Categories Music magazine Year founded 1934 Country United States | Frequency Monthly Company Maher Publications Based in Chicago | |
Down Beat (stylized DOWN BEAT) is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. It is named after the "downbeat" in music also called "beat one" or the first beat of a musical measure.
Contents
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.
In April 1979, Down Beat went to a monthly schedule for the first time since 1939.
Hall of Fame
The DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame is maintained at Universal Studios' City Jazz club in Orlando, Florida. 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. In 2010, the Veterans Committee Hall of Fame began electing deserving, deceased musicians of bygone eras.
Veterans Committee Hall of Fame
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: Time Lines (Blue Note)
(2) Wayne Shorter Quartet: Beyond the Sound Barrier (Verve)
(3) Sonny Rollins: Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert (Milestone)
2007 critics' poll:
(1) Ornette Coleman: Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar)
(2) Trio Beyond: Saudades (ECM)
(3) Sonny Rollins: Sonny, Please (Doxy)
2008 critics' poll:
(1) Maria Schneider: Sky Blue (ArtistShare)
(2) Michael Brecker: Pilgrimage (Heads Up)
(3) Joe Lovano and Hank Jones: Kids: Duets Live At Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Blue Note)
2009 critics' poll:
(1) Sonny Rollins: Road Shows, Vol. 1 (Doxy/Emarcy)
(2) Joe Lovano: Symphonica (Blue Note)
(3) Charles Lloyd Quartet: Rabo de Nube (ECM)
2010 critics' poll:
(1) Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity (ACT)
(2) Joe Lovano Us Five: Folk Art (Blue Note)
(3) Miguel Zenón: Esta Plena (Marsalis)
2011 critics' poll:
(1) Jason Moran: Ten (Blue Note)
(2) Joe Lovano Us Five: Bird Songs (Blue Note)
(3) Esperanza Spalding: Chamber Music Society (Heads Up)
2012 critics' poll:
(1) Vijay Iyer: Accelerando (Act)
(2) Sonny Rollins: Road Shows, Vol. 2 (Doxy/Emarcy)
(3) Keith Jarrett: Rio (ECM)