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Nate Chinen's Top 10 (Actually 21) Albums Of 2017

Three of Ron Miles' works were among Nate Chinen's favorites of the year.
Thomas J. Krebs
/
Courtesy of the artist
Three of Ron Miles' works were among Nate Chinen's favorites of the year.

Most of us can agree: 2017 was a beast of a year. The music sometimes reflected our weariness, carrying it like a burden. At other times it engaged directly with the sense of foreboding and crisis in the air. But what spoke to me the most, it turns out, was music that delivered both comfort and challenge, a salve and a spur. To one degree or another, every album on this list fits that criterion — and so do the additional 10 that appear as honorable mentions, any of which could easily have come off the bench and into the game.

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