JJA Jazz Awards 2007 Winners
NEW YORK – June 29 2007Two icons of avant-garde jazz — saxophonist-composer Ornette Coleman and pianist-composer Andrew Hill — were celebrated with highest honors at the 2007 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards, during a luncheon at the Jazz Standard on June 28, attended by some 100 movers and shakers of the national jazz scene.
Voting members of the JJA, a non-profit professional organization, cited Coleman, who received a Pulitzer Prizer earlier in 2007, as Musician of the Year, Alto Saxophonist of the Year; named Sound Grammar, his quartet release on his own Sound Grammar label, Record of the Year and the quartet itself Small Group of the Year. Hill, who died of lung cancer on April 20, was voted the Jazz Award for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz, Jazz Composer of the Year, and Pianist of the Year; he had performed in trio as recently as weeks before his death.
Other top honoreees in 41 categories (detailed below) were — Anat Cohen, Up and Coming Artist and Clarinest of the Year; Sonny Rollins, Tenor Saxophonist of the Year; Charles Tolliver for leading the Big Band of the Year; and Roy Haynes (last year's Lifetime Achievement in Jazz winner), Drummer of the Year. ECM, directed by founder Manfred Eicher since 1969, was named Record Label of the Year. Francis Davis, columnist for the Village Voice, contributor to the Atlantic Monthly and author of several books on music and culture, was recognized for his Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism.
Davis, Cohen, Tolliver and Haynes were among the winners and nominees in attendance, along with representatives from sponsoring organizations BMI, Boosey & Hawkes, Blue Note Records, Concord Records, ECM (voted Label of the Year), Mosaic, Iridium Jazz Club, WBGO, and past-honored JJA Lifetime Achievement in Jazz winners Gary Giddins, Dan Morgenstern, and Howard Mandel, who presided over the event. Pianist Frank Kimbrough performed a tribute to Andrew Hill, following a toast by BMI's Robbin Ahrold, "To Andrew." Joanne Robinson Hill, his wife, received the Awards with acknowledgement Andrew would have loved the Award event's buffet of the Jazz Standard's acclaimed barbeque.
The following are all the winners of 2007 Jazz Awards. For further information, visit www. Jazzhouse.org, and/or contact hman <at> jazzhouse.org, 212 533 9495.
Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Andrew Hill Musician of the Year Ornette Coleman Up & Coming Musician of the Year Anat Cohen Jazz Album of the Year Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar) Ornette Coleman Jazz Reissue of the Year, Single CD Music Written for Monterey 1965 Not Heard: At UCLA 1965 (CME-Sunnyside) Charles Mingus Jazz Reissue of the Year, Boxed Set The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (Riverside) Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane Jazz Record Label of the Year ECM Jazz Events Producer of the Year Patricia Nicholson Parker – Vision Festival/Arts for Art, Inc. Jazz Composer of the Year Andrew Hill Jazz Arranger of the Year Maria Schneider Male Jazz Singer of the Year Kurt Elling Female Jazz Singer of the Year Roberta Gambarini Latin Jazz Album of the Year Simpatico (ArtistShare) Brian Lynch & Eddie Palmieri Small Ensemble Group of the Year Ornette Coleman Quartet Large Ensemble of the Year Charles Tolliver Big Band Trumpeter of the Year Dave Douglas Trombonist of the Year Wycliffe Gordon Player of the Year of Instruments Rare in Jazz Scott Robinson, multi-reeds Alto Saxophonist of the Year Ornette Coleman Tenor Saxophonist of the Year Sonny Rollins Soprano Saxophonist of the Year Dave Liebman Baritone Saxophonist of the Year Gary Smulyan Clarinetist of the Year Anat Cohen Flutist of the Year Frank Wess Pianist of the Year Andrew Hill Organ-keyboards of the Year Joey DeFrancesco Guitarist of the Year Pat Metheny Acoustic Bassist of the Year Dave Holland Electric Bassist of the Year Steve Swallow Strings Player of the Year Regina Carter Mallets Player of the Year Bobby Hutcherson Percussionist of the Year Cyro Baptista Drummer of the Year Roy Haynes Jazz Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award Francis Davis Excellence in Jazz Broadcasting — The Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award Bob Porter Excellence in Photography — The Lona Foote–Bob Parent Award Gene Martin Excellence in Newspaper, Magazine or Online Feature or Review Writing — The Helen Dance–Robert Palmer Award Nate Chinen Best Periodical Covering Jazz JazzTimes Best Website Concentrating on Jazz AllAboutJazz.com Best Book About Jazz The House That Trane Built: The Story Of Impulse Records (W. W. Norton) Ashley Kahn Best Jazz Photo of the Year John Abbott A Team Awards (for activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz) to: Leslie Johnson, publisher of the Mississippi Rag; Bob Koester, owner of Chicago's Jazz Record Mart and Delmark Records;
Orrin Keepnews, record producer and writer;
Donald Harrison, artistic director, and Bill Taylor, executive director of the New Orleans-based Tipitina's Foundation;
Clint Rosemond of The World Stage for inner city-outreach programs;
Mark Masters of the American Jazz Institute;
Dr. F. King Alexander, the President of the Cal State University of Long Beach, chairman of the Board of KJAZZ 88.1 FM;
Jose Rizo and Councilwoman Jan Perry for their work with the Board of the Dunbar Economic Development Corporation in support of the Central Avenue Jazz Festival
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