[A] Probably not. Francis Davis has invited a couple dozen "broadcast journalists," so Rollins might be eligible on those grounds, but I have no way of vetting them: I never listen to radio, and even if I did my exposure would be local in a small market. I did add a couple of invites this year based purely on recommendations from other voters. Both Davis and I have solicited voter proposals, but we've rarely gotten anything from the public.

I think there's a general reluctance to invite musicians to participate. There have been a couple exceptions over the years (Duck Baker is probably the best known, but didn't vote this year; John Pietaro is the only one I recall who voted this year). Rollins seems like an outlier, but I don't doubt that there are dozens or maybe hundreds of non-jazz musicians who could be described that way.

I have little doubt that there are hundreds of fans out there who are as knowledgeable as our critics, and who could make a real contribution to the Poll. However, I'm stuck with the concept of a Critics Poll, as Davis originally defined it.