A return to venues, guided by 'The 7th Hand'
This year's most powerfully transporting jazz album got its hooks into me before I'd even tabulated last year's list. I'm not sure that has ever happened to me before, but The 7th Hand, the phenomenal sophomore effort by alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, impressed early and often: Whenever I'd return to it over the course of the year, the album felt enduringly mysterious, sustaining and alive. Harmony Holiday, who penned its liner notes, praised Wilkins in our 2021 Year in Review by copping a term from the late critic Greg Tate: "spiritual genius."