More than three dozen engraved statuettes for excellence in jazz and jazz media are now scheduled for 
international presentations by members, supporters and colleagues of the Jazz Journalists Association. Winners of the JJA’s 2019 Jazz Awards ranging from pianist Ahmad Jamal (Lifetime Achievement in Jazz”) to Linda May Han Oh (Up and Coming Musician of the Year, and also Bassist of the Year) will be receiving their statuettes publicly, in front of their audiences at venues across the United States including SF Jazz, the Village Vanguard, and Monterey Jazz Festival, as well as in England and Australia for an unprecedented demonstration of jazz journalism’s reach.
All Jazz Awards winners were announced on May 1 and are posted at http://www.JJAJazzAwards.org.
Tom Reney was the first to get a 2019 JJA Jazz Award — the McPartland-Conover Award for career excellence in broadcasting — from board member Bob Blumenthal at New England Public Radio’s Arts & Humanities Awards Gala on May 22, so early that a special plaque was created for him, rather than the engraved statuette. But the JJA’s presentation season really kicks off today, June 22, when Orrin Evans performs at Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival with his Captain Black Big Band, accepting the Award for “Large Ensemble of the Year” from Janis Burley-Wilson, Festival director and president of the August Wilson African-American Cultural Center. Trumpeter Sean Jones will also be on hand to assist with the presentation.
That’s followed by Scott Robinson – the JJA’s declared “Multiple Reeds Player of the Year” and “Player ofInstruments Rare in Jazz”– receiving his Awards at the Rochester Jazz Festival on June 23 from Jazzweek editor Ed Trefizger. Female Singer of the Year Cecile McLorin Salvant will get her Award from KNKX-FM program host (and JJA board member) Robin Lloyd at Seattle’s Jazz Alley on June 24. Vibraphonist Joe Locke, designated “Mallets Instrumentalist of the Year,” will be handed his statuette by JJA stalwart Susan Brink at the Saratoga Jazz Festival, June 29.
Subsequently, Awards will be presented to Ms. Oh by writer Aidan Levy during her quartet’s July 2 – 7 run at the Village Vanguard; to Dr. Lonnie Smith (Keyboardist of the Year) during his stint at the Jazz Standard in New York City, to trombonist Wycliffe Gordon at the Litchfield (CT) Jazz Festival by author Bill Milkowski, and Ahmad Jamal by Bay Area writer (and JJA board member) Andy Gilbert at the pianist’s SF Jazz concert September 5.
Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism honoree John Szwed will be toasted in Philadelphia at an autumn event of presenting organization Ars Nova; the Career Achievement in Photography winner Val Wilmer is being feted in London by JJA-friendly members of the editorial staff of The Wire. In Australia, the Award for Album Art of the Year will be accepted on behalf of the late Charles Henry Alston by trumpeter Mat Jodrell, whose recording Echoes of Harlem features Alston’s drawing.
In later summer and fall, Jazz Awards will be given the winners at the Miami ITG Trumpet Conference (Ingrid Jensen, Trumpeter of the Year, by Brian Zimmerman, online editor of Jazziz magazine), the Ravinia Festival (drummer-bandleader Bobby Sanabria for West Side Story Revisited, Record of the Year, by Neil Tesser), the Monterey Jazz Festival (Kenny Barron, Pianist of the Year), and other spots to be announced at the JJA’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/jazzjournalists/community/.
All winners and nominees of the 2019 JJA Jazz Awards can be seen at www.JJAJazzAwards.org. The JJA is a 501 (c) (3) globe-spanning professional organization of media content providers disseminating news and views of jazz; JJA Jazz Awards were first presented in 1997. For further information about the JJA, contact president@jazzjournalists.org.
Congratulations to all of these well-deserving winners!