Best CD's of 2011, Round 1, Final part

Various Artists-River of Song, disc 1 (1998-Promo)

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Bela Fleck and the Flecktones-Rocket Science (2011-Borders retail)

Bela moves on here. The first disc of River of song (no idea why their metadata puts the discs in the wrong order) has some unusual music on it. It opens with a pow-wow song recorded by the Chippewa nation, has some Hmong immigrant song, and a whole mess of swedish/nordic folk. For sure, quite a bit of stuff I would never own, but some I would never want to. Favorite track: Bottle Rockets, Get down, river.

Various Artist-Round Midnight Soundtrack (1986-Borders dumpbin)

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Clark Terry-Serenade to a Bus Seat (messed up metadata-Jazz Record Mart)

Round midnight still stacks up, but I'm going to go with Clark on this one. What the heck, it was just his birthday. I love Herbie's playing on Round Midnight. I still love the chart "Chan's Song", even if it never quite made it as a standard.

Chris Thiele & Michael Daves-Sleep with One Eye Open (2011-gift)

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Jason Moran-Ten (2010-Jazz Record Mart)

Toss up here, but I'll go with Jason Moran. The Thiele/Daves side is a fun side, the Jason Moran set is just a notch better. I've not heard Michael Daves before, he's got a strong voice and holds his own with Christ Thiele on a largely traditional bluegrass set.

Mountain Heart-That Just Happened (2010-Artist's table)

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Howard Levy-Tonight and Tomorrow (2009-Artist's table)

I think I went to both of these concerts in the same weekend. Both are strong discs, with excellent material. I have to go with Howard here. Mountain Heart is a young band that is up and coming. They play traditional bluegrass with a very newgrass feel. Plus there are very strong originals and they even cover some Allman brothers. Highly recommended.

Yes-The Yes Album (1971-Borders Carcass Pick)

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Metropole Orkest, John Scofield & Vince Mendoza-54 (2010-Borders Carcass pick)

Read a biography of Yes this year. Bio wasn't that great but got me missing the music of Yes. Really wanted to find something else by the band, as most of this material is on Yessongs. Not real glad I bought this side, and the bonus tracks add almost nothing. There is a version of "The Clap" recorded before Steve Howe had it under his fingers. It's interesting that there is a sizeable part of what would become "Mood For A Day" on Fragile. 54 moves on.