Again this year, I swore off voting in what has become an epidemic of jazz popularity contests, also known as critics polls, with one exception. I don’t seem to be able to say no to the persuasive Francis Davis, who conducts the National Public Radio Jazz Critics Poll. How I voted on the day I succumbed doesn’t necessarily reflect how I might have voted a day—or a week—sooner or later. Here’s my ballot:
NEW RELEASES
- Tom Harrell, First Impressions (HighNote)
- Charles Lloyd, Wild Man Dance (Blue Note)
- Maria Schneider, The Thompson Fields (ArtistShare)
- Jack DeJohnette, Made in Chicago (ECM)
- Gary McFarland Legacy Ensemble, Circulation: The Music of Gary McFarland (Planet Arts)
- Antonio Sanchez, Three Times Three (CAM Jazz)
- Carla Bley-Steve Swallow-Andy Sheppard, Trios (ECM)
- Katie Theroux, Introducing Katie Thiroux (BassKat)
- Bill Kirchner, An Evening of Indigos (Jazzheads)
- Matthew Shipp, To Duke (RogueArt)
 REISSUES
- John Coltrane, A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters (Impulse!)
- Erroll Garner, The Complete Concert by the Sea (Columbia/Legacy)
- Lars Gullin, Portrait of the Legendary Baritone Saxophonist (Fresh Sound)
 VOCAL
- Ernestine Anderson, Swings the Penthouse (HighNote)
 DEBUT
- Katie Theroux, Introducing Katie Thiroux (BassKat)
- Logan Strosahl, Up Go We (Sunnyside)
 LATIN
- Paquito D’Rivera & Quinteto Cimarron, Aires Tropicales (Sunnyside)
To see complete results of the NPR poll, go here.