Best Albums of 2008

As if to save us all from Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, Robert Christgau posted his preliminary top 20 albums at Slate this morning. His final list is usually published in February, but, until then, this will do. Similarly, Alex Ross posted a list of favorite Classical recordings of the year at the New Yorker's online blog, and Tom Hull posted his top 10 jazz albums for the Village Voice on his personal blog.

Christgau and Ross are my eyes and ears for music every year, and Hull is always interesting: upon first listen, the William Parker album that claims his top spot is something to treasure. So what are you waiting for? I'm going shopping just this afternoon! God I love this time of year.

Xmas Mixtapes

I love music lists. Love 'em. I recently dug up the Village Voice's post '69 jazz album poll, as well as their 1980s list (I'll post them both soon), and compiled huge iTunes playlists to try to come to terms with some kind of canon for jazz after 1970, AKA the jazz nether-world. A revisionist history of the seventies is already underway, but it turns out there was tons of fabulous music recorded in the eighties as well, and some of it is slowly coming back into print, most significantly with eMusic's exclusive American distribution of the Black Saint/Soul Note catalog.

In the spirit of canonization, inexpensive holiday gift-giving, and scholastic procrastination, I rekindled my obsessive love of making mix CDs, and gave myself two enormous tasks: compile single CD compilations, one for the history of hip hop, and one for the entire history of jazz. Projects like these are nothing but omissions. However, I meet people everyday, even fellow musicologists, who are like, "oh, yeah, jazz, I want to learn about that. Can you recommend anything?" I can, and I do, but I end up overwhelming them with dozens of CDs to listen to first, which they promptly forget about, even given the best intentions. It's just too overwhelming for those who simply need a way in. The same can be said for hip hop, which even now doesn't get the ear of most academics, even considering the wealth of scholarship on its meaning as a genre and cultural phenomenon. But as music, it often gets a condescending shrug.

So, here are the two lists. I think they work miracles as learning tools, and I made sure they flow like a good album should. Each is in chronological order. If I had more time, I'd go into why I picked this or that, or omitted this or that, but that's really pretty boring for most people. Briefly: I tried to represent every "major" artist with a fabulous song. It may not be their most famous performance, but I promise it's a good one. I also tried to cover every major "development" in the history of each genre with these major artists, though I don't believe quality or value needs to be based on an performance's place in that aesthetic development. However, despite my reservations about the typical, modernist presentation of the history of jazz or any music, these CDs do give shape to the modernist, aesthetic developments of each genre. So, anyway, here they are. For some readers, perhaps you'll find this in your stockings this year.

[I've revised some of the jazz selections since giving these away at Christmas. If you would like the new mixtape, just let me know!]

A Chronological Survey of Jazz

1. Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five, "Hotter Than That" (1927)
2. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra, "Rockin' in Rhythm" (1931)
3. Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra, "Queer Notions" (1933)
4. Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra, "A Sailboat in the Moonlight" (1937)
5. Charlie Parker Septet, "Moose the Mooche" (1946)
6. Thelonious Monk, "Epistrophy" (1948)
7. Ella Fitzgerald, "Night and Day" (1956)
8. Sonny Rollins, "I'm an Old Cowhand" (1957)
9. John Coltrane, "Naima" (1959)
10. Ornette Coleman, "Ramblin'" (1959)
11. Charles Mingus, "Original Faubus Fables" (1960)
12. Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd, "Desafinado" (1962)
13. Miles Davis Quintet, "Footprints" (1966)
14. Keith Jarrett, "Silence" (1977)
15. Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio, "The Gig" (1995)
16. David S. Ware Quartet, "The Freedom Suite: I." (2002)

The Hip Hop Starter Kit

1. Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight" (1979)
2. Funky 4 + 1, "That's the Joint" (1981)
3. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (feat. Melle Mel & Duke Bootee), "The Message" (1982)
4. Run-D.M.C., "Rock Box" (1984)
5. Beastie Boys, "Rhymin and Stealin" (1986)
6. Eric B. & Rakim, "I Know You Got Soul" (1987)
7. Public Enemy, "Bring the Noise" (1988)
8. LL Cool J, "Around the Way Girl" (1990)
9. A Tribe Called Quest, "Check the Rhime" (1991)
10. Ice Cube, "It Was a Good Day" (1992)
11. The Notorious B.I.G., "Gimme the Loot" (1994)
12. Fugees, "How Many Mics" (1996)
13. Eminem, "My Name Is" (1999)
14. Atmosphere, "Party for the Fight to Write" (2000)
15. Panjabi MC feat. Jay-Z, "Beware (Jay-Z Remix)" (2003)
16. Kanye West, "All Falls Down" (2004)