This year was important not only for visionary recordings by Wynton Marsalis and Dave Holland but also for breakthroughs by several Chicagoans, including singer-pianist Patricia Barber, tenor saxophonist Von Freeman and trumpeter Orbert Davis. What follows is one listener's choices for the best jazz CDs of 2002, though the list easily could have been twice as long.

1. Wynton Marsalis, "All Rise" (Sony): During the past decade and a half, Marsalis has blossomed as a composer, the great promise of "The Majesty of the Blues" (1988) fulfilled by such glorious works as "In This House, On This Morning" (1993) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Blood on the Fields" (1997). With his newest piece, "All Rise," Marsalis took a considerable risk, creating a quasi-religious work that was more ambitious and more stylistically free-ranging than anything he yet had attempted. For by conceiving "All Rise" for jazz band, large chorus and symphony orchestra, Marsalis clearly was working on an enormous canvas. Remarkably, he sustained interest throughout this two-hour, two-CD opus, which opens with a tour de force orchestral-choral movement and continues with explorations of everything from American hoe-down rhythms to Argentine tango music before closing with an upbeat, life-affirming chorale rooted in New Orleans parade music. The combined forces of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a small army of choristers brings Marsalis' vision vividly to life. After this achievement, there's little doubt as to what Marsalis ought to write next -- a jazz opera.
2. Patricia Barber: "Verse" (Blue Note/Premonition): A risk-taker from Day One, singer-pianist Barber goesway out on a limb with "Verse," a groundbreaking CD built not on standard jazz tunes but entirely on her own, self-styled melodies and lyrics. Though listeners had encountered Barber's songwriting on earlier recordings, such as "Modern Cool" (1998), never before had she staked an entire album on her fearlessly idiosyncratic songwriting. But original tunes such as the slyly erotic "I Could Eat Your Words," the hyper-literate "Dansons La Gigue" and the wickedly comic "You Gotta Go Home" establish Barber as a first-rate singer-songwriter who richly deserves the large and growing public she is attracting. Add to that the remarkably liquidity of Barber's vocals, the atmospheric quality of her pianism and the sublimely understated accompaniment of her band, and you have the rare jazz artist capable of intriguing the congescenti while reaching out to everyone else.
3. Von Freeman: "The Improviser" (Premonition): In a long and noble career, Chicago tenor saxophonist Freeman has been tragically under-recorded, but "The Improviser" goes a long way toward making up for lost time. Brilliantly conceived by the Chicago-based Premonition label, "The Improviser" capturesthe great "Vonski" at or near the height of his powers, an impressive feat considering that Freeman turned 80 this year. Yet the high romanticism he brings to "If I Should Lose You," the ferocious bebop playing he unspools on "What Is This thing Called Love?" and the seemingly telepathic communication he achieves with pianist Jason Moran on "I Like the Sunrise" attests to the stylistic versatility, technical mastery and competitive drive the man sustains at an age when many musicians have hung up their horns for good.
4. Dave Holland Big Band: "What Goes Around" (ECM): The best big band recording of the year was also one of the most innovative. Though jazz listeners around the world had applauded the new quintet that Holland formed in the late 1990s, one wondered whether this group could achieve the same ethereal beauty and seamless ensemble playing as the core of a larger ensemble. "What Goes Around" lays to rest any doubts about the artistic viability of Holland's big-band concept. To behold the utter transparency of texture that Holland and friends attain on the opening cut, "Triple Dance," and the virtuosity of Holland's writing on "Razor's Edge" is to savor a fresh approach to the big band repertory. Granted, Holland owes an artistic debt to large ensembles of the past, not least to the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis organization. But the delicate colors, elastic rhythms and original instrumental combinations that define "What Goes Around" affirms the value of Holland's' big-band experiment.
5. Matthew Shipp: "Nu Bop" (Thirsty Ear): Many young jazz musicians have dabbled with "scratching," computer-generated sound, contemporary dance beats and the like, but few have done so as organically or as persuasively as pianist-bandleader Shipp. In a bold statement about the importance of bringing new ideas into the jazz vernacular, Shipp uses acoustic and electronic instrumentation to produce some of the most coherent sonic experimentation of the year. Assisted by bassist William Parker, a longtime partner, Shipp revels in dance-club rhythms on "Space Shipp," out-of-this-world sound effects on "Nu Bop" and lushly exotic scales on "D's Choice." Every track, in fact, opens up a new world of sound, and Shipp's listeners have come to expect nothing less from him.
