Deems Taylor Winners Announced

Excuse us while we pat ourselves on our backs…

On October 24, the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) announced the recipients of this year’s Deems Taylor Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements in print, broadcast and new media coverage of music.

Among this year’s recipients are Jim Dulzo, writer of Jazz Times‘ October 2002 cover story, “Hard Bop, Hard Time – Music, Madness & Roy Brooks,” and Laurence Hobgood, who wrote “The Art of the Trio,” published in our JVC Jazz Festival Program.

To refresh your memory, Dulzo’s story explored the effects of mental illness on the great Detroit drummer Roy Brooks, examining his tragic life and the consequences of untreated mental illness due to a lack of quality healthcare. The article documented the rise and fall of the drummer, from inside the walls of the Parnall Correctional Facility where Brooks is currently an inmate (he failed to be released at his last parole board review).

Hobgood’s story, which ran in the JVC Jazz Festival Program, which was included as a supplement to our June 2002 issue, breaks down the essence of the jazz piano trio through his detailed analysis of Keith Jarrett’s longstanding Standards Trio with Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock.

Articles eligible for this year’s award had to be published during the calendar year of 2002. The winners will be honored at a special reception on December 4, 2003 at the Walter Reade Theatre in New York City.

Other recipients of 2003 Deems Taylor Awards included Steve Robinson, an announcer and producer at WFMT Radio, who will be honored with the Radio Broadcast Award for his innovative music programming. In the Television Broadcast category, the producers and creators of A&E’s Live By Request will be recognized for their achievements while the young Internet Award will recognize the outstanding Web site and lifesaver for any obsessive record collecting dweeb, All Music Guide (www.allmusic.com).

Richard Sudhalter, author of the acclaimed Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael will be honored with the Timothy White Award for Outstanding Musical Biography. This award was established last year to honor the memory of Billboard Magazine editor and former Deems Taylor recipient Timothy White, who passed away in early 2002. Jazz writer Jon Garelick will be presented with a Special Recognition Award for his Boston Phoenix article, “Giving Jazz the Business: Can Major Labels Make the Music Pop?”

Frequent JazzTimes contributor Ashley Kahn was also recognized for the liner notes he supplied for Verve’s most recent reissue of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.

For more information on the ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards, visit http://www.ascap.com/deemstaylor/dt36thguidelines.html

Originally Published November 20, 2003