SEEN: WINNERS, 2009 JAZZ AWARDS

By Culturekiosque Staff

NEW YORK, 24 JUNE 2009 - Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins was named Musician of the Year at the 13th annual Jazz Awards last week (16 June) at the Jazz Standard in New York. The Jazz Journalists Association's award for lifetime achievement in jazz went to Lee Konitz.

Mike Zwerin, jazz and rock critic for the International Herald Tribune for decades and one of the earliest contributors to Culturekiosque in Paris, received the award for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism.

A bevy of jazz's best singers including Kurt Elling, Sheila Jordan, Roberta Gambarini, Giacomo Gates and Venissa Santî gathered around bebop-vocalist Mark Murphy to wish him well. Murphy, age 74, was recipient of the first "Words and Music" Awards, co-presented by the JJA and the Jazz Foundation of America, whose director Wendy Oxenhorn made an appeal for $20 donations to cover the crisis in housing and health care for musicians in need.

Music was provided by the Charles Tolliver Big Band, Jane Bunnett's Spirits of Havana, pianist Marian Petrescu and guitarist Andreas Öberg, saxophonist Carol Sudhalter and singer-pianist Daryl Sherman, and saxophonist Matt Miller's trio. Jazz Awards winners receive engraved statuettes.

Based on votes cast by over 400 JJA members (writers, broadcasters, photograhers and new media professionals worldwide) the awards are as follows:

Lifetime Achievement in Jazz
Lee Konitz

Musician of the Year
Sonny Rollins

Composer of the Year
Maria Schneider

Up & Coming Artist of the Year
Esperanza Spalding

Events Producer of the Year
George Wein

Record of the Year
Appearing Nightly: Carla Bley Big Band (Watt/ECM)

Latin Jazz Album of the Year
Song for Chico: Arturo O'Farrill (Zoho)

Historical Recording/Reissue of the Year
Road Shows, Vol. 1: Sonny Rollins (Doxy)

Historical Recording Boxed Set
The Lester Young/Count Basie Sessions 1936-40
(Mosaic)

Record Label of the Year
Mosaic

Female Singer of the Year
Cassandra Wilson

Male Singer of the Year
Kurt Elling

Instruments Rare in Jazz
Richard Galliano, accordion

Large Ensemble of the Year
Maria Schneider Orchestra

Arranger of the Year
Maria Schneider

Small Ensemble Group of the Year
SF Jazz Collective

Trumpeter of the Year
Terence Blanchard

Trombonist of the Year
Roswell Rudd

Tenor Saxophonist of the Year
Sonny Rollins

Alto Saxophonist of the Year
Rudresh Mahanthappa

Flutist of the Year
Frank Wess

Baritone Saxophonist of the Year
Gary Smulyan

Soprano Saxophonist of the Year
Branford Marsalis

Clarinetist of the Year
Anat Cohen

Guitarist of the Year
Bill Frisell

Pianist of the Year
Hank Jones

Organist of the Year
Dr. Lonnie Smith

Strings Player of the Year
Billy Bang

Bassist of the Year
William Parker

Electric Bassist of the Year
Steve Swallow

Mallet Instrumentalist of the Year
Joe Locke

Percussionist of the Year
Hamid Drake

Drummer of the Year
Brian Blade

Periodical of the year
Jazz Times

Website of the Year
www.AllAboutJazz.com

Blog of the Year
Jazz Beyond Jazz
By Howard Mandel
www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz

Best Book about Jazz
A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music
By George Lewis
(University of Chicago Press),

Best Photo of the Year
Hank Jones, Montreal Jazz Festival 2008
By Kris King

The Lona Foote-Bob Parent Award for Photography
John Abbott

The Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Broadcasting
Ben Young, Director, WKCR (Columbia University)

The Helen Dance-Robert Palmer Award for Review and Feature Writing
Nate Chinen

Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism
Mike Zwerin

The Jazz Foundation of America and the Jazz Journalists Association Special Career Honors for Words with Music
Mark Murphy

A Team Awards for:

Herb Alpert: Musician, Producer, Jazz Supporter

Dr. Agnes Varis: Jazz Angel

Bruce Lundvall: Record Man

David N. Baker: Jazz Educator

Timuel Black: Cultural Historian

Steven Saltzman: Chicago Jazz Advocate

Ruth Price: The Jazz Bakery

Clarence Acox: Garfield High School, Jazz Band Leader

Scott Brown: Roosevelt High School, Jazz Band Leader

Peter Levinson: Author and Publicist

Richard Sudhalter: Author, Journalist, Musician

www.JazzJournalists.org

www.jazzfoundation.org

Title image: Mike Zwerin

Related Culturekiosque Archives

Hurricane Katrina: Charities Collect Donations for New Orleans Jazz Musicians

Jazznet Archives: Mike Zwerin
Mike Zwerin, jazz and rock critic for the International Herald Tribune for decades, was one of the early contributors to Culturekiosque. Our jazz archives collect some of his best jazz CD and performance reviews, interviews, and other writings since the magazine's inception.

Mr. Zwerin, who has lived in France for over 35 years is the author of several books on jazz, including The Parisian Jazz Chronicles: An Improvisational Memoir (Yale University Press).

Sons of Miles
A 41-part series featuring personal reminiscences and interviews of Miles Davis and the leading jazz, rock and pop musicians he influenced during his long career, by Mike Zwerin, one of Miles' early sidemen.

Mike Zwerin maintains a personal website at www.mikezwerin.com

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