WNUR’s annual phoneathon fundraiser starts this Thursday. As part of ramping up the hype for this, the jazz shows are featuring the top ten albums from our 2007 DJ poll. For my show, I had the privilege of featuring Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake’s excellent “From the River to the Ocean”, which was aggregately declared the #10 album. (It was #6 on my ballot, but my ranking was very haphazard, especially after about the top 15.) My #1 was unhaphazard enough that I’ll share that it was the Indigo Trio’s “Live in Montreal” from Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf label. I saw them celebrate that album release at the Velvet Lounge during the summer, and the show blew my mind!

Tune in next week for my themed phoneathon special “A Morning in Tunisia.”

Artist: “Track” – Album (Label)

His Name Is Alive: “Juba Lee Brown” – Sweet Earth Flower (High Two)
Kahil El’Zabar’s The Ritual: “The Inner Search” – Sacred Love (Sound Aspects)
Air: “R.B.” – Air Mail (Black Saint)
Unbroken: “Transmission” – Unbroken (Tick Tock)
Pharoah Sanders: “Thembi” – Thembi (Impulse)
Alice Coltrane: “Blue Nile” – Ptah the El Daoud (Impulse)
Free Fall: “Half Past Soon (for Bill Evans)” – Furnace (Wobbly Rail)
Eight Bold Souls: “Glass Breakers” – Sideshow (Arabesque)
Sean Bergin/Ernst Reijseger: “Mixing It” – Mistakes (DATA)
Sean Bergin/Ernst Reijseger: “Yakal N’komo” – Mistakes (DATA)
Fred Anderson/Hamid Drake: “Planet E” – From the River to the Ocean (Thrill Jockey)
Fred Anderson/Hamid Drake: “For Brother Thompson” – From the River to the Ocean (Thrill Jockey)
Fred Anderson/Hamid Drake: “From the River to the Ocean” – From the River to the Ocean (Thrill Jockey)
Fred Anderson/Hamid Drake: “Sakti/Shiva” – From the River to the Ocean (Thrill Jockey)
Ken Vandermark/Pandelis Karyorgis: “JCT (for Sal Mosca)” – Foreground Music (Okkadisk)
Mario Pavone: “Not Five Kimono” – Boom (Playscape)

Artist: “Track” – Album (Label)

Dewey Redman Quartet: “Thren” – The Struggle Continues  (ECM)
Dave Holland Quintet: “Prime Directive” – Live at Birdland  (ECM)
Johnny Hodges: “That’s the Blues, Old Man” – Passion Flower  (Bluebird)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: “Bye Bye Blackbird” – The Case of the Three-Sided Dream in Audio Color  (Atlantic)
Niko Higgins Ensemble: “Gaze/Searching for Tangam” – From Eye to Ear  (Engine)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: ““Secret Track”” – The Case of the Three-Sided Dream in Audio Color  (Atlantic)
Khan Jamal/Pierre Dørge/Johnny Dyani: “Blueslife” – Three  (Steeplechase)
Keefe Jackson’s Project Project: “Dragon Fly” – Just Like This  (Delmark)
Kahil El’Zabar’s  The Ritual: “Ocean Deep” – Another Kind of Groove  (Sound Aspects)
Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth: “Vision Quest” – Live on WNUR’s Airplay – 07/22/99  (WNUR)
Max Roach and Anthony Braxton: “Spirit Possession” – Birth and Rebirth  (Black Saint)
Sound in Action Trio: “Togo” – Gate  (Atavistic)
Ian Gordon-Lennox: “Blues for Alec” – Low Brass  (Altrisuoni)
Jazz Passengers: “Seven Guys with a Reason” – Implement Yourself  (New World)
Odean Pope Saxophone Choir: “Terrestrial” – Epitome  (Soul Note)
Tin Hat Trio: “Fear of the South” – The Rodeo Eroded  (Ropeadope)
Herculaneum: “Let There Be Neon” – Orange Blossom  (482 Music)