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Customer Reviews of Down Beat

Downbeat is what one should expect from a Jazz magazine
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>Ok, you can say that Downbeat reviews are neglectable for a top Jazz addicted reader. <
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>Also forget those unnecessary annual reader's polls and reviewers' polls, another neglectable part of Downbeat historical existence. <
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>Suppose I am a Jazz instrumentalist or singer and I claim desperately for success. Then suppose I buy some 50 Downbeat subscriptions and distribute them as a gift to 50 different people under the condition they vote for me in the reader's annual poll. Well the game's quite ready for my career to be launched under Downbeat's poll parameters. Be sure I would hit a wonderful position in the poll and Downbeat would not have any chance to contest it. Quite fragile! <
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>The good side is that there's a lot of good and updated information on albums, performances and artists. Also a good interview in each issue. Also the interesting Blindfold Test which exposes an artist to his memory capacity to idendify peers' recordings. <
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>That's Downbeat, not the best, not the worst of Jazz magazines.

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The Finest of "Jazz, Blues, and Beyond" In One Magazine.
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. <
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> 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. <
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>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!! <
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Still The Best Jazz Periodical Out There
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.