Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll

Arts Fuse published the 2026 Mid-Year Poll on July 23, 2026. Our 127 votes picked Tyshawn Sorey's Members . . . Don't as the best New Jazz Album of the year so far, and Cecil Taylor's Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts as the top album in the Rara Avis category. Links below.

The Annual Polls

Old Page

The following is the old web page, before the Mid-Year Poll necessitated the changes above. More information from below needs to be moved up, or elsewhere.

The 2025 End-of-Year Poll, our 20th annual, is available now, with overall essays and standings at The Arts Fuse, and complete results, including all 168 voter ballots, on our website.

Links:

The Institution Continues
New Jazz Albums
Rara Avis
Vocal Jazz Albums
Latin Jazz Albums
Debut Jazz Albums
Jazz Notables We Lost in 2025, by Andrey Henkin
Meet the Voters

Our 2025 Mid-Year Poll is available now, with overview essays and standings at The Arts Fuse, and complete results, including all 113 voter ballots, on our website.

Links:

Sad news that our founder and guiding light, Francis J. Davis, 78, has died, on Monday, April 14, 2025.

Francis wrote movingly about his health problems in his last poll essay, here.

More information will be added here as it becomes available.

Obituaries:

Nate Chinen [NPR] [04-16]: Francis Davis, a figurehead of jazz criticism, has died. Chinen also wrote about Davis in his Substack newsletter, The Gig. The initial post has also appeared on many NPR radio station websites.
Gary Miles [Philadelphia Inquirer] [04-16]: Francis Davis, celebrated music critic, author, and historian, has died at 78
Adam Nositer [NYT] [04-17]: Francis Davis, Sharp-Eared Jazz Critic, Is Dead at 78
Jon Garelick [04-18]: Arts Remembrance: Francis Davis, 1946-2025
Michael J West [04-22]: Francis Davis, Esteemed Jazz Critic, Dies at 78
David A Graham [04-24]: The Critic Who Translated Jazz Into Plain English: "When Francis Davis pronounced judgment on music, it carried a great deal of weight."
Allen Lowe [04-28]: A Tribute to Francis Davis
Jazz Journalists Association Editor [04-22]: Celebrating Francis Davis, 1946-2025
Terry Gross [05-02]: Terry Gross remembers her late husband, jazz writer Francis Davis
Wikipedia: Francis Davis
Wikiwand: Francis Davis
Memorial Service Details at Remember My Journey

About the Poll

Back in 2006, Francis Davis decided to poll a circle of critics "currently living in New York and/or writing for New York-based publications" to supplement his own end-of-year list and essay in The Village Voice. Thus began an annual poll, which has grown from its its initial 30 critics to 156 in 2021. Davis continued to run the Jazz Critics Poll up through 2021, keeping it going after he left the Voice in 20??, finding sponsors from Rhapsody, NPR (-2021), and ArtsFuse (2021).

In 2009, Voice music editor Rob Harvilla asked Tom Hull, who wrote a Jazz Consumer Guide for the Voice (2005-2011), to help out by hosting the individual ballots (a field which had swollen to 99 critics). Hull continued to help out in various ways, including hosting the complete results and ballots for each poll. As of 2022, Hull is running the whole poll.

PS: In July, 2024, we are running our first ever Mid-Year Poll. If you've voted in the past but didn't get an invite (first, check your spam folder), or think you have comparable credentials to the writers and broadcasters who have previously voted (the 2023 list is here), and would like to submit your list, please read the invitation.

PPS: Our second annual 2025 Mid-Year Poll is complete, and published on July 11, 2025.

Annual Results, Ballots, and Essays

Note that some material from the earlier polls may be missing. The intent is eventually to collect all of the poll information here.

2026	Mid-Year: Warming Up a Riff — How It Happened, and Why It Matters Consensus in Retreat: the year so far in New Jazz Albums The Old World Gets Weirder: the year so far in Rara Avis (Reissues/Archival) New Jazz Albums Rara Avis (Reissues/Archival) Voters
2025	The 20th Annual Jazz Critics Poll: Mid-Year:
2024	The 19th Annual Jazz Critics Poll: Mid-Year:
2023	The 18th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2022	The 17th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2021	The 16th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2020	The 15th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2019	The 14th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2018	The 13th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2017	The 12th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2016	The 11th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2015	The 10th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2014	The 9th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2013	The 8th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2012	The 7th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2011	The 6th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2010	The 5th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2009	The 4th Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2008	The 3rd Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2007	The 2nd Annual Jazz Critics Poll:
2006	The 1st Annual Jazz Critics Poll:

News:

The Annual Polls

Old Page

About the Poll

Annual Results, Ballots, and Essays