T. R. Johnson, host of the Tuesday edition of Jazz from Jax Brewery, 4-7p

History will remember this year in music as the Year of the Woman, because there are at least 16 women-led recordings that I would put in my top-20 for the year. See below for my list of roughly 40 records that came out this year that will continue to interest me for years to come, arranged alphabetically by album title, and note that I put a little star after the ones that, in my view, will become classics – there are 10 of these, and 9 of them are either led by a woman or feature a woman instrumentalist prominently.

Alkemi by Daymé Arocena*
Alternate Summer by Tom Harrell
Alone by Wayne Escoffery
And Then Again by Bill Charlap
Bewitched by Laufey*
Compassion by Vijay Iyer
Cuban Jam Session, Vol 1 by Zanja All Stars
Eagle’s Point by Chris Potter
Echoes of the Inner Prophet by Melissa Aldana
Endlessness by Nala Sinephro*
Gifts by Dave Douglas
Gratitude by Cassie Kinoshi
Heart Trio by William Parker
Here in the Pitch by Jessica Pratt*
How We Care for Humanity by Cole Williams*
If You Could See Me Now by Zara McFarlane
Legend of e’Boi by Darius Jones
Mighty Vertebrate by Anna Butterss
Messages by Jazzmeia Horn
Montrose by Charlie Hunter
Odyssey by Nubya Garcia
Pheonix Reimagined by Lakecia Benjamin
People, Please by Sam Fribush*
Portrait by Samara Joy*
Regreso a Gondwana by Andres Levin
Resuscitate by Bill Callahan
Shadow by Lizz Wright
Small Medium Large by SML*
Speak to Me by Julian Lage
Sun Prints by Matt Booth
Super Blonde by Kirk Knuffke
Technically Acceptable by Ethan Iverson
Three of Us . . . by Walter Smith III
Tomorrow’s Another Day by Jeremy Pelt
The Dark, the Light, the Gray by JD Allen
The Mezzthetics by The Mezzthetics
The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow by Charles Lloyd
The Way Out of Easy by Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet*
Visions by Norah Jones*
Walk a Mile in My Shoe by Orrin Evans
Water Map by Dustin Wong and Gregory Uhlman
Y’Y by Amaro Freitas
3 Sides of the Coin by Dafnis Prieto

Boudin Man, co-host of Kitchen Sink with A.J. Rodrigue and A.A., Wednesdays, 10pm-MIDNIGHT.

Houma Records Volume 1 Best of 1966-1974 Various Artist (Vinyl LP only)

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Carols Miguel Prieto and Lost Bayou Ramblers - Live Orpheum Theater - NOLA (Vinyl LP)

Brother Dege - Aurora

Happy Talk Band - Low Shoulder

Whip Appeal - Shimmering Seed

Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive

The Deslondes - Roll It Out

Roussel Maajon - Kyle Rousel and Clint Maedgen (Vinyl LP)

Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets - Indoor Safari

Fun Boy Three - Extended Fun Boy Three (Record Store Day Vinyl LP)

Clint Maedgen and the Bandapandas - a) Sandra Already Knows b) Eli The Sugar Static (Vinyl 7")

Bobby M.G. / Quintron - a) Mardi Gras Creep b) The Mouth Of Harahan (Ballad of King Louie Bankston (Vinyl 7")

Digital
Ryan Scully - Obligations at the Lounge

Duane Williams, host of What's New, Sundays, 10pm-MIDNIGHT.

In no particular order, the highlights to 2024 have been:

Charles Mingus' Reincarnations. This collection of tracks rarely found on vinyl and being put on vinyl for no other reason was a very pleasant surprise and addition to my collection.

Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs was just an amazing revisit to an "ain't dere no more" club outside of New Orleans which brought the energy and sound of the sixties right back into play and moved everyone with the drumwork on the album.

Miles in France 1963 & 1964 - Miles Davis Quintet: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 is just a blast from the past. I can only compare it to when The Bibliotheque national de France open their time capsule of musicians going back a century and put it up on their website for the world to enjoy works captured on wax cylinders and any available format. This collection of full performances takes you back to not only enjoy the work Miles put into his work but the full audience appreciation of the man and how he could work that horn.

Big Creek Slim's GOING TO GERMANY album was a great reminder to me to remember the blues are global and not only an American fixture. I was surprised to receive this album in the mail of a Dane performing some great blues work across the pond. If you haven't heard it, now's a good time to check him out.

