#2) Cécile McLorin Salvant, ‘The Window’
For singers who specialize in jazz, there often comes a crossover moment, or at least an attempted one, when they’re compelled to branch out from the genre’s basics. But Cécile McLorin Salvant, the most acclaimed jazz vocalist on the planet right now, seems perfectly content with the basics. Her commanding latest LP showed why. A Great American Songbook–centric set that finds her accompanied only by pianist Sullivan Fortner, the album can sound either charmingly plush or radically spare, depending on the mood of the tune in question. The more upbeat pieces here (like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Gentleman Is a Dope”) are buoyant retro fun, while the often lengthy ballads (such as a stunning album-capping take on Jimmy Rowles’ “The Peacocks,” featuring guest saxist Melissa Aldana) are deep wells of conflicted emotion. Why branch out when you can make your native style feel infinite?
#6) Charles Lloyd and the Marvels + Lucinda Williams, ‘Vanished Gardens’
Getting together for a breezy “all-star” session is one thing; forging a true artistic alliance with a fellow veteran is another. Charles Lloyd, a jazz giant whose résumé includes work with the Beach Boys and the Doors, and eminent roots singer Lucinda Williams accomplished the latter on Vanished Gardens, a profoundly lovely set on which the two — with help from a world-class band including guitarist Bill Frisell, pedal-steel player Greg Leisz, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland — take a deep, relaxed dive into old and new pieces, and a handful of smartly chosen covers. They cast a humid inter-genre spell on tracks like “Ventura” and “Unsuffer Me,” both reworkings of older Williams tracks, and bring luminous poignancy to Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel.” Meanwhile, the album’s handful of instrumentals remind the listener how adept the 80-year-old Llloyd has always been at unfussily expanding the borders of jazz to let in a bit of ever-welcome fresh air.