I have some sympathy with the premise, especially the unwitting (or perhaps sometimes witting) bias caused by the hugely disproportionate number of male critics. What I'm less sure about however, is the idea that 'best' lists are no longer appropriate. I agree that "...we don’t all experience one thing the same way...", however, how else can one get across how much you REALLY want people to recognise how great an album/gig/piece of music is? In this very article you have posted an 'album of the week'. Is this not a microcosm of the same process involved in ranking albums of the year/decade/century, etc?
I admit I too fall foul of the impact of reviews, simply due to the overwhelming amount of music available and needing help to decide what to try out. I realise that's the key point you are making - under-representation of women especially women of colour is an unfortunate consequence for the reasons you've articulated, however I wouldn't confine that issue to 'best' lists, but to all commentary about releases/gigs. If a critic raves about an album, I'm more likely to check it out than if someone calls an album "weak/derivative/uninspiring", etc. I am inevitably being influenced by the critic (still better than a streaming service algorithm by far, however). Great debate though, thanks Tina.
Anyway - typo alert - you've said "deplore you.." to read the NPR article - you meant "implore you.."!
PS Totally as an aside, "Data Lords" and Laura Jurd's Dinosaur "To The Earth" were in my top three 2020 albums ( & the other isn't 'jazz'), but I'm just a music consumer, not a professional critic.
Woman: there fixed it for you. Maybe not erasing them in your own stable as a start will help.
I have some sympathy with the premise, especially the unwitting (or perhaps sometimes witting) bias caused by the hugely disproportionate number of male critics. What I'm less sure about however, is the idea that 'best' lists are no longer appropriate. I agree that "...we don’t all experience one thing the same way...", however, how else can one get across how much you REALLY want people to recognise how great an album/gig/piece of music is? In this very article you have posted an 'album of the week'. Is this not a microcosm of the same process involved in ranking albums of the year/decade/century, etc?
I admit I too fall foul of the impact of reviews, simply due to the overwhelming amount of music available and needing help to decide what to try out. I realise that's the key point you are making - under-representation of women especially women of colour is an unfortunate consequence for the reasons you've articulated, however I wouldn't confine that issue to 'best' lists, but to all commentary about releases/gigs. If a critic raves about an album, I'm more likely to check it out than if someone calls an album "weak/derivative/uninspiring", etc. I am inevitably being influenced by the critic (still better than a streaming service algorithm by far, however). Great debate though, thanks Tina.
Anyway - typo alert - you've said "deplore you.." to read the NPR article - you meant "implore you.."!
PS Totally as an aside, "Data Lords" and Laura Jurd's Dinosaur "To The Earth" were in my top three 2020 albums ( & the other isn't 'jazz'), but I'm just a music consumer, not a professional critic.