It’s some 40 years since Swans first made a name for themselves through the sheer volume of their live performances and provocative song titles like “Time is Money (Bastard)” and “Raping a Slave”. Irritated by this reputation though, it wasn’t long before band leader Michael Gira had turned down the volume somewhat (though not too much) and was bringing new sounds into their repertoire.

The actress Sydney Sweeney’s face in the harrowing docudrama Reality is an ever-evolving map, its contours and pallor altering as it gradually dawns on her character, the real-life American whistleblower Reality Winner, that her conscience has put paid to her freedom for the forseeable future.

It’s been five years since 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire in West London. Five years and no arrests, as countless placards and posters around the neighbourhood point out.

Saturday’s concert by the BBC Philharmonic was in large measure about the Mahlers – Gustav and Alma. The former’s First Symphony formed the substantial second part of the programme: Frau Mahler was the inspiration of the piece that opened the evening. New Zealand-born Gemma New returned to Manchester to conduct: we saw her last October on the Hallé rostrum, and the energy and fierce attention she brought then were even more evident this time.

Stories of Japanese soldiers who spent years in the tropical jungles long after the end of World War Two have always felt more like metaphorical illustrations of the lunacy of war than actual historical fact. Yet some of them were true, most notably that of Hiroo Onoda.

From newcomer Jazzmeia Horn to the Grammy-winning elder statesman Alan Broadbent, this round-up of favourite jazz releases represents just the tip of a huge iceberg of activity in 2017.

A strong year for UK label Edition Records included Denys Baptiste’s The Late Trane, a beautiful deep dive into late period Coltrane by the outstanding British tenor player, plus the whiplash-inducing gear changes of Phronesis’s The Behemoth, which saw the Scandinavian/British trio’s back catalogue cast in dazzling big band arrangements. 

For ECM, US pianist Craig Taborn followed his solo debut Avenging Angel (2011) and trio date Chants (2013) with the expanded quartet palette of Daylight Ghosts, a genuine partnership of equals rather than, as Taborn puts it, “piano adventures with supporting cast”.

The New Zealand-born, US-based pianist, composer and arranger Alan Broadbent delivered one of the most richly atmospheric orchestral jazz scores you’ll have the pleasure of hearing with his three-movement magnum opus, Developing Story. In what was a banner year for Broadbent, his collaboration with vocalist and lyricist Georgia Mancio resulted in the 12 sublime songs of Songbook.

The Dallas-born, NYC-based vocalist Jazzmeia Horn served up one of the singularly most powerful debuts of recent times with A Social Call, few albums combined exultation and sorrow quite so persuasively as Liane Carroll’s The Right To Love, while Jazz FM Vocalist of the Year nominee Polly Gibbons delivered everything from big band swagger to small group swing on her memorable second release on Resonance Records, Is It Me...? 

My Album of the Year saw vocalist and songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant continue her inexorable rise with Dreams and Daggers, a brilliant 2CD set whose fascinating track list juxtaposed standards, vaudeville, blues and more, ranging from the glorious “You’ve Got To Give Me Some” – a song associated with one of McLorin Salvant’s touchstones, Bessie Smith – to a compelling interpretation of “Somehow I Never Could Believe” from the Kurt Weill/Langston Hughes opera Street Scene. We’ll find out later this month if the singer has bagged a second Grammy.

Two More Essential Albums from 2017

Alan Broadbent - Developing Story

Denys Baptiste - The Late Trane

Gig of the Year

Branford Marsalis Quartet with Kurt Elling at the Barbican

Track of the Year      

Cécile McLorin Salvant - “Somehow I Never Could Believe”

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Overleaf: Listen to Cécile Mclorin Salvant perform “Somehow I Never Could Believe”