Songs for the COSMIC SOFA COWBOY BEBOP and The Real Folk Blues Legend COWBOY BEBOP were a great surprise when I preordered them and well worth the wait until the vinyl finally arrived into my hands. The works of Yoko Kanno are near and dear to my heart and became even more warmly embraced when I learned her inspiration behind creating the band came from a trip to New Orleans decades ago. It felt so full circle and I can only hope to one day be fortunate enough to interview her and learn even more about what went into these soundtracks.

Dolly Parton's Rockstar was a very unexpected collection of tracks featuring a number of original artists performing with this living legend. I didn't expect to enjoy the long list of covers as much as I did and everyone I recommended it to absolutely loved it. You probably will, too.

Jim Hobbs & Charles Laborde, hosts of Lâche Pas! Cajun & Zydeco Show, Sundays, NOON-2:00pm.

Best Cajun, Creole and Zydeco recordings of 2024 by Charles Laborde and Jim Hobbs.

4Horses. Live Part Two La Poussiere avec les Amis et la Famille. Swallow. Big band, Belton Richard-style. Follow-up to last year's Live Part One.

Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers. Now Is the Time. Self-released. Continuing his straight ahead, energetic sound.

Louis Michot. Rêve de Troubadour. Nouveau Electric. First recording out under Michot's own name, signalling a breakaway from the Lost Bayou Ramblers. Numerous collaborators such as Leyla McCalla, Quintron, Corey Ledet, Dickie Landry, Bombino, and String Noise.

MunckMusic. Live at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. There were copious Cajun and zydeco releases from the 2024 Jazz Fest, including: Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, and many others. They are available directly online and in a few record stores.

T-Marie & Bayou JuJu. Sometimes. Self-released (distributed by BandCamp). Joyous New Orleans-based band.

Logan Schutts, host of World Journey with Logan, Saturdays, 4-6pm.

Shabaka - Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace
-If I had to pick just one album for this list, it would be this one. Recorded at the famous Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey, as well as some tracking in London, this album involves a looong list of collaborators, including Saul Williams, André 3000, Eska, Jason Moran, esperanza spalding, Marcus Gilmore, and so many more. Still, the reason I love this album is not the guest list, but rather its ability to transcend musical style and expectations for the purpose of achieving meditation with sound.

Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal
-I love rap music, especially when it's innovative, and this album is bangin'! Doechii impresses not only with her rhymes and flow and lyrical content, but also with the diversity of tambour she creates with her voice. My only complaint is that it's so difficult to find physical copies of new rap music. I did manage to get a copy of this, because I love the album so much, but it was not easy.

FYEAR
-This one comes from Montréal, and it is a pretty wild trip. There are definitely some dark themes in the lyrics, but it maintains an approach of poetic contemplation, rather than resorting to shock value or anger. The lyrical presentation is strikingly unusual and unpredictable, as are the soundscapes.

Brandon Ross - Phantom Station - Off the End
-This album was recorded live in concert. In the words of Brandon Ross: "Phantom Station is a sound crucible. A space where music is (revealed), and communication unfolds within an 'individual-directed' ensemble; a genre-free engagement with the power of independence and the beauty of diversit within a select community of agile creators; music crafted and deployed in the opportunities of the present moment. That, is Phantom Station."

Andy Milne and Unison - Time Will Tell
-This album is the closest thing on my list to straight-ahead jazz. I do love the sound of a piano trio, and these guys (Andy Milne, John Hébert, and Clarence Penn) do it very well. The album consists of entirely original music, with eight tunes from Milne, and one composition each from Hébert and Penn.

Trendafilka - For the Olives
-Based here in New Orleans, Trendafilka is a group of nine women who study and sing traditional songs from Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Latvia. It's all vocal, no instrumental accompaniment, and WOW is it powerful. I can't claim to understand the harmonic mechanics of what makes this music hit so hard, but it hits. Hard.

The Afrodiziacs' Jazz - Immigration
-The brainchild of Swiss tenor saxophonist Maude Caillat, the 'Diziacs have been playing live in New Orleans for close to a decade now, and their debut album is finally here! It features three original compositions as well as a few covers of Ethiopian jazz from the 70s, and a version of Charles Mingus' Haitian Fight Song that weaves in a traditional Haitian Vodou song. Also, I'm in the band!

Kendrick Lamar - GNX
-I don't know what football teams will be playing in the Super Bowl, but I do know who already won it. See you in February, K.Dot!

Old Man River, host of Homespun Americana with Old Man River, Sundays, 2:00 - 4:00pm.

AJ Lee & Blue Summit - City of Glass
Amanda Platt & the Honeycutters - The Ones That Stay
American Aquarium - The Fear of Standing Still
Ani DiFranco - Unprecedented Shit
Armchair Boogie - Hard Times & Deadlines
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes - I Built a World
Caleb Caudle - Sweet Critters
Carsie Blanton - The Red Album
Cedric Burnside - Hill Country Love
Charley Crockett - $10 Cowboy
Chris Smither - All About the Bones
Colby T. Helms - Tales of Misfortune
Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore - Texicali
Del McCoury Band - Songs of Love and Life
Desert Nudes - Keep A-Movin' Dan
Deslondes - Roll It Out
Eric Bibb - In the Real World
Father Ron & Friends - Forever the Seasons
Fruition - How to Make Mistakes
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Woodland
Grayson Capps - Heartbreak Misery & Death
High Hawks - Mother Nature's Show
Hurray For the Riff Raff - The Past is Still Alive
Jerry Douglas - The Set
Jim Lauderdale - My Favorite Place
Joe Ely - Driven to Drive
John Craigie - Pagan Church
Johnny Blue Skies (Sturgill Simpson) - Passage du Desir
Johnny Cash - Songwriter
Joy Clark - Tell It to the Wind
Little Feat - Sam's Place
Loose Cattle - Someone's Monster
Louis Michot - Reve du Troubadour
Lynn Drury - High Tide
Mark Knopfler - One Deep River
Melissa Carper - Borned in Ya
Mia Borders - Firewalker
Randall Bramblett - Paradise Breakdown
Rising Appalachia - Folk & Anchor
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Revelations
Scott H. Biram - The One & Only Scott H. Biram
Shovels & Rope - Something is Working Up Above My Head
Sicard Hollow - The Key To Peace of Mind
Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers
Soul Stu - Psychedelic Outlaw Folk Music
Steady Company - Diamond For a Dime
Steel Wheels - Sideways
Steve Forbert - Daylight Saving Time
Swamp Dogg - Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St
Taj Mahal Sextet - Swingin' Live at the Church in Tulsa
Tangiers Bluegrass Band - Gators in the City
Tony Trischka - Earl Jam
Various Artists - We Are All the Drifters:A Tribute to the Continental Drifters
Various Artists - Bluegrass Sings Paxton
Various Artists - Caverns of Gold: A Benefit for WNC Hurricane Relief
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
Will Kimbrough - For the Life of Me
Willie Nelson - Last Leaf on the Tree
Willie Watson - Willie Watson
Wyatt Ellis - Happy Valley

Murf Reeves, WWOZ Music Director and host of The New Orleans Music Show, Mondays, 11:00am - 2:00pm.

I've focused on albums that came out of New Orleans.

Cyril Aimee - A Fleur De Pea
Eric Benny Bloom - Late Bloomer
Charlie And The Tropicales - Jump Up
Chris Christy - Chris Christy Quintet
Joy Clark - Tell It To The Wind
The Deslondes - Roll It Out
Rockin Dopsie and the Zydeco Twisters - More Fun With The Rockin Dopsie And The Zydeco Twisters
Erica Falls & Vintage Soul - Emotions
Sierra Green & The Giants - Here We Are
Roland Guerin - Prog Funk
Happy Talk Band - Low Shoulder
The Hawtsies - Nine Lives
The Headhunters - Stuntman
Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive
Ronell Johnson - Instant Roo
Kelly Love Jones/ Deezle Harrison - Surrender
Sam Kuslan - Runaway Love
Loose Cattle - Someone's Monster
Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra - Crescent City Jewels
James Martin - From Here
Leyla McCalla - Sun Without Heat
James McClaskey And His Rhythm Band - Later On Blues
PJ Morton - From Capetown To Cairo
New Orleans Klezmer Allstars - Tipish
Judith Owen - Judith Owen Comes Alive
Roderick Paulin - From Old To New
Pink Teddy Bear - Welcome To The Tiki Farm
Connie Price and The Keystones - The Singles Collection
Carmela Rappazzo - 9
Sean Riley & The Water - Stone Cold Hands
Sweet Magnolia - Miss Missed Connections