MWI is proud to announce that this year’s edition of the annual Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll featured 20 artists from our roster ranking among some of the best in the world for their respective instruments and genres. The results, broken down by artist rather than by category, are listed below:
*Numbers in parentheses indicate placement in respective category*
Vijay Iyer
Jazz Album of the Year (4)
Compassion, Vijay Iyer Trio
Artist of the Year (10)
Jazz Group (4)
Vijay Iyer Trio
Piano (4)
Composer (tie 16)
Beyond Artist or Group (3)
Arooj Aftab / Vijay Iyer / Shahzad Ismaily
Beyond Album (3)
Love in Exile, Arooj Aftab / Vijay Iyer / Shahzad Ismaily
Darcy James Argue
Arranger (1)
Composer (5)
Big Band (2)
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
Jazz Album of the Year (7)
Dynamic Maximum Tension
Ambrose Akinmusire
Trumpet (1)
Artist of the Year (4)
Jazz Album of the Year (13)
Owl Song
Jazz Group (16)
Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet
Composer (14)
Producer (tie 15)
Joshua Redman
Artist of the Year (25)
Tenor Saxophone (tie 6)
Soprano Saxophone (16)
Jazz Album of the Year (tie 16)
Where Are We
Christian McBride
Bass (1)
Electric Bass (7)
Jazz Album of the Year (6)
Prime, New Jawn
Artist of the Year (16)
Jazz Group (7)
New Jawn
Big Band (7)
Christian McBride’s Big Band
Producer (8)
Chief Adjuah
Jazz Album of the Year (24)
Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning
Trumpet (10)
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Guitar (6)
Rhiannon Giddens
Beyond Artist or Group (1)
Beyond Album (1)
You’re the One
Nduduzo Makhathini
Rising Star Jazz Artist (8)
Rising Star Piano (10)
Rising Star Jazz Group (tie 10)
Nduduzo Makhathini Trio
Emmet Cohen
Rising Star Jazz Artist (3)
Rising Star Jazz Group (1)
Emmet Cohen Trio
Piano (9)
Edmar Castañeda
Miscellaneous Instrument (4)
Colombian Harp
Beyond Album (9)
Viento Sur, Edmar Castañeda World Ensemble
Branford Marsalis
Soprano Saxophone (2)
Tenor Saxophone (13)
Richard Bona
Electric Bass (20)
Samara Joy
Artist of the Year (2)
Female Vocalist (2)
Jason Moran
Artist of the Year (9)
Piano (tie 15)
Composer (11)
Linda May Han Oh
Jazz Album of the Year (tie 29)
The Glass Hours
Bass (3)
Electric Bass (3)
Anat Cohen
Clarinet (1)
Big Band (tie 9)
Anat Cohen Tentet
Melissa Aldana
Tenor Saxophone (5)
Dianne Reeves
Female Vocalist (14)
Gerald Clayton
Piano (12)