Take Five: Midsummer Magic

New music you shouldn't miss, and a riff on critical consensus

Critical consensus is a flawed and fascinating idea. In our era, its emblematic form is the movie-ratings engine Rotten Tomatoes, which delivers an aggregate take so convenient that Hollywood frets helplessly under its coolly appraising gaze.¹

Over the weekend I went with my family to see Superman, the James Gunn superhero film that has landed on our summer blockbuster calendar like a Kryptonian meteor in a Kansas cornfield.² We had a fun, rousing time in the theater, and later I checked to see what the internet had to say. As you may have heard, Superman is “Certified Fresh,” with 83% on the Tomatometer, which scrapes many dozens of reviews (355, in this case) to deliver its verdict. But I don’t have much faith in the system, so my next move is to scan the list for critics I trust — evaluating their reviews against what I know of their sensibilities, which may or may not align with my own.

If this adds up to some kind of credo, it would be: Consider the source. Like I said, I enjoyed Superman. But encountering a harsh review — like Adam Nayman’s at The Ringer — was bracing and welcome, because I have context for his expertise in the field. Likewise, I knew where Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins were coming from when I heard their qualified rave on The Ringer podcast The Big Picture. Just as I know enough about the source to place extra weight on this Substack Note from

Michael Chabon

, the author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

Pivoting from superhero IP to a subject area closer to my own: the jazz world saw two noteworthy incarnations of critical consensus last Thursday. First and foremost is the August issue of DownBeat magazine, featuring its 73rd annual Critics Poll. According to editor and publisher Frank Alkyer, there were 251 ballots cast, amounting to “what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz.” I’m not prepared to cosign that claim, but there’s no question that this poll captures a valuable cross-section of the international critical establishment, such as it stands. And I’m delighted to see any issue of DownBeat with a cover image of the inimitable Anthony Braxton, who has been voted into the DB Hall of Fame.

DownBeat happened to send out its digital edition on the same day that ArtsFuse posted a mid-year check-in from the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. Pollster Tom Hull, who is carrying on this effort as a tribute after the death of its namesake this spring, notes that 113 critics cast ballots, voting for 441 new jazz albums. (“More than half of those albums I hadn’t even heard of before I started the poll,” he adds.)

Here I should note, with chagrin, that I failed to participate in either of these polls. It wasn’t a matter of principle so much as priorities: it has been a challenging season for work-life balance, and I simply got overwhelmed and missed the deadlines. But I do intend to vote in the year-end Francis Davis poll, and as I peruse the results in both cases, I can see where my judgments align or depart from the group. Congrats to all of the deserving artists who got welcome news from either or both of these polls.

Now, since you’re here reading The Gig, I’ll assume you share my appreciation for the value of an individual critical voice. If you support this publication as a paid subscriber, keep reading to see the latest installment of Take Five, my regular roundup of must-hear new music. (Spoiler: it leads with the artist just voted Female Vocalist of the Year in the DownBeat Critics Poll.) Happy reading, happy listening.

Take Five: Midsummer Edition

July 14, 2025

Another batch of music I’m already eyeing for year-end honors.

(Art by Cécile McLorin Salvant, animated video by Robert Edridge-Waks.)

Cécile McLorin Salvant, “Oh Snap”

At this point, any new music from Cécile McLorin Salvant qualifies as an event. And after coming on strong in 2010s as an unusually wily and perspicacious jazz singer, she has spent this decade flipping every expectation. Her first two Nonesuch albums — Ghost Song (2022) and Mélusine (2023) — revealed ever more surprising layers of emotional resonance and mythic portent, along with a stylistic sweep that aligns her less with her jazz-vocal peers and more with visionary, category-scrambling label mates like Laurie Anderson, Davóne Tines and Nathalie Joachim.