AllMusic's Favorite Jazz Albums of 2010

The AllMusic editors are recapping the year in recordings with well over a dozen posts in which they present their favorites within specific genres and styles. Right now, on the AllMusic Blog, they provide a list of their favorite jazz releases of 2010. The avant garde played made a big impact this year with albums from Rudresh Mahanthappa, Trygve Seim, and Nels Cline making our list. However, albums by artists who combined very traditional jazz styles with more contemporary sounds -- including Trombone Shorty and Preservation Hall -- also made the cut. Check the album pages linked in each post for reviews and samples.

Geri Allen - Flying Toward Sound
The Bad Plus - Never Stop
Matt Bauder - Day in Pictures
Claudia Quintet - Royal Toast
Nels Cline Singers - Initiate
Marilyn Crispell/David Rothenberg - One Dark Night I Left My Silent House
Dave Holland Octet - Pathways
Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth - Deluxe
Rudresh Mahanthappa/Bunky Green - Apex
Roscoe Mitchell & the Note Factory - Far Side
Jason Moran - Ten
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall & the Preservation Hall Music Outre
Trygve Seim/Andreas Utnem - Purcor - Songs For Saxophone and Piano
Matthew Shipp - 4D
Alex Sipiagin - Generations: Dedicated to Woody Shaw
Dr. Lonnie Smith - Spiral
Trombone Shorty - Backatown
David S. Ware - Saturnian: Solo Saxophones, Vol. 1
Kenny Werner (with Joe Lovano and Judi Silvano) - No Beginning No End
John Zorn - Interzone

Personal favorites:

Thom Jurek
Geri Allen - Flying Toward Sound
Brad Mehldau - Highway Rider
Kenny Werner (with Joe Lovano and Judi Silvano) - No Beginning No End
Matthew Shipp - 4D
David S. Ware - Saturnian: Solo Saxophones, Vol. 1
Marilyn Crispell/David Rothenberg - One Dark Night I Left My Silent House
Rudresh Mahanthappa/Bunky Green - Apex
The Bad Plus - Never Stop
The Nels Cline Singers - Initiate
Build an Ark - Love, Pt. 2
Vijay Iyer - Historicity
Roscoe Mitchell & the Note Factory - Far Side
Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Steps Ahead

Reissues:
Sounds of Liberation - Sounds Of Liberation
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew: Legacy Edition [2CD/DVD]
Roy Brooks' Artistic Truth - Ethnic Expressions
John McLaughlin - The Promise
Sun Ra - Live in London, 1970
Gabor Szabo - Jazz Raga
Woody Shaw - For Sure
John Coltrane Quartet - The Complete 1962 Copenhagen Concert

Sean Westergaard
Matt Bauder - Day in Pictures
Claudia Quintet - Royal Toast
The Nels Cline Singers - Initiate
Nels Cline - Dirty Baby
Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth - Deluxe
Roscoe Mitchell & the Note Factory - Farside
Mostly Other People Do the Killing - Forty Fort
Salo - Sundial Lotus
Various Artists - I Never Metaguitar
John Zorn - Interzone

Reissues:
Catalyst - Complete Recordings, Vol. 1
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew: Legacy Edition [2CD/DVD]
Eero Koivistoinen & Co - 3rd Version
Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra - The Antique Blacks
Gabor Szabo - Jazz Raga

Al Campbell
Yusef Lateef/Adam Rudolph - Towards the Unknown
Matthew Shipp - 4D
John Zorn - John Zorn: Interzone
Henry Grimes/Rashied Ali - Spirits Aloft
Geri Allen - Flying Toward Sound
Billy Bang - Prayer For Peace
Marilyn Crispell/David Rothenberg - One Dark Night I Left My Silent House
Dave Holland Octet - Pathways
William Hooker Trio - Yearn for Certainty
Oliver Lake Organ Quartet - Plan
The Giuseppi Logan Quintet - The Giuseppi Logan Quintet
Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra
Decoy & Joe McPhee - Oto
Roscoe Mitchell & the Note Factory - Far Side
New York Art Quartet - Old Stuff
Various Artists - Treme: Music from the HBO Original Series, Season 1
Odean Pope - Odean's List
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall & the Preservation Hall Music Outre
Dr. Lonnie Smith - Spiral
Trombone Shorty - Backatown
Chucho Valdés & the Afro-Cuban Messengers - Chucho's Steps
David S. Ware - Saturnian: Solo Saxophones, Vol. 1
David S. Ware/William Parker/Warren Smith - Onecept
Randy Weston - The Storyteller
Nels Cline - Dirty Baby

Matt Collar
Ralph Alessi - Cognitive Dissonance
Geri Allen - Flying Toward Sound
Matt Bauder - Day in Pictures
Claudia Quintet - Royal Toast
Dave Douglas & Keystone - Spark of Being
Amir El Saffar - Radif Suite
Brad Goode - Tight Like This
Dave Holland Octet - Pathways
Rudresh Mahanthappa/Bunky Green - Apex
Roscoe Mitchell & the Note Factory - Far Side
Jason Moran - Ten
Jason Palmer - Nothing to Hide
Jeremy Pelt - Men of Honor
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall & the Preservation Hall Music Outre
Trygve Seim/Andreas Utnem - Purcor - Songs For Saxophone and Piano
Matthew Shipp - 4D
Alex Sipiagin - Generations: Dedicated to Woody Shaw
Dr. Lonnie Smith - Spiral
Trombone Shorty - Backatown
Matt Wilson - Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O