Bonnie Raitt - "Thank You". Here, near the end of the year, beside another Christmas eve, let's lower the lamps and listen to 1971. Let's unfurl the "Thank You"s a few at a time, send them sailing out over ice and snow, downed powerlines, rain-soaked cobbles. Let's discard Raitt's slightly overboiled devotion to her partner; let's point the spotlight instead onto rumbling piano, silvery guitar, and, most of all, twinned flute and trumpet. Twinned flute and trumpet. It seems a little clumsy, a little Abbott & Costello, but what a music, what a music, by Maurice Jacox and Voyle Harris (and what names! Voyle! Jacox!). Solos in sibling sidestep, the same and apart, colouring in two colours of the same shade. One of the most beautiful sounds I heard this year, Jacox and Voyle, warm as Glühwein and probably as boozy.

[buy / I discovered this song through Their Hearts Had Six Strings, a multi-part compilation by Musicophilia. If you're not already familiar with Musicophilia, this anonymous-run site is responsible for some of the best compilations you'll ever hear. Carefully curated, lovingly assembled, they're rare gifts - updated just once or twice a year.]

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In the aftermath of end-of-year List season, some stray favourites, by locals and friends: Grimmertown, Cult Montreal's MTL top 30, Howard Wolfson, David Belbin, Gorilla Vs Bear.

(photo source)