Whenever I reflect on the best things I have encountered over a year, be it books, films, board games, and indeed music, I see it as a reflection of the journey that I have taken that I have taken. I'm not actively seeking the very best, objectively or subjectively. I think of most lists as personal journeys, even if some try to speak to a broader public.
Some journeys may be shorter than some critics are willing to admit.
(Written from the hospital--have CV, but not CV related).
Get well soon! Both my wife and myself have CV and I'm on week three of horrible tooth ache. Good luck to you and your journey!
Thank you, djh. I'm technically asymptomatic, but CV has complicated everything. My wife and son are also recovering, having mild cases. I hope things work out for both you and your wife. I really feel now how the entire health system has slowed down.
One of my complaints with the Davis poll is its unacknowledged United States bias. By my count just 5 of the critics are based outside the United States (and no points to Peter Hum for not including any of the excellent Canadian jazz albums released this year). Just to make one point, Hedvig Mollestad received just one vote on Davis' poll (for an album released in mid-November?) with nothing for her Ding Dong album from March, which received high praise and was included in many 2021 jazz lists from outside the United States. Well, point two, the excellent Kenny Wheeler/John Dankworth album Windmill Tilter was rereleased this year and appeared on most non-US polls, but received just one vote in Davis' parochial poll. Davis needs to relabel his poll as the United States Jazz Critics poll.
Whenever I reflect on the best things I have encountered over a year, be it books, films, board games, and indeed music, I see it as a reflection of the journey that I have taken that I have taken. I'm not actively seeking the very best, objectively or subjectively. I think of most lists as personal journeys, even if some try to speak to a broader public.
Some journeys may be shorter than some critics are willing to admit.
(Written from the hospital--have CV, but not CV related).
Sorry you have to start the new year that way - hope you and your family are well soon!
One of my complaints with the Davis poll is its unacknowledged United States bias. By my count just 5 of the critics are based outside the United States (and no points to Peter Hum for not including any of the excellent Canadian jazz albums released this year). Just to make one point, Hedvig Mollestad received just one vote on Davis' poll (for an album released in mid-November?) with nothing for her Ding Dong album from March, which received high praise and was included in many 2021 jazz lists from outside the United States. Well, point two, the excellent Kenny Wheeler/John Dankworth album Windmill Tilter was rereleased this year and appeared on most non-US polls, but received just one vote in Davis' parochial poll. Davis needs to relabel his poll as the United States Jazz Critics poll.
If there are some non-US-based writers/bloggers/critics/journos that you think should be participating in the poll, let me know who they are and I'll submit their names to Davis. He is very much wanting to add critics to the poll, and doesn't want to be excluding anybody. I've given him some names over the years, but admittedly, I don't really read other music writers, so there's not much more I can contribute in that regard. But I agree with your sentiment. It was a big reason the JJA poll is so awful. For a few years, I thought the JJA nominees could only be from the U.S. and I suggested to them that they open up the nomination process to non-US musicians... which is when I learned it was already that way and it was simply the bias of NYC-based writers focusing on the music in their backyard (and also when I came to learn how little most writers actually listen to in a particular year).
I'll have to say that I'm pretty impressed by this "Foxy Digitalis" site - something of which I've heard of, but never explored.
As for "best of" lists, I sometimes enjoy reading others lists, but I'm mostly looking at writing style and general commentary instead of looking for requests. Primarily because I come across soooo many good titles that I just use my ears to immediately decide. If there are any people that I rely on as "critics," they would be the people who put their money towards certain titles - and especially "styles" of music - that I follow on Bandcamp. If they leave a review, it's often over-the-top and just downright silly, but that's not why I've chosen to follow them. Again, it's the music.
If it does come down to reviews, I do like Dave's jazz ones, because there are intelligent observations packed into just a paragraph or two that actually make me want to explore the title in detail (which, for me is a rarity considering I already am familiar with so much of what other reviewers are reviewing).
I'm still a "WIRE" guy. I can gravitate towards certain reviewers, but I enjoy learning what to listen for when it comes to other musics that I may not naturally gravitate towards - and it gives me a surprisingly new perspective.
As far as annual Jazz lists ar concerned there is only one that I really rely upon - it used to be on eMusic but is now a Bandcamp list - no prizes for guessing who writes it!
ProgArchives top Progressive Rock albums for 2021.
Further to the discussion above, what I like about their approach is that it is based on the evaluations of ProgArchives aficionados rather than the views of a single individual.
Also, you can see the ratings by your preferred sub-genres and countries or, if you like, any year back to the beginning of Prog.
@Dark_Magus I like that what had seemed to be a consensus best album elsewhere, Floating Points/Pharoah Sanders/LSO, is #58 on CI, with a ton I've never heard of. That's what a year's list should do, IMHO.
I noticed no Ted Gioia list this year, and then realized (after seeing an interesting article authored by him in The Atlantic about "old music killing new music") that he seems to have made his 2021 list available only to his newsletter subscribers (but still makes his honorable mention lists public).
Yeah, Gioia is one of those people that I subscribed to his newsletter and quickly cancelled because his articles were coming from strange perspectives that I couldn’t agree with. Now, he has the article you mentioned that was picked up by The Atlantic and is generating a lot of comments. On Monday, he’ll be on a radio show that originates from right here in Dallas and because I admire somewhat the woman who’s doing the interviewing, I may listen - and hopefully not raise my blood pressure doing so.
Comments
If there are some non-US-based writers/bloggers/critics/journos that you think should be participating in the poll, let me know who they are and I'll submit their names to Davis. He is very much wanting to add critics to the poll, and doesn't want to be excluding anybody. I've given him some names over the years, but admittedly, I don't really read other music writers, so there's not much more I can contribute in that regard. But I agree with your sentiment. It was a big reason the JJA poll is so awful. For a few years, I thought the JJA nominees could only be from the U.S. and I suggested to them that they open up the nomination process to non-US musicians... which is when I learned it was already that way and it was simply the bias of NYC-based writers focusing on the music in their backyard (and also when I came to learn how little most writers actually listen to in a particular year).
As for "best of" lists, I sometimes enjoy reading others lists, but I'm mostly looking at writing style and general commentary instead of looking for requests. Primarily because I come across soooo many good titles that I just use my ears to immediately decide. If there are any people that I rely on as "critics," they would be the people who put their money towards certain titles - and especially "styles" of music - that I follow on Bandcamp. If they leave a review, it's often over-the-top and just downright silly, but that's not why I've chosen to follow them. Again, it's the music.
If it does come down to reviews, I do like Dave's jazz ones, because there are intelligent observations packed into just a paragraph or two that actually make me want to explore the title in detail (which, for me is a rarity considering I already am familiar with so much of what other reviewers are reviewing).
I'm still a "WIRE" guy. I can gravitate towards certain reviewers, but I enjoy learning what to listen for when it comes to other musics that I may not naturally gravitate towards - and it gives me a surprisingly new perspective.
Further to the discussion above, what I like about their approach is that it is based on the evaluations of ProgArchives aficionados rather than the views of a single individual.
Also, you can see the ratings by your preferred sub-genres and countries or, if you like, any year back to the beginning of Prog.
http://www.progarchives.com/top-prog-albums.asp?syears=2021
Always pays to be polite!
Now, he has the article you mentioned that was picked up by The Atlantic and is generating a lot of comments. On Monday, he’ll be on a radio show that originates from right here in Dallas and because I admire somewhat the woman who’s doing the interviewing, I may listen - and hopefully not raise my blood pressure doing so.