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Down Beat is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 magazine
Magazine

for quarterly in Heraldry see Quartering Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of Article , generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscription, or all three....
 devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
, Illinois
Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
. It is named after the "downbeat
Downbeat

In music performance and music theory, the downbeat is the first beat of a Bar in music, the impulse that occurs at the beginning of a bar in measured music....
" in music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 also called the "one beat" or the first beat of a musical measure.

Down Beat publishes results of annual surveys of both its readers and critics in a variety of categories.






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Down Beat is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 magazine
Magazine

for quarterly in Heraldry see Quartering Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of Article , generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscription, or all three....
 devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
, Illinois
Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
. It is named after the "downbeat
Downbeat

In music performance and music theory, the downbeat is the first beat of a Bar in music, the impulse that occurs at the beginning of a bar in measured music....
" in music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 also called the "one beat" or the first beat of a musical measure.

Down Beat publishes results of annual surveys of both its readers and critics in a variety of categories. The Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame includes winners from both the readers' and critics' poll. The results of the readers' poll are published in the December issue, those of the critics' poll in the August issue.

Well-known features of Down Beat magazine include its "Reviews" section where jazz critics, using a '1-Star to 5-Star' maximum rating system, rate the latest musical recordings, vintage recordings, and books; articles on individual musicians and music forms; and its famous "Blindfold Test" column, in a which a musician listens to records by other artists, tries to guess who they are, and rates them using the 5-star maximum rating system. Musicians that get 50% right on the "Blindfold Test" do better than average.

In April 1979, Down Beat went to a monthly schedule for the first time since 1939.

Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame

The Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame is maintained at Universal Studios
Universal Studios

Universal Studios , a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six Worldwide major American film studios. Its production studios are located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California....
' City Jazz club in Orlando
Orlando, Florida

Orlando is a major city in Central Florida, United States and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Florida. It is also the principal city of Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
. Current membership, by year, is listed in the following table. The critics' poll was not initiated until 1961, so winners before then were all chosen by readers' polls.

YearReaders PollCritics Poll
1952Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer.Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an innovative cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers....
1953Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller

Alton Glenn Miller , was an United States jazz musician, arranger, composer, and band leader in the Swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best known "Big band"....
1954Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton

Stanley Newcomb Kenton was a pianist who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial United States jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
1955Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.Parker is widely considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians, along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington....
1956Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
1957Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman

Benjamin David Goodman, was an United States jazz musician, clarinetist and bandleader, known as "King of Swing ", "Patriarch of the Clarinet", "The Professor", and "Swing's Senior Statesman"....
1958Count Basie
Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an United States Jazz piano, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years....
1959Lester Young
Lester Young

Lester Willis Young , nicknamed 'Prez', was an United States jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He was also known to play the trumpet, violin, and drums....
1960Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie [/g?'l?spi/] was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children....
1961Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter.Nicknamed Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing....
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins , nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was a prominent jazz Tenor saxophone.He is commonly regarded as the first important and influential jazz musician to use the instrument: Joachim E....
1962Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
Bix Beiderbecke
Bix Beiderbecke

Leon Bix Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist and composer, as well as a skilled classical and jazz pianist.One of the leading names in 1920s jazz, Beiderbecke's career was cut short by chronic poor health, exacerbated by alcoholism....
1963Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer.Widely considered one of the most important musicians in jazz -- he is one of only three jazz musicians to be featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epi...
Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton

Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton was an United States ragtime pianist, bandleader and composer.Widely recognized as a pivotal figure in early jazz, Morton claimed, in self-promotional hyperbole, to have invented jazz outright in 1902....
1964Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy

Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophone, Western concert flute #In jazz, and bass clarinetist.Dolphy was one of several groundbreaking jazz alto saxophone players to rise to prominence in the 1960s....
Art Tatum
Art Tatum

Arthur Tatum Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso.With an exuberant style that combined dazzling technique and sophisticated use of harmony, Art Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time....
1965John Coltrane
John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an United States jazz saxophonist and composer.Starting in bebop and hard bop, Coltrane later pioneered free jazz. He influenced generations of other musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history....
Earl Hines
Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz"....
1966Bud Powell
Bud Powell

Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell was an American Jazz piano. Powell has been described as one of "the two most significant pianists of the style of modern jazz that came to be known as bebop", the other being his friend and contemporary Thelonious Monk....
Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian

Charlie Christian was an United States swing music and bebop jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop....
1967Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn

William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an United States composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting close to three decades....
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was an United States blues singer.The most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s, Smith is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists....
1968Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery

