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| Winners of 30th annual JJA Jazz Awards The Jazz Journalists Association has announced 46 winners of its 2025 JJA Jazz Awards, the 30th annual celebration of excellence in creation of jazz music and jazz-related media. Professional members of the non-profit JJA - the writers, photographers, broadcasters, videographers, podcasters and bloggers covering jazz and adjacent arts - hail several of the field's most respected elders in top categories, including: George Coleman, 90, tenor saxophonist, for his Lifetime Achievement in Jazz; Marshall Allen, 100, alto sax, electronic wind instrument and Sun Ra Arkestra leader, as Jazz Musician of the Year; The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note Records) by tenor saxophonist-flutist Charles Lloyd, 87, in quartet as Record of the Year; Paul de Barros, 79, author, editor, Seattle historian, for his Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism. In other honors, Myra Melford, pianist, bandleader, Professor of Composition and Improvisational Practices at University of California, Berkleley, is named Composer of the Year. Tenor and soprano saxophonist Isaiah Collier, 27, is recognized as Up and Coming Musician of the Year. Kurt Elling and Cécile McLorin Salvant are repeat winners of Male and Female Vocalist of the Year, respectively, with Salvant also recognized for her Duet of the Year with pianist Sullivan Fortner. See all winners and finalists instrumental prowess and achievements in jazz photography, broadcasting, books and visual arts, at JJAJazzAwards.org. "After 30 years, the JJA Jazz Awards is the longest running independent poll of international critics, " claimed Howard Mandel, president since 1994 of the JJA, "and JJA members tend to revere artists whose sounds endure. We also hail new voices for what they're saying now." He referred to Awards winning trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, guitarist Mary Halvorson, strings player Tomeka Reid (cello), mallet instrumentalist Patricia Brennan and live-stream producer/pianist Emmet Cohen as the established next generation advancing the art form. Informally founded in 1988 and incorporated in 2004, the JJA currently comprises 250 active members. Winners of the JJA Jazz Awards, launched in 1996, are determined in a two-stage voting process, with initial nominees solicited from members or pre-screened by committees (in the case of books, photograph and album art of the year). Jazz Awards certificates will be presented to winners at events throughout coming months. The JJA's annual Awards initiatives include recognition of Jazz Heroes, "activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz." The 2025 JJA Jazz Heroes were announced April 1. write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |