The best of 2018, according to Zela Margossian (Zela Margossian Quintet)

1) Dhafer Youssef — Sounds of Mirrors

Dhafer teams up with one of his main inspiration in his life; Zakir Hussein on the Indian Tabla. In the line-up there’s also Hüsnü, the Turkish clarinetist and Eivind Aarset, the Norwegian guitarist.

Just the fact that Dhafer is playing with his long-time inspiration Zakir Hussein and very good friends and his brothers in music Hüsnü and Eivind makes this album very special to me. The tracks are beautiful and the interaction and understanding between the musicians, phenomenal.

2) Sirens Big Band, Sandy Evans, Shubha Mudgal, Aneesh Pradan, Sudhir Nayak, Bobby Singh — Bridge of Dreams

I was the pianist on this record and I can’t tell you how powerful the pieces are. Hearing Shubha’s powerful voice in the headphones while recording was unreal. The way the genres come together in this album is very interesting and Sandy mentions something about that in her interview with John Shand:

“One way of approaching collaboration is that you try to become like the other person, but another way is to say, ‘What I’ve been interested in all this time is actually a pretty amazing tradition, and maybe the greatest strength can come from everybody doing what they feel most at home with’.”

3) Human Element — You Are In You

The greats come together in this album: Arto Tunçboyacyan (one of my inspirations), Scott Kinsey (keys), Matthew Garrison (electric bass), Gary Novak (drums). It’s in the realm of electric jazz but layered with so many exotic elements from Arto (with his percussion work and unique voice) combined with the talents of the rest of the band.

Bonus round: Tigran Hamasyan — For Gyumri

Dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the devastating earthquake that hit Gyumri in 1988. The second largest city of Armenia still bears the scars of the earthquake and still is in a very impoverished state even after 30 years. Tigran’s tunes are delicate, deep and touching. To me, it seems these 5 tracks are a continuation of “The Ancient Observer”.

The best of 2018, according to Paul Derricott (COAST)

1. Hekka – Wrecker

Killah album from one of Sydney’s great writers Novak Manojlovic incredible playing and compositions Check out “No Ceremony” for a taster, beautifully recorded and mixed by Ritchie B.

2. Kate Wadey – A hundred Years from today

Beautiful album for jazz standards no drums! Beautiful arrangements and piano again recorded by Ritchie B. “I cover the waterfront” is a must listen. Nice to have a break from the madness.

3. Danaïdes – 2018 Singles

Have been drip feeding out some singles of late which I hope will be a full album soon, killah guitar trio from Sydney blowing the back of your head off. Check em out