The 2016 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll 1 . Henry Threadgill Ensemble Double Up , ' Old Locks and Irregular Verbs ' Has any composer ever been awarded two consecutive Pulitzers ? The follow - up to last year ' s prizewinning In for a Penny , In for a Pound is a roiled four - part , album - length threnody for the cornetist and conductionist Lawrence D . " Butch " Morris ( 1947 - 2013 ) — himself an imposing figure in postmodern jazz — that might be the 72 - year - old Henry Threadgill ' s most powerful work to date . It ' s certainly among his most unusual . For starters , he doesn ' t once lift a horn to his lips . But even without surrogate saxophonists Curtis Macdonald and Roman Filiu ( making no bones about being influenced by the man they ' re standing in for ) , you ' d be able to tell whose hand is shaping this performance ( presumably as conductor ) . Theologians used to say that God was inherent in his creations , the same way Shakespeare was inherent in Hamlet or Lear , and you didn ' t have to be a believer to appreciate the analogy . Threadgill is inherent in Old Locks , as Bach and Beethoven are in their published scores . Another difference from anything Threadgill has done before : After eschewing piano in his ensembles for decades , he prominently features both Jason Moran and David Virelles , whose nonstop point / counterpoint gives Old Locks much of its dizzying momentum . The balance of composition to improvisation is never clear , and with everything building to a grand crescendo that ' s likely to leave you stunned for a second or two , the ambiguity creates the sensation that you ' ve just heard a contradiction in terms , a completed masterpiece somehow still in the making . 2 . Wadada Leo Smith , ' America ' s National Parks ' Pulitzer ' s judges might also consider this year ' s close runner - up in its entirety . Remarkably , Smith ' s career is on the upswing at age 75 , although maybe it ' s just that it ' s taken the jazz establishment this long to get a fix on him . His trumpet phrases sting like Miles Davis ' once did , and his writing has been assuming increased gravitas and grandeur . If not for a hunch that a few works similar in size may be on the way , it would be tempting to hear America ' s National Parks as the final installment in a trilogy that began with Ten Freedom Summers ( 2012 ) and continued with The Great Lakes Suites ( 2014 ) . But despite the Ken Burns scale implied by their titles , there ' s nothing overblown about these suites . This latest is especially streamlined , with a veteran rhythm section ( Anthony Davis , piano ; John Lindberg , bass ; and Pheeroan akLaff , drums ) joining added starter Ashley Williams ( cello ) to supply a great deal of shadow play behind Smith ' s horn lines . Though he ' s on dry land this trip , contemplating the largest of this nation ' s public spaces , Smith hasn ' t stopped ruminating on vast bodies of water and their secrets , either ; the longest and most darkly compelling of this double album ' s individual pieces takes off from the disturbing mental image of black bodies floating up to the surface on the Mississippi , dumped there after being lynched . 3 . Jack DeJohnette / Matt Garrison / Ravi Coltrane , ' In Movement ' Favoring pulse and sizzle and color over anything resembling meter , DeJohnette has long specialized in making good musicians ( and not a few great ones ) sound even better . The beneficiaries of his interventionist drumming here are saxophonist Coltrane and bassist Garrison — both long past the anxiety of being the offspring of seminal jazzmen . In particular , Coltrane ' s stark tenor cries on his father ' s " Alabama " are absolutely stunning , alone worth the price of the album . 4 . . Mary Halvorson Octet , ' Away With You ' More evidence that she ' s not just the most visionary guitarist to emerge from jazz since Bill Frisell and Mark Ribot — though that would certainly be enough . Her groups grow larger on each of her albums as a bandleader ( this latest adds pedal steel as a counterweight to her guitar ) , and her writing for horns grows bolder and more playful . " Spirit Splitter , " the opener , shows again she ' s especially adept at skewed , high - stepping marches . Also from this year and recommended : The Young Philadelphians Live in Tokyo , on which she and Ribot locate hidden nooks and crannies in the disco of Gamble & Huff songbooks ; and Convallaria by Thumbscrew , her interactive trio with drummer Tomas Fujiwara and bassist Michael Formanek . 