This last, almost completely overlooked in the jazz world, was nonetheless the record of the year. Here it is, along with the next, oh, say, nine. Where applicable, I've quoted (and linked to) my own reviews of these albums.

1. Ramsey Lewis – Songs From the Heart: Ramsey Plays Ramsey (Concord)
"In a word, astonishing. It finds Ramsey Lewis, after 50 years playing R&B- and pop-laced jazz piano, reinventing himself as a composer—hence the subtitle, Ramsey Plays Ramsey. The trio disc (Larry Gray, bass; Leon Joyce, drums) contains 12 straightahead tunes of extraordinary delicacy, lyricism and finesse, all sounding thoroughly fresh."

2. Darcy James Argue's Secret Society – Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam)

3. Rakalam Bob Moses – Father's Day B'Hash (Sunnyside)

4. Gretchen Parlato – In A Dream (ObliqSound)
"Recently, jazz has embraced some callow vocalists whose singing is a sideline for their instrumental pursuits. Fortunately, such artists have Parlato to show them how it should be done: with emotional depth, subtlety, and the kind of precise technical craft where even the breathing sounds matter."

5. Vijay Iyer Trio – Historicity (ACT Music + Vision)
"It may be hard to grasp Iyer’s statement, but it’s fun to try, and the unique conceptions of both originals and covers suggest clues aplenty. Yet it’s just as exciting to imagine that Historicity’s equation has no solution and Iyer, with this compelling, provocative work, is still writing his place in history."

6. Arve Henriksen – Cartography (ECM)

7. Steve Lehman – Travail, Transformation, and Flow (Pi)
"With Travail, Transformation, and Flow, alto saxophonist Steve Lehman makes a rare offering to the jazz world: a thoroughly alternative principle of improvisation. Lehman’s deeply compelling harmonies and textures sound noticeably different from anything before it, but the music doesn’t have the threat-to-everything-we-know-and-love trappings of prior upheavals."

8. Joe Lovano's Us Five – Folk Art (Blue Note)

9. Robert Glasper – Double-Booked (Blue Note)

10. Jeff "Tain" Watts – – Watts (Dark Key Music)
"Jeff "Tain" Watts' drumming style is not generally about understatement, and
neither is much else on the fantastic Watts. His quartet-saxophonist
Branford Marsalis, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, and bassist Christian
McBride-is a supergroup's supergroup, and their mainstream jazz is
muscle-bound and always in hyperdrive."

By its broadest definition, Nordic Jazz Week encompasses five nights, including a show tonight at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. But Wednesday night at the House of Sweden, in which the big draw was Nils Petter Molvær and Arve Henriksen (pictured above), was treated as a closing night of sorts. The omnipresent threat of rain forced the concert indoors instead of its customary spot on the House of Sweden's picturesque rooftop, but that didn't stop a substantial crowd from gathering.

Photos and writeup after the jump. Full gallery here.

Iceland's Sunna Gunnlaugs Quartet opened the evening with a set of straightforward, at times somewhat tentative jazz, pleasant but hardly revelatory. Henriksen took the stage next, joined by electronics wizard Jan Bang, and the two played as a duo with Bang manipulating the sounds coming from Henriksen's trumpet and providing additional layers as well. There was a distinct Jon Hassell influence at work here, but Henriksen's vocals provided a pleasant surprise: he sung wordlessly with amazing range and power, something I wasn't expecting at all. After some time, Henriksen and Bang were replaced, without a break in the music, by Molvær and his two collaborators, Eivind Aarset on guitar and Audun Kleive on drums. The music changed, becoming somewhat more beat-driven and intense, but the overall feel remained consistent: the House of Sweden seemed to be hosting a psychedelic space-music fest as much as it was an evening of jazz.

The Jonas Kulhammar Quartet brought things back to a more conventional level. Before their set, A Love Supreme played over the PA, which was a fitting prelude to this quartet's music, which reminded strongly of early 60s Coltrane. Like the Sunna Gunnlaugs Quartet, it was nothing particularly new and exciting, but very much enjoyable and spiced up by Kulhammar's humorous banter. This quartet will also be playing tonight at the Kennedy Center.

Nordic Jazz Fest has become a reliable annual event at which one can expect to see a good mix of straightforward jazz and slightly more off the wall material. The most "out" the festival has ever gotten was probably the 2006 appearance of Kjetil Møster, but recent years have seen some performances (such as Henriksen/Molvær this year or Kristian Blak last year) gently pushing the boundaries of jazz in diverse directions. I'm already looking forward to what's in store for 2010.

Nils Petter Molvær:

Jonas Kulhammar Quartet:

Sunna Gunnlaugs:

Full gallery here.