NEC Alumni and Faculty Recognized on Best-Albums Lists in New York Times and DownBeat Magazine

Recordings by NEC alumni and faculty were recognized on the New York Times’ list of “Best Jazz Albums of 2024” and on DownBeat magazine’s list of “Best Albums of 2024,” alongside recordings by other acclaimed artists. You Think This America by the trio Tarbaby, which includes drummer and NEC faculty member Nasheet Waits, was named the No. 1 Jazz Album of the Year by the New York Times. Frank London ’80 earned the No. 8 spot for Spirit Stronger Than Blood.

Waits was also recognized on DownBeat‘s list, which includes 21 releases featuring NEC alumni and faculty. Waits was acknowledged for Tarbaby’s You Think This America and for his album New York Love Letter (Bitter Sweet). Other faculty members honored were pianist Ethan Iverson for Technically Acceptable and Frank Carlberg ’92 MM for Elegy for Thelonious.

NEC-affiliated pianists who were recognized include Zaccai Curtis ’03, ’05 GD for Cupbop Lives, Randy Ingram ’02 MM for Aries Dance, Matthew Shipp, who studied for a year in NEC’s Third Stream Department (now the Contemporary Musical Arts department), for New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz, Dan Tepfer ’05 MM for Internal Melodies, Phillip Golub ’18 MM for Abiding Memory, and Fred Hersch ’77 for Silent, Listening. 

Saxophonists on DownBeat’s list include Noah Preminger ’16 MM for Confusing Motion for Progress, Matana Roberts ’03 MM for Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden, and Jeremy Udden ’00 ’03 MM for Wishing Flower. Honored vocalists were Luciana Souza ’94 MM for Twenty-Four Short Musical Episodes and Sunny Kim ’05 MM for Liminal Silence.

Other alumni featured include flutist Jamie Baum ’81 for her septet release What Times Are These, multi-instrumentalist Brian Landrus ’07 MM for Brian Landrus Plays Ellington and Strayhorn, trombonist J.C. Sanford ’89 MM ’01 DM for New Past, trumpeter Dave Douglas for Gifts, and bassist Kim Cass ’07 for Confusing Motion for Progress and Levs. Chaotic Neutral by guitarist Max Light ’15, MM was recognized as a DownBeat Editors’ Pick.

Pictured above: Nasheet Waits performs in NEC’s Jordan Hall in February 2022.