Yet I left the affair hoping it could be improved. Certainly the production snafus that plagued the first two ceremonies can be avoided with more pre-production time and rehearsals.

Regarding the acceptance of individual awards, if artists can’t accept in person, they should designate someone to accept for them. Let’s give this event the respect it deserves. I’m still at a loss to understand why Kenny Garrett didn’t accept his award, even though he was present. Was Mr. Garrett trying to make a statement, or simply not notified, even though he was backstage?

One oversight that merits immediate correction is the omission of a Latin Jazz award. Some of the most exciting music I’ve heard lately has come from Chucho Valdez, Ruben Gonzalez, Eddie Palmieri, Chico O’Farrell, and Paquito D'Rivera, for starters. Add Brazillians like Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze and Carlinhos Brown to that and it’s obvious this music needs recognition. (Jésus Alemañy and Ray Vega, too!)

Why are there so many awards? Is it really necessary to have a category for each instrument? This laundry list of categories only serves to lengthen the ceremony itself and logistically, makes it impossible for the entire show to conveniently fit onto a sixty minute television program.

I say, drop the instrumental and vocal categories. Let the Down Beat poll and other such popularity contests deal with the kitchen sink list of instrumentalists. By the way, when Thelonious Monk was once asked what he thought of polls, he thought for a moment and replied, "I have a lot of respect for the Polish people, especially the way they can drink vodka."

Instead, let’s take a page from the annual ceremony of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which celebrates the lifetime achievements of their artists with impressive multimedia presentations, and offers a jam session.

I’d like to see the Jazz Awards focus on four Lifetime Achievement Awards, two deceased musicians and two who are still with us. For each, create a dynamic multimedia presentation that would play well both on television and on the web. These presentations should utilize the same production values as MTV. That would give Awards more credibility outside the Jazz community.

As far as the other Awards, I’d keep: Musician of the Year, Album of the Year, Composer of the Year, Recording Debut of Year, Combo of the Year, Big Band of the Year and Reissue of the Year, adding Latin Jazz Album of the Year. That makes a total of twelve awards. Just enough.

As a capper to the evening, put together an organized all-star jam session. That would add an element of excitement to the night.

Late Breaking Development:

We've just learned that the 'Powers that Be' in the 'Biz' want to take over the Jazz Awards. It seems that Billboard Magazine, BET, Heads of the Major Labels (Bruce Lundval, Jeff Levenson, Matt Pierson) are convening a steering committee meeting in NYC July 22nd to discuss the 'Future of the Awards'. They want to roll it into a Jazz Industry Conference, now that JazzTimes is out of the conference business, with the Awards being the last event taking place at the BET studios in DC.

Stay tuned!

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