Quoan’s ‘Fine Dining’ is a feast of so many ways two horns and a rhythm section can generate excitement and keep us guessing what happens next.

Here’s the part of the annual Best of 2017 lists that’s the most fun to pull together.

‘Err Guitar’ by Elliott Sharp, Mary Halvorson and Marc Ribot is three masters of the outside guitar pushing each other to go even further out, making this a notably delirious entry in the catalogs of all three.

Kelly Moran’s ‘Bloodroot’ is not your common minimalist record, and even those who hadn’t embraced that style of music could be drawn to the strange peacefulness wrung from a prepared piano.

With eCsTaSy now six years running, Raoul Björkenheim decided to fully harness the trust built up with eCsTaSy over that time and ‘Doors Of Perception’ is the triumphant result.

Vinnie Sperrazza and his audacious crew once again stretch jazz across multiple red lines and force people to rethink what defines that idiom.

Dan Blacksberg’s ‘Radiant Others’ is a fresh, nontraditional take on traditional melodies that happens to be Jewish in origin. You don’t need to be an ethnomusicologist to enjoy this one.

Philipp Gerschlauer and David Fiuczynski getting together for ‘Mikrojazz: Neue Expressionistische Musik’ took microtonal music to new places, and there’s never a dull moment.

While ‘For Those About to Jazz/Rock, We Salute You’ really has nothing to do with AC/DC, Vector Families has that kind of intensity level and spunk. Only with way more improvised gumption.

Four masterfully intuitive musicians who regularly aspire for greater heights with each venture reach the summit together on Satoko Fujii’s ‘Aspiration.’