The 2015 Jazz Journalists Association awards ceremony took place yesterday afternoon at the Blue Note club in New York City, and included special appearances by pre-announced JJA musician award winners Jason Moran (Musician of the Year) and Kenny Barron (Record of the Year, for The Art of Conversation with Dave Holland; duo of the year; and pianist of the year). Lifetime Achievement award winner Randy Weston, introduced by critic and author Gary Giddins, gave a moving acceptance speech and solo piano performance.
Big winners in the journalism categories, announced for the first time yesterday, included Chicago’s Neil Tesser (Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism) and JT contributors Ashley Kahn (Best Liner Notes, for Offering: Live at Temple University [Resonance]) and Nate Chinen (Robert Palmer-Helen Oakley Dance Award for Excellence in Writing). JazzTimes was honored to receive the award for Jazz Publication of the Year, and would like to extend a sincere thank you to the JJA, our subscribers and readers, our advertisers and all of our terrific writers and photographers. In addition, we’d like to thank two gentlemen who were great supporters of the magazine during their lives but are no longer with us, Blue Note Records’ Bruce Lundvall and musician/composer/producer Bob Belden.
For the complete list of JJA award winners, visit the awards’ official site.
