World-spanning saxophonist, composer-improviser and band leader Charles Lloyd is hailed for his Lifetime Achievement in Jazz –
Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington honored as Musician of the Year and for her album New Standards, Vol. 1 – singer Samara Joy recognized as Up & Coming Musician of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year in the 2023 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards.
Winners of Awards in 49 categories of excellence in jazz-related music and media are cited in the 28th annual poll of professional members of the JJA, the international organization promoting the interests of journalists covering jazz. See the entire list of winners and finalist nominees in Music and Media categories.
Career highlights of Memphis-born Lloyd, now 85, start with his barnstorming in post-War blues bands; taking part in Los Angeles’s 1950s’ modernist scene; recording Forest Flower, a best-selling 1966 live from Monterey Jazz Fest album (featuring pianist Keith Jarrett, also nominated for this year’s Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award); a breakthrough tour of the Soviet Union; meditations with the Beach Boys and fruitful collaborations with many brilliant musicians, including 2023 JJA Guitarist of the Year Bill Frisell, a member of Lloyd’s current quartet the Marvels, also a member of one of Lloyd’s three trios each with an album released by Blue Note Records in 2022.
Among other winners in music categories are composer-alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón, vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, singer Kurt Elling, Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and Christian McBride’s New Jawn.
On the jazz media side:
- Ashley Kahn, the historian-author-educator-lecturer-NPR commentator-New Orleans Jazz and Heritage fest stage manager, is 2023 Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism honoree
- The JJA’s prestigious Book Awards go to Saxophone Colossus, The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins by Aidan Levy (also winning the award for Excellence in Writing in 2022), and Ain’t But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story, edited by Willard Jenkins
- Bob Perkins, retiring from WRTI-Philadelphia after a 55-year radio career, receives the Marian McPartland-Willis Conover Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting
- Lauren Deutsch receives the Lona Foote-Bob Parent Award for Career Excellence in Photography, and her image of bassist William Parker is chosen Photo of the Year
- Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes, directed by Peter Schnall, has won Best Jazz Documentary
Awards will be presented at an interactive online gala scheduled for Sunday, September 10, 2023 at the JJA’s unique virtual reality BashHouse.
Details will follow. The JJA’s spring initiatives, including both the Jazz Awards and previously announced class of 36 Jazz Heroes in 34 U.S. locales, are promoted via its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels, JJANews and podcast The Buzz.
Sponsors of the Jazz Awards include the Joyce and George Wein Foundation, Berklee College of Music, The Jazz Foundation, SFJazz, Blue Note Records, Arkadia Records, Mack Avenue Records, Braithwaite and Katz Public Relations, Carolyn McClair Public Relations, and Sue Auclair Promotions.
