The 19th Annual
Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll:
2024

Ballots 2024 [9]

Neil Tesser (Jazziz, KSDS-FM)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Caroline Davis, Portals Vol. 2: Returning (Intakt)
  2. Jihye Lee Orchestra, Infinite Connections (Motéma Music)
  3. Patricia Brennan Septet, Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)
  4. Geoff Bradfield, Colossal Abundance (Calligram)
  5. Marquis Hill Composers Collective, Beyond the Jukebox (Black Unlimited Music Group)
  6. Jon Irabagon's Outright!, Recharge the Blade (Irabbagast)
  7. Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Open Me, a Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit (Spiritmuse)
  8. Matthew Shipp Trio, New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz (ESP-Disk)
  9. Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few, The World Is on Fire (Division 81)
  10. Kirk Knuffke, Super Blonde (SteepleChase)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Wayne Shorter, Celebration, Volume 1 (2014, Blue Note)
  2. Art Tatum, Jewels in the Treasure Box: The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings (Resonance)
  3. Roy Hargrove's Crisol, Grande-Terre (1998, Verve)
  4. John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy, Evenings at the Village Gate (1961, Impulse! '23)
  5. Bobby Hutcherson, Classic Bobby Hutcherson Blue Note Sessions 1963-1970 (Mosaic)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Voter also noted: in Vocal: Alyssa Allgood, From Here (Next); in Debut: Marcel Bonfim, Farewell/Despedida (Shifting Paradigm)

Michael Toland (The Big Takeover, The Austin Chronicle)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Vijay Iyer, Compassion (ECM)
  2. Mary Halvorson, Cloudward (Nonesuch)
  3. Frank London/The Elders, Spirit Stronger Than Blood (ESP-Disk)
  4. Matt Mitchell, Zealous Angles (Pi)
  5. Tarbaby, You Think This America (Giant Step Arts)
  6. Immanuel Wilkins, Blues Blood (Blue Note)
  7. The Bad Plus, Complex Emotions (Mack Avenue)
  8. Oded Tzur, My Prophet (ECM)
  9. Darius Jones, Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity)
  10. Ghost Trees, Intercept Method (self-released)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. John Abercrombie-Dave Holland-Jack DeJohnette, Gateway (1975, ECM)
  2. Charles Tolliver Music Inc., Live at the Captain's Cabin (1973, Cellar Music)
  3. Emily Remler, Cookin' at the Queens (1984-88, Resonance)
  4. Pat Metheny, Bright Size Life (1975, ECM)
  5. Phil Ranelin, The Found Tapes: Live in Los Angeles (1978-81, ORG Music)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Michael Ullman (Fanfare, Arts Fuse)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Kenny Barron, Beyond This Place (Artwork)
  2. Kris Davis Trio, Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic)
  3. David Murray Quartet, Francesca (Intakt)
  4. Arild Andersen, Landloper (ECM)
  5. Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers, Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook)
  6. Matt Wilson's Good Trouble (Palmetto)
  7. Vijay Iyer, Compassion (ECM)
  8. Patricia Brennan Septet, Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)
  9. Ches Smith, Laugh Ash (Pyroclastic)
  10. Matthew Shipp Trio, New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz (ESP-Disk)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Bobby Hutcherson, Classic Bobby Hutcherson Blue Note Sessions 1963-1970 (Mosaic)
  2. Bill Evans, In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert (1970, Elemental Music)
  3. Andrew Hill Sextet Plus 10, A Beautiful Day Revisited (2002, Palmetto)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Ludwig vanTrikt (Cadence)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Tiziano Tononi & Emanuele Parrini, Other Interactions on . . . July 5th (Felmay)
  2. Ryan Keberle, Bright Moments (Posi-Tone)
  3. Anthony Branker & Imagine, Songs My Mom Liked (Origin)
  4. Michael Sarian, Live at Cliff Bell's (Shifting Paradigm)
  5. Rahsaan Barber & Everyday Magic, Six Words (Jazz Music City)
  6. Behn Gillece, Stick Together (Posi-Tone)
  7. Mary Halvorson, Cloudward (Nonesuch)
  8. McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966, Blue Note)
  9. Andrew Hill Sextet Plus 10, A Beautiful Day Revisited (2002, Palmetto)
  10. Darius Jones, Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Sun Ra, Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank (1978, Resonance)
  2. Lee Morgan, Taru (1968, Blue Note Tone Poet)
  3. Bobby Hutcherson, Total Eclipse (1968, Blue Note Tone Poet)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