5 . Michael Formanek / Ensemble Kolossus , ' The Distance ' Though Formanek has been around since the late 1970 s , playing bass with everyone from Tim Berne to New York Voices , he ' s begun to assert himself as a bandleader and composer only recently , and The Distance seals the deal . Colossal his 18 - member orchestra may be , but it ' s also remarkably light on its feet , thanks to writing that ' s brooding one moment and incendiary the next and a parade of top - notch soloists only beginning with Berne , Mary Halvorson , Kirk Knuffke , Oscar Noriega and Formanek himself . 6 . Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith , ' A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke ' I ' m sure I wasn ' t the only voter who , not wanting to over - represent Smith , found himself torn between America ' s National Parks and these duets with two - time poll winner Iyer ( once the pianist in Smith ' s Golden Quartet ) . I might as well have tossed a coin , but I finally decided to go with this more intimate of the two . Unlike many musicians on the cutting edge , Smith and Iyer aren ' t wary of the beautiful . Even at its most agitated or elliptical , their music together is ravishing . And it benefits from ECM ' s crystal - clear recording . 7 . Nels Cline , ' Lovers ' The Wilco guitarist and mainstay of the LA free - jazz scene casts himself against type twice over on this ballad album with strings ( practically a valentine to the late guitarist ' s guitarist Jim Hall ) . But Cline and arranger Michael Leonhart quietly subvert the genre by enlisting many of the string players from the jazz avant - garde and by sneaking in ballads by Annette Peacock , Jimmy Giuffre , Sonic Youth and the like alongside such standard fare as " Glad to Be Unhappy " and " Secret Love . " 8 . Matt Wilson ' s Big Happy Family , ' Beginning of a Memory ' That ' s what friends are for : Following the death of his wife , Felicia , drummer Wilson gathered together practically every musician who ' s ever been in any of his bands ( including trumpeters Terell Stafford and Kirk Knuffke , and saxophonists Andrew D ' Angelo , Joel Frahm and Jeff Lederer ) for a remembrance as celebratory as anyone could ever wish for . 9 . Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra , ' Time / Life ( Song for the Whales and Other Beings ) ' The perfect album for this moment . In an interview I did with him prior to the 2000 presidential election , Haden remarked that each of his Liberation Music Orchestra albums , which then numbered three , had been recorded during Republican administrations , and " if Bush wins , I ' ll have to record another one . " Sure enough , Not in Our Name appeared a few years later , subsequent to our invasion of Iraq and Bush ' s reelection . And when Time / Life started arriving in reviewers ' mailboxes days after Trump ' s election , it was as if Haden was protesting from beyond the grave . A pair of live performances from 2011 bracket three studio tracks from after Haden ' s death in 2013 , with his longtime collaborator Carla Bley stepping in as leader and Steve Swallow replacing him on bass . Except for remakes of Haden ' s " Song for the Whales " and Bley ' s " Silent Spring , " both dating to the beginnings of the ecological movement , nothing here is as overtly political as , say , " Song for Ché , " from the first LMO in 1969 . But even the prettiest of ballads is delivered with such aching purpose and lyrical generosity , I swear this music could make America whole again , if enough people heard it . 10 . Steve Lehman & Sélébéyone , ' Sélébéyone ' Writes my polling accomplice Tom Hull , who likes this much more than I do : " Alto saxophonist [ whose Mise en Abîme topped the 2014 poll ] goes for something else here , with Hprizm rapping and Gaston Bandimic singing in Wolof , rhythms borrowed from hip - hop and mbalax then freed up some more by drummer Damion Reid . I really don ' t know what to make of it , but I do love the shifty in - between music , with Maciek Lasserre ' s soprano bouncing off the alto , Carlos Homs ' keyboards and Drew Gress holding it all together on bass . " The Rest 11 . Darcy James Argue Secret Society Real Enemies 126 ( 20 ) 12 . Charles Lloyd & the Marvels I Long to See You 117 . 5 ( 17 ) 13 . J . D . Allen Americana : Musings on Jazz & Blues 112 . 