This list is somewhat skewed, given the degree to which new fatherhood slowed my gig attendance in 2009. Nonetheless, I managed to attend roughly 120 shows. Here are my top 30.
1. David Sanchez
with Lage Lund, Orlando Le Fleming, Henry Cole
Village Vanguard, March 20
2. Peter Bernstein solo guitar
Smalls, July 15
3. John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble
Painted Bride, Philadelphia, February 28
4. Joe Martin
with Chris Potter, Danny Grissett, Obed Calvaire
Smalls, February 5
5. Gonzalo Rubalcaba
with Yosvany Terry, Michael Rodriguez, Matt Brewer, Marcus Gilmore
Jazz Standard, January 27
6. Amir ElSaffar & Hafez Modirzadeh
with Mark Dresser, Alex Cline
Alwan for the Arts, June 19
7. Jason Moran’s Big Bandwagon, “In My Mind”
Thelonious Monk tribute, The Town Hall, February 27
8. Flight of the Conchords
Radio City Music Hall, April 15
9. Craig Taborn’s Junk Magic
with Mat Maneri, Chris Speed, Erik Fratzke, David King
The Stone, January 13
10. Edward Simon
with Mark Turner, Ben Street, Adam Cruz
Village Vanguard, March 1
11. Keith Jarrett solo
Carnegie Hall, January 29
12. Youssou N’Dour
Brooklyn Academy of Music, June 6
13. Julian Lage
Joe’s Pub, March 31
14. Ben Wendel
with Adam Benjamin, Nir Felder, Ben Street, Nate Wood
Jazz Gallery, March 19
15. AlasNoAxis
Public Assembly, June 23
16. Brian Blade’s Mama Rosa
Highline Ballroom, June 24
17. Vijay Iyer Trio
with Stephan Crump, Justin Brown
Jazz Standard, November 7
18. The Bad Plus (with Wendy Lewis)
Bowery Ballroom, February 17
19. Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra
Roulette, May 11
20. Jason Kao Hwang’s Spontaneous River
Orensanz Foundation, Vision Festival, June 15
21. David Binney
with Craig Taborn, Eivind Opsvik, Brian Blade
Rubin Museum, September 25
22. Tomasz Stanko Quartet
with Craig Taborn, Thomas Morgan, Jim Black
Merkin Hall, April 4
23. Steve Coleman and Five Elements
with Jen Shyu, Jonathan Finlayson, Tim Albright, Miles Okazaki
Belarusian Church, February 7
24. Helen Sung/Ron Carter duo
Rubin Museum, February 6
25. Birds of a Feather: Messiaen and His Legacy (Tristan Murail et al.)
Merkin Hall, May 5
26. Ray Drummond duos with Renee Rosnes, Bill Mays, Barry Harris
Tribeca Performing Arts Center, May 8
27. Evan Parker with Matthew Shipp, William Parker
The Stone, October 10
28. Christian McBride’s Inside Straight
with Warren Wolf, Steve Wilson, Peter Martin, Carl Allen
Village Vanguard, November 15
29. Tim Berne’s Los Totopos
with Matt Mitchell, Oscar Noriega, Ches Smith
Roulette, November 21
30. Steve Grossman
with David Hazeltine, John Webber, Jason Brown
Jazz Standard, November 19
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