American jazz magazine
DownBeat (styled in all caps) is an American music 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.
DownBeat publishes results of annual surveys of both its readers and critics in a variety of categories. The DownBeat 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. Since 2008, the Hall of Fame also includes winners from the Veterans Committee.
Popular features of DownBeat 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.
History
DownBeat was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois.[2] In September 1939, the magazine announced that its circulation had increased from "a few hundred five years ago to more than 80,000 copies a month", and that it would change from monthly to fortnightly from the following month.[3] In Summer 1960 DownBeat launched the Japanese edition.[4] In 1972 the publisher of the magazine was Maher Publishers.[5] Starting in July 1979, DownBeat went to a monthly schedule for the first time since 1939.
DownBeat was named Jazz Publication of the Year in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021 by the Jazz Journalists Association.[6]
DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame
The DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame's current membership, by year, is listed in the following table. The Readers' Poll began in 1952, the Critics' Poll in 1961, and the Veterans Committee Poll in 2008.[7]
Year
|
Readers Poll
|
Critics Poll
|
Veterans Committee Poll
|
1952 |
Louis Armstrong[8]
|
1953 |
Glenn Miller[9]
|
1954 |
Stan Kenton[10]
|
1955 |
Charlie Parker[11]
|
1956 |
Duke Ellington[12]
|
1957 |
Benny Goodman[13]
|
1958 |
Count Basie[14]
|
1959 |
Lester Young[15]
|
1960 |
Dizzy Gillespie[16]
|
1961 |
Billie Holiday[17] |
Coleman Hawkins[18]
|
1962 |
Miles Davis[19] |
Bix Beiderbecke[20]
|
1963 |
Thelonious Monk[21] |
Jelly Roll Morton[22]
|
1964 |
Eric Dolphy[23] |
Art Tatum[24]
|
1965 |
John Coltrane[25] |
Earl Hines[26]
|
1966 |
Bud Powell[27] |
Charlie Christian[28]
|
1967 |
Billy Strayhorn[29] |
Bessie Smith[30]
|
1968 |
Wes Montgomery[31] |
Sidney Bechet & Fats Waller[32]
|
1969 |
Ornette Coleman[33] |
Pee Wee Russell & Jack Teagarden[34]
|
1970 |
Jimi Hendrix[35] |
Johnny Hodges[36]
|
1971 |
Charles Mingus[37] |
Roy Eldridge & Django Reinhardt[38]
|
1972 |
Gene Krupa[39] |
Clifford Brown[40]
|
1973 |
Sonny Rollins[41] |
Fletcher Henderson[42]
|
1974 |
Buddy Rich[43] |
Ben Webster[44]
|
1975 |
Cannonball Adderley[45] |
Cecil Taylor[46]
|
1976 |
Woody Herman |
King Oliver[47]
|
1977 |
Paul Desmond |
Benny Carter[48]
|
1978 |
Joe Venuti |
Rahsaan Roland Kirk[49]
|
1979 |
Ella Fitzgerald |
Lennie Tristano[50]
|
1980 |
Dexter Gordon |
Max Roach[51]
|
1981 |
Art Blakey |
Bill Evans[52]
|
1982 |
Art Pepper |
Fats Navarro[53]
|
1983 |
Stéphane Grappelli |
Albert Ayler[54]
|
1984 |
Oscar Peterson[55] |
Sun Ra[56]
|
1985 |
Sarah Vaughan |
Zoot Sims[57]
|
1986 |
Stan Getz |
Gil Evans[58]
|
1987 |
Lionel Hampton |
Johnny Dodds, Thad Jones, Teddy Wilson[59]
|
1988 |
Jaco Pastorius |
Kenny Clarke[60]
|
1989 |
Woody Shaw |
Chet Baker[61]
|
1990 |
Red Rodney |
Mary Lou Williams[62]
|
1991 |
Lee Morgan |
John Carter[63]
|
1992 |
Maynard Ferguson |
James P. Johnson[64]
|
1993 |
Gerry Mulligan |
Ed Blackwell[65]
|
1994 |
Dave Brubeck |
Frank Zappa[66]
|
1995 |
J. J. Johnson |
Julius Hemphill[67]
|
1996 |
Horace Silver |
Artie Shaw[68]
|
1997 |
Nat King Cole |
Tony Williams[69]
|
1998 |
Frank Sinatra |
Elvin Jones[70]
|
1999 |
Milt Jackson[71] |
Betty Carter[72]
|
2000 |
Clark Terry |
Lester Bowie[73]
|
2001 |
Joe Henderson |
Milt Hinton[74]
|
2002 |
Antonio Carlos Jobim |
John Lewis[75]
|
2003 |
Ray Brown |
Wayne Shorter[76]
|
2004 |
McCoy Tyner |
Roy Haynes
|
2005 |
Herbie Hancock |
Steve Lacy
|
2006 |
Jimmy Smith |
Jackie McLean[77]
|
2007 |
Michael Brecker |
Andrew Hill[78]
|
2008 |
Keith Jarrett[79] |
Joe Zawinul |
Jo Jones, Jimmie Lunceford, Erroll Garner, Harry Carney, Jimmy Blanton
|
2009 |
Freddie Hubbard |
Hank Jones |
Oscar Pettiford, Tadd Dameron
|
2010 |
Muhal Richard Abrams |
Chick Corea |
Baby Dodds, Chick Webb, Philly Joe Jones, Billy Eckstine
|
2011 |
Ahmad Jamal |
Abbey Lincoln |
Paul Chambers
|
2012 |
Ron Carter |
Paul Motian |
Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt
|
2013 |
Pat Metheny |
Charlie Haden |
Robert Johnson
|
2014 |
B.B. King |
Jim Hall |
Bing Crosby, Dinah Washington
|
2015 |
Tony Bennett |
Lee Konitz |
Muddy Waters
|
2016 |
Phil Woods |
Randy Weston |
Hoagy Carmichael
|
2017 |
Wynton Marsalis[80] |
Don Cherry |
Eubie Blake, George Gershwin, Herbie Nichols
|
2018 |
Ray Charles |
Benny Golson[81] |
Marian McPartland
|
2019 |
Hank Mobley |
Nina Simone |
Scott LaFaro, Joe Williams
|
2020 |
George Benson |
Jimmy Heath |
Mildred Bailey, Carmen McRae
|
2021 |
Roy Hargrove[82] |
Carla Bley[83] |
Booker Little, Yusef Lateef
|
2022
|
Kenny Baron[84]
|
Geri Allen[85]
|
2023
|
Pharoah Sanders[86] |
Alice Coltrane[87] |
Red Norvo, Mario Bauza
|
Awards
Album of the Year
Critics' Poll