The Best Tracks of 2016

F or my list of the 100 best albums of 2016, go here

Below you will find a list of my favorite tracks. Each listing contains (from top to bottom)
the name of the artist, the track, the album, and the genre/style.

Here are my favorite tracks of 2016.

Äl Jawala (wity Rukie)
Road to Eldorado
Hypnophonic
Balkan Beat Hip-Hop

Melissa Aldana
Back Home
Back Home
Jazz

Alsarah & The Nubatones
Nar
Manara
Sudanese Afropop

Anenon
Once
Petrol
EDM with Jazz and Ambient Elements

Applewood Road
Old Time Country Song
Applewood Road
Americana/Folk/Country

Arcomusical
Palindromo
MeiaMeia
Contemporary Music for Berimbau

Fahir Atakoğlu
Saturday
Live at Umbria Jazz
Jazz + Turkish Melodies + Cuban Rhythms

Aziza (Dave Holland / Chris Potter / Lionel Loueke / Eric Harland)
Sleepless Night
Aziza
Jazz

Daniel Bachman
Farther Along
Daniel Bachman
Guitar Instrumentals

Devendra Banhart
Middle Names
Ape in Pink Marble
Freak Folk

Nik Bärtsch's Mobile
Modul 60
Continuum
Zen-Funk Hypnotic Jazz

Julianna Barwick
St. Apolonia
Will
Ambient Crypto-Pop

Bayonne
Spectrolite
Primitives
Minimalist Pop

John Beasley
Round Midnight
John Beasley Presents Monk'estra, Vol. 1
Jazz

Michael Benita & Ethics
I See Altitudes
River Silver
Ethereal Mood Jazz

Rory Block
Keepin' Outta Trouble
Keepin' Outta Trouble: A Tribute to Bukka White
Blues

Bombino
Inar
Azel
African Trance Music

Fiona Brice
Koh Yao Noi
Postcards From
Contemporary Classical Music

Brock Landers
The Well
The Prequel to the Sequel
Post-Hardcore Rock

Laura Cannell
Fragments from Summer Saltings
Simultaneous Flight Movement
Modern Medieval

Bill Charlap
Make Me Rainbows
Notes from New York
Jazz

Choral Scholars of University College Dublin
Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair
Invisible Stars
Choral Music

George Coleman
Darn That Dream
A Master Speaks
Jazz

David Crosby
Look in Their Eyes
Lighthouse
Singer-Songwriter

Alan Cumming
Why
Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs: Live at the Cafe Carlyle
Contemporary Cabaret Music

Boo Boo Davis
Blues on My Mind
One Chord Blues
Nasty Old Blues

Nathan Davis (composer), Jacob Greenberg (pianist)
Ghostlight
On the Nature of Thingness
Contemporary Classical Music

Lucas Debargue
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
Scarlatti, Chopin, Liszt, Ravel
Classical Piano Music

Jack DeJohnette/Ravi Coltrane / Matthew Garrision
Alabama
In Movement
Jazz

Luther Dickinson
Storm
Blues & Ballads: A Folksinger's Songbook, Volumes 1 & 2
Folk/Roots

Tashi Dorji & Shane Parish
Wounded Healer
Expecting
Guitar Duets

Peter Eldridge
Wish You With Me
Disappearing Day
Singer-Songwriter

Nick Ellis
The Grand Illusion
Daylight Ghosts
Liverpool Modern Folk Singer-Songwriter

Hannah Epperson
Farthest Distance
Upsweep
Experimental Pop/Chamber Music Fusion

Piers Faccini & Dawn Landes
Heaven's Gate
Desert Songs
West African-Influenced Folk Music

Family Atlantica
Okoroba
Cosmic Unity
Venezuelan Folk/Pop Dance Music

Cason Fentress & The Euphonious Express
19th Century Dame
Clear Cool
Steely Dan-ish Jazz Pop

Chris Finnen & Jay Hoad
Favourite Thing
Off the Cliff
Blues/Folk/Roots

Clare Fischer Latin Jazz Big Band
Tres Palabra
¡Intenso!
Jazz

William Fitzsimmons
People Change Their Minds
Charleroi: Pittsburgh, Vol. 2
The Moody Folk Bard of Pittsburgh