6. Bob Brookmeyer: "Waltzing With Zoe" (Challenge): His recordings may not benefit from the publicity blitz that accompanies the work of younger, less accomplished artists, but Brookmeyer continues to expand the meaning and vocabulary of the big band repertory. "Waltzing With Zoe" proves the point, with Brookmeyer leading the New Art Orchestra in original compositions that are at once intellectually provocative and instantly alluring. Who could resist the tremendous rhythmic drive that Brookmeyer and the band produce on the finale of "Seesaw" or the playful dissonance and puckish spirit the musicians articulate on "Child at Play." It may take a generation or more before Brookmeyer's orchestral writing wins the recognition it deserves, but it's consoling to note that his ideas have been so beautifully documented on CD.
7. The Dutch Jazz Orchestra: "Strayhorn and Standards: You Go to My Head" (Challenge): Slowly but inexorably, the world is beginning to realize that Billy Strayhorn was more than Duke Ellington's musical alter ego, and recordings such as this one have helped to make the case. The Dutch Jazz Orchestra sheds welcome light on Strayhorn's achievements as arranger by featuring standard tunes that were transformed via Strayhorn's pen. Listen to the translucent orchestral shadings Strayhorn penned for his version of "The Man I Love" or the remarkably sensual voicings he produced on "You Go to My Head" or the plush instrumental choirs he arranged in "Where or When," and it's clear that Strayhorn ranks among the great orchestrators of the 20th Century. Both the composer and his fans are fortunate that the Dutch Jazz Orchestra took up Strayhorn's cause, for few ensembles could dispatch this repertoire with half as much finesse and grace.
8. Orbert Davis: "Priority" (3Sixteen Records): Anyone who regularly attends jazz performances in Chicago sooner or later encounters trumpeter Davis, who has reached a new artistic high point with this release. Liberated from both the early-jazz genres in which he is expert and the commercial demands that face any jazz musician trying to make a living, Davis lets his own voice permeate every track of "Priority." The result is one of the most eloquently composed, brilliantly executed small-ensemble recordings of the year. For starters, one has to marvel at the expressive power of Davis' compositions, from the hard-bop energy of the title track to the exquisite melodic arc of "Block Party." To their credit, Davis' sidemen match the fire and fury of the trumpeter's playing, with particularly scorching playing from tenor saxophonist Ari Brown. If they were smart, the executives at one of the major labels would waste no time picking up this sterling CD.
9. Mayra Caridad Valdes: "La Diosa del Mar" (Jazzheads): Great jazz voices do not come along very often, despite the heavy promotional push that has catapulted the likes of Diana Krall and Jane Monheit. Yet this release affirmed that a major talent has arrived, Valdes claiming a place among the masters of Afro-Caribbean improvisation. Though Valdes' art has many attractive facets, the most immediately recognizable is the quality and size of her instrument, a thrilling voice that produces plush, throaty notes toward the bottom of her range and equally appealing, technically unerring pitches up on top. As jazz improviser, Valdes can hold her own against the most accomplished sidemen, as she demonstrates by trading rapid-fire phrases with the horns on tunes such as "Mambo Influenciado" and "Billie's Bounce."
10. Jean-Michel Pilc: "Welcome Home" (Dreyfus Jazz): He may not be widely known to American listeners, but Pilc -- who's French -- ranks among the mighttier pianists in jazz today, and not only because of his Herculean technique. For all the heaven-storming virtuosity he has brought to bear on a variety of American jazz standards, Pilc has achieved his greatest distinction through brains, not brawn. By sabotaging rhythmic expectations on Miles Davis' "So What" and exploring rarefied chord changes barely implied by Duke Ellington's "Solitude," Pilc established himself as a master of the musical materials at hand. It is the overwhelming presence of Pilc's sound and the intellectual depth of his improvisations that distinguish this disc and make one long for the day when Pilc swings through Chicago.