NPR's 2013 jazz critic poll

[ghost of miles]

It's Francis Davis' poll, now hosted by NPR:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/bestmusic2013/2013/12/16/251761858/the-2013-npr-music-jazz-critics-poll

[paul secor]

Davis' comments on Charles Lloyd and John Coltrane were enough to make me tune this out. What a presumptuous ass.

[sonnymax]

Davis' comments on Charles Lloyd and John Coltrane were enough to make me tune this out. What a presumptuous ass.

"I'm guessing what reaches people about saxophonist Charles Lloyd's ballad playing is that all those multi-noted flutters can still fool you into thinking you're hearing John Coltrane. Only now, it's Coltrane as we might imagine him sounding had he lived to be Lloyd's current age of 75: calmer and at peace with the world."

Actually, Davis' remark pretty much sums up my listening experience of Lloyd. I don't presume that other people agree, but more than a few guests at my home have mistaken Lloyd for Coltrane. Maybe all of this makes me an ass, just not a presumptive one.

[JSngry]

"Flutters" my ass...what pulls people into Lloyd is his tone. always has been, probably always will be. The guy can (and often enough has - but not always) played some of the most piffling navel-gazing wankery possible, but that tone trumps all that. It's not at all like anybody's else's tenor tone It sure don't sound nothing like Trane (nor do the "flutters", except in the same sense that anything that is red looks like a stop sign), but I don't expect too many people to get into at that level, because most people don't want to, so they project what they want to hear onto what they think they hear, and that's not necessarily right nor wrong, it's just how things work most of the time. OTOH, I can't handle his flute sound, at least not the one he had back in the day. It's the unfiltered repository for all the babydom that was left over after he kept out of his tenor sound. I guess it might have gotten better, but I just turn it out now, so I really wouldn't want to say, even though I kinda just did.

But yeah, I can enjoy me some Charles Lloyd, although that reason never even begins to enter into it, that the flutters remind me of a Trane who's old and and alive and at peace with his successful investments. I think I would get sick to my stomach if I ever had that thought about anything!

[jlhoots]

Jeez - you guys are tough.

I guess I've just mellowed as I've gotten older.

[xybert]

I've been listening to a lot of Lloyd lately. There are things he does that remind me of Coltrane, but the flutter thing he does, in the way that he does it, is one of his signature things in my opinion. I'm no blindfold test expert but if i was listening to a Lloyd track and i wasn't sure who it was for some reason, the minute he did the flutter thing there would be no doubt in my mind that it's Lloyd. he does it almost, almost to the point of self parody.

I need to check out Hagar's Song as i love Jason Moran. It's appearing in a lot of critics end of year lists but it seems like it's one of those safe/default picks.

[marcello]

Actually, I agree with Jim.

Totally

[CraigP]

Here's what I posted on the accompanying article Mr. Davis wrote about his impressions of the poll and his personal choices:

I was surprised that Without A Net was the #1 album, but I suppose I shouldn’t be. I knew that a large portion of the jazz audience was looking backwards, but I didn’t realize so many critics were as well. It’s not a bad album, but it’s not anywhere near his best work or the best of what was released in 2013. As for the rest of the poll, there’s a lot to like, but I was also puzzled that Functional Arrhythmias rated so highly, as I think Coleman’s last couple of releases were much stronger. In fact, I thought Jonathan Finlayson’s Moment and the Message was a better take on M-Base concepts. But kudos to Mr. Davis for some of his personal choices, particularly for calling attention to records from Myra Melford, Eric Revis, and Taylor Ho Bynum. BTW, the Andrew Hill download was originally from a DVD, if anyone is interested.

The article from Mr. Davis is at http://www.npr.org/blogs/bestmusic2013/2013/12/18/252001963/wayne-shorter-and-the-years-other-passing-scenery

[GA Russell]

Thanks, ghost!