Sara Gazarek/Josh Nelson
Father, Father
Dream in the Blue
Jazz Vocal/Piano Duets

Giovanni Guidi
What We Talk About When Talk About Love
Ida Lupino
Jazz

Petra Haden
Tell Me What I'm Supposed to Do
Seemed Like a Good Idea: Petra Haden Sings Jesse Harris
Pop/Folk

Ross Hammond & Sameer Gupta
Upward
Upward
Duets for 12-String Guitar & Tabla

Barbara Hannigan
Let Me Tell You How It Was (Part 1)
Hans Abrahamsen: Let Me Tell You
Shakespeare-Inspired Contemporary Art Song Cycle

Keith Harkin
Mercy
On Mercy Street
Singer-Songwriter

Craig Hartley
Mood Indigo
Books on Tape. Vol. II
Pastiche Jazz Piano

Fred Hersch
For No One
Sunday Night at the Vanguard
Jazz

Christopher J. Hoh
Remembering All: Five Sandburg Poems: 2: Monotone
Cadence: New Works for Voices in Verse
Contemporary Choral Music

Reuben Hollebon
Fields, for Fields
Terminal Nostalgia
Singer-Songwriter

Hoops
Cool2    Hoops
Pop/Rock

James Horner & Simon Franglen
Volcano Springs
Soundtrack to The Magnificent Seven
Film Soundtrack

Huelgas Ensemble/Paul Van Nevel
Hélas que pourra devenir mon cueur
Firminus Caron: Twilight of the Middle Ages
Renaissance Music

Sierra Hull
Stranded
Weighted Mind
Progressive Bluegrass

Sarah Jarosz
Early Morning Light
Undercurrent
Country

Keith Jarrett
Genoa (Part II)
A Multitude of Angels
Previously Unreleased Live Jazz Concerts from 1996

Glenn Jones
In Durance Vile
Fleeting
Solo Fingerstyle Guitar

Glenn Jones
June Too Soon, October All Over
Fleeting
Solo Fingerstyle Guitar

Anthony Joseph
Our History
Caribbean Roots
Caribbean Griot Funk

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis
I Thought I Knew
Azul Infinito
Jazz

Masabumi Kikuchi
Little Abi
Black Orpheus
Jazz

Bill Kirchen & Austin de Lone
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Transatlanticana
Translantic Americana/Country

Sarathy Korwar
Indefinite Leave to Remain
Day to Day
Experimental Sufi Electronica

Lake Street Dive
How Good It Feels
Side Pony
Pop/Soul

The Lazy Lies
(Things Will Eventually) Backfire
The Lazy Lies
Melodic Pop-Rock from Barcelona

Nils Landgren (arr. Vince Mendoza)
A Simple Song
Some Other Time - A Tribute To Leonard Bernstein
Jazz

The Lifers
Listen to the Rain
Out and In
Folk Pop

Harold López-Nussa
Me Voy Pa Cuba
El Viaje
Melodic Latin Jazz

Loretta Lynn (with Willie Nelson)
Lay Me Down
Full Circle
Country

Branford Marsalis with Kurt Elling
Practical Arrangement
Upward Spiral
Jazz

Wynton Marsals and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Offertory: The Son
The Abyssinian Mass
Jazz/African-American Folkloric

Brad Mehldau
Since I Fell for You
Blues and Ballads
Jazz

Brad Mehldau & Joshua Redman
The Nearness of You
Nearness
Jazz Piano & Sax Duets

Michael Messer's Mitra
You Gonna Be Sorry
Call of the Blues
Hindustani Clasical Music/Traditional Blues Fusion

Michael Messer's Mitra
You Got to Move
Call of the Blues
Hindustani Clasical Music/Traditional Blues Fusion

Pat Metheny
Roof Dogs
The Unity Sessions
Jazz

Buddy Miller & Friends
Angel from Montgomery
Cayamo Sessions at Sea
Country

Michael Mizrahi
The Currents (Sarah Kirkland Snider)
Currents
Contemporary Piano Music

Marc Mommaas & Nikolaj Hess
The Peacocks
Ballads and Standards
Jazz

Jane Monheit (with Nicholas Payton)
Something's Gotta Give
The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald
Jazz

Trevor Morris
London Has Fallen
Soundtrack to London Has Fallen
Film Soundtrack

Nico Muhly & Teitur
Describe You
Confessions
Nordic Pop Meets Contemporary Chamber Music

