This invitation is also available in abridged form.
Dear Colleague,
Please consider this your invitation to vote in the 18th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. Davis started the Poll in 2006 at The Village Voice, and continues to guide it, growing it into the largest, most-trusted year-end survey of its kind. The 2021 turnout was the largest ever, with 156 print, digital, and broadcast journalists participating (151 in 2022).
Francis has asked me (Tom Hull) to run the Poll last year, as I am again doing this year. I've been involved in it since the beginning, and since 2009 I've compiled the ballots and presented them on my Jazz Critics Poll website. I've set up skeletal pages for this year's results here. This includes all support and documentation files, as well as a list of those who have voted. The totals will be filled in when the results are published (first week of January, 2024) by the respected, Boston-based online arts journal, The Arts Fuse. This is your chance to join your colleagues in saluting those performers you feel created the year's best recorded jazz. Perhaps the most interesting part of this annual exercise isn't the final standings but the individual ballots.
Polls are open now. The deadline for ballots is midnight, Friday, December 15, but you are encouraged to send your ballot in as soon as possible (you may revise it up to deadline time). When you do, we'll reply with any questions and a formatted copy of your counted ballot. Please check to make sure we got it right. This procedure has worked very well in recent years.
If you have questions, please email me: Tom Hull <thull2@cox.net> You can also look at the Voter Notes and FAQ files on the website.
Please read the following carefully, and send in your choices -- preferably in an email message body, as opposed to an attachment, which takes extra steps to access. No special formatting is needed, as long as the picks are legible and in order. (Labels are helpful, but not required.)
You may omit any categories you don't have choices for. One point to be careful about is that you cannot combine two albums with one vote, even if the albums are linked by release date, volume sequence, etc. Each album must be considered separately.
To vote (and we very much hope you do), please reply to this invite. (If you choose not to vote, please let us know, so we don't hassle you further.)
In all categories, albums are eligible if released in the calendar year 2023, but you may also vote for albums released late in the previous year (2022) if they are new to you. (Records released after you voted last year certainly qualify.)
Your name and primary affiliation(s)
Your choices for this year's 10 best New Releases (albums
of new music, recorded since 2013) listed in descending order,
one-through-ten).
Your top-three Historical/Rara Avis (albums with old
music: reissued of any age, or previously unissued recorded before
2013) albums, again listed in descending order.
Your choice for the year's best Vocal album
Your choice for the year's best Debut album
Your choice for the year's best Latin jazz album
If you prefer to submit an unranked list, please state so clearly and alphabetize your list by artist (last name).
If you publish your own end-of-year piece, please provide us with the URL. I will add this in a note under your ballot. There is no deadline for this.
For purposes of this Poll, a New Release is one made up entirely of music never previously issued, most recorded within the last 10 years (2013 to present).
A Historical (or "Rara Avis") album is a recording (or compilation thereof) including any previously released material regardless of vintage, or made up primarily of material recorded more than 10 years ago (before 2013).
"Debut" means exactly that -- a performer's first recording under his or her own name. Previous import, small-label, and DIY releases render a musician ineligible in this category, as do previous releases as a co-leader. If you're uncertain about whether a particular release qualifies as a debut, please consult with us. Groups are not eligible unless all the individual members are eligible.
Note that the special categories -- Vocal, Debut, and Latin -- are intended to spotlight albums that less common in the New Albums list. However, if you vote for a New Album that also qualifies in one of these categories, you should also vote for that album in the applicable category. Otherwise, we won't get an accurate vote for the category.
I'm setting up an email list for people invited to vote in the Poll. This will make it possible to keep you better informed about the progress of the Poll, including notice of when the results go public. This is implemented using GNU Mailman, as Jazzpoll@hullworks.net. You should receive a notice after I sign you up, including a password to manage your account -- not that you need to do anything. If you do not wish to receive email, let me know and I will drop you from the list. You do not have to subscribe to be eligible to vote, but the overhead should be minor -- the list is private, all messages are moderated, and I doubt I'll be sending more than 5-10 over the course of the Poll.
A copy of this invitation is available on the server as invite.php. It's not intended as a public file, so please do not distribute it. If you wish to nominate additional voters, please let me know, and provide some references. If accepted, I will send out an invite.
Please respond with any questions you may have. A notice that you receive this and intend to vote would be appreciated.
Previous poll results and essays (or links to them) can be found on the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll website.
Stay healthy,
Your colleague,
Tom Hull