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| The Jazz Journalists Association Announce Jazz Heroes Class of 2022 The Jazz Journalists Association today announced its 2022 class of Jazz Heroes – 28 "activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz" from 26 U.S. communities - to be celebrated for their energy, imagination and resilience in supporting and sustaining jazz artists and audiences in their local communities and beyond. See full portraits and profiles of the Heroes at JJAJazzAwards.org. Simultaneously, the JJA debuts The Buzz: The JJA Podcast, available at all common podcast sites, with new episodes dropping every two weeks. The Buzz is produced by a JJA committee led by Rick Mitchell of the nationally syndicated radio show Jazz in the New Millennium, and will feature jazz journalists discussing critical issues regarding music, from their professional perspectives. The Jazz Heroes and The Buzz represent efforts by the JJA, a non-profit professional organization, to stimulate appreciation and enjoyment of jazz in alignment with the NEA's Jazz Masters broadcast, Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Day. The JJA's 2022 Jazz Heroes, in particular, represent the breadth and depth of jazz in American culture, hailing from cities not well known for musical scenes such as Anchorage and Sitka, Alaska; Boise, Idaho; Durham, North Carolina; Austin and El Paso, Texas, and Palm Coast, Florida, as well as larger urban jazz hubs. The Heroes include: Alina Bloomgarden of New York City, who brought jazz to Lincoln Center and now directs Music on the Inside for people impacted by incarceration; Terri Lyne Carrington of Boston, heralded drummer-composer-bandleader and founding director of the Berklee Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice; Sara Donnelly of Washington, D.C., whose Jazz Road program for South Arts supported musicians during Covid-19 with residencies and tour grants Craig Harris, trombonist and producer of community-based salon concerts in churches, social centers throughout Harlem, New York City; Jim Nadel of the Bay Area, founder and director of the Stanford Jazz Workshop. This year's Jazz Heroes include broadcasters, educators, festival presenters, concert producers, a publicist, an independent scholar and the publisher of The Syncopated Times, chronicle of traditional jazz. The JJA's "Jazz Heroes" initiative dates to 2001, when founders of the Jazz Foundation of America were recognized for their good works. Jazz Heroes are now nominated by grass roots fans to gain the international profile afforded by the JJA's online media efforts, and receive JJA Awards at events where they live, with the public invited. Festivities for Jazz Heroes do not end there: The JJA is planning Super-Zoom livestream productions in which Heroes, musicians and journalists cited as winners in the 27th annual JJA Jazz Awards. Nominees for the Jazz Awards will be announced April 15, and winners on May 4. Dates for the Super-Zooms to follow. The JJA's Jazz Spring activities are sponsored by Berklee College of Music, the Joyce and George Wein Foundation, the Jazz Foundation of America, SFJazz, Monterey Jazz Festival and Kuumbwa Jazz, San Jose Jazz Festival, HighNote/Savant Records, Century Media Partners, the Peabody Conservatory, Stanford Jazz Workshop and Arkadia Records. For further information on the 2022 JJA Jazz Heroes, The Buzz, the JJA Jazz Awards or the JJA, a membership organization for writers, photographers, broadcasters, videographers and other media professionals engaged with jazz, contact Howard Mandel, President@JazzJournalists.org. write your comments about the article :: © 2022 Jazz News :: home page |