So I’ve been counting down a dozen (or so) of my favorite shows I caught this year around the country and I decided to break this into two parts, just to make it easier to navigate.

Here I’m counting down from 6 to 1.

This post will be active until I get down to 1 — or, as I’ve teased, one last show, completing a Baker’s Dozen — so come back or look for updates on my social media channels at Instagram and Facebook. I’m trying to rap up this countdown by the end of the year.

No. 6 Medeski, Clouser, Joseph and Servin, private backyard, Saint Paul, Minn., Sept. 15

Icehouse is one of the gems of the Minneapolis music scene, in part for creating the kind of space where legendary organist John Medeski — of Medeski, Martin & Wood — has been collaborating for years with Saint Paul native Todd Clouser, a guitarist based in Mexico and drummer JT Bates, in an epic convening of experimental, jazzy minds.

(Continued…)