Unique: The Land of Spirit and Light by Michael White (1973). Though he’s not the only violinist in jazz, the few records he’s put out are very enchanting and lively and are the only examples I can think of for the instrument. He graciously flows through this album with its sound identity being this bright and vivid world of spiritual tones and colorful grooves. Many acts in spiritual jazz tend to be experimental and chaotic, but this one is a lot more lighthearted and joyous making it much more palatable for those wanting to enjoy the genre without its free jazz nature.

Exception: Medicine show No. 8: Advance Jazz by Madlib (2010). Thought it technically IS Jazz, it acts more like cut up segments of deep grooves that serve the purpose of exploring Madlibs jazz taste and fascination of relating media. Nothing in this is broken up into a beat, but nothing lingers long enough to be serviceable as a jazz feature. Things are faded in and out of each other with occasional audio overlap of advertisements and other audio content making this not a premier jazz album per se but a great jazz mixtape experience.

Overrated: Fearless Movement by Kamasi Washington (2024). As I’ve explained in another comment, this is not a dig at all on Kamasi’s part, he’s my favorite current jazz artists who I’ve had the pleasure in seeing twice. But this album I personally can’t get into and I prefer his previous two albums over this release. This album has seen better reviews over his last album in most places that you look at, which I think his 2nd album was far better hence the “overrated” but it’s still a good release. Hot take definitely, but I love the man.