Yo, Kansas City! It's time to rock the vote!

Bobby Watson
As the director of jazz studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Conservatory of Music, Bobby Watson could teach most local up-and-comers a thing or two. But make no mistake -- checking out the alto saxophonist and composer live is about the furthest thing from sitting through a lecture. Having released Horizon Reassembled with his hard-bop quintet Horizon last year, Watson will school an audience at Lincoln Center when he travels to New York City and plays with the Julliard Jazz Orchestra in September. (www.bobbywatson.com)

Malachy Papers
It doesn't take a highly analytical mind to figure out that three of this year's nominees are either affiliated with or led by saxophonist Mark Southerland -- or to deduce why. Though Kansas City's taste for traditional jazz and bop will never diminish, the town's appetite seems somewhat dulled for the same old noodly swing standards. Joc Max (see Best DJ/Dance), vibraphonist Mike Dillon (now on tour with Les Claypool) and master of keyboard disaster and local production meister E. Clarke Wyatt have all joined in the Malachy, making it one of the most free-spirited and accessible avant-garde acts in KC history. (www.malachypapers.com)

Snuff Jazz
With a friendship that spans back to the early, heady days of local jazz-jam heroes and multi-Pitch Award winners the Malachy Papers, bassist Bill McKemy and saxophonist Mark Southerland continue to explore their mutual musical musings within the boundless confines of Snuff Jazz. In an improvisational setting where anything goes -- and often does -- McKemy and Southerland transform seven years' worth of mutual respect and audacious interplay into a sound that is unique for the more traditionally oriented KC jazz scene. (www.billmckemy.com)

TJ Dovebelly
As of last spring, the TJ Dovebelly Ensemble is, regrettably, no more. Born from Crossroads District hangout Y.J.'s Snack Bar, the four-piece was a constant presence at local fashion shows, house parties and gallery get-downs. It is remembered most for its innovative tape-scratching and multitude of horn inventions, courtesy of Mark Southerland, aka Mr. Dovebelly. Southerland, a heralded force of the experimental-music scene, can still be heard blowing away with Snuff Jazz, Malachy Papers, Mr. Marco's V7 and the Ssion. (www.tjdovebelly.com)

Best Latin
Son Venezuela
Proclamations can be dangerous, but when Son Venezuela's members describe themselves as "the Kansas City ambassadors of Latin music," you'd better believe it. For the past decade, this feisty nine-piece -- which features musicians from as far away as Brazil, Holland and Venezuela and as near as Lawrence -- has found fun and fame in bringing spicy songwriting, imported rhythms and a feverish live show to fans across the Midwest. If you don't know how to dance before the show, you will by the end. (www.sonvenezuela.com)

Grupo Muralla
Latin America has long been a melting pot of musical influences, a volatile mixture of its Spanish heritage, African influences and indigenous rhythms. Likewise, Ulises Torres and Grupo Muralla craft their sound from their proud ethnic ancestry and their kinship with Kansas City. History and lineage aside, this outstanding octet dedicates itself to inciting the furious footwork and sensuously swaying hips that make the KC salsa scene sizzle. (www.kcsalsa.com)

Descarga KC
Descarga KC won't be back until the next Día de los Muertos, for the band is no more. But don't put on black just yet, grandma -- percussion troubadour Pablo Sanhueza and some of the original members have rambled on to found Makuza, which will no doubt deliver the same reckless yet refined big-ensemble Latin music. We weren't too worried anyway; Descarga passes its torch to Makuza at a time when the salsa-merengue scene in Kansas City couldn't be much hotter. (www.kcsalsa.com)

Grupo Candela (Mambo Orchestra)
"El Mambo" DeLeon y su Grupo Candela -- now called El Mambo Orchestra -- is the latest salsa-mambo incarnation led by Miguel DeLeon, a veteran of almost 30 years in Latin music. The group's all-star cast of Kansas City musicians (including several from Mambo-X, DeLeon's previous group) includes trumpeter Al Pearson (of every big band in town), percussionist Pat Conway (BCR, NewEar Ensemble), sax man Carl Bender, keyboardist and composer Gary Nelson and distinctive vocalist Ramon Terrada. Other mambo bands may be bigger, but few have this much experience. (www.elmamboworld.com)

Best Live Act
Shots Fired
See Rock.

Superargo
See Electronic.

The Esoteric
See Hardcore/Metal.

The Litigators
See Rock.

The Ssion
See Punk.

The Wilders
See Country/Roots/Bluegrass.

Best Male Vocalist
Jeff Wood
There's a reason so many fans of the Sound and the Fury know the band's lyrics by heart. Jeff Wood, the band's singer, actually sings. No angry, indecipherable gurgle here -- the dude actually has a working set of pipes. (His weekly solo gig at Harpo's, when he sings over the sound of roughly 137 sports conversations, has to help.) There are plenty of other bands out there with a Faulkner-inspired nom de guerre, but nobody else in town makes "loud and heavy" so articulate. (www.thesoundandthefury.com)

Matt Pryor (The New Amsterdams)
See Pop.