Further meta-list selections for the year

Again, this is me reporting what I think are the consensus picks, not my personal opinions:

1. Best jazz album of the year: Charles Mingus Sextet with the Eric Dolphy, Cornell 1964.  Personally I like this CD very much, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t already know most of the essential Mingus.  Dee Dee Bridgewater, who sings jazz over a kora background from Mali, was another popular selection.  I often find jazz singing too facile but the African mix provides an appropriately meaty counterweight.

2. World music: Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water Is Life.  They’re the desert nomads who were described as the world’s greatest rock and roll band by Slate.com.  Runner-up would be Segu Blue, by Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba.  Acoustic string music from Mali is in this year, plus there is Bembeya Jazz National, from Guinea.  Here is a very good NPR list of top world music picks.

3. Haitian CD: Erol Josue, Regleman.  A clear winner in this category.

4. Lee Perry collection: Ape-ology.  The best of the best.  Again.  It’s funny, but this category has a winner just about every year.  In the Coasian durable goods monopoly game, price is falling rapidly…

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