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Warren Wolf, Emmet Cohen, and Anat Cohen were all in Boise in 2026. And these three artists were at the top of the 2026 DownBeat Readers Poll.
Emmet Cohen led the trio with three top honors: His trio was Group of the Year, his album, “Universal Truth,” was Album of the Year, and he was Pianist of the Year.
Both Wolf and Anat Cohen topped their categories for vibraphone and clarinet, respectively.
Each of the three artists also has a featured article in the December DownBeat.
Other top artists
Although it has been a few years since Christian McBride was in Boise (2017), he was also a winner, getting Artist of the Year. McBride also grabbed the top spots for arranging and producing.
Cécile McLorin Salvant (2017) was selected as the top female vocalist, and Larry Goldings (2024) received the most votes for the organ. He was also number five on keyboards.
Vote getters
Several BJS artists were right behind the top spot:
Artemis, who you’ll see in May, was runner-up for Group of the Year.
Ingrid Jensen, who plays with Artemis, was number five for trumpet.
Christian McBride and Linda May Han Oh (2025) were the second and third vote getters for their bass playing. McBride was fourth for electric bass.
Peter Bernstein (2024) was number five for guitar. He was here with Larry Goldings.
Diane Reeves (2023) was number five for top female vocalist.
Brad Mehldau (2023) saw the fourth most votes for piano.
Sullivan Fortner was right behind Mehldau. Fortner has been to Boise a few times.
Wynton Marsalis (2022) took second for arranging, third for trumpet, and fourth for composing.
Jenny Scheinman took third for violin. You saw Jenny with Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom (August 2021).
Ken Peplowski (2019) and Paquito D’Rivera (2021) came in second and third behind Anat Cohen, for the clarinet.
Kenny Baron (2016) was third for Artist of the Year. He also had third-place votes for piano and for Album of the Year (“Songbook).”
Melissa Aldana (2015) received the second most votes for tenor saxophone. She also was number four for Album of the Year (“Filin).”
Joe Farnsworth, who you saw with Emmet Cohen, finished with the third most votes for drums.
It’s a wonderful thing to have this quality live music in a smaller city. And after all these years, it’s hard to imagine not having it here. Let the Boise Jazz Society know how much you appreciate it!
It’s possible I missed a few BJS artists here, and a few more received votes. Get a hold of the December issue of DownBeat and take a look.