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(Last couple of discs in the top ten for the year…)

Don McGlashan – Warm Hand (Arch Hill)

A sense of place is a wonderful thing. And a Don McGlashan song is like a trip on the TARDIS – putting the audience in a particular time and space, and then you wait for the small anecdote or grand drama to unfold. Warm Hand is Don’s first release under his own name, and takes us from New York PR man’s office to a 19th Century Tahiti beach, via the Auckland Harbour Bridge to a haunted tourist bus on the Coromandel Peninsula. A welcome addition to the New Zealand popular songbook.

Colin Towns + NDR Big Band: Frank Zappa’s Hot Licks and Funny Smells (Rent a Dog)

The compositions of Frank Zappa need to be approached with caution and full situational awareness. The master’s own live and studio versions of his work are so definitive (and the tunes are so darn difficult to play) that many a band has imploded trying to flip off a quick rendition of Naval Aviation in Art after dinner. So composer and pianist Colin Towns and his German collaborators deserve enormous credit for this live big band album that not only manages to be 100% Zapparific, but is also indutibly a jazz record. Lots of fun !