Great CDs and other favorite things

Joe Lovano/Gunther Schuller, Rush Hour (Blue Note). Composer Schuller is as known for his prizes (Pulitzer and otherwise) as the writing that earns them, but we think of him fondly as the only French horn player we know to have gigged with both the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Miles Davis nonet. Here, his arrangements -- of standards and classic Monk, Mingus, and A Great Day In Harlem. A movie about a still photograph, Jean Bach's little film might be the best jazz documentary ever, reconstructing an afternoon in 1959 when seemingly every jazz great in New York gathered in front of a Harlem brownstone for a photo session. The segues from photos to interviews to live footage is a history lesson as well as a meditation on the jazz community, on mortality, and on that elusive jazz topic, time itself.

Allan Chase Quartet, Dark Clouds With Silver Linings (Accurate). The alto saxophonist cites worthy predecessors such as the piano-less quartets of Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker and Ornette Coleman. But draw your own comparisons -- the Modern Jazz Quartet, Miles Davis's early bands, or another jazz combo with its own ensemble sound, a whole that's the equal of (or better than) its estimable individual players. The sound is spare, lyrical, steeped in tradition but completely contemporary. Best discovery: Ron Horton's peerless trumpet work.

Henry Threadgill, Carry the Day and Makin' a Move (Columbia). Threadgill bookended the year with releases from his new major-label deal. They include pieces for his world-music two-tuba-no-bass jazz band, and chamber pieces for guitars and strings. It's great, unclassifiable music with a distinct jazz feel.

Dave Douglas. Trumpeter Douglas has played klezmer with Don Byron and John Zorn, avant-rock with Dr. Nerve, bebop with Vincent Herring and Horace Silver, and out-there jazz with Myra Melford. This was Douglas's year as his own man, exploring the post-bop tradition in his tribute to Booker Little, In Our Time (New World), putting together a string ensemble jazz/classical fusion on Parallel Worlds (Soul Note), and releasing two albums with his Tiny Bell Trio, a trumpet/guitar/drums setup that explores the folk traditions of the Balkans and Central Europe with extended references to Monk and Weill (The Tiny Bell Trio is on Songlines, and Constellations is on hatArt).

James Carter Jurassic Classics (DIW) and The Real Quietstorm (Atlantic). Saxophonist Carter (26 years old) challenged Joshua Redman's new tenor-supremacy with blazing chops and musical intelligence, mixing the avant-jazz brawn of David Murray with the vibrato-heavy lustiness of Ben Webster. And his technical prowess on ballads is downright scary: sure-stepping swing phrasing, slap-tongued exclamations, convoluted chromatic runs. Like B.B. King, Carter can carve a complete phrase out of a single note. Carter augmented his recordings with a stirring live show at Scullers.

The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings of John Coltrane (Rhino). This was as comprehensive and beautifully packaged as any boxed set should be, covering 1959-1961, with alternate takes, extensive annotation, and an incisive accompanying essay by Lewis Porter (with acknowledgment to Phoenix contributor Ed Hazell). Seven CDs long, it was also easily the most listenable box set we've heard from beginning to end: 'Trane in his laid-back blues phase with Milt Jackson, and pushing the boundaries of modal jazz with his classic quartet (McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones), changing not only how musicians play jazz, but how we hear it.

Joe Henderson, Double Rainbow (Verve). The versatile tenor sax great, who takes pride in never repeating himself either on albums or within a single solo, this year put out an album of Brazilian music in tribute to the late Antonio Carlos Jobim. He followed up the album with a brilliant performance at the Charles Hotel Ballroom.

John Zorn. Think of klezmer music played by the Ornette Coleman Quartet -- that's Zorn's Masada, which includes drummer Joey Baron, trumpeter Dave Douglas, bassist Greg Cohen, and Zorn on alto saxophone. They put out four albums on the Japanese D.I.W. label this year, challenging genre distinctions and swinging hard in Zorn's own bittersweet way.

Pat Martino. After years of struggle, including amnesia, following an operation for a brain aneurysm in 1980, the influential guitarist returned to live performing this year and released two strong albums, Interchange (Muse) and The Maker (Evidence). He also put in a fine set at the Regattabar, replete with his old dexterity and wit, and relaxed, clean articulation at all speeds, his biting attack wrapped in dark, warm tone, with all the soul-satisfying bite of smoky barbecue on a soft, plump roll.

-- Jon Garelick and Ed Hazell