April 24, New York City — Nominees for the 2018 Jazz Awards, the 23rdannual honors produced by the Jazz Journalists Association, were announced today, posted on the website JJAJazzAwards.org. Excellence in music and music journalism is celebrated in the 39 Awards categories, topped by Benny Golson, Charles Lloyd and Ahmad Jamal for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz, Will Friedwald, Ben Ratliff and Patricia Willard for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism.
All nominees are posted here: http://www.
Saxophonists Golson and Lloyd and pianist Jamal are revered for their compositions, improvisations and ensemble leadership as well as their instrumental works. Friedwald, an author and widely published journalist, is best known as an expert in American popular song; Ratliff, also an author, was jazz and pop critic for the New York Times for 20 years and continues freelancing articles; Willard, Duke Ellington’s editorial hand for 25 years, started publishing articles and liner notes in 1950 and has consulted with government agencies as well as serving as an oral historian.
Other notable details about the JJA’s 2018 finalists ballot:
- Women continue to be more acknowledged for their contributions to jazz, as all three nominees for “Up and Coming Musician of the Year” are female, and Patricia Willard is the first ever female nominee for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism;
- Three of four nominees for Historical Record of the Year were issued by Resonance Records;
- The two dominant American jazz magazines, DownBeat and JazzTimes, face-off as the sole nominees for the JJA Award for Print Periodical/Website of the Year.
Jazz Awards for journalism also include blogs, books, photos, original album art, writing of the year and career achievements in broadcasting and photography. Awards for music include Record of the Year, Record Label of the Year, and honors for composers, vocalists and instrumentalists.
The Jazz Journalists Association is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit association with an international membership of professional writers, broadcasters photographers, videographers and online content creators, plus their supporters. Sponsors of the JJA’s 23rd annual Jazz Awards include the Jazz= Foundation of America, Berklee College of Music, the New School Jazz Program, the Joyce and George Wein Foundation, Verve and Resonance Records as well as Concord Jazz, ECM Records, Motéma Music, Sunnyside Records, Blue Note Records, High Note-Savant Records and Thirsty Ear Records; the Jazz Education Network, ASCAP, BMI, Century Media Partners, the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation and North Coast Brewing Company; the Tucson Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival and Monterey Jazz Festival; WDCB-FM; SFJazz, Jazz St. Louis, Jazz Bridge (Philadelphia), the Jazz Institute of Chicago, MCGJazz (PIttsburgh), Collective Eye Productions (Minneapolis-St. Paul); Braithwaite & Katz Communications, Scott Thompson Public Relations and Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services. These sponsors also support the JJA’s 2018 Jazz Heroes /www.jjajazzawards.org/
2018 Jazz Awards winners will be announced online at www.JJAJazzAwards on May 7; most will receive their engraved statuettes publicly at their summer performances across the U.S. A Jazz Awards party has been schedule for June 12, 2018, to be held at Arnold Hall of the Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 W. 13th Street, NYC. Details TBA.
For further information about the JJA Jazz Awards, Jazz Heroes or the Jazz Journalists Association, please contact President@
