Jazz is tough. The genre, as far as I'm concerned, peaked in the 1950s and 1960s, which is why so many of the clips I post are from the old guys. They were just better. And, here's the problem for 2018 album picks in jazz. Jazz peaked in the '50s and 60s because of guys like Coltrane. And this year, they dug up some Coltrane recordings from '63. Classic quartet, with McCoy Tyner on piano. Nothing recorded or released in 2018 can come close. It's just not fair to anyone else. But... it's Coltrane. Best jazz album released in 2018? I'm going to break that rule I just told you I was going to follow. Coltrane's Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album.
But, there was good music recorded and released in 2018 too. Marcus Miller put out a pretty good one, reliable as he is. However, for a real pick, I have to go with someone who is really only vaguely jazz. Steve Tibbetts. Tibbetts is one of my all-time favorites. He gets called jazz because nobody knows what else to call his music, but who cares? Great music is great music. He's weird and brilliant and unlike anyone else. He doesn't record enough. This year, he put out Life Of.
We don't have Coltrane anymore, but we do have weirdo guitarist, Steve Tibbetts. Here's some good music released in 2018. I'm cheating here because the Coltrane was recorded in '63, and Tibbetts is... I don't know what he is, but people call him jazz, so let's go with that.