George Varga (San Diego Union-Tribune/Tribune News Service)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Charles Lloyd, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note)
  2. Tyshawn Sorey Trio, The Susceptible Now (Pi)
  3. Kris Davis Trio, Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic)
  4. Immanuel Wilkins, Blues Blood (Blue Note)
  5. Vijay Iyer, Compassion (ECM)
  6. Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers, Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook)
  7. Charles McPherson, Reverence (Smoke Sessions)
  8. Hermeto Pascoal, Pra Você, Ilza (Rocinante)
  9. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis (Impulse!)
  10. Steph Richards, Power Vibe (Northern Spy)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy, The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp (1995, Elemental Music)
  2. Miles Davis Quintet, Miles in France 1963 & 1964 [The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8] (Columbia/Legacy)
  3. Sun Ra, At the Showcase: Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (Jazz Detective)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Fabricio Vieira (FreeForm, FreeJazz)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Patricia Brennan Septet, Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)
  2. Fire!, Testament (Rune Grammofon)
  3. Mary Halvorson, Cloudward (Nonesuch)
  4. أحمد [Ahmed], Giant Beauty (Fönstret)
  5. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, The Way Out of Easy (International Anthem)
  6. Darius Jones, Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity)
  7. Kris Davis Trio, Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic)
  8. David Maranha & Rodrigo Amado, Wrecks (Nariz Entupido)
  9. Matthew Shipp Trio, New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz (ESP-Disk)
  10. Amaro Freitas, Y'Y (Psychic Hotline)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Charles Gayle-Milford Graves-William Parker, WEBO (1991, Black Editions Archive)
  2. Alice Coltrane, The Carnegie Hall Concert (1971, Impulse!)
  3. Children of the Sun, Ofamfa (1971, Moved-by-Sound)
  4. Cecil Taylor Unit, Live at Fat Tuesday's February 9, 1980 [First Visit] (1980, Ezz-Thetics)
  5. Die Like a Dog [Peter Brötzmann-Toshinori Kondo-William Parker-Hamid Drake], Fragments of Music, Life and Death of Albert Ayler (1994, Cien Fuegos)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Philip Watson (Irish Times, Irish Examiner)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Patricia Brennan Septet, Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)
  2. Arooj Aftab, Night Reign (Verve)
  3. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Transfiguration (Intakt)
  4. Ches Smith, Laugh Ash (Pyroclastic)
  5. Vijay Iyer, Compassion (ECM)
  6. Nubya Garcia, Odyssey (Concord Jazz)
  7. Bill Frisell, Orchestras (Blue Note)
  8. Trish Clowes & Ross Stanley, Journey to Where (Stoney Lane)
  9. Ben Monder, Planetarium (Sunnyside)
  10. Matt Wilson's Good Trouble (Palmetto)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Ron Miles, Old Main Chapel (2011, Blue Note)
  2. Alice Coltrane, The Carnegie Hall Concert (1971, Impulse!)
  3. McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966, Blue Note)
  4. Keith Jarrett-Gary Peacock-Paul Motian, The Old Country (1992, ECM)
  5. Wayne Shorter, Celebration, Volume 1 (2014, Blue Note)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Ken Waxman (Jazz Word)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. أحمد [Ahmed], Giant Beauty (Fönstret)
  2. Patricia Brennan Septet, Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)
  3. Axel Dörner-Guilherme Rodrigues-Jung-Jae Kim-Stephen Flinn, Chess Music (Creative Sources '23)
  4. DUOT & ZARM Ensemble, DUOT With Strings (Fundacja Słuchaj '23)
  5. François Houle-Kate Gentile-Alexander Hawkins, Fatrasies (Victo)
  6. Frank London/The Elders, Spirit Stronger Than Blood (ESP-Disk)
  7. Jason Robinson, Ancestral Numbers II (Playscape)
  8. Harri Sjöström-Erhard Hirt-Philipp Wachsmann-Paul Lytton, Especially for You (Bead '23)
  9. Vazesh, Tapestry (Earshift Music)
  10. Albert Beger-Ziv Taubenfeld-Shay Hazan-Hamid Drake, Cosmic Waves (NoBusiness)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. NRG Ensemble, Hold That Thought (1996, Corbett vs. Dempsey)
  2. Faruq Z. Bey, Atlant-Tan Suite (1982, Entropy Stereo)
  3. Derek Bailey & Sabu Toyozumi, Breath Awareness (1987, NoBusiness)
  4. Byard Lancaster-Steve McCall-Sylvin Marc, Us (1973, Souffle Continu)
  5. Daunik Lazro-Paul Lovens-Annick Nozati-Fred Van Hove, Résumé of a Century (1999, Fou)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Bob Weinberg (Jazziz)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers, Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook)
