Mammal’s Best of 2015 – The Winners

 

My heartiest congratulations go to the winners in all of my categories. So does my deep gratitude to all of the finalists and winners for making such great albums in an excellent year for all the types of modern music I love. To you good folks who’ve been following my hit parades, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing some of your picks included in my lists, and I hope you also found something new to explore.

Keep on rawkin’.

 

Mammal’s most recommended new albums: Jazzy stuff

Last time I did death metal. Next time will be more death metal. As an interlude and a diversion, I offer you my top choice of jazz and jazz-related albums of the year so far. Once again I’m wearing my Other Music Guy hat that my colleagues at Metal State made for me. It has pictures of bunnies and kittens on it.

Most jazz doesn’t slot easily into most metal brains. There are, however, metal lovers whose tastes are broad. Yes, some of you even like jazz, or at least the better rock, prog or metal with a jazzy flavor. If you have a sense of adventure and exploration, try this bunch. They are five very different types of music. Jazz has numerous sub-genres, just as metal does.

You may note I’ve given the highest rating to all of these picks.