The plan for this file is to include general information about how we handle albums (artist credits, titles, labels, recording and release dates), as well as detailed information on specific albums involved in this poll. The information compiled below is interesting but incomplete.
We would like to be able to precisely and uniquely identify any album by artist credit, title, label, and release date, with recording dates also useful information, especially for reissues and/or archival music. However, reality is somewhat messier, so we have to consider various sources, starting with the album cover, but also possibly the spine, back cover, disc labels, booklets, publicity materials, perhaps even secondary materials (especially where controlled by the maker, such as Bandcamp pages). While such information is mostly consistent, it's not unusual to find exceptions to choose from.
Over time, we'll try to write down and explain how and why we interpret various cases, but suffice it to say that doing so is a practiced art, as Hull has done in his database of over 50,000 albums.
Some conventions have been imposed, even when the source materials suggest otherwise. These include:
Most of these conventions were originally established by Francis Davis. In his own accounting, Davis often went further in eliminating what he considered unnecessary extras (like "Duo," "Trio," "Group," "Big Band," or some extra group name). Hull has restored most of these credits, although he still drops "Solo," "Duo," etc., when all of the individual members are accounted for.
Some additional considerations for artist names:
Some special considerations for titles:
Labels are included in parentheses, in regular (not bold, not italic) font. The label field may start with a recording year date (or range of years, separated by hyphen, with redundant century suppressed), followed by a comma. This is done for all albums receiving Rara Avis votes (even if they are not properly eligible). The label field may also end with an apostrophe and two-digit year date (e.g., '24) to indicate that the album was not released in the current year. The only legal value here is the year prior to the poll.
Some special considerations for labels:
[*] The language limitation is practical, given lack of expertise in languages other than English, and that we're only producing an English-language website. I could imagine revisiting this later, especially for a few common languages with clear rules, but the task of doing it correctly across the board is very complex.
[**] This ["self-released"] isn't ideal, but we've been using it for a long time, and nothing else is much better. It is lower case, as it is not a proper name.
Some albums have different release dates for different formats (digital, CD, LP, etc.). We generally prefer the first release date, but we usually accept the others, so an album could be a "new release" in more than one year. There are also cases where an album may be reissued on a second label in short order (or released by two or more labels, according to area or format), or self-released as a digital, then picked up by a label that treats it as new). We most often allow voters to decide whether such a record should be counted as new or reissue.
Also, we like to treat all formats and editions of an album as all of the same title -- at least as long as the variations are substantially equivalent. Few voters insist on such distinctions, but if one does, the easiest course is to simply footnote it. As for albums released on multiple labels, the easy course is to name both labels, separated by slash. We try to standardize how albums are listed under individual ballots, so unless we footnote it, that information is lost. We ask voters to specify labels with their album votes, but close to half don't bother, and errors (or confusion) are not uncommon. I keep fairly extensive logs of album releases, so I usually have label and release date info handy to check, but sometimes my data is the one with the error, which the discrepancies help me find.
One problem that sometimes comes up is whether something is one album or two (or more). We've never established clear criteria (which in any case would have zero effect on labels' decisions), with Davis more inclined to combine closely related albums -- e.g., Thumbscrew's Ours and Theirs (2018) -- and Hull more inclined to split them -- e.g., Mary Halvorson's Amaryllis and Belladonna (2022; while some people wanted to vote for both, they were significantly different albums, with most early votes just specifying one album: in the end, Amaryllis won on its own, while Belladonna finished 21). Cases specific to this poll are addressed below.
One common case is where multiple formats are divided differently: e.g., a 2-CD set is split into two separate digital albums. We look at each of these cases individually, and try to figure out what makes the most sense. In some cases, I'm taking a "wait and see" attitude, so may decide later on just how to present and count the albums. (The software prefers to keep things cleanly separated, but I could change it, fudge it, and/or simply add footnotes to explain any anomalies. I'd rather do as little of this as possible, but the goal is to make sense of a world that all too often defies categorization.)
Or new music vs. old music. For previously unreleased music, we draw a line in the sand 10 years before present (for this year, that dividing line is between 2014 and 2015), with anything recorded since that line eligible for New Releases, and anything recorded before that line relegated to Rara Avis. Reissues, even of more recent music, are considered Rara Avis. In the past, we've tried forcing this rule, mostly to make sure that each record gets a fair count in its own slot. However, some cases are ambiguous, and some voters can be difficult on this point, so my rule here is to allow voters to decide which category any given record belongs in. (I may point out discrepancies, but will count the vote either way.) To help with fair totals, we may add points in the correct category for albums voted for in the wrong category.
The earliest polls had a Reissues category, but previously unreleased music of any vintage had to be evaluated under New Albums (sometimes called New Releases). This caused confusion, especially as most other polls combined reissues with previously unreleased older music in a "historical" category. When Davis changed the rule by introducing the current 10-year fence, he started referring to the historical category as Rara Avis. We've stuck with the term, although its applicability is somewhat less than obvious.
Critics often get advance copies or downloads before their official release dates, and sometimes want to vote for them. We allow this if they are scheduled to appear within the calendar year, but reject any votes for albums beyond the calendar year. This happens on occasion with the year-end poll, but isn't a practical problem for the mid-year poll. However, it's worth noting that the following New Jazz Albums received votes despite release dates after our July 1 deadline:
Also, under Rara Avis:
It's not unusual for list compilers to want to list two or more titles in a single rank slot. This may reflect genuine similarities in the albums, signify a lack of distinction between the albums, or just be a way to cram more titles into a given number of ranks. For individual list, this may be excused as a stylistic quirk, but for polls it causes various problems, especially given that voters often disagree on what should be combined and what should be split. We generally frown on combination, and insist on discrete albums being treated separately. However, sometimes we run across an exception.
[We could try to list some general rules for deciding which is which.]
[We could provide some historical examples, such as: Thumbscrew: Ours / Theirs; Mary Halvorson: Amaryllis / Belladonna; Ahmad Jamal: Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse [3 volumes]; ]
This file lists albums that have raised questions of this sort.
Marshall Allen's Ghost horizons, Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love/Ars Nova Workshop): One voter specified Volume 1. Standard configuration seems to be 2-LP, with no volume designation.
Allen Lowe & the Constant Sorrow Orchestra, Louis Armstrong's America (ESP-Disk '24): This was originally released in two 2-CD sets, designated Volume 1 and Volume 2, but by all accounts the album was conceived as a single work, as is evidenced by sharing the same liner notes, and that they were sold as a bundle. In 2024, we counted this as a single album, with footnote if selected individually.
Spiritual Jazz 18: Behind the Iron Curtain: Esoteric, Modal, and Progressive Jazz From Central and Eastern Europe (1962-1988) (Jazzman): Bandcamp offers this as two independent volumes: Part 1, and Part 2, with slightly different covers. Each is available as a 2-LP set, but both are combined in a 2-CD set (the only CD offering). Counted as one album, with footnote if selected individually.
Leif Berger, Secret, Normalization (Klaeng): Title
is usually shown with first word struck out, like this:
Secret, Normalization. First attempt to do this failed,
so was backed out (for now, anyway).