Down Beat

The current title of this magazine says it all: Jazz, Blues, and Beyond. The arrival of DownBeat at your door or magazine store will be a welcome event each month. DownBeat has been the standard magazine for articles on jazz musicians and record reviews for decades. In recent years, it has expanded to cover blues, rock, third stream, world beat, Brazilian popular music, and much more. MEGA-TONS of records, cassettes, and CDs have been sold based on the in depth reviews of the DownBeat critics. Magazines have come and gone and DB continues to get the best critics to write hip and incisive articles on musicians, jazz festivals, notable events, deaths, equipment, and musical transcriptions of great solos. Reader's letters to the editor, "Chords and Dischords" is a lively feature that never fails to ruffle some feathers.

A major feature has always been the "BlindFold Test" wherein a musician is played a range of individual music tracks by major artists and is asked to comment on the merits of the track and give it a rating, based on one to five stars. Miles Davis gave one memorable blindfold contest that is talked about to this day. His comments on Eric Dolphy and Cecil Taylor (two of my favorites by the way) were a real hoot; and then he moved in their direction later in his musical life. In the November 2005 issue, Ravi Coltrane, John's son, was tested on tracks by Gene Ammons, Michael Brecker, and Harry Connick Jr, among others.

Another major feature is the coveted and highly competitive DownBeat Jazz Award, a twice a year event, awarded to jazz artists in categories of major jazz instruments and functions (arranger, composer, musician of the year, and various musical groupings), and probably best of all, the DownBeat Hall of Fame. One award comes from the International Critics and, six month's later, the other DownBeat Jazz Awards are based on a "Reader's Poll" from a mail-in form. Upsets have abounded over the years, such as Sonny Rollins upset of John Coltrane on Tenor Sax, shortly before Mr Coltrane's untimely death, and recently Wynton Marsalis being upset on trumpet by Dave Douglas in the Critics Poll. If you like jazz, DownBeat is essential reading to keep your finger on the pulse of modern jazz, blues, and beyond. Five HUGE Stars!!

For current reviews of CD's and concerts as well as historical reviews of past releases Down beat cannot be beat. The articles are always interesting and the magazine blends the right mix of current and vintage musical information that makes every issue worth having. The Blindfold Test feature where some artist listens to a few recordings and tries to identify and offer commentary on the players is really cool. Especially when you can read what Charles Mingus has to say about other artists of his day as in the most recent issue. I look forward to every issue of Down Beat and recommend it to anyone who enjoys jazz.

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The main bulk of Down Beat is reviews of albums that are coming out the jazz world. Quite easily, the best parts are the special sections, and interviews they have with artists.

Actually reading what the artists themselves have to say is very cool, especially to kids like me. :-)

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Downbeat was a requested gift for Christmas last year and the gift was renewed this year. I personally have no opinion of it, but the person requesting it, absolutely loves it.

Thank you,

Karen

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Terrific magazine. Great way to keep up with current trends in jazz. Been reading this magazine since 1964. Use it quite a bit to discover new music to listen to.

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