The Best Recordings of 2021 (Part Two of My Honorable Mention List)

My top 100 is coming soon, but in the meantime here are 100 additional albums of exceptional merit—all styles, all genres

Today I’m publishing my honorable mention list of 2021 recordings in two installments. (It’s simply too large to fit on one email for my newsletter subscribers.) Below is part two—here’s the link to part one.

This is, as mentioned, the honorable mention list, not my top 100—I’ll share that with paid subscribers in a few days. But there are so many outstanding recordings I can’t fit on that list, yet still deserve recognition. So I publish an honorable mention list each year, and put as much care into it as for my top 100.

Each of the 100 artists featured below is well worth your attention and support. And, sad to say, many of these albums, are little-known indie or self-produced projects you could easily miss. I’ve included a link with each title—it will take you to a Bandcamp, YouTube, or other webpage where you can get a taste of the music.

I listened to more than one thousand new releases in 2021—this is my most time-consuming project each year, but also a labor of love. As always, this is a list without boundaries, encompassing all musical styles and genres.

Happy listening!

---

The Honest Broker is a reader-supported guide to music, books, and culture. Both free and paid subscriptions are available. If you want to support my work, the best way is by taking out a paid subscription.

---

The 100 Best Recordings of 2021: Honorable Mention List
(in alphabetical order)

Jihye Lee Orchestra	
Daring Mind	
Big Band Jazz

Joe Lovano and Dave Douglas	
Other Worlds	
Jazz

Hayden Mack	
Covers!
Polyphonic Pop Covers from an 18-Year-Old in Calgary

Magneto	
Requiem pour Satana	
Warsaw Surf Guitar Meets Ennio Morricone Film Music

Kiazi Malonga 	
Tembo Kia Ngoma	
Debut Album from Congolese-American Musician Featuring Drum-Driven Music (9 Different Percussion Instruments)

Wynton Marsalis / JALC Septet	
The Democracy! Suite	
Traditional Concert Jazz Suite 

The Master Musicians of Joujouka	
Live in Paris	
Live Recording by a Famous Collective of Jbala Sufi Trance Musicians

Mark Masters Ensemble (with Art Baron)	
Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster	
Modern Big Band Revisits Classic Ellington Compositions 

Brad Mehldau	
Variations on a Melancholy Theme	
Contemporary Music for Piano and Orchestra

Vince Mendoza (with Guests)	
Freedom Over Everything	
Third Stream Orchestral Jazz

Pat Metheny	
Side-Eye NYC (V1:IV)	
Jazz Guitar

Steve Million (with Steve Cardenas)	
What I Meant to Say	
Jazz Quartet

Charles Mingus (and Guests)	
Mingus at Carnegie Hall (Expanded Edition)	
Expanded Edition of a Classic 1974 Live Jazz Recording

Monodrone	
Customer Service	
Customer Service Music for Phone Calls on Hold

Fabiano do Nascimento	
Ykytu	
Jazz/Brazilian Solo Guitar

Willie Nelson	
That's Life	
Willie Nelson Sings Frank Sinatra

New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers	
New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers Vol. 2	
Music from Blues "Super Group" 

Oxalys	 
Nonetto: Works by Nino Rota, Hanns Eisler & Bohuslav Martinů 	
Nonet Works by Modern Composers

Pangaea Chamber Players	
Three Perspectives
Chamber Music by 3 Contemporary American Composers (Ned Rorem, Jennifer Higdon and Dan Locklair)

Marco Papiro	
La Finestra Dentata	
Electronic Works by Swiss-Italian Composer & Graphic Designer

Gretchen Parlato	
Flor
Jazz Singer

Sufi Parveen	
Kanha	
Sufi Electronica Chant/Hip-Hop

Rosa Passos	
Dunas: Live in Copenhagen	
Bossa Nova

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band	
Dance Songs for Hard Times	
Juke Joint Dance Band

Marcos Resende & Index	
Marcos Resende & Index	
Previously Unissued Brazilian Jazz Fusion from the 1970s

Max Richter	
Exiles	
Minimalism Noir

Riga Saxophone Quartet	
Saule Tikai (Merely Sun)	
New Music for Saxophone Quartet

Oscar Rossignoli 	
Inertia
Solo Jazz Piano

RTÉ Concert Orchestra/Andrew Penny	
Arthur Sullivan: Ballet Music	
Premiere Recording of Lost Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan

Philipp Schiepek & Walter Lang 	
Cathedral	
Guitar and Piano Duets Suitable for a Cathedral

Sesquialtera	
C'est ce Qui Altéra 	
Brass Band Music for Strange and Haunted Dreamscapes

Dr. Lonnie Smith (with Iggy Pop)	
Breathe	
Hammond B-3 Soul Jazz 

Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gil Kalish	
Caroline Shaw: Narrow Sea 	
Contemporary Music for Voice, Piano and Percussion

Sons of Kemet	
Black to the Future	
New Genre-Crossing Jazz from the UK

Joseph Spence	
Encore	
Previously Unreleased Tracks from Bahamian Guitar Iconoclast

Matthew Stevens	
Pittsburgh	
Homemade Solo Jazz Guitar Album

Sting	
The Bridge	
First Rock Album from Sting in 5 Years

SWR Big Band (with Guests)	
Bird Lives—The Charlie Parker Project
Big Band Jazz Versions of Charlie Parker Songs

Justin Taylor	
La Famille Rameau
Baroque Harpsichord Music

Jeremy Thompson	
Vasily Kalafati: Piano Music	
Piano Music by Neglected Russian Composer (Teacher of Scriabin & Stravinsky) Killed During the Nazi Siege of Leningrad

3hattrio	
Lost Sessions	
American Desert Music from Utah

The Unseen	
The Goatman	
Film Soundtrack/Ambient Instrumentals of Paranoia

Various Artists	
Edo Funk Explosion Vol.1 	
Edo Highlife from Nigeria (Late 1970s-1980s)

Various Artists	
Longing for the Shadow: Ryūkōka Recordings, 1921-1939 	
Western-Influenced Ryūkōka Popular Music from 1920s & 30s Japan

Hassan Wargui	
Tiddukla	
Morrocan Banjo Music

Tony Joe White	
Smoke from the Chimney	
Previously Unreleased Tracks from Swamp Rock Singer-Songwriter

Dan Wilson	
Vessels of Wood and Earth 	
Jazz Guitar

John Wilson/Sinfonia of London	
English Music for Strings (Britten-Bliss-Bridge-Berkeley)	
Early 20th Century British Orchestral Music (by the 4 Bs)

ХАРА / KHARA	
Mandragora	
Ethno-Funk Dance Music from Russian Shamans (Played with Horsehead Fiddle, Jew's Harp, Glucophone, Zither, Etc.)

Neil Young	
Young Shakespeare (Live)	
First Official Release of Intimate Neil Young Solo Concert from 1971

---

Give a gift subscription to The Honest Broker this holiday season.