Throughout 2020, people that arts journalists and local jazz fans alike recognize as “activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz” —
responded to challenges brought on by a pandemic, economic crisis and social-political turmoil with energy, imagination and resilience. The Jazz Journalists Association is proud to announce its honor roll of 23 of these diverse, devoted people based in 21 U.S. cities as 2021 JJA Jazz Heroes.
Public and/or online presentations to the Heroes of their personalized Awards are to be announced. Full biographies and enlarged images are posted at the newly revised JJAJazzAwards.org website. The Heroes portraits collage is designed for sharing on social media — please do so!
A handful 2021 JJA Jazz Heroes — among many, all deserving your notice, interesting to read about — are:
- Gail Boyd, entertainment lawyer and founder of the trending Facebook group “Alternative Venues for Jazz,”
- John Dimitriou, whose Jazz Alley kitchen in Seattle has served nearly 100,000 free meals to those in need since the pandemic struck,
- Marguerite Horberg, who has stepped up online programming connecting musicians of Chicago and Havana, and beyond,
- Electric bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, producer of Philadelphia’s Outsiders Improvised and Creative Music Festival
- Henry Wong, whose Baltimore listening room, An die Musik, was among the earliest to pivot from live-in-person to live-streamed performance.
In addition: MJ Williams keeps the jazz flame alive in Montana; Philip Bither curates new jazz and improvisation for Minneapolis’ Walker Art Museum; Norman F. Vickers (a founding JJA member) reports on traditional (mostly) jazz from Pensacola; José Massó broadcasts Con Salsa bilingually in Boston; Bret “The Jazz Video Guy” Primack has expanded his purview in Tucson; Susan J. Ross is the “photogriot” of Atlanta, and Gerald Dunn is the Jazz Disciple of Kansas City. SEE DETAILS OF THE 23 Jazz Heroes in 21 U.S. locales!
These Jazz Heroes are united in determination to keep jazz in the air and in our ears, for everyone to enjoy and be enriched by. They are presenters, educators, writers, photographers, broadcasters, videographers, non-profit administrators, chefs, festival workers, public faces of grassroots organizations and in several cases active players who have developed, sustained and helped document America’s native-born music in their local communities and beyond.
The Jazz Journalists Association, a nonprofit professional organization of media content creators covering jazz, established its Jazz Heroes designation in 2010, having previously (starting in 2001) called the honorees members of the JJA “A Team.” The JJA presents annual Jazz Awards for excellence in music and music journalism; nominees for 2021 Jazz Awards will be announced mid-April, with winners of those Awards scheduled to be announced on May 3.
Entities collaborating on the 2021 Heroes campaign include Carolyn McClair Public Relations, Jazz Promo Services, the American Jazz Museum, and The Syncopated Times. The JJA thanks them for their participation and support, as well as JJA board member (and 2020 Jazz Hero) Susan Brink, and webmaster Melanie Nañez (responsible for the dynamic new website design and complete information transfer).
Heroes’ “bios” were written by JJA members J. Scott Fugate, Michael Jackson, Marc PoKempner, Rick Mitchell, Lynn Darroch, W. Kim Heron (an earlier-named Jazz Hero), Ron Scott, John Szwed, Derrick Lucas, Pamela Espeland, Leslie Lyntonn Fuller, Michael J. West, Lew Shaw, Bill Milkowski, Paul deBarros, Andrew Gilbert, Bob Blumenthal, Don Palmer (those four JJA board members, as is Carolyn McClair), as well as Alan Hershowitz, Thomas Paige and Kevin Morris. Photos of the Heroes were provided by Angela Rollins, Mark Sheldon, Noah Elliot Morrison, Marc Myers, DTT Photography. and Marc PoKempner. (If you took one of the uncredited portraits, please email President@JazzJournalists.org for rectification).
