First Annual Jazz Poll Winners

Best Album

1. Ornette Coleman, Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar) 189 (24)
2. Andrew Hill, Time Lines (Blue Note) 89 (13)
3. Sonny Rollins, Sonny, Please (Doxy) 81.5 (11)
4. Nels Cline, New Monastery (Cryptogramophone) 46 (7)
5. Muhal Richard Abrams-George Lewis-Roscoe Mitchell, Streaming (Pi) 41 (6)
6. Paul Motian, Garden of Eden (ECM) 36 (5)
7. Keith Jarrett, The Carnegie Hall Concert (ECM) 32 (6)
8. Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Septet, Memories of T (Concord) 30 (5)
9. Bennie Maupin, Penumbra (Cryptogramophone) 29.5 (5)
10. Joe Lovano, Streams of Expression (Blue Note) 25 (7)
11. Bill Frisell-Ron Carter-Paul Motian, Bill Frisell-Ron Carter-Paul Motian (Nonesuch) 25 (5)
12. Lee Konitz, New Nonet (OmniTone) 23.5 (4)
13. Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra, MTO Volume 1 (Sunnyside) 19.5 (4)
14. Dave Holland, Critical Mass (Dare2/Sunnyside) 19.5 (4)
15. Trio Beyond, Saudades (ECM) 19 (3)
16. Odean Pope Saxophone Choir, Locked & Loaded: Live at the Blue Note (Half Note) 18 (4)
17. Kidd Jordan-Hamid Drake-William Parker, Palm of Soul (AUM Fidelity)17.5 (3)
18. Billy Hart, Quartet (HighNote) 16 (2)
19. Kenny Garrett, Beyond the Wall (Nonesuch) 15.5 (3)
20. Francisco Mela, Melao (Ayva) 15.5 (3)
21. Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Solo (Blue Note) 15.5 (2)
22. Rudresh Mahanthappa, Codebook (Pi) 15 (3)
23. Dave Burrell, Momentum (High Two) 15 (2)
24. John McNeil, East Coast Cool (OmniTone) 15 (2)
25. Houston Person & Bill Charlap, You Taught My Heart to Sing (HighNote) 14.5 (3)
26. David S. Ware, BalladWare (Thirsty Ear) 14.5 (2)
27. Cassandra Wilson, Thunderbird (Blue Note) 14.5 (2)
28. Fred Anderson, Timeless: Live at the Velvet Lounge (Delmark) 14 (4)
29. Matthew Shipp, One (Thirsty Ear)14 (2)
30. Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra, Boulevard de l'Indépendance (World Circuit) 13.5 (2)
31. Stefon Harris, African Tarantella (Blue Note) 13.5 (2)
32. Luis Perdomo, Awareness (RKM) 13.5 (2)
33. World Saxophone Quartet, Political Blues (Justin Time) 13.5 (2)
34. Jon Faddis, Teranga (Koch) 12 (3)
35. Vijay Iyer & Rudresh Mahanthappa, Raw Materials (Savoy Jazz) 12 (3)
36. Branford Marsalis, Braggtown (Marsalis Music) 12 (3)
37. Dave Douglas, Meaning and Mystery (Greenleaf) 12 (2)
38. Evan Parker, Time Lapse (Tzadik) 12 (2)
39. Odyssey the Band, Back in Time (Pi) 11 (2)
40. Jason Moran, Artist in Residence (Blue Note) 10.5 (3)

Critics were asked to list 10 albums in descending order, with 10 points awarded for their 1, 9 for 2, etc. (On ballots where choices were listed alphabetically, each received 5.5 points.) The first bold number indicates total points; the number in parentheses is the tally of ballots on which a CD appeared, which was used as a tiebreaker.

Best Reissue

1. Charles Mingus, At UCLA 1965 (CME/Sunnyside) 18 (7)
2. Fats Waller, If You've Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It! (Bluebird/Legacy) 15 (7)
3. Miles Davis Quintet Featuring John Coltrane, The Legendary Quintet Sessions, 1956 (Prestige) 14 (7)
4. Weather Report, Forecast Tomorrow (Columbia/Legacy) 13 (7)
5. Sonny Stitt, Stitt's Bits: The Bebop Recordings, 1949-1953 (Prestige) 11 (5)
6. Dizzy Gillespie, The Verve/Phillips Small Group Sessions (Mosaic) 8 (3)
7. John Coltrane, Fearless Leader (Prestige) 7 (4)
8. Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (Riverside) 7 (3)
9. Andrew Hill, Pax (Blue Note) 5 (4)
10. Microscopic Septet, Seven Men in Neckties/Surrealistic Swing: The History of the Micros, Vols. 1 & 2 (Cuneiform) 5 (3)
11. Evan Parker, The Topography of the Lungs (Psi) 5 (2)
12. Andrew Hill, Solo (Mosaic Select) 4 (2)
13. Stan Tracey, The Return of Captain Adventure (Steam/Tentoten) 4 (2)

Critics were asked to list three reissues in descending order, with 3 points awarded for 1, 2 for 2, and 1 for 3. The first bold number indicates total points; the number in parentheses tallies ballots on which a CD appeared, which was used as a tiebreaker.

Best Vocal

1. Nancy King, Live at Jazz Standard with Fred Hersch (MaxJazz) 4
2. Roberta Gambarini, Easy to Love (Groovin' High) 3
3. Cassandra Wilson, Thunderbird (Blue Note) 3
4. Freddy Cole, Because of You: Freddy Cole Sings Tony Bennett (HighNote) 2
5. Conjure, Bad Mouth (American Clavé) 2

Best Debut

1. Francisco Mela, Melao (Ayva) 6
2. Curtis Hasselbring, The New Mellow Edwards (Skirl) 2
3. Gianluca Petrella, Indigo4 (Blue Note) 2
4. Shot x Shot, Shot x Shot (High Two) 2
5. Esperanza Spalding, Junju (Ayva) 2

For both Best Vocal and Best Debut, critics were asked to name one album apiece, with no point system.

Thanks to the participants: David R. Adler, Larry Blumenfeld, Nate Chinen, Francis Davis, Steve Dollar, Laurence Donahue-Greene, Phil Freeman, David Fricke, Will Friedwald, David Hajdu, Andrey Henken, Tom Hull, Williard Jenkins, Martin Johnson, Fred Kaplan, Chris Kelsey, Jim Macnie, Howard Mandel, Bill Milkowski, Tom Moon, Dan Morgenstern, Russ Musto, Dan Ouellette, Ted Panken, Derk Richardson, Gene Seymour, Bill Shoemaker, Zan Stewart, John F. Szwed, and K. Leander Williams.