  2. Charles Lloyd, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note)
  3. George Cables, I Hear Echoes (HighNote)
  4. Patricia Brennan Septet, Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)
  5. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, The Way Out of Easy (International Anthem)
  6. Harry Skoler, Red Brick Hill (Sunnyside)
  7. Matt Mitchell, Zealous Angles (Pi)
  8. Marta Sanchez Trio, Perpetual Void (Intakt)
  9. Tomeka Reid Quartet, 3+3 (Cuneiform)
  10. Rich Halley 4, Dusk and Dawn (Pine Eagle)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Centennial (1923, Archeophone)
  2. Al Jarreau, Wow! Live at the Childe Harold (1976, Resonance)
  3. Art Tatum, Jewels in the Treasure Box: The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings (Resonance)
  4. Charles Tolliver Music Inc., Live at the Captain's Cabin (1973, Cellar Music)
  5. Sun Ra, At the Showcase: Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (Jazz Detective)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Jason Weiss (The Wire, Le Ventre et l'Oreille, Listenings)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. One Another Orchestra, One Another Orchestra (Nato)
  2. Fay Victor, Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (TAO Forms)
  3. Steve Coleman and Five Elements, PolyTropos/Of Many Turns (Pi)
  4. Thollem McDonas, Infinite-Sum Game (ESP-Disk)
  5. Titi Robin Quartet, Le Sable et L'Écume (Suraj Productions)
  6. Frank Carlberg Large Ensemble, Elegy for Thelonious (Sunnyside)
  7. Ben Goldberg-Todd Sickafoose-Scott Amendola, Here to There (Secret Hatch)
  8. David Leon, Bird's Eye (Pyroclastic)
  9. Layale Chaker & Sarafand, Radio Afloat (In a Circle)
  10. Ingrid Laubrock & Tom Rainey, Brink (Intakt)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy, The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp (1995, Elemental Music)
  2. Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra, L'Intercommunal (1976-78, Souffle Continu)
  3. Byard Lancaster, The Complete Palm Recordings 1973-1974 (Souffle Continu)
  4. Daunik Lazro-Paul Lovens-Annick Nozati-Fred Van Hove, Résumé of a Century (1999, Fou)
  5. Steve Beresford & Anne Marie Beretta, Dancing the Line (1985, WeWantSounds)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Ken Weiss (Cadence)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Kris Davis Trio, Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic)
  2. Tyshawn Sorey Trio, The Susceptible Now (Pi)
  3. Patricia Brennan Septet, Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)
  4. Charles Lloyd, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note)
  5. Kira Kira, Kira Kira Live (Alister Spence Music)
  6. Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers, Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook)
  7. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis (Impulse!)
  8. Matthew Shipp Trio, New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz (ESP-Disk)
  9. Vijay Iyer, Compassion (ECM)
  10. Matt Mitchell, Zealous Angles (Pi)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Sun Ra, Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank (1978, Resonance)
  2. Phil Haynes' 4 Horns and What?, The Complete American Recordings (1989-95, Corner Store Jazz)
  3. Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy, The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp (1995, Elemental Music)
  4. Yusef Lateef, Atlantis Lullaby: The Concert From Avignon (1972, Elemental Music)
  5. Sun Ra, At the Showcase: Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (Jazz Detective)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Michael J. West (DownBeat, Washington City Paper, Washington Post)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Immanuel Wilkins, Blues Blood (Blue Note)
  2. Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few, The World Is on Fire (Division 81)
  3. Mary Halvorson, Cloudward (Nonesuch)
  4. Sarah Hanahan, Among Giants (Blue Engine)
  5. Amanda Whiting, The Liminality of Her (First Word)
  6. Tyshawn Sorey Trio, The Susceptible Now (Pi)
  7. Vijay Iyer, Compassion (ECM)
  8. David Murray Quartet, Francesca (Intakt)
  9. Dayna Stephens, Closer Than We Think (Cellar Music)
  10. Nicole Mitchell & Ballaké Sissoko, Bamako*Chicago Sound System (FPE)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Centennial (1923, Archeophone)
  2. Cannonball Adderley, Burnin' in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969 (Elemental Music)
  3. Alice Coltrane, The Carnegie Hall Concert (1971, Impulse!)
  4. McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966, Blue Note)