5 ( 22 ) 14 . Murray , Allen & Carrington Power Trio Perfection 108 ( 18 ) 15 . Jane Ira Bloom Early Americans 105 . 5 ( 17 ) 16 . Tyshawn Sorey The Inner Spectrum of Variables 90 ( 18 ) 17 . Greg Ward Touch My Beloved ' s Thought 80 ( 14 ) 18 . Aziza ( Dave Holland , Chris Potter , Lionel Loueke , Eric Harland ) Aziza 78 . 5 ( 15 ) 19 . Andrew Cyrille Quartet The Declaration of Musical Independence 75 ( 15 ) 20 . Jonathan Finlayson & Sicilian Moving Still 67 ( 12 ) 21 . Kris Davis Duopoly 61 . 5 ( 14 ) 22 . Sonny Rollins Holding the Stage : Road Shows , Vol . 4 60 . 5 ( 11 ) 23 . John Scofield Country for Old Men 59 ( 8 ) 24 . Aruán Ortiz Trio Hidden Voices 57 . 5 ( 12 ) 25 . Tom Harrell Something Gold , Something Blue 55 . 5 ( 10 ) 26 . Fred Hersch Trio Sunday Night at the Vanguard 53 ( 9 ) 27 . Barry Guy The Blue Shroud 53 ( 8 ) 28 . Jason Moran The Armory Concert 52 ( 7 ) 29 . Mark Dresser Seven Sedimental You 51 ( 9 ) 30 . George Coleman A Master Speaks 50 ( 9 ) 31 . Jaimeo Brown Transcendence Work Songs 49 ( 9 ) 32 . Donny McCaslin Beyond Now 48 ( 9 ) 33 . Julian Lage Arclight 47 . 5 ( 10 ) 34 . Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau Nearness 45 . 5 ( 8 ) 35 . Frank Kimbrough Solstice 45 ( 9 ) 36 . David Bowie Blackstar 45 ( 5 ) 37 . Melissa Aldana Back Home 43 ( 8 ) 38 . Carla Bley , Andy Sheppard , Steve Swallow Andando el Tiempo 43 ( 7 ) 39 . The Cookers The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart 43 ( 6 ) 40 . Bill Charlap Trio Notes from New York 42 ( 6 ) 41 . Brad Mehldau Trio Blues and Ballads 41 ( 7 ) 42 . Jeff Parker The New Breed 41 ( 6 ) 43 . Wolfgang Muthspiel Rising Grace 40 ( 7 ) 44 . Allison Miller ' s Boom Tic Boom Otis Was a Polar Bear 39 . 5 ( 7 ) 45 . Anthony Braxton 3 Compositions ( EEMHM ) 2011 39 . 5 ( 5 ) 46 . Logan Richardson Shift 39 ( 7 ) 47 . Esperanza Spalding Emily ' s D + Evolution 39 ( 6 ) 48 . Avishai Cohen Into the Silence 37 . 5 ( 8 ) 49 . Taylor Ho Bynum Enter the PlusTet 37 ( 8 ) 50 . Gregory Porter Take Me to the Alley 37 ( 5 ) REISSUE / RARA AVIS 1 . Larry Young Larry Young In Paris : The ORTF Recordings 84 ( 36 ) 2 . The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra All My Yesterdays : The Debut 1966 Village Vanguard Recordings 71 ( 33 ) 3 . Bill Evans Some Other Time : The Lost Sessions from the Black Forest 66 ( 30 ) 4 . Miles Davis Quintet Freedom Jazz Dance : The Bootleg Series , Vol . 5 55 ( 25 ) 5 . Count Basie & Lester Young Classic 1936 - 1947 Studio Sessions Mosaic 32 ( 13 ) 6 . Various Artists The Savory Collection , Volume 1 : Body and Soul : Coleman Hawkins & Friends 23 ( 10 ) 7 . Don Cherry , John Tchicai , Iréne Schweizer , Léon Francioli , Pierre Favre Musical Monsters 22 ( 11 ) 8 . Keith Jarrett A Multitude of Angels 22 ( 10 ) 9 . Shirley Horn Live at the 4 Queens 16 ( 9 ) 10 . Peter Kuhn No Coming , No Going 16 ( 7 ) VOCAL 1 . Rene Marie Sound of Red 102 . Branford Marsalis : Special Guest Kurt Elling Upward Spiral 93 . Camila Meza Traces 84 ( tie ) . Cyrille Aimee Let ' s Get Lost 74 ( tie ) . Gregory Porter Take Me to the Alley 76 ( tie ) . Norah Jones Day Breaks 66 ( tie ) . Catherine Russell Harlem on My Mind 66 ( tie ) . Esperanza Spalding Emily ' s D + Evolution 6 DEBUT 1 ( tie ) . Victor Gould Clockwork 51 ( tie ) . Ron Stabinsky Free for one 51 ( tie ) . Earprint Earprint 54 ( tie ) . George Burton The Truth of What I Am > The Narcissist 44 ( tie ) . Jerome Jennings The Beast 44 ( tie ) . Marcos Varela San Ygnacio 44 ( tie ) . Christopher Zuar Orchestra Musings 4 LATIN 1 . Pedrito Martinez Group Habana Dreams 102 . Jane Bunnett & Maqueque Oddara Linus 93 ( tie ) . Brian Lynch Presents Madera Latino Madera Latino : A Latin Jazz Perspective on the Music of Woody Shaw 83 ( tie ) . Alfredo Rodriguez Tocororo 85 . Guillermo Klein Los Guachos V 76 . Edward Simon Latin American Songbook 6 CriteriaVoters were asked to rank their top 10 albums released in 2016 . A No . 1 ranking earned 10 points , a No . 2 earned 9 points , and so on . Listings on unranked ballots received 5 . 5 points each . In the Reissue / Rara Avis category , voters ranked three releases of either previously - published material or unreleased recordings from over 10 years ago . Voters also picked their single favorite Vocal , Latin jazz and Debut recordings of the year . - http : / / www . npr . org / sections / therecord / 2016 / 12 / 21 / 506093073 / the - 2016 - npr - music - jazz - critics - poll