Best Jazz Albums (order of preference)
Wadada Leo Smith – America’s National Parks (Cuneiform)
Denny Zeitlin – Solo Piano: Early Wayne: Explorations of Classic Wayne Shorter Compositions (Sunnyside)
Fred Hersch Trio – Sunday Night at the Vanguard (Palmetto)
Darcy James Argue Secret Society – Real Enemies (New Amsterdam)
Kim Davis – Duopoly (CD/DVD) (Pyroclastic)
Frank Kimbrough – Solstice (Piroet)
Marcus Strickland’s Twi-Life – Nihil Novi (Blue Note)
Loren Richardson – Shift (Blue Note)
Anders Svanoe – State of the Baritone (Irabaggast Records)
Aziza – Aziza (Redeye)
Best Latin Jazz Album
(tie) Harold Lopez-Nussa – El Viaje (Mack Avenue)
Edward Simon – Latin American Songbook (Sunnyside)
Best Vocal Album
Gregory Porter – Take Me to the Alley (Blue Note)
Best Historic Recordings/Reissues
Larry Young – In Paris: The ORTF Recordings (Resonance)
Bill Evans – Some Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest (Resonance)
Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra – All My Yesterdays: The Debut 1966 Recordings at the Village Vanguard (Resonance)
Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Got a Mind to Give Up Living Live 1966 (Real Gone Music)
Best Blues/Roots Album
Tedeschi Trucks Band – Let Me Get By (Deluxe Edition) (Fantasy)
Best World Music
Yo-Yo Ma and Silk Road Ensemble – Sing Me Home (Masterworks)
Best Live Performance
Tedeschi Trucks Band/Los Lobos, White River Park, Indianapolis, July 27
Rick Germanson Trio, Jazz Estate, Milwaukee, Dec. 23
Website: Culture Currents (Vernaculars Speak)