John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an United States jazz guitarist. He is generally considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, and Pat Metheny....
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet

Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophone, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist of any sort....
 & Fats Waller
Fats Waller

Fats Waller was an United States Jazz piano, organ , composer and comedy entertainer....
1969Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman is an United States saxophoneist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1950s and 1960s....
Pee Wee Russell
Pee Wee Russell

Charles Ellsworth Russell, much better known by his nickname Pee Wee Russell, was a jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but eventually focused solely on clarinet....
 & Jack Teagarden
Jack Teagarden

Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden , known as "Big T", was an influential jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist....
1970Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter whose guitar playing continues to be a considerable influence on rock music....
Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges

John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophone and lead player of Duke Ellington's saxophone section. He spent 38 years with Ellington, leaving to lead his own band from 1951 to 1955, returning to the fold shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence via the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz F...
1971Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus was an United States jazz bassist, composer, bandleader, and occasional pianist. He was also known for his activism against racism....
Roy Eldridge
Roy Eldridge

Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an United States jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the Swing Era and a precursor of bebop....
 & Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt

Jean-Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt was a Belgian Gypsy jazz guitarist.One of the first prominent European jazz musicians, Reinhardt remains one of the most renowned jazz guitarists due to his innovative and distinctive playing....
1972Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa was an influentialUnited States jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style....
Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown

Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated United States jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings....
1973Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins

Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is an United States jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins' long, prolific career began at the age of 11, and he was playing with piano legend Thelonious Monk before reaching the age of 20....
Fletcher Henderson
Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an United States pianist, bandleader, arrangement and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and Swing ....
1974Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich

Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an United States Jazz drumming, bandleader and former Marine. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuoso technique, power, and speed....
Ben Webster
Ben Webster

Benjamin Francis Webster , aka "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential United States jazz tenor saxophone. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young....
1975Cannonball AdderleyCecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor

Cecil Percival Taylor is an United States pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the inventors of free jazz....
1976Woody Herman
Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , better known as Woody Herman, was an United States jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band band leader....
King Oliver
1977Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond

Paul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophone and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"....
Benny Carter
Benny Carter

Bennett Lester Carter was an United States jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King ....
1978Joe VenutiRahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Rahsaan Roland Kirk was an United States jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments. He was perhaps best known for his vitality on stage, where virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting and his famous ability to play a number of instruments simultaneously....
1979Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as "Jazz royalty" and the "First Lady of Song", is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century....
Lennie Tristano
Lennie Tristano

Leonard Joseph Tristano was a jazz pianist and composer. He performed in the cool jazz, bebop, post bop and avant-garde jazz genres. He remains a somewhat overlooked figure in jazz history, but his enormous originality and dazzling work as an improviser have long been appreciated by knowledgable jazz fans; in addition, his work as a jazz edu...
1980Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon was an United States jazz tenor saxophonist, and an Academy Award-nominated actor. He is considered one of the first bebop tenor players....
Max Roach
Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history....
1981Art Blakey
Art Blakey

Arthur Blakey , born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, he was an United States jazz drummer and bandleader....
Bill Evans
Bill Evans

William John Evans was one of the most famous and influential American jazz pianists of the 20th century. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists, including Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Denny...
1982Art Pepper
Art Pepper

Art Pepper , born Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr., was an United States alto saxophonist....
Fats Navarro
Fats Navarro

Theodore "Fats" Navarro was an United States jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. He is regarded by many to have been one of the first modern jazz trumpet improvisers and in his short career had a strong stylistic influence on many other players, most notably Clifford Brown....
1983Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli

St?phane Grappelli was a French people jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first of all-string jazz bands....
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler

Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz Saxophone, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved by using the stiff plastic Fibrecane...
1984Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, Order of Canada, National Order of Quebec, Order of Ontario was a Canada jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends, and was a member of jazz royalty....
Sun Ra
Sun Ra

Sun Ra was a jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy", musical compositions and performances....
1985Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an United States jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century"....
Zoot Sims
Zoot Sims

John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an United States jazz tenor saxophonist and soprano saxophonist.He was born in Inglewood, California, California. Growing up in a vaudeville family, Sims learned to play both Drum kit and clarinet at an early age....
1986Stan Getz
Stan Getz

Stanley Gayetzky or Stanley Gayetsky , usually known by his stage name Stan Getz, was an American jazz saxophone player. Known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, Getz's prime influence was the wispy, mellow tone of his idol, Lester Young....
Gil Evans
Gil Evans

Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader, active in the United States. He played a seminal role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz-rock, and collaborated extensively with Miles Davis....
1987Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton , was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players....
Johnny Dodds
Johnny Dodds

Johnny Dodds was a New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong....
, Thad Jones
Thad Jones

Thaddeus Joseph Jones was an United States jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader....
, Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson

Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was a Jazz piano from the United States of America born in Austin, Texas. His sophisticated and elegant style graced the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald....
1988Jaco Pastorius
Jaco Pastorius

John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III was an United States jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged for his skills as an electric bass player, as well as his command of varied musical styles including jazz, jazz fusion, funk, and jazz-funk....
Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke

Kenny Clarke was a jazz drummer and an early innovator of the bebop style of drumming. As the house drummer at Minton's Playhouse in the early 1940s, he participated in the after hours jams that led to the birth of Be-Bop, which in turn led to modern jazz....
1989Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw

Woody Herman Shaw II was a jazz trumpeter and composer....
Chet Baker
Chet Baker

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. was an United States jazz trumpeter, flugelhorn player and singer.Specializing in relaxed, even melancholy music, Baker rose to prominence as a leading name in cool jazz in the 1950s....
1990Red Rodney
Red Rodney

Robert Roland Chudnick , who performed by the stage name Red Rodney, was an American bop and hard bop trumpeter.Born in Philadelphia, PA, he became a professional musician at 15, working in the mid-1940s for Jerry Wald, Jimmy Dorsey, Georgie Auld, Elliott Lawrence, Benny Goodman, and Les Brown ....
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams

Mary Lou Williams was an United States jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Williams had written hundreds of compositions or arrangements, and recorded over a hundred records ....
1991Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan

Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter....
John Carter
John Carter (jazz musician)

John Wallace Carter was an United States jazz clarinet, saxophone, and flute player....
1992Maynard FergusonJames P. Johnson
James P. Johnson

James Price Johnson [A.K.A. "Jimmy Johnson"] was an African-American pianist and composer. With Luckey Roberts, Johnson was one of the originators of the Stride piano style of jazz piano playing....
1993Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan

Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an United States jazz saxophonist, composer and arrangement.Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophone in jazz history - playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz - he was also a notable arranger, working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis,...
Edward Blackwell
Ed Blackwell

Ed Blackwell was an United States free jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana. While album credits typically listed him as "Ed Blackwell," he preferred to be called Edward....
1994Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck

David Warren Brubeck , better known as Dave Brubeck, is an United States Jazz piano. Regarded as a jazz icon, he has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke"....
Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, electric guitarist, record producer, and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock music, jazz, electronic music, orchestral, and musique concr?te works....
1995J. J. JohnsonJulius Hemphill
Julius Hemphill

Julius Arthur Hemphill was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone; less often soprano and tenor saxophones and flute....
1996Horace Silver
Horace Silver

Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer. His father, who was known as John Tavares Silva, was from the island of Maio, Cape Verde in Cape Verde....
Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw

Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an United States jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest jazz clarinetists of his time....
1997Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole

Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an United States musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist....
Tony Williams
Tony Williams

Anthony Tillmon "Tony" Williams was an United States Jazz drumming.Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential jazz drummers to come to prominence in the 1960s, Williams first gained fame in the band of trumpeter Miles Davis, and was a pioneer of jazz fusion....
1998Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an United States singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers"....
Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones

Elvin Ray Jones was one of the most influential Jazz drumming of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
1999Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson

Milton Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist and one of the most important figures in the hard bop style, although he performed in several subgenres of jazz....
Betty Carter
Betty Carter

Betty Carter , born Lillie Mae Jones, was an United States jazz singer renowned for her Musical improvisation technique and idiosyncratic vocal style....
2000Clark Terry
Clark Terry

Clark Terry , is an American swing music and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, and NEA Jazz Masters inductee....
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie

Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago....
2001Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson

Joe Henderson was an United States jazz tenor saxophone. Born in Lima, Ohio, he studied music at Kentucky State College and Wayne State University before playing in Detroit at the beginning of his career....
Milt Hinton
Milt Hinton

Milt Hinton born Milton John Hilton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an United States jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge"....
2002Antonio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Jobim

Ant?nio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim, was a Grammy Award-winning Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist....
John Lewis
John Lewis (pianist)

John Aaron Lewis was an United States jazz pianist and composer best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet....
2003Ray Brown
Ray Brown (musician)

Raymond Matthews Brown was an United States jazz double bassist. He is considered by many one of the masters of his instrument, as he developed an almost perfect sense of timekeeping and had a hard swing feel to his lines....
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter is an United States jazz composer and saxophone, commonly regarded as one of the most important American jazz saxophonists and composers since the 1960s....
2004McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner

Alfred McCoy Tyner is a jazz piano from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career....
Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes

Roy Owen Haynes is an United States jazz drummer and bandleader. Haynes is one of the most recorded drummers in jazz and in his over 60-year career has played in a wide range of styles ranging from swing music and bebop to jazz fusion and avant-garde jazz....
2005Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is a jazz pianist and composer. He embraces elements of rock and roll and soul music while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz....
Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy

This article is about the jazz musician. For the CEO of Meredith, see Steve Lacy .Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York, was a jazz saxophone....
2006Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith (musician)

Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument. In 2005, Jimmy Smith was awarded the NEA Jazz Masters from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians....
Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean

John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City....
2007Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker

Michael Leonard Brecker was an United States jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane,"[1] he won 15 Grammys as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat's Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007....
Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill

Andrew Hill was an United States jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one the most important progenitors of Free jazz piano, though he is considered more mainstream jazz than Cecil Taylor, who is two years older than Hill....
2008Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett

Keith Jarrett is an United States pianist, composer and jazz icon.His career started with Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in both classical music and jazz, as a group leader and a solo performer....
Joe Zawinul
Joe Zawinul

Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrians jazz keyboard instrument and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with elements of Rock music and world music....


Veterans Committee Hall of Fame

2008: Jo Jones
Jo Jones

Jo Jones was an United States drummer, one of the most influential in the history of jazz....
, Jimmie Lunceford
Jimmie Lunceford

James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an United States jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader of the swing era.Lunceford was born in Fulton, Missouri, but attended school in Denver and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Fisk University....
, Erroll Garner
Erroll Garner

Erroll Louis Garner was an United States jazz pianist and composer known for his Swung note playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad Misty became a jazz standard with singers....
, Harry Carney
Harry Carney

Harry Howell Carney was a swing music baritone saxophonist, clarinetist, and bass clarinetist best known for his 45-year tenure in Duke Ellington's band....
, Jimmy Blanton
Jimmy Blanton

Jimmy Blanton was an influential United States jazz double bassist. Blanton originated melodically conceived pizzicato and bowed bass solos.Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Blanton originally learned to play the violin, but took up the bass while at Tennessee State University, performing with the Tennessee State Collegians from 1936 to 1937...


Down Beat Jazz Album of the Year

An essential contribution of the critics' and readers' polls published in the August resp. December issues are the selections for "Jazz Album of the Year", listing the dozen or so most popular albums. Listed here are the top 3 albums of the selections:


2006 critics' poll:
(1) Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill

Andrew Hill was an United States jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one the most important progenitors of Free jazz piano, though he is considered more mainstream jazz than Cecil Taylor, who is two years older than Hill....
: Time Lines (Blue Note)
(2) Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter is an United States jazz composer and saxophone, commonly regarded as one of the most important American jazz saxophonists and composers since the 1960s....
 Quartet: Beyond The Sound Barrier (Verve)
(3) Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins

Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is an United States jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins' long, prolific career began at the age of 11, and he was playing with piano legend Thelonious Monk before reaching the age of 20....
: Without A Song (The 9/11 Concert) (Milestone)


2007 critics' poll:
(1) Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman is an United States saxophoneist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1950s and 1960s....
: Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar)
(2) Trio Beyond
Trio Beyond

Trio Beyond is a jazz fusion/free jazz band, formed in 2003.The trio was formed by drummer Jack DeJohnette and guitarist John Scofield, after conversations between the pair about how important Tony Williams was for them in that he provided musical influence as drummer and bandleader....
: Saudades (ECM)
(3) Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins

Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is an United States jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins' long, prolific career began at the age of 11, and he was playing with piano legend Thelonious Monk before reaching the age of 20....
: Sonny, Please (Doxy)

2008 critics' poll:
(1) Maria Schneider
Maria Schneider

Maria Schneider may refer to:* Maria Schneider , French actress who played Jeanne in the 1972 film Last Tango in Paris* Maria Schneider , American musician and composer...
: Sky Blue (ArtistShare)
(2) Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker

Michael Leonard Brecker was an United States jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane,"[1] he won 15 Grammys as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat's Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007....
: Pilgrimage (Heads Up)
(3) Joe Lovano
Joe Lovano

Joseph Salvatore Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls....
 and Hank Jones
Hank Jones

Henry "Hank" Jones is an United States jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Critics and musicians have described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable....
: Kids: Duets Live At Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Blue Note)

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