Well, here they are: my ten faves from 2022; a little late (okay a lot late), but it would be a shame if you missed out on any of these terrific releases from the past twelve months. I urge you to go back through the Record Pick posts throughout the year to check out other fine recordings that didn’t make the cut. So, in no particular order.
Two mind-boggling masters of modern guitar dance with and around each other at a house concert, in Lincoln, MA on December 1, 2021. Fortunately it was captured on video.
Photo by Reed Hutchinson
You say you are interested in finding some modern guitar music that you haven’t yet heard? Just head on over to The Modern Guitar Show segment at Jack Sonni Guitar Radio any Saturday and Sunday night at 11pm Eastern Standard Time.
Curators Michael Ross and Joel Harrison will endeavor to open your ears to new sounds from an old instrument. The options for doing so are multiple. You can download the Jack Sonni Guitar Radio app for the Apple or Google Store, you can go to the Jack Sonni Radio website, the iHeart Radio site, or the Live 365 site.
Despite an increasing number of great recordings coming over my transom, three guitarists, Anthony Pirog, David Torn, and Mike Baggetta, dominated this year’s picks with two records each. In addition to being brilliant players who have produced stellar examples of their work on these albums, all the guitarists featured here are out in the trenches preforming live on a regular basis. In no particular order.
I am heartened by how it gets harder and harder to pick the best of the year. It means that there are more and more great records of modern guitar being issued all the time. This year was made a little easier by the fact that veteran masters like David Torn, Henry Kaiser, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and Eivind Aarset all appeared on one or more records. The list is rounded out by younger players like Julian Lage, Max Kutner, and Anthony Pirog, as well as the introduction of new faces: Justus West, Rafiq Bhatia, and Igor Osypov.