Laura Mvula
Overcome
The Dreaming Room
Soul/Dream Pop

Žak Ozmo
Tone 3: Passamezzo Antico
Vincenzo Galilei: The Well-Tempered Lute
First Recording of Important 1584 work by Galileo's Father

Houston Person & Ron Carter
Blame It On My Youth
Chemistry
Jazz Duets

Roberta Piket
Kaleidoscope
One For Marian: A Tribute to Marian McPartland
Jazz

Leslie Pintchik
Charade
True North
Jazz

Mo Pitney
I Met Merle Haggard Today
Behind This Guitar
Country

Gregory Porter
Holding On
Take Me to the Alley
Jazz Vocals

Noah Preminger
Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
Contemporary Jazz Arrangements of Traditional Blues

Grégory Privat
Happy Invasion
Family Tree
Jazz

Corinne Bailey Rae
The Heart Speaks in Whispers
The Skies Will Break
Jazz/Pop/Soul-Oriented Singer-Songwriter

Susana Raya
The Wind
Wind Rose
The Andalusian Eva Cassidy

Doug Richards & The Great American Music Ensemble
West End Blues
It's All in the Game
Big Band Jazz

Roomful of Teeth
William Brittelle: The Colossus
The Colorado
Contemporary Choral Music

Alec Roth/Allegri String Quartet
String Quartet No.2: 1 Waiting
Alec Roth: String Quartets
Contemporary Chamber Music

L.A. Salami
Going Mad as the Street Bins
Dancing With Bad Grammar: The Director's Cut
Experimental Genre-Crossing Singer-Songwriter

Noura Mint Seymali
Arbina
Arbina
Moorish Funk from Mauritania

Finnegan Shanahan
The Two Halves
The Two Halves
Avant-Garde Pop Song Cycle

Paul Simon
Wristband
Stranger to Stranger
Singer-Songwriter

Sokratis Sinopoulos
Thrace
Eight Winds
Contemporary Jazz-Oriented Music for Greek Lyra

Sociedade Recreativa
Sereia
Sociedade Recreativa
Forró-Based Brazilian Dance Music

Peggy Stern
Red Bug Slough
Z Octet
Jazz

Sting
Petrol Head
57th & 9th
Rock

Markus Stockhausen / Florian Weber
Surfboard
Alba
Jazz

Third Coast Percussion/Steve Reich
Nagoya Marimbas
Third Coast Percussion/Steve Reich
Contemporary Music for Percussion

Tkettle
Da Creep
Electric Beanstalk
Electronica Bluegrass

Ilya Toshinskiy
Red Grass
Red Grass
Bluegrass

Ilya Toshinskiy
Train Station
Red Grass
Bluegrass

Rokia Traoré
Amour
Né So
Malian Singer-Songwriter

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi
Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning
God Don't Never Change: The Music of Blind Willie Johnson
Blues

William Tyler
I'm Gonna Live Forever (If It Kills Me)
Modern Country
Ambient Country Guitar Instrumentals

Vandeveer
The Lock & The Key
Love is Melancholy
Pop

Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil
As Camélias do Quilombo do Leblon
Dois Amigos, Um Século de Música
Brazilian Tropicalismo

Zachary Wadsworth
Come to the Road
The Far West
Contemporary Choral Music

Seth Walker
High Time
Gotta Get Back
Folk/Roots/Pop

Joanna Wallfisch
This is How You Make Me Feel
Gardens in My Mind
Jazz-Oriented Art Songs

Dwight Yoakam
Purple Rain
Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars.
Country

Young Magic
Valhalla
Still Life
Brooklyn Dream Pop Influenced by Indonesian Music

Denny Zeitlin
Infant Eyes
Early Wayne
Solo Piano Interpretations of Wayne Shorter's Music

Jeremy Zuckerman
Breathing
Khaos
Ambient Classical Music

Related Links:

The 100 Best Albums of 2016
The 100 Best Albums of 2015
The 100 Best Albums of 2014
The 100 Best Albums of 2013
The 100 Best Albums of 2012
The 100 Best Albums of 2011

BACKGROUND

I am often asked how I compile my
annual list of the 100 best albums.
Here is some background information.

What styles of music do I include in
my listening?

I listen to all genres and all styles of
music. I like to listen to music that is
fresh and different, and this spurs me
to search outside the dominant
commercial categories and hit
releases. But I also listen to the
heavily promoted albums from the
major labels.

