Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Southern California Fires Hit the Jazz Community
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
Henry Threadgill has been honored with a Lifetime Achivement in Jazz award from the Jazz Journalists Association.
(Photo: Nhumi Threadgill)Henry Threadgill, Kamasi Washington, Maria Schneider and DownBeat are among the honorees for the 20th annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards.
The awards for Threadgill (Lifetime Achivement in Jazz) and other artists were announced in May. Schneider, an acclaimed bandleader and Grammy winner, picked up five awards, topping the categories for Record of the Year (The Thompson Fields), Musician of the Year, Composer of the Year, Arranger of the Year and Large Ensemble of the Year (Maria Schneider Orchestra).
Washington—the tenor saxophonist whose album The Epic (Brainfeeder) was one of the most talked-about albums of 2015—was honored as Up And Coming Artist of the Year.
Among the other previously announced honorees for musical achievement, Wadada Leo Smith was named Trumpeter of the Year, and Jane Ira Bloom was named Soprano Saxophonist of the Year.
On June 15 at the Blue Note club in New York City, the JJA presented the Jazz Awards for Journalism and Media. DownBeat was named the inaugural winner of the category Jazz Periodical of the Year (a new category that combines the previous categories Jazz Publication of the Year and Jazz Website of the Year).
Ted Panken, a longtime contributor to DownBeat, was honored with the award for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism.
To see a complete list of winners, visit the JJA website. DB
Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.
Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
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In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
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As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
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If only because openings for JLCO’s 15 permanent positions appear about as frequently as sub-freezing days on the…
“The first recording I owned with Brazilian music on it was Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer,” says Renee Rosnes. “And then I just started to go down the rabbit hole.”
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In her four-decade career, Renee Rosnes has been recognized as a singular voice, both as a jazz composer and a…
