06/12/11

Jazz Journalists Association Presents Annual Awards in NYC

Organization gives out over 40 awards to artists, journalists and activists

By Lee Mergner

The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) gave out its annual awards for excellence in music and journalism on Saturday, June 11 at the City Winery in New York City. The ceremony, presided over by radio host Josh Jackson and orchestrated by organization president Howard Mandel, also included performances by Randy Weston (with special guest Candido sitting in on congas), Jane Bunnett and Hilario Duran (also featuring a cameo by the 90-year-old Candido), Gregory Porter, the Wallace Roney Sextet (minus the leader stuck in tunnel traffic) and the Hammer Klavier Trio. The organization also recognized several activists and champions of the music with its “Jazz Heroes” awards, which went to various regional presenters and community leaders. Members of the organization and noted musicians served as presenters for the awards.

Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Heath, Joe Lovano and Ambrose Akinmusire were among the few artists who won multiple awards. Rollins was recognized as Musician of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year and he was the subject of the Photograph of the Year by John Abbott, whose photos of Rollins have been on the cover and pages of this publication for many years. Heath won awards for his autobiography, I Walked with Giants, co-authored by Joseph McLarin, and for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz. Lovano and his group Us Five received awards for Small Group of the Year and Album of the Year, for Bird Songs on Blue Note Records. Ambrose Akinmusire, whose debut album was released earlier this year also on Blue Note (and the subject of this profile by Geoffrey Himes in JT), was a double winner with awards for Up and Coming Artist of the Year and Trumpeter of the Year. So perhaps it should have come as no surprise the Blue Note was named Record of the Year, even though its jazz releases have waned in number in recent years.

Duke Ellington’s The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia, and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra on Mosaic was recognized as Historical Recording, Boxed Set or Single CD Reissue of the Year and the liner notes by Steven Lasker for that 11-CD set were named Best Liner Notes of the Year.

For the 11th consecutive year JazzTimes was named Best Jazz Periodical, though this year the Periodical and Website categories were combined. Nate Chinen, longtime columnist for the magazine, was given the Helen Dance-Robert Palmer Award for Review and Feature Writing; Bill Milkowski, another current and past JazzTimes contributor, received the Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism. Jimmy Katz, who shot many covers and features for the magazine, was presented with the Lona Foote-Bob Parent Award for Jazz Photography.

Here is a complete list of winners 2011 JJA Jazz Awards

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN JAZZ
Jimmy Heath

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Sonny Rollins

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
Jason Moran

UP AND COMING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Ambrose Akinmusire

RECORDING OF THE YEAR
Joe Lovano Us Five: Bird Songs (Blue Note)

HISTORICAL RECORDING, BOXED SET OR SINGLE CD REISSUE OF THE YEAR
Duke Ellington: The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia, and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (Mosaic)

RECORD LABEL OF THE YEAR
Blue Note

FEMALE SINGER OF THE YEAR
Dee Dee Bridgewater

MALE SINGER OF THE YEAR
Kurt Elling

LARGE ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR
Mingus Big Band

SMALL ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR
Joe Lovano Us Five

ARRANGER OF THE YEAR
Bill Holman

TRUMPETER OF THE YEAR
Ambrose Akinmusire

TROMBONIST OF THE YEAR
Wycliffe Gordon

TENOR SAXOPHONIST OF THE YEAR
Sonny Rollins

ALTO SAXOPHONIST OF THE YEAR
Rudresh Mahanthappa

BARITONE SAXOPHONIST OF THE YEAR
James Carter

SOPRANO SAXOPHONIST OF THE YEAR
Jane Ira Bloom

CLARINETIST OF THE YEAR
Anat Cohen

FLUTIST OF THE YEAR
Nicole Mitchell

GUITARIST OF THE YEAR
Russell Malone

PIANIST OF THE YEAR
Fred Hersch

BASSIST OF THE YEAR
Christian McBride

DRUMMER OF THE YEAR
Matt Wilson

PERCUSSIONIST OF THE YEAR
Bobby Sanabria

ORGANIST/KEYBOARDIST OF THE YEAR
Dr. Lonnie Smith

MALLET INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Stefon Harris

VIOLINIST OF THE YEAR
Billy Bang

PLAYER OF THE YEAR INSTRUMENTS RARE IN JAZZ
Toots Thielemans, harmonica

PERIODICAL/WEBSITE OF THE YEAR
JazzTimes

BLOG OF THE YEAR
A Blog Supreme, by Patrick Jarenwattananon

BEST BOOK ABOUT JAZZ
I Walked With Giants: The Autobiography of Jimmy Heath by Jimmy Heath and Joseph McLaren (Temple University Press)

BEST LINER NOTES OF THE YEAR
Steven Lasker for The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia, and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (Mosaic)

THE HELEN DANCE-ROBERT PALMER AWARD FOR REVIEW AND FEATURE WRITING
Nate Chinen

THE WILLIS CONOVER–MARIAN MCPARTLAND AWARD FOR BROADCASTING
Phil Schapp

THE LONA FOOTE- BOB PARENT AWARD FOR PHOTOGRAPHY
Jimmy Katz

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN JAZZ JOURNALISM
Bill Milkowski

SHORT FORM VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Sonny Rollins: Getting It Back Together - Bret Primack, producer/director

PHOTO OF THE YEAR
Sonny Rollins by John Abbott

JAZZ HEROES
Omrao Brown, Bohemian Caverns, Washington DC

Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Arts philanthropist and policy adviser, Washington DC

John Gilbreath, executive director Earshot Jazz, Seattle

Dr. Maiterya Padukone, pro bono dentistry referred by Jazz Foundation of America, NYC

Don Z. Miller, festival and jazz tour organizer, Arizona

Ed Reed, drug counselor and singer, Bay Area

Mike Reed, festival and events producer and drummer, Chicago

Roger Spencer and Lori Mechem, directors of the Nashville Jazz Workshop

Elynor Walcott and her sons Paul, Frank and Lloyd Poindexter, proprietors of Wally's Cafe Jazz Club, Boston