Pharoah Sanders

The 10 best albums of 2021

• This was an interesting year for albums. There were no obvious trends, although a certain quality of introversion and contemplation (perhaps responding to pandemic restrictions) ran through many of the year’s most absorbing releases. Female artists pushed further forward creatively and commercially and though few young British musicians made any impact in America, the UK nevertheless produced many of the year’s most inventive and critically admired works, which is cause for optimism.