This was an amazing year with a number of innovative and revolutionary releases that made it very difficult to choose. I spent many days narrowing the best records of 2014 down to fifteen:

1. Josh Sinton’s Ideal Bread – http://jazzrightnow.com/bands/ideal-bread/beating-the-teens-2014/" rel="nofollow - Beating the Teens (Cuneiform)
2. Travis Laplante’s Battle Trance – Palace of Wind (NNA Tapes)
3. Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio & Peter Evans – Live in Lisbon (No Business)
4. Tomas Fujiwara Trio – http://jazzrightnow.com/bands/tomas-fujiwara-trio/variable-bets-2014/" rel="nofollow - Variable Bets (Relative Pitch)
5. Tony Malaby’s Tamarindo – http://jazzrightnow.com/2014/07/03/tony-malaby-discusses-his-new-album-somos-agua/" rel="nofollow - Somos Agua (Clean Feed)
6. Matt Bauder’s Day in Pictures – http://jazzrightnow.com/bands/day-in-pictures/nightshades-2014/" rel="nofollow - Nightshades (Clean Feed)
7. Thumbscrew – http://jazzrightnow.com/bands/thumbscrew/thumbscrew-2014/" rel="nofollow - self-titled (Cuneiform)
8. VAX – Count to VAX (self-released)
9. Mary Halvorson – Reverse Blue (Relative Pitch)
10. Max Johnson – http://jazzrightnow.com/bands/prisoner-quartet/the-prisoner-2014/" rel="nofollow - The Prisoner (No Business)
11. Tyshawn Sorey – Alloy (Pi)
12. Anna Webber – http://jazzrightnow.com/bands/simple-trio/simple-2014/" rel="nofollow - SIMPLE (Skirl)
13. William Hooker & Liudas Mockunas – Live at Vilnius Jazz Festival (No Business)
14. Ingrid Laubrock & Tom Rainey – http://jazzrightnow.com/bands/ingrid-laubrock-tom-rainey-duo/and-other-desert-towns-2014/" rel="nofollow - And Other Desert Towns (Relative Pitch)
15. Patrick Breiner’s Double Double – Mileage (Sulde)