The Jazz Journalists Association’s 2019 Jazz Awards hail pianist Ahmad Jamal for his 
Lifetime Achievement in Jazz, and author/educator John Szwed his Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism.
That’s just two at the top of a ballot of 39 categories of excellence in music and music media documentation celebrated by the 24th annual JJA Jaz Awards. See all the winners at https://www.jjajazzawards.org/p/2019-winners.html (and share that link!)
Saxophonist Wayne Shorter has been voted Musician of the Year, bassist Linda May Han Oh is Up and Coming Musician of the Year, and West Side Story Reimagined by Bobby Sanabria’s Multiverse Big Band is Record of the Year, among recipients of Awards for work done in calendar year 2018. Among other honorees are Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon by Maxine Gordon; British photo-journalist Val Wilmer and Massachusetts-based broadcaster Tom Reney both cited for career excellence, and Nate Chinen, editorial content director of WBGO and author of the nominated book Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century for Best Writing in 2018.
All of them — as well as Jamal, Shorter (also Composer of the Year, and leader of the Mid-Sized Ensemble of the Year), Oh (also Bassist of the Year) and drummer Sanabria’s two-cd album of Leonard Bernstein’s score re-envisioned by multiple arrangers — are celebrated as “winners” based on voted on by professional members of the JJA, an international non-profit organization of media-makers covering jazz. Overall more than 400 musicians and journalists were nominated in the two round process, and the JJA is quick to announce that it appreciates the music of every nominee (and the thousands more who are making music or media about it.
Other Awards have been voted for John Coltrane’s Both Directions at Once: The Last Album is Historical Record of the Year, ECM records Label of the Year, and DownBeat magazine Print Periodical-Website of the Year. Further categories include individual instrumentalists, Album Art of the Year and Photo of the Year — Adriana Mateo’s portrait of the late Roy Hargrove smoking a cigarette, seated at a piano in the Umbria Jazz Festival’s ornate Teatro Morlacchi.
This year’s physical Awards — formerly engraved statuettes — are being redesigned. Presentation of Awards for instrumentalists will be presented by JJA members to the winners at their performances throughout the summer.
Plans for presentations of Awards to journalists will be forthcoming, and posted here at JJANews as well as the JJA’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jazzjournalists.
Responses have flooded in from Awards winners.
Writes Trumpeter of the Year Ingrid Jensen: “What! And wow. And thank you all!!”
Male vocalist of the Year Kurt Elling: “Happy news!”
“Thank you!! I think we are going to have to dedicate a room in the house for all of these awards!! :).” April Brumfield for Wycliffe Gordon. Trombonist of the Year.
“Thank you so much!!!! What great news!” — Cécile McLorin Salvant, Female Vocalist of the Year.
Ahmad Jamal, via Laura Hess-Hay: “We are completely honored and we thank you so very much.”
