Pianist Randy Weston headlines the artist lineup and tickets are now on sale for the 15th annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards gala, to be held on Saturday, June 11, from 1 pm to 5 pm EDT at City Winery in New York City.
Performers besides Weston include trumpeter Wallace Roney’s sextet, Canadian flutist/soprano saxophonistJane Bunnett in duet with Cuban-born pianist Hilario Duran, singer Gregory Porter (a nominee for the JJA’s 2011 Male Vocalist of the Year Award) and the Hammer Klavier Trio from Hamburg, Germany.
More information about the performance lineup, including videos of the performers, can be found at the Awards website. The June 11 JJA Jazz Awards gala will be hosted by Josh Jackson, winner of the 2010 Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Broadcasting and host of The Checkout from WBGO. The gala is a fundraiser for the non-profit professional organization that promotes coverage of jazz in all media.
The JJA gala will also feature announcements and presentations of the Awards to the winning nominees in 39 categories of excellence in jazz music and journalism.“Jazz Heroes” from across the U.S. will be honored for their extra-musical jazz activism (there are no “A Team” inductees this year, the better to highlight that jazz activism now has mostly local rather than national impact). Light refreshments and beverages will be served, including Brother Thelonious Belgian Ale supplied by Awards sponsor North Coast Brewing, and wine from City Winery’s own reserves.
The general public may purchase tickets to the Awards gala in New York for $150, with discounts available for JJA Members.
The Jazz Awards will be live videostreamed for free viewing online around the world. Free satellite parties have been convened to watch the Awards in Berkeley, Boston, Portland OR, Seattle and Washington, D.C, among other sites. (Satellite party details coming soon.)
The JJA Jazz Awards is the only broad-based, independent, international celebration of jazz excellence. Begun in 1997 as a collaboration between the Jazz Journalists Association and Michael Dorf (then executive director of the Knitting Factory, now director of City Winery), it has been produced annually since 1999 by the JJA as part of its effort to increase awareness of jazz throughout the U.S., North America, and the rest of the world through writing, photography, audio/video and new media productions.
