As part of a broader effort to harness the Internet to engage more jazz fans, Jazz at Lincoln Center is inviting the general public to vote online for the 2013 inductees to the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame.
In the past, the inductees have been chosen by a panel of 72 critics and musicians. Thirty-five musicians â€" most of them giants like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington â€" have been given a spot in the hall since it was established in 2004.
This year, however, Jazz at Lincoln Center is asking fans to vote for their favorite artists from a list of 10 nominees chosen by a panel of experts, among them the institution’s managing and artistic director Wynton Marsalis, the critic Stanley Crouch, the radio host Phil Schaap and the bandleader Vince Giordano.
The votes will be cast on the nonprofit jazz organization’s Web site, with each person who registers an e-mail address choosing up to four artists. Only nominees who receive at least three-quarters of the vote will be honored, up to a maximum of four inductees. If no one gets 75 percent of the vote, the top vote-getter will be inducted.
The voting will provide another method for Jazz at Lincoln Center to collect the names and e-mail addresses of jazz fans, who might later be informed of concerts or solicited for donations, officials said.
It is one of several steps the the executive director, Greg Scholl, has taken since last year to build an online community of jazz fans to support the organization, harnessing social media and the Web site. To that end, Mr. Scholl has begun to stream many Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts for free online. He also has plans to make the group’s vast library of past concerts available through the Web site.
The nominees this year are the drummer Art Blakey, the bassist Jimmie Blanton, the drummer Kenny Clarke, the vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, the drummer Roy Haynes, the pianist James P. Johnson, the bandleader Don Redman, the trumpeter Clark Terry, the tenor saxophonist Ben Webster and the pianist Teddy Wilson. Voting closes at noon on March 31 and the inductees will be announced on April 2.
