My Mid-Year Picks for 2026

I’ve been contributing to the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll since it was inaugurated in 2006 by longtime Voice contributor and jazz critic Francis Davis. It was published by The Village Voice through 2011, hosted by the music streaming service Rhapsody from 2011-2012, picked up and sponsored by NPR from 2013-2020, then sponsored by the Boston-based arts and culture publication The Arts Fuse from 2021 to the present. Since Davis’ passing in April 2025 at age 78, the poll has been handled exclusively by critic Tom Hull, who was first an organizer and administrator of the poll since 2022 and instituted a mid-year poll in 2024. Here (in no particular heirarchical order) are my mid-year picks for 2026:

And here are some YouTube clips of those superb recordings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBRdxgwD7tU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UenXvLuCRjg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h7RHUtuG98

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn0uk5fMajc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqv6EMiBzWs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SnjpEMGMvc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRMWmOOsto0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYHuVoKIbTo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPpg20Y9sIs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTso271DZ3o

Honorable mentions: Brian Lynch, Torch Bearers (Hollistic MusicWorks; Mike Clark, Kuon Ganjo (Wide Hive); John Ellis & Double Wide, Fireball (Sunnyside); Seamus Blake, Plays the Music of Eddie Harris (Cellar Music); Ron Carter & Yotam Silberstein, Duets (Jojo Records).