The election cycle didn’t end with Georgia’s pivotal vote on January 5. The results of The 2020 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll were published nine days later. While 505 albums were recognized by the 148 participants, more than 300 of those releases received just a single vote. The vast quantity of new jazz recordings issued every year is staggering.
How did jazz musicians from the Kansas City area fare? Not great. Votes from ten critics positioned Pat Metheny’s From This Place at #26. Bobby Watson’s two albums for Smoke Sessions- Keepin’ It Real and Bird at 100, his 2019 collaboration with Vincent Herring and Gary Bartz- received one vote each, placing the latest editions to the saxophonist’s catalog in the mid-#300s. No other releases by Kansas City artists were given a nod.
Who are the monsters responsible for these villainous calculations? Well, my ballot represents a circumspect case of head over heart. I rated about 75 of the hundreds of new jazz albums I critiqued in 2020 as very good or excellent. Watson’s Keepin’ It Real- my favorite Kansas City jazz album of last year- is in the middle of that grouping.
I also seriously considered naming Brian Scarborough’s very fine Sunflower Song the top debut album of 2020. I repeatedly listened to the Kansas City trombonist’s release and Immanuel Wilkins’ Omega back-to-back before reluctantly verifying my preference for Wilkins’ effort. I’d rather be a truthful dissident than a deceitful flatterer.