  5. Art Tatum, Jewels in the Treasure Box: The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings (Resonance)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Richard Williams (The Blue Moment)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Michael Shrieve, Drums of Compassion (7D Media)
  2. Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers, Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook)
  3. Bill Frisell, Orchestras (Blue Note)
  4. Evan Parker, The Heraclitean Two-Step, Etc. (False Walls)
  5. Alice Zawadzki-Fred Thomas-Misha Mullov-Abbado, Za Górami (ECM)
  6. Ohad Talmor, Back to the Land (Intakt)
  7. Giovanni Guidi, A New Day (ECM)
  8. Pat Thomas, The Solar Model of Ibn Al-Shatir (Otoroku)
  9. Mike Westbrook, Band of Bands (Westbrook Music)
  10. Daniel Sommer-Arve Henriksen-Johannes Lundberg, Sounds & Sequences (April)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Miles Davis Quintet, Miles in France 1963 & 1964 [The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8] (Columbia/Legacy)
  2. Art Tatum, Jewels in the Treasure Box: The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings (Resonance)
  3. Cecil Taylor Unit, Live at Fat Tuesday's February 9, 1980 [First Visit] (1980, Ezz-Thetics)
  4. Alice Coltrane, The Carnegie Hall Concert (1971, Impulse!)
  5. Charlie Parker, Bird in Kansas City (1941-51, Verve)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Jerome Wilson (All About Jazz, Radio Fairfax)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Fay Victor, Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (TAO Forms)
  2. Charles Lloyd, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note)
  3. Darius Jones, Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity)
  4. Bill Frisell, Orchestras (Blue Note)
  5. Frank Carlberg Large Ensemble, Elegy for Thelonious (Sunnyside)
  6. Patricia Brennan Septet, Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)
  7. David Murray Quartet, Francesca (Intakt)
  8. Jason Stein, Anchors (TAO Forms)
  9. Kris Davis Trio, Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic)
  10. Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers, Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Ron Miles, Old Main Chapel (2011, Blue Note)
  2. Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy, The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp (1995, Elemental Music)
  3. Sun Ra, Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank (1978, Resonance)
  4. Wayne Shorter, Celebration, Volume 1 (2014, Blue Note)
  5. Tomasz Stanko Quartet, September Night (2004, ECM)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Josef Woodard (DownBeat, Jazziz, Los Angeles Times, Santa Barbara Independent, All About Jazz, JoeWoodard.com)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Andrew Cyrille-Bill Frisell-Kit Downes, Breaking the Shell (Red Hook)
  2. Melissa Aldana, Echoes of the Inner Prophet (Blue Note)
  3. Jihye Lee Orchestra, Infinite Connections (Motéma Music)
  4. Vijay Iyer, Compassion (ECM)
  5. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis (Impulse!)
  6. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Transfiguration (Intakt)
  7. Tarbaby, You Think This America (Giant Step Arts)
  8. Patricia Brennan Septet, Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)
  9. Elephant9 With Terje Rypdal, Catching Fire (Rune Grammofon)
  10. Jacky Terrasson, Moving On (Earth Sounds)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Keith Jarrett-Gary Peacock-Paul Motian, The Old Country (1992, ECM)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Ron Wynn (The Nashville Scene, The Tennessee Tribune, Tennessee Jazz and Blues Society, Rock & Blues Muse)

NEW ALBUMS

  1. Charles Lloyd, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note)
  2. Vijay Iyer, Compassion (ECM)
  3. Matthew Shipp Trio, New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz (ESP-Disk)
  4. Meshell Ndegeocello, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin (Blue Note)
  5. Kenny Barron, Beyond This Place (Artwork)
  6. Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band, Walk a Mile in My Shoe (Imani)
  7. Jeff Coffin, Only the Horizon (Ear Up)
  8. Mary Halvorson, Cloudward (Nonesuch)
  9. Immanuel Wilkins, Blues Blood (Blue Note)
  10. Christian McBride & Edgar Meyer, But Who's Gonna Play the Melody? (Mack Avenue)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Sonny Rollins, Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance)
  2. McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966, Blue Note)
  3. Nat King Cole, Live at the Blue Note Chicago (1953, Iconic)
  4. Alice Coltrane, The Carnegie Hall Concert (1971, Impulse!)
  5. Wayne Shorter, Celebration, Volume 1 (2014, Blue Note)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Kazue Yokoi (JazzTokyo)

NEW ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT