StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Readers Poll winners in concert

As the year winds down and the number of potential locally focused topics for this weekly post has, for the moment, dwindled into near non-existence, this week let's enjoy performances from some of the winners in DownBeat magazine's 2020 Readers Poll, as announced in their December issue.

While polls of this sort shouldn't be taken too seriously, they can provide an interesting snapshot of what and who's popular at a given moment in time, and offer fodder for discussion. One of this year's big winners in the Downbeat poll, and the subject of the issue's cover photo, is guitarist and singer George Benson, who was elected to the magazine's Hall of Fame this year. Benson and his band can be seen in the first video up above, which features a full set of music recorded in July 2017 at a festival in Marseille, France.

After the jump, you can see a set of music from the ensemble voted best small jazz group for 2020 by DB's readers, pianist Chick Corea's Trilogy with drummer Brian Blade and bassist Christian McBride (both of whom also were Readers Poll winners this year on their respective instruments). The video documents their set at the 2016 Pittsburgh Jazz Festival.

Next up is New Orleans' own Trombone Shorty, who, as you may have already guessed, is this year's winner for best trombonist. He and his band can be seen in the third video, a complete set of music recorded in 2015 at the Baloise Session festival in Basel, Switzerland.

That's followed by a set from the 2020 poll's top tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, seen hear with his band Circuits at the 2019 Vaulx Jazz festival in France. Along with Potter on tenor and flute, that's Craig Taborn on keyboards, Tim Lefebvre on bass, and Justin Brown on drums.

The fifth video features Herbie Hancock, who was the winner in the "keyboards" category this year in both the Critics Poll and DownBeat's Readers Poll, announced earlier in the year. This recording documents Hancock's appearance in October 2017 on the PBS program Austin City Limits, accompanied by bassist James Genus, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, and saxophonist/keyboardist Terrace Martin.

Last but not least, it's Marcus Miller, this year's winner as best electric bassist, who is seen here leading his band in their set at the 2019 Jazz à la Villette festival in France.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...