*The WDR Big Band's "Bluegrass" (MCG Jazz), feat. mandolinist Mike Marshall, violinist Darol Anger and saxophonist/ WDR music director Bob Mintzer, earned plenty of spins on "Breaking Jazz" over the last year. But was it good enough to earn being called Breaking Jazz's Top Album of the Year? Here's a hint, it's on the list, but you'll have to keep checking to see if it earns the top spot.
Between now and the end of the calendar year, I’ll be revealing my favorite albums of the past year. I’ll present a new one each day or every couple of days, one at a time. It’ll be a list that will continue to grow as we approach the final day of 2025. Whether on paper or on digital screen, lists are inert, but for our purposes you might liken this list to something organic, a thing you can almost see growing in real time, like jazz itself.
This first group of ten albums comes from a group of musicians I call The Varsity. These are artists of proven, consistent excellence. They don’t audition for anyone anymore. They’ve developed signature sounds — and yet, they’re always evolving.