My Mid-Year Jazz Record 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:

Honorable mention:

• Steven Bernstein, Resonation Trio (Royal Potato Family)

• 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)

• Eli Howell, Steps Taken (D Clef)

• Russ Spiegel, Timepieces (Ruzztone Music)

• Matt Slocum, A Revolving Alliance (Sunnyside)

• Christian Dillingham, As It Relates To Now (Shifting Paradigm)

• Christopher Dammann, Dead Worlds (Shifting Paradigm)

• Jamile & Vinicius Gomes, Boundless Species (La Reserve)

• Dida Pelled, I Wish You Would (La Reserve)

• The Phoenix Trio, Tomorrow Is Today (Giant Step Arts)

• Olli Soikkeli, Comeback (ollisoikkeli.com)