2026 January Listenings



I hate that Spotify took money from ICE. 


I watched Heart of Dog 2015, a movie about grief by Laurie Anderson, and while there's only a brief picture of Lou Reed, I'm sure the loss of him in 2013 is present, and the movie ends with a song off Ecstasy, and I realize I'd not listened to any albums since New York 1989, which I love. 


1/1/2026 Ecstasy 2000 Lou Reed spotify

1/2 Set The Twilight Reeling 1996 Lou Reed spotify

1/3 Magic and Loss 1993 Lou Reed spotify

1/4 Songs for Drella 1990 Lou Reed spotify

The movie Songs for Drella is on Criterion at the moment, and I quite liked that. 

1/5 Mister Heartbreak 1984 Laurie Anderson spotify, YouTube

"Gravity's Angel" borrows imagery from Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow (1973). Anderson had "wanted to make an opera of that book ... and asked him if that would be OK... He said, 'You can do it, but you can only use banjo.' And so I thought, 'Well, thanks. I don't know if I could do it like that."

I've listened to this a few times because my cousin said he really liked it. 

1/6 Verdi La Traviata 1977 Bavarian State Opera spotify

1/7 The Jazz Giants '56 1956 Lester Young spotify

I'd say Gemini is an advance, instead of a google search, you get direct answers to questions, even if they're sometimes wrong. I really like Pres and Sweets 1954, and Gemini suggested this album. It doesn't swing with the tightness of that one, but it's interesting. 

I wonder if I don't like this album as much as Pres and Sweets because i haven't heard it as much or if it really doesn't swing as much. It's probably both, doesn't swing as much, and since it's foreign to me, I don't know it as well and don't groove to it as much. Feels slower. 

1/8 Bessie Smith Complete Recordings Vol 4 spotify

1/9 Bessie Smith Vol 2 spotify

1/10 Bessie Smith Vol 3 spotify

1/11 Smith Vol 5 spotify

1/9 The Blues Heritage 1973 King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith spotify

1/10 Chet Baker 1953 Chet Baker & Strings spotify

1/11 Chet Baker 1954 Love Songs spotify

1/12 Chet Baker 1956 Chet Baker and his Quintet with Bobby Jasper spotify

There's 10 albums on Spotify before 1957 when he becomes a drug addict.

Spotify has 4 albums of Clifford Brown before he died.

1/13 Brown and Roach Incorporated 1954 spotify 

1/14 Clifford Brown and Max Roach 1954 spotify

1/15 Study in Brown 1955 spotify

1/16 More Study In Brown 1956 spotify

(In one playlist, Clifford Brown on spotify)


People are coming out with their best jazz albums lists, so the rest is that;

1/17 Memories of Home 2025 John Scofield, and Dave Holland spotify, YouTube

1/18 Sinsuke Fujieda Group 2025 Fukushima YouTube spotify

He has a Coltrane vibe to him. 

Sinsuke Fujieda – Tenor & Soprano Sax, Flute, Compose, Arrange / Shinichi Tsukamoto – Piano / Fumiko Takeshita – Violin / Shigeru Kato – Bass / Daisuke Alkhaly – Percussion / Kensaku Ohsumi – Drums

1/19 Purposing the Air (2025) by Ingrid Laubrock  spotify 

1/20 Fascination (2025) by Jon Secada and Gonzalo Rubalcaba spotify

1/21 Clone Row (2025) by Ches Smith spotify

1/22 Myra Melford Splash (2025) by MYRA MELFORD with Michael Formanek and Ches Smith spotify

Myra Melford: Piano

Michael Formanek: Bass

Ches Smith: Drums, Vibraphone

1/23 Ambrose Akinmusire, honey from a winter stone (2025) spotify

1/24 Kassa Overall, Kassa Overall Cream (2025) spotify

1/25 Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (2025) spotify

1/26 Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap 2025 spotify

1/27 Branford Marsalis Belonging 2025 spotify

1/28 Marcus Gilmore's Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Can't find)

1/29 Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind 2025 spotify

I think this is my favorite so far. 

1/30 Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell, We Insist! 2025 spotify

1/31 Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens 2025 spotify


Bonus video:

Emmet Cohen w/ Bruce Harris & Patrick Bartley | After You've Gone (YouTube) is amazing:

Emmet Cohen - Piano

Bruce Harris - Trumpet

Patrick Bartley - Alto Saxophone

Russell Hall - Bass

Joe Saylor - Drums



End of year lists:

Nate Chinen top 10 NPR.

amaquinadeuoberro on Reddit.

NPR 20

Jazzwise

Bandcamp

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