2014 - Marcin Wasilewski Trio - Spark Of Life
2015 - Kamasi Washington - Epic
2016 - Charles Lloyd And The Marvels - I Long To See You
2017 - Trombone Shorty - Parking Lot Symphony

 

If I can sneak in one from 1979, I really like the first Hiroshima album.

 

The last great Jazz album i bought was this.
Kamasi Washington (Brainfeeder) 'The Epic' 3LP Out Now
Kamasi Washington

 

Here are a couple I only got recently. Dunno if they've be mentioned already:

David Murray - Ming (1980)

Elvin Jones - Earth Jones (1982)

 

Would recommend almost anything by
Esbjorn Svenson Trio
Bill Bruford's Earthworks
Pat Metheny Group
Chick Corea Electric Band
Bill Frisell
Pierre Bensusan

 

All those David Murray Black Saint records are worth listening to. Nice pick.

 

One of my all-time favorites. I would LOVE to hear another album by this group.

 

Lots of good albums on this list. Contrary to popular opinion, Jazz is not dead. I'll add a few...

Bheki Mseleku - Timelessness
Ted Nash - Sidewalk Meeting
Dave Douglas - Convergence
Dave Douglas - Tiny Bell Trio
Pachora - Astereotypical
David Torn - Night Sky
Chris Potter Underground Orchestra - Imaginary Cities

 

Love Rebecca Martin's vocal albums.

 

LOVE this one.

 

I have a signed copy of this - had the opportunity to hang out with Ray one night.

 

I've got a Black Saint for you - Sun Ra Arkestra Mayan Temples, 1990

 

No question, Roy Hargrove's Earfood. Definitiely one of my favorite jazz recordings ever. Here's a sample:

 

Getting into these recently:
Gateway:
Homecoming (ECM, 1994) In the Moment (ECM, 1995)
Marc Ribot:
The Prosthetic Cubans (Atlantic, 1998) with Los Cubanos Postizos

 

I agree 100%. Bill's last trio was the fullest expression of his musical vision (as he explains and demonstrates it in late 1978 on Marian McPartland, "Piano Jazz" (a National Public Radio show that has published some of its best programs, including the one with Oscar Peterson (good). But Bill Evans' performance for Marian, and his discussion of playing as a single vs. playing as a trio, with his new emphasis on "anticipatory phrasing" and "displaced rhythm," make it the most valuable record of its kind.

In the United States, "The Last Waltz" was released on Fantasy Records in 2000--8 CDs comprising the first sets of each of the 8 nights of Bill's last stand (concl. 9/8/80). Bill would fly back to NYC in preparation for a tour of Japan, but he became very ill and died on 9/15/80. It's 8 CDs comprising the 2nd (final) sets of each of the 8 nights of Bill's last stand (ending barely one week before his death). Today this set has become harder to find than ever before .In 2004 another box set of 8 CDs was issued as "Consecration" by Fantasy Records. It too has become scarce and/or prohibitively expensive. It's been cut down, condensed, abridged, which is most unfortunate because, as terminally sick as Bill was (don't let anyone kid you), his playing is beautiful to the most superhuman level. Agreed, it's not Scott LaFaro or Eddie Gomez, but with these two new, young musicians (Marc Anderson, bs and Joe LaBarbera, dr) Bill was able to express his creative vision to the fullest. Rather than the "democratic" playing of the LaFaro and Gomez trios (with equal solo time to bass), Bill incorporates bass and drums into playing of sheer genius. As much as I treasure the early albums (esp. "Vanguard Sessions" and "Portrait of the Artist"), these box sets documenting his last stand (16 discs altogether) represent his absolute zenith--and they are also the completion of his evolution over the preceding 2 decades--from a Debussy-like "impressionist" to a Rachmaninoff-like "expressionist" (Bill was half Russian).

I've collected thousands of CDs and LPs in my lifetime, but if I could keep only 1 session, these two collections--"Consecration" and "The Last Waltz" would be my desert island choices. And if you had to choose between the two boxes? Here's a key difference: "Consecration" ends each night with Bill's totally re-envisioned "My Romance" (Rodgers & Hart tune), which has now become a fiery drum solo featuring LaBarbara. But the sets on "The Last Waltz" conclude with Bill's magnum opus "Nardis." Originally played on the Riverside album with Cannonball Adderley, Bill has now made the tune the definitive expression of his late playing. He opens with a solo cadenza--different each night, with the time of the cadenza ranging from 10 minutes to 20 minutes--improvising with the power of classical music (Liszt, Verdi, Mozart Requiems).

The boxes are equal in the quality of the music--and the audio as well! The drums are "under-recorded" (perhaps the reason LaBarbara rarely mentions these recordings), but Bill's piano resonates with thunderous bass and ringing treble, demonstrating his gift for making the piano as responsive as a singing voice, a mechanical contraption that he alone could internalize, making it express emotions of nuance and power (notice his powerful shoulders and his hands--the thickest, yet most deadly accurate, fingers I've ever seen on a pianist. However, be careful in selecting recordings from Bill's middle period, between the Riversides and the Fantasies. Van Gelder was the engineer on many of these recordings (esp. on Verve), and the renowned Blue Note engineer simply did NOT have an ear for the piano. The touches of the pianists on Blue Note are practically homogenized. I know that many collectors enjoy his recording technique, but you're hearing the "RVG piano," not a Steinway, Kawaii, Yamaha or Bosendorfer.