It’s not until you actually start combing through the hundreds of records you’ve listened to over a decade that you realize how daunting the task really is.

Preston Frazier’s Best of 2019 Rock and R&B includes Black Pumas, Alexis Evans, Ben Levin, Grupo Fantasma, Monkey House, Isaiah Sharkey, Frederico7 and others.

Fred Phillips’ Best of 2019 list includes Gloryhammer, Tom Keifer, Soilwork, Sturgill Simpson, Wind Rose, Parkway Drive – yes, Parkway Drive – and others.

Preston Frazier’s Best of 2019 Jazz includes MaiGroup, Alan Evans, Catherine Russell, Jon Herington and Jim Beard, Bob Sheppard, Oz Noy and Kelley Suttenfield, among others.

This Best of 2019 list includes both Yes and their former drummer Bill Bruford, and Toto and their former drummer Simon Phillips, among others.

Here’s a Best of 2019 list featuring favorites from this year’s new releases – along with some albums that were just new to me.

Preston Frazier’s Best Songs of 2019 list includes rock, jazz and R&B, with a shout out to the continuing resonance of an old favorite from Walter Becker.

Vinyl loving fans of the Beatles, rejoice: 2019 was your year. But we found plenty of books, movies, box sets and other fun stuff, too.

Preston Frazier’s mid-year new music survey includes Best of 2019 candidates Bernard Fowler, Grupo Fantasma and Oz Noy, among others.

There’s a record for every corner of fusion, from minimalism to funk-jazz to jam band, on S. Victor Aaron’s final Best of 2018 list.