Colin McEnroe: Our Favorite Jazz For 2011

Like pretty much everybody else on the planet, I bought my first jazz recordings in college. Thirty-five years later, I still feel inadequate and intimidated by a lot of what I hear. I think listening to jazz is sort of a muscle. Either you use it or it atrophies.

For today's show, we asked three jazz experts to pull together about 15 of their favorite recordings from the past year. (Listed below.)

They talked about this music, and I tried to make them do that in a very accessible way. But producer Patrick Skahill and I noticed, as we pored through the music our guests selected, that the very act of listening, with a little extra concentration, is really what makes jazz brighten up and talk to you.

You don't have to know any secret playbook. As Gene Seymour says, jazz isn't scary. "Think of it as a conversation in a room." You just have to show up and pay attention.

Today you'll hear music with its roots as close as West Hartford and as far away as Seoul, South Korea. Sit back, enjoy, and follow up on aything you like.

Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet @wnprcolin.

Chuck Obuchowski:

1. The New Gary Burton Quartet - “Did You Get It” (Common Ground)
2. Peter McEachern - “Swizzle” (Shockwave)
3. Edsel Gomez - “Paisaje Urbano” (Miles Espanol: New Sketches of Spain)
4. Marcus Shelby Orchestra - “Trouble on the Bus” (Soul of the Movement: Meditations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
5. Ben Kono - “Tennis” (Crossing)

Noah Baerman:

1. Chris Dingman - “Zaneta” (Waking Dreams)
2. Jen Allen - "Pieces of Myself" (Pieces of Myself)
3. Tom Harrell - “Dream Text” (Time of the Sun)
4. Curtis Brothers - “Mass Manipulation” (Completion of Proof)
5. Jeff “Tain” Watts  - “Mobius” (Family)

Gene Seymour:

1. Noah Preminger - “Where or When” (Before the Rain)
2. Youn Sun Nah - “ Baghdad ” and “Enter Sandman” (Same Girl)
3. Ambrose Akinmusire - “Henya” (When the Heat Emerges)
4. Bill Frisell - “Friend of Mine Part 1” (Sign of Life)