How much music do I listen to?

I like to hear new music every day.
During 2016 I listened to more
than 1,000 new album releases.
(The exact number was 1,021.)

Why do I compile this list?

Like any music lover, I enjoy
sharing my favorite music with others.
But in the last few years, a different
motivation has spurred me. I believe
that the system of music discovery is
broken in the current day. There is
more music recorded than ever before,
but it is almost impossible for listeners
to find the best new recordings. The
most creative work in music is
increasingly found on self-produced
projects and releases from small
indie labels— to an extent hardly
conceivable only a decade ago. Very
little of this music ever shows up on
the radio, where formats seem to get
narrower and narrower with each
passing year. Music fans once heard
good new music at indie record stores,
but most of them have closed. Or
they could read reviews in the
newspaper, but both the newspapers
and the music reviews are shrinking or
disappearing. And the big record
labels are the worst culprits of all,
picking acts for their looks or their
potential appeal to fourteen-year-olds,
or some other egregious reason, and
in general jumping on the most trivial
passing fads. On the other hand,
the Internet presents an almost
infinite amount of music and music
commentary—yet where do fans
even begin to separate the good from
the bad and ugly? My personal solution
to this dilemma has been to listen to
lots and lots of music, and try to
identify recordings of quality and
distinction. I share my list because
I know, from past experience, that
many other listeners are frustrated
with the broken system of music
discovery, and are also looking for
good new music.

What criteria do I apply?

I have no axe to grind. My list is
filled with music I enjoy, and suspect
others will too—especially if they
have a reasonably good ear, and
an open mind. I like recordings that
show some flair and creativity, a
sense of style, solid musicianship,
and an emotional commitment to
the moment of performance. I
appreciate it when an artist
possesses a sense of musical
tradition; on the other hand, I don’t
want to see slavish imitation of the
past. When music strikes me as
too formulaic or contrived or cold,
I start to lose interest. Like any critic,
I want my readers to think that I am
cool and hip and oh-so-up-to-date,
but I learned some time ago that
many of the best recordings are
decidedly uncool and unhip. So if
you want to laugh at me for honoring
some unfashionable aging rocker or
superannuated country singer,
go right ahead. But also check
out some of the lesser-known titles on
the list...you might just be pleasantly
surprised by what you hear.

Happy listening!

Ted Gioia

The Best Tracks of 2016

Follow Ted Gioia on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/tedgioia

