December 29, 2002

The 10 Best Jazz Albums
By BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

1. WAYNE SHORTER QUARTET: `FOOTPRINTS LIVE!' (Verve) 

2. JASON MORAN: `MODERNISTIC' (Blue Note) 

3. JOE LOVANO: `VIVA CARUSO' (Blue Note) 

4. BRANFORD MARSALIS: `FOOTSTEPS OF OUR FATHERS' (Marsalis Music) 

5. REBECCA MARTIN: `MIDDLEHOPE' (Fresh Sound) This is a fresh jazz singer set loose in folk-pop, or vice versa; you never quite know which. But her posse of accompanying musicians (including Bill McHenry, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jorge Rossy), all of them up there in the best of the current jazz mainstream, give you a clue.

6. BILL CHARLAP TRIO: `STARDUST' (Blue Note) 

7. DAVE HOLLAND BIG BAND: `WHAT GOES AROUND' (ECM) 

8. BEN ALLISON: `PEACE PIPE' (Palmetto) 

9. CAFÉ TACUBA: `VALE CALLAMPA' (MCA) 

10. MORELENBAUM2/SAKAMOTO: `CASA' (Sony Classical)