JJA Announces 2006 Jazz Award Winners

June 20, 2006: New York, NY--The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) recently held its tenth annual Jazz Awards, honoring jazz musicians and their supporters, on Monday, June 19, at B.B. King's Blues Club and Grill in New York City. In attendance at the sold-out event were over 500 musicians, journalists, photographers, and industry executives. There were musical performances by the Dewey Redman Ensemble, the Sy Johnson Quartet featuring saxophonist Craig Handy, T.C. III, the Anheuser-Busch/Jazzmobile Vocal Competition winner, and pianist Ezra Weiss, who performed his ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award-winning composition “Winter Machine," featuring trumpeter Michael Phillip Mossman, alto saxophonist Antonio Hart, tenor saxophonist Kelly Roberge, and bassist Corcoran Holt.

Based on votes cast by over 400 JJA members (writers, broadcasters, photographers and new media professionals worldwide), and presented at a fundraiser supporting the non-profit JJA's education, audience-outreach and professional mentoring initiatives, awards were given in 41 categories of achievement. The JJA also presented “A Team“ Awards for the advocates, altruists, aiders, and abettors of the jazz art form.

Among the supporters of the 2006 Jazz Journalists Awards were: Anheuser-Busch, ASCAP, BET J, Concord Music Group, Mack Avenue Records, Steinway Pianos, Mr. George Wein, and WBGO-FM, among others.

For more information on the JJA Jazz Awards, please visit the website.

Here is the complete list of winners of 2006 JJA Jazz Awards:

1. Lifetime Achievement in Jazz - Roy Haynes
2. Musician of the Year - Sonny Rollins
3. Up & Coming Musician of the Year - Dafnis Prieto
4. Jazz Album of the Year - Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane At Carnegie Hall (Blue Note)
5. Jazz Reissue of the Year, single CD - Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman, Song X (Nonesuch)
6. Jazz Reissue of the Year, boxed set - Miles Davis, The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (Columbia/Legacy) Original Recordings by Stan Tonkel; Compiled by Adam Holzman & Bob Belden
7. Jazz Record Label of the Year - Concord Music Group, Concord/Fantasy/Telarc
8. Jazz Events Producer of the Year - George Wein, Festival Productions
9. Jazz Composer of the Year - Andrew Hill
10. Jazz Arranger of the Year - Maria Schneider
11. Male Jazz Singer of the Year - Kurt Elling
12. Female Jazz Singer of the Year - Dianne Reeves
13. Latin Jazz Album of the Year - Bebo Valds, Bebo de Cuba (Calle 54)
14. Small Ensemble Group of the Year - Wayne Shorter Quartet
15. Large Ensemble of the Year - Gerald Wilson Orchestra
16. Trumpeter of the Year - Dave Douglas
17. Trombonist of the Year - Wycliffe Gordon
18. Player of the Year of Instruments Rare in Jazz - Toots Thielemans, harmonica
19. Alto Saxophonist of the Year - Phil Woods
20. Tenor Saxophonist of the Year - Sonny Rollins
21. Soprano Saxophonist of the Year - Jane Ira Bloom
22. Baritone Saxophonist of the Year - James Carter
23. Clarinetist of the Year - Paquito D'Rivera
24. Flutist of the Year - Sam Rivers
25. Pianist of the Year - Bill Charlap
26. Organ-keyboards of the Year - Joey DeFrancesco
27. Guitarist of the Year - Jim Hall
28. Acoustic Bassist of the Year - Ron Carter
29. Electric Bassist of the Year - Christian McBride
30. Strings Player of the Year - Regina Carter
31. Mallets Player of the Year - Joe Locke
32. Percussionist of the Year - Ray Barretto
33. Drummer of the Year - Paul Motian

Jazz Journalism Categories

1. Jazz Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award - Howard Mandel
2. Excellence in Jazz Broadcasting/the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award - Eric Jackson (WGBH-FM)
3. Excellence in Photography/the Lona Foote-Bob Parent Award - Jimmy Katz
4. Excellence in Newspaper, Magazine or Online Feature or Review Writing/the Helen Dance-Robert Palmer Award - Nate Chinen (New York Times)
5. Best Periodical Covering Jazz - JazzTimes
6. Best Website Concentrating on Jazz - AllAboutJazz.com
7. Best Book About Jazz - Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, Doug Ramsey (Parkside)
8. Photo of the Year - “Houston Person, All Soul" Gene Martin

2006 Jazz Journalists Association “A" Team Award for Advocates, Altruists, Aiders, and Abettors Recipients:

• Gretchen Valade - Founder of Mack Avenue Records, underwriter of the Detroit Jazz Festival, and sponsor of this year's awards ceremony.
• Bill McFarlin - Executive Director, International Association for Jazz Education
• Dolly McLean - Co-director with her late husband (Jackie) of the Hartford, Connecticut Artists Collective
• Michael Cogswell - Louis Armstrong House and Archives
• Phoebe Jacobs - Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation
• Jonathan Rose - Chair of the Building Committee, Executive Committee, Jazz at Lincoln Center
• Sheldon Meyer - Editor Emeritus, Oxford University Press
• Sandra and Ben Jaffe - Founder and current Co-director of The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
• Ann Ward - Director of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) School