When’s the next intake of breath?

This was an exhale year for jazz, a period of relatively low energy.

In Los Angeles, the summer’s minimal jazz events at the Hollywood Bowl were balanced by the announcement of promising new series of jazz and world music at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003. The Southland’s performing arts centers offered attractive, if not especially innovative, jazz concerts, and (with a few exceptions) the numerous clubs continued to present programs of familiar names.

Similarly, the year’s album releases reflected a high quality of achievement without signaling any vital creative breakthrough.

Here’s my list of the 10 CDs from 2002 that I found most compelling.

Start with a pair of stunningly different vocal performances:

Patricia Barber’s “Verse.” A career-defining collection of original songs in which Barber creates an artful blend of lyrics and music, framed in a literary perspective, for delivery as a jazz performance. A remarkable accomplishment.

Diana Krall’s “Live in Paris.” Recorded as part of a DVD/video performance, this spirited outing reveals a spontaneous, jazz-alive Krall too rarely present in recent albums.

Next, two rapidly emerging piano talents:

Jason Moran’s “Modernistic.” This 27-year-old displays extraordinary versatility in a program reaching from James P. Johnson to “Body and Soul” to John Cage-like piano-string manipulations.

Renee Rosnes’ “Life on Earth.” Equally eclectic, Rosnes blends world percussion with her jazz ensemble, persuasively taking jazz across cultural boundaries.

Add a group of releases from jazz veterans:

Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints Live!” Shorter, energized by the playing of pianist Danilo Perez, drummer Brian Blade and bassist John Patitucci, produces his most inventive playing in years.

Dave Holland’s “What Goes Around.” Despite relative inexperience with writing for a large group, bassist Holland has put together a set of material for a 13-piece band that resonates with the clarity and improvisational inventiveness of his small group.

Andrew Hill’s “A Beautiful Day.” Pianist Hill also takes on a large ensemble assignment, investing it with the edgy, avant-garde adventurousness of his keyboard work.

“Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Russell Malone.” What is apparently Brown’s last studio recording happily recalls his trio work with Oscar Peterson, enhanced by the electric presence of Malone’s sterling guitar.

And wrap it up with a pair of indefinable but exhilarating outings:

Jane Bunnett and Others’ “Spirituals and Dedications.” Enterprising saxophonist Bunnett, with the able assistance of Stanley Cowell, Dewey Redman and others, shifts her allegiance from Cuban music for an absorbing exploration of the spiritual roots of jazz.

Gino Sitson’s “Song Zin’ ...” He’s from Cameroon and can best be described as a second-generation Bobby McFerrin, with added African seasoning -- a creator of rhythmically mesmerizing vocal panoramas.

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Don Heckman’s best of 2002

*--* Artist Album Label 1. (tie) Patricia Barber “Verse” Blue Note 1. (tie) Wayne Shorter “Footprints Live!” Verve 3 Jason Moran “Modernistic” Blue Note 4 Renee Rosnes “Life on Earth” Blue Note 5 Diana Krall “Live in Paris” Verve 6 Dave Holland “What Goes Around” ECM 7 Andrew Hill “A Beautiful Day” Palmetto 8 Jane Bunnett “Spirituals and Justin Time and Others Dedications” 9 Gino Sitson “Song Zin’...” Piranha/ Harmonia Mundi 10 Ray Brown, “Ray Brown, Monty Telarc Monty Alexander, Alexander, Russell Malone” Russell Malone

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