Jeff Mangum and Jazz Critic's Polls

Jeff Mangum played in Pittsburgh two nights ago, and it was one of those rare instances where the evening was exactly what I would had hoped it would be. Sometimes the anticipation you build up in your head can create this image of how things will go, and when it isn't exactly like that, it can be disappointing, like seeing a band you like play mostly new songs that you don't know, or there is a lackluster sound mix. Not so at the Carnegie Music Hall on Thursday. I'd expound at length here, but I'm going to write about it for Blurt so I'll link it when that happens.

In other news, my opinions were requested for the Rhapsody.com Jazz Critic's poll, regarding the best albums of 2012. You can find it here. If you want to skip right ahead to the list of albums, this is the place to go. Maybe I shouldn't be so gee-whiz about the whole thing since I've been writing for JazzTimes now for 10 years - in fact my first feature appeared at the very end of 2002, now that I think about it - but that work is done primarily in isolation. So it is kind of wild to see my name rubbing elbows with the likes of Peter Margasak, John Litweiler, John Szwed and Scott Yanow, all writers of distinction to me. Not to mention the fact that this poll, which began at The Village Voice, is assembled each year by Francis Davis, another great writer (and spouse of Terri Gross too).