' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, 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. 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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, Illinois. 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. In 1972 the publisher of the magazine was Maher Publishers. In April 1979, ''DownBeat'' went to a monthly schedule for the first time since 1939. In Summer 1960 ''DownBeat'' launched the Japanese edition. ''DownBeat'' was named Jazz Publication of the Year in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021 by the

Jazz Journalists Association The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) is an international organization of all types of media professionals who document, promulgate, or appreciate jazz. As of 2016, it has approximately 250 members, including professional journalists, students, in ...

Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award

* 1981 John H. Hammond * 1982 George Wein * 1983 Leonard Feather * 1984 Billy Taylor * 1985

Lawrence Berk Lawrence Berk (December 10, 1908 – December 22, 1995) was the founder of Berklee College of Music, a pianist, composer and arranger, and educator. Berk oversaw the growth of the modest Schillinger House music school into the Berklee College of Mu ...

* 1986 Orrin Keepnews * 1987 David Baker * 1988 John Conyers Jr. * 1989 Norman Granz * 1990 Rudy Van Gelder * 1991 Bill Cosby * 1992 Rich Matteson * 1993 Gunther Schuller * 1994 Marian McPartland * 1995 Willis Conover * 1996

Chuck Suber Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer * ...

* 1997

William P. Gottlieb William Paul Gottlieb (January 28, 1917 – April 23, 2006) was an American photographer and newspaper columnist who is best known for his classic photographs of the leading performers of the Golden Age of American jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. G ...

* 1998 Bruce Lundvall * 1999 Sheldon Meyer * 2000 George Avakian * 2001

Milt Gabler Milton Gabler (May 20, 1911 – July 20, 2001) was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century. These included being the first person to deal in record reissues, the first to se ...

* 2002 * 2003 * 2004 * 2005 Creed Taylor * 2006 Claude Nobs * 2007 Dan Morgenstern * 2008 * 2009 * 2010 Manfred Eicher * 2011 * 2012 * 2013 * 2014 * 2015 * 2016 * 2017 George Avakian

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 in 2008.

Veterans Committee Hall of Fame

* 2008: Jo Jones, Jimmie Lunceford,

Erroll Garner Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad " Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first re ...

, Harry Carney, Jimmy Blanton * 2009: Oscar Pettiford, Tadd Dameron * 2010: Baby Dodds,

Chick Webb William Henry "Chick" Webb (February 10, 1905 – June 16, 1939) was an American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader. Early life Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William H. and Marie Webb. The year of his birth is disputed. ...

, Philly Joe Jones, Billy Eckstine * 2011: Paul Chambers * 2012: Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt * 2013: Robert Johnson * 2014: Bing Crosby,

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

* 2015:

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post- war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicag ...

* 2016: Hoagy Carmichael * 2017: Eubie Blake,

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

, Herbie Nichols * 2018: Marian McPartland

Album of the Year

Critics' Poll

References

External links

''Down Beat'' website"About ''Down Beat'': A History As Rich As Jazz"
*Th
Jazz Journalists Association
Lifetime Achievement Award *Nesuhi Ertegun
Jazz Hall of Fame
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223102006/http://www.jalc.org/halloffame/ , date=December 23, 2010
Arts For Art
Lifetime Achievement Award
NAMM Oral History Interview with Kevin Maher
January 25, 2014
DownBeat Critics Poll Archives at Acclaimed Music Forums
Blues music magazines Jazz awards Jazz magazines Magazines established in 1934 Magazines published in Chicago Monthly magazines published in the United States Music magazines published in the United States