Jon Batiste has topped the 70th annual DownBeat Critics Poll, winning three categories including jazz artist of the year.
It comes as no surprise as Batiste has already won several major awards this year, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and five Grammy Awards.
Among the other major winners of this year’s DownBeat Critics Poll are Charles Lloyd, Maria Schneider and James Brandon Lewis’s Red Lily Quintet, each winning multiple categories.
This year’s rising stars include saxophonists Melissa Aldana, Roxy Coss and Immanuel Wilkins, trumpeter Theo Croker, keyboardist James Francies, pianist Emmet Cohen and guitarist Gilad Hekselman.
Geri Allen was voted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame.