The DownBeat Blindfold Test

Since its debut in 1950, the Blindfold Test has been the most beloved feature in DownBeat magazine — a deceptively simple concept with endlessly revealing results. An artist listens to a selection of recordings and is asked to identify the tune, the players, the composer, and anything else the music stirs in them, then rates each track on DownBeat’s five-star scale. It’s never really about getting it right. The beauty lies in what each artist’s reactions reveal — the insight, the obsessions, the opinions, the occasional ruthlessness. Administered live at Big Ears by DownBeat’s longtime editor and publisher Frank Alkyer, the live taping unfolds in real time, exactly as unpredictable as you’d hope.