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The co-host of All Songs Considered shares his ten favorite records of 2015.

It's been a year of complacency deferred and sleeping giants roused. So it's only natural that much of 2017's best music would reflect that tumult, albeit in radically different ways.

For many of his fans, Bob James is to jazz what James Brown is to R&B — the music and the musician go hand in hand. Now, with literally dozens of jazz albums under his belt, James is back with a classic piano-bass-drums trio. Hear full-length cuts from his latest CD, plus an extended version of his conversation with NPR's Tavis Smiley.

This year, a youthful strain of techno-Afropop musicians stepped into the spotlight.

All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen shares the albums and songs that stood out even if some were more peaceful than explosive.

Lupe Fiasco is a Chicago-based rapper who made his mainstream debut on the most recent CD by Kanye West, who is also from Chicago. Now Fiasco is further cementing the Windy City's reputation as a breeding ground for innovative hip-hop, with a new CD, Food and Liquor.

This year, the World Cafe host fell for an eclectic mix of albums, including gems by Courtney Barnett, Kamasi Washington and Tame Impala.

For one listener, it was a good year for albums that were big and loud, but a few quieter, introspective picks snuck onto Robin Hilton's list as well.

The best folk and roots music of the year, from quiet acoustic solo records to stomping shout-alongs, focused on community, elements of ancestry and stories that unite us.

The host of All Songs Considered shares the albums he loved this year. Many of Bob Boilen's favorite albums of 2013 were danceable. Many were intimate. Some managed to be both at once.