I put together a playlist of 35 candidates for the 2022 song list in early 2023, but never got around to editing it down and writing about it. It feels good to go back and finish what I started, but I realize that my choices today (and my thoughts about each song) are different than they would have been two years ago.
One thing that makes 2022 different than other years is that 3/4 of the songs are instrumental. I spent a LOT of time listening to jazz that year, and a good deal of that listening to Makaya McCraven’s “In These Times.” This was also the year where I really started digging into ambient country records, and the first year I heard a Sturgill Simpson song.
Here it is: a 68 minute mix of the best songs I heard first in 2022. Below is the track listing, a favorite lyric if it’s not an instrumental, and my thoughts about each song (thoughts written March 2025). Listen and let me know what you think!
1. This Place That Place – Makaya McCraven
The first time I really heard this song was in 2020 when I saw Makaya McCraven play at the Chicago Symphony Center. The performance was like nothing I had ever seen up to that point, and many of the tunes they played that night ended up on 2022’s “In These Times” which is without question my favorite jazz record of the year. I love the way “This Place That Place” builds throughout, with parts of each section alternating open spaces with sycopation. The eventual crescendo of insane drumming just after the low key section makes my heart spin. I can’t get enough of it.
2. Desert Ride – Phi-Psonics
One of my go-to records for relaxing in the living room. A classic lounge sound, expertly performed. Beautiful composition. This record (The Cradle) is gorgeous throughout.
3. Sankofa – Amaro Freitas
Another beautiful jazz record. Freitas’ piano performances are moving and mesmerizing. My old friend Matt turned me on to this record and I’m thankful for that.
4. Stureby House Piano– Jeremiah Chiu, Marta Sofia Honer
Very interesting and beautiful ambient music. I love the sense you get of being in the room as the sounds unfold and the juxtaposition of the analog piano and synth electronics. “Recordings from the Åland Islands” is subtle and lovely throughout.
5. Jakarta – Sam Wilkes, Jacob Mann
So much fun. Boppy groovy tunes for afternoon board games or mountain drives. I could have picked a number of songs from this record, but Jakarta wins out because I love the section with the wandering synth melody that starts around the one-minute mark. “Perform the Compositions of Sam Wilkes & Jacob Mann” is a favorite of the kids (and mine too).
6. Mushroomeclipse – Carlos Niño & Friends
In the covid times, I took a lot of comfort from listening to soundscapes like this. I love much of what Carlos Niño does, bringing together groups of musicians to create these ambient records at the intersection of jazz and new age styles (though this song itself doesn’t show the jazz side of things).
7. Grey – Cisco Swank
“These days feeling great, these days feeling changed”
Such a cool song. I love the queasy synths and the lo-fi beat. The chopped up choral elements, jazz piano, R&B stylings, and rappers with good flows. Beautiful.
8. SHE’S GONE – Kabo Nakamura
Luxurious fun pop with lyrics I can’t understand sung by beautiful female voices okay sign me up it’s good.
9. Chocolate Hills – Khruangbin, Leon Bridges
“Please stay forever, please stay forever, it feels like heaven”
I hope they put more records out together. Khruangbin is such a perfect soundbed for Bridges’ vocal performance. Silky!
10. American Dipper – North Americans
Poking at a fire on the side of a mountain, looking up at the stars.
11. Pueblo Man – Hermanos Gutiérrez
These guys… It all sounds so good. Turn on this record and get transported—congratulations you’re in a saloon on the border!
12. Long White Line – Sturgill Simpson
I don’t know how this song came my way, but somehow I found myself listening to this song one afternoon in a state of wonder. Not being a frequent country music enjoyer at the time, I kept getting pulled back to listening to this song. I asked my teenage son what he thought and he said he’d be happy to never hear another country song in his life. It’s had the opposite effect on me, really opening the door to enjoying a lot more country music.
13. New Breakfast Habit – Andrew Tuttle
Creeping out of bed, walking down the hill to collect eggs and feed the chickens. Brewing up a coffee, frying an egg. Sitting at the table in the sunlight. (How bout that pedal steel? I love it.)
14. The Nightjar – Scott Hirsch
“I’m only dreaming my dream”
One night Allison and I were talking about a bad she used to listen to (The Court & Spark) and I got to looking them up and discovered this new record by Scott Hirsch. I got super excited because “Ghost of Windless Day” turned out to be a beautiful, dreamy ambient country record. I’m writing this in 2025, anxiously looking forward to Hirsch’s upcoming record and hoping it’s more of the same with some new tricks too.
15. Gallup, NM – SUSS
Half awake, moving by feel through the house for a midnight glass of water. The rooster crows, and the stars beckon me out to the deck.
16. The Way We Remember – Jeremy Cunningham, Dustin Laurenzi, Paul Bryan, Katie Ernst
“I kissed your head like a child does”
This is the last song of the 2022’s outstanding “A Better Ghost.” I’m not usually a huge fan of vocals with jazz but this REALLY does it for me. Ernst’s vocals are steady and sonically beautiful, anchoring the tune as the instrumentalists slowly open up as the song proceeds.
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