California-based Ubiquity Records Wins 'Label of the Year'

Gilles Peterson's Worldwide show recently asked Radio 1 listeners to vote online for the annual Gilles Peterson 'Worldwide' Awards. Categories included track of the year, Worldwide Session of the year, album of the year, compilation of the year, club of the year, label of the year, the Worldwide lifetime achievement award and the first annual John Peel “Play More Jazz" Award named in the memory of one of the most influential radio hosts/DJs in the history of UK radio.

With nearly 25,000 votes cast from around the world, we're very proud to have announce that Ubiquity won 'Label of the Year' at the sold-out 2004 awards ceremony at Cargo in London and SA-RA Creative Partners were awarded the John Peel “Play More Jazz" Award. SA-RA Creative Partners performed an extended live set with a full band which included “Rosebuds", “Hollywood", “Glorious", “Double Dutch (Co Co Pop)", “Make a Difference", “Shorties on the Block", “Butterscotch" and “Downtown."

Om'mas Keith of SA-RA Creative Partners offered this statement on receiving the first annual John Peel Award:

“John Peel is probably the most historic figure to come out of UK radio and to have received the very first award in his honor is by far the highest accolade. Rest assured we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that this award for creative excellence was bestowed upon us for the right reasons. Thanks Gilles, and congratulations to Ubiquity Records for winning label of the year. We're poised to do great things together in the New Year."

On accepting the award, Andrew Jervis (Ubiquity's Vice-President and A&R man) admitted to the crowd “We don't know how to do anything else, so we want to thank all of you for making our jobs fun, for supporting our label, and supporting good music. We truly appreciate it."

Michael McFadin (co-founder and President of Ubiquity Records) added, “This is the best crowd I've seen under one roof in twelve years. Give it up to yourselves. This isn't about us! This is better than a Grammy - this is a room full of our peers, a room full of music lovers and the people who really matter."

Several Ubiquity singles, including Platinum Pied Pipers “I Got You", SA-RA Creative Partners “Death of a Star", John Arnold's “Inside" (featuring Malik Alston and remixed by