Francis Davis
There are few critics as worth re-reading as the late Francis Davis, whose writings are filled with musical and cultural insight, erudition, literary grace, and, most valued now, humor.
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The creative force behind jazz is so strong and so universal that the music will continue to sustain us through whatever perils and calamities the upper echelons of business and politics land us in.
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Here’s my Top 10 presented with the understanding that I didn’t hear as many albums as in other years, or concentrate on those I did hear and enjoy as if I had nothing else on my mind.
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There is a lot of extraordinary jazz out there that few of us are noticing, myself included.
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This most recent poll also proves the worth of the poll itself — that it doesn’t so much confirm consensus as create it.
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This is the 17th annual edition of the Francis Davis Jazz Poll, finally named for its founder and guiding light. The Poll collates top-ten lists from 151 jazz critics and journalists, and as such provides a wealth of insight into and data about this past year in jazz.
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Jazz isn’t an orthodoxy, a religion, a form of faith healing, or a tribal rite — you don’t have to be in the room with it the moment it happens to reap its benefits.
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The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll — Sharing What We Know at Mid-Year
We are all part of a community with a deep commitment to this extraordinary but way-too-often unappreciated musical art, and the late critic Francis Davis believed we should work together and share what we know. His poll was one important way to do just that
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