December 1, 1999

BMI Scores in Year End Jazz Polls

1999 DownBeat Jazz Reader's Poll
74% of Winners are BMI Composers;

JazzTimes Jazz Artist of the Century Poll
70% BMI Affiliated Composers

The 1999 DownBeat Jazz Reader's Poll once again illustrates that the preeminent jazz artists are members of BMI. 74% of those who received awards are BMI composers. Topping the list was the late vibraphonist Milt Jackson of the Modern Jazz Quartet, inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame. These include such major figures as Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Smith, Ray Brown, Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock as well as some of the major new lions on the scene, including clarinetist Don Byron, pianist Brad Mehldau, and vocalist Kevin Mahogany.

Click Here for more on Milt Jackson

Standouts among the awards include the late Miles Davis, winning both Jazz Box Set and Jazz Reissue for the "Complete Bitches Brew Sessions"; Herbie Hancock for Electric Keyboard and Jazz Album of the year, "Gershwin's World"; and B.B. King, who swept the Blues categories, winning Blues Musician, Blues Group, Blues Album and Blues Reissue.

BMI has consistently represented the majority of the winners of the DownBeat Jazz Reader's Poll. Between 1995 and 1999, 70% of the awards went to BMI composers.

JazzTimes, one of the nation's preeminent jazz publications, has chosen to mark the coming millennium by a poll that honors the greatest jazz artists of the 20th century.

70% of the winners are BMI composers, an illustration of the long-standing relationship between BMI and the major figures in the jazz community. Collectively, these individuals have written some of the major work of the 20th century. Their compositions and their lives are illustrations of why jazz is one of America's principal contributions to world culture.

We are proud to salute these BMI composers chosen as "Jazz Artists of the Century."

Miles Davis
Charlie Parker
John Coltrane
Charlie Christian
Bill Evans
Billie Holiday
Charles Mingus
Thelonious Monk
Art Tatum
Lester Young