Music

Best London gigs of 2007 | Top ten albums of 2007 | Top ten tracks of 2007

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Top ten jazz, folk and world albums of 2007
From Senegalese supergroups to the home-grown future of jazz

Portico Quartet

1 Portico Quartet
‘Knee Deep In The North Sea’ (Vortex)
Charismatic and brilliant new ‘gateway jazz’ outfit likely to snare a new generation into the ways of the music.
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2 Tinariwen
‘Aman Iman’ (Independiente)
Motorik, hypnotic rocked-out grooves from the Touareg axe-masters.
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3 Linda Thompson
‘Versatile Heart’ (Rounder)
Folk legend teams up with Antony Hegarty for one of her best records yet – and that’s saying something.
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Feature continues

4 Empirical
‘Empirical’ (Destin-E)
Astonishing future-jazz debut from one of London’s most out-there (in the good sense) young outfits.

Tinariwen

5 Simphiwe Dana
‘The One Love Movement On Bantu Biko Street’ (WCJ)
Glorious Afro-soul anthems from this potentially major South African talent.

6 Wolfgang Muthspiel/Dhafer Youssef
‘Glow’ (Material R)
Austrian jazz guitar meets Tunisian oud, with explosive – and surprisingly unpretentious – results.

7 David Torn
‘Prezens’ (ECM)
Guitar virtuoso Torn returns to ECM for this understatedly flashy collection of wig-ins.

8 Orchestra Baobab
‘Made In Dakar’ (World Circuit)
Senegalese supergroup make up for lost time with this irresistibly funky rhumba/mbalax outing.

9 Robert Glasper
‘In My Element’ (Blue Note)
The first step in piano virtuoso Glasper’s avowed odyssey to unite jazz and hip hop.

10 Martin Simpson
‘Prodigal Son’ (Blue Note)
Ry Cooder-ish soundscapes from the man who makes slide blues sound like a living language.