Making a Scene Presents Jim Hynes’s Top 30 Jazz Releases Covered in MAS Plus Honorable Mentions

(alphabetically by artist – not rated)

By Jim Hynes

Let’s begin by saying every single jazz release we have reviewed has an appeal for some reason, which makes it difficult to develop these lists.  Keep in mind that this is not a comprehensive list of the best jazz releases in 2022, just the “best” of what this writer reviewed in this magazine. There are no specific criteria – only the degree to which the music was moving in some way. Unlike lists that you’ll find in other outlets, under my name or other writers, Making a Scene! Is a haven for independent releases, especially debuts, and artists that may not have huge social media followings. Nonetheless, you will find some high-profile releases here as well from artists such as The Baylor Project, Samara Joy, and Grant Geismann, Geoffrey Keezer, The Peter Erskine Trio, and Danilo Perez, all of whom received Grammy nominations. Needless to say, there are many others that are equally worthy and inevitably many overlooked but worthy releases that belong on this list too. Enjoy, and thanks to Rich for all his work on the embedded links.

Top 30   * Indicates Grammy Nominaiton	Honorable Mentions
Joey Alexander – Origin	Roxana Amed – Unanime
Claudia Acuna – DUO	Jonathan Barber & Vision Ahead – Poetic
Kate Baker & Vic Juris – Return to Shore	Steve Cardenas, Ben Allison, Ted Nash – Healing Power
Michael Blake – Combobulate	Jon Cowherd Trio – Pride and Joy
Matt Carmichael – Marram	Santi Debriano – Ashanti
Caleb Wheeler Curtis – Heatmap	Dave Douglas – Secular Psalms
Michael Dease – Best Next Thing	Hilario Duran & David Virelles
Dave Douglas – Songs of Ascent Book 1	Al Foster – Reflections
*Peter Erskine, Alan Pasqua, Derek Oles – Live in Italy	Erik Friedlander – A Queen’s Firefly
John Escreet Trio – Seismic Shift	Micah Graves – Pawns
Julieta Eugenio – JUMP	Jo Harrop – The Heart Wants
Noah Garbedian – Consider the Stars Beneath Us	Lisa Hilton – Paradise Cove
Laszlo Gardony – Connection	Ant Law & Alex Hitchcock – Same Moon in the Same World
*Grant Geismann – Blooz	Joe McCarthy’s NYABABB – The Nutcracker Re-imagined
John Hebert – Sound of Love	Rodney Whitaker – Oasis – The Music of Gregg Hill
*Samara Joy – Linger Awhile	Mark Winkler – Late Blooming Jazzman
Geoffrey Keezer – Playdate
Julian Lage – View with a Room
Brian Landrus – Red List
Tony Malaby – Cave of Winds
Myra Melford – For the Love of Fire and Water
Vadim Neselovskyi – Odesa
*Danilo Perez – Crisalida
Jussi Reijonen – Three Seconds/ Kolme Toista
Neil Swainson – Fire in the West
*The Baylor Project – The Evening: Live at Apparatus
Steve Turre – Generations
Oded Tzur – Isabel
Will Vinson – Tripwire

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