1. Charles Mingus The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott’s (Resonance)

How appropriate that for Mingus’ centennial year, the big man should come out on the top of our annual poll. Take one listen to this sprawling, three-disc 1972 live set from the legendary London club and you’ll know it’s the right call; the whole sextet (with Charles McPherson, Roy Brooks, Bobby Jones, John Foster, and a young Jon Faddis) is an unstoppable force. That Columbia Records, which paid to record the Ronnie’s shows, never released a single second from the tapes beggars belief. Be glad yet again that we live in the age of Resonance. MAC RANDALL