Bebop Spoken There

Ron Carter quoting Sonny Rollins: ''What we call jazz - that's keeping the world in equilibrium. I don't care what kind of music you like out here today. It all comes from jazz.'' (DownBeat August, 2026)

The Things They Say!

This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)

Postage

18799 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 663 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Aug. 12) 32.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

From This Moment On

August

Thu 13: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 13: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 13: 58 Jazz Collective @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Stranton, Hartlepool. 8:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! Back on Aug. 27.
Thu 13: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: John Settle Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. John Settle (vibes); Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 14: Bold Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £8.00 + bf.

Sat 15: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 15: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £16.26.

Sun 16: Vintage Explosion @ Cliffe Park, Roker, Sunderland SR6 8DB. 5:00-10:30pm. £44.00 (inc. bf).

Mon 17: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Friday, July 24, 2026

Press release: The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics at Mid-Year has been published by Arts Fuse:

Francis Davis founded The Annual Jazz Critics Poll in 2006. It was published by The Village Voice through 2011. It has since been picked up by Rhapsody (2011-12), NPR (2013-20), and ArtsFuse (since 2021). The Poll was supervised by Davis through 2021, with various degrees of help from Tom Hull, who keeps it going, and manages this website. Hull wrote a history/memoir of the Poll up through 2022 here.

One change to the website as of 2023 is that album titles in the complete results and ballots files have a link (look for ) which will print out a list of everyone who voted for the album. From there, you can get to the ballots for each voter.

The Mid-Year Poll was inaugurated in 2024. The results here have no bearing on the End-of-Year Polls. While critics may vote for late 2025 albums, we do not factor 2025 votes into the Mid-Year results here.

Essays

ArtsFuse will publish three essays by Tom Hull, including tables of the vote leaders. These were all published under the general title: The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year:

  • Warming Up a Riff — How It Happened, and Why It Matters: Few things more clearly attest to the endurance of the human spirit and the drive for creativity than the uninterrupted and unstoppable torrent of brilliant new jazz albums we've already seen this year.
  • Consensus in Retreat: Tyshawn Sorey tops the Francis Davis Jazz Poll at mid-year, spurring a reflection on signal vs. noise in a crowded jazz landscape.
  • The Old World Gets Weirder: Fitting the past into the present: the year so far in rara avis (reissues/archival)

Complete Results

Ballots by Voter

The 127 voter ballots are presented in batches of 20 ballots:

The complete list of voting critics, with links to their individual ballots, is here.

Local Essays

The draft versions of the Arts Fuse essays are also archived here:

Other essays and scattered notes are available in the website here. Unless otherwise noted, all are by Tom Hull:

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