Selected articles by Ted Gioia

The African Origins of the Love Song
The Rise of the Fragmented Novel
Why Are Music Scholars Ignoring Musical Universals?
The Adventurer's Guide to Finnegans Wake
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Has Music Criticism Turned Into Lifestyle Reporting?
Vladimir Nabokov, Sci-Fi Writer
How Sartre Cured Existential Angst with Jazz
If John Coltrane Had Lived
The Decline of Satire
My Year of Horrible Reading
The Backlash Against Jazz
The Con Man Who Invented American Popular Music
The Bumbling Shostakovich
The Rise of Artisan Music
The Year American Speech Became Art
What We've Learned About the NSA
The 8 Memes of the Postmodern Mystery
Ted Gioia Interviews Composer Terry Riley
Why the Fuss About Jonathan Franzen?
Slaves for Love: How Bondage Shaped the Love Song
A Conversation About Jazz with Ted Gioia
The 100 Best Recordings of 2015
The 100 Best Recordings of 2014
The 100 Best Recordings of 2013
The 100 Best Recordings of 2012
The 100 Best Recordings of 2011
The Weirdest 1960s Novel of Them All
Franco: The James Brown of Africa
How Alice Got to Wonderland
Does the Music Business Need Musicianship?
The King of Western Swing
Post Cool
The Year of Magical Reading
Frank Sinatra at 100
What is the Clumsiest Classic Novel?
The Crisis in Music (podcast)
The Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft
How to Fix Online Music
My 10 Favorite Novels on Music
A Conversation with Ted Gioia about Love Songs
The Music of the Tango
The Letter That Changed the Course of Modern L it
The End of the Angry Guitar
Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook
Do Blues Musicians Need to be Really, Really Old?
The Unconventional Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
Twelve Essential Tango Recordings
Alan Lomax and the FBI
Robert Musi l and The Man Without Qualities
Cool Jazz in 100 Tracks (Part 1) (Part 2)
Lecture on the History of Love Songs
Henry James, Horror Writer
Why Only Revolutions Will Not Be Televised
David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest
The Crisis in Music (video lecture)
How Good a Singer Was Dean Martin?
How Music Videos Changed Love Songs
Why Bessie Smith Matters
The Zombification of Popular Music
The New Revolt of the Masses
Was Ambrose Bierce Inspired by Agoraphobia?
Apple's New Paradigm for Music
F ix-Up Artist: The Chaotic SF of A.E. van Vogt
Jazz Vocals in the New Millennium
A History of New Orleans Music in 100 Tracks
The Making of Ulysses
The Great American Novel That Wasn't
In Search of Dupree Bolton
Gulliver's Travels and the Birth of Genre Fiction
Five Essays on Novelist John Fowles
Where Did Our Revolution Go?
How Lester Young Changed the English Language
The Reinvention of the Cowboy Novel
The Many Lives of James Joyce
The Complex Gender History of the Love Song
William Gaddis's The Recognitions
5 Lessons the Music Biz Can Learn from TV
Hipsters: The New Scapegoats
B.B. King's Best Performances
The Most Mysterious Woman in Sci-Fi
12 Memorable Works of Hispanic Fiction
Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice
The Alt Reality Nobel Prize
The Decline of a Great Jazz Record Label
Don DeLillo's Underworld
How NY Became Center of the Jazz World
Milton Nascimento: 12 Essential Tracks
When Science Fiction Grew Up
The Most Influential Film of the 20th Century
Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch
Is Sleep Music a Real Genre?
Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Bill Evans: 12 Essential Tracks
Early Vintage Wynton Marsalis
Remembering Cordwainer Smith
My Favorite American Novel
Q&A with Ted Gioia
The Jazz Pianist JFK Saved
A Look Back at Martin Gardner
Robert Heinlein at One Hundred
The Fourteen Skies of Michael Chabon
Is Bird Dead?
Philip K. Dick's VALIS
Why Lester Young Matters
Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire
Making a Case for Clark Ashton Smtih
Who is Grace Kelly?
Italo Calvino's Wint er's NIght
Jonathan Lethem's The Fortress of Solitude
Could Chet Baker Play Jazz?
Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow
The Jazzy Side of Frank Zappa
Fritz Leiber at 100
Günter Grass's The Tin Drum
David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas
Harlem Jazz: 12 Essential Tracks
Mark Z. Danielweski's House of Leaves
The Postmodern Mystery: 50 Essential Works
Art Tatum at 100: 12 Essential Tracks
Fringe Guitar
J.G. Ballard's Crash
Interview with Dana and Ted Gioia
The Puzzling Case of Robert Sheckley
Robert Johnson and the Devil
Fear and Self-Loathing in Scandinavia
Herbie Hancock: 12 Essential Tracks
Remembering Drums of Passion
Three Existential Horror Novels
Keith Jarrett: 12 Essential Tracks
In Defense of The Hobbit
Brad Mehldau: 12 Essential Tracks
David Foster Wallace's The Pale King
The South Asian Tinge in Jazz
Assessing Brad Mehldau at Mid-Career
Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridi an
Can Clubs Legally Ask Musicians to Play for Free?
Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones
Lennie Tristano: 12 Essential Tracks
Virginia Woolf's Orlando
Why Cool is Dead
A Tribute to Richard Matheson
T he Pianism of Denny Zeitlin
The Chronicles of Narnia
David Bowie's Jazz-Oriented Valedictory
Tito Puente: The Complete 78s (1949-1955)
Toni Morrison's Beloved
The Tragedy of Richard Twardzik
Michael Chabon's Telegraph Avenue
The Science Fiction of Samuel Delany
Can Tarzan Survive in a Post-Colonial World?
Ian McEwan's Atonement
Can a Dictionary be a Novel?
New Details About the Young William Gaddis
Interview with Ted Gioia (on Delta Blues)
William Gaddis's JR
Roberto Bolaño's 2666
Talking to Myself About the State of Jazz
Harper Lee and Her Great Southern Novel
Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain
Italo Calvino's Neglected Sci-Fi Masterpiece
Philip Roth's American Pastoral
Ken Kesey's Novel-in-a-Box
How I Learned I Was a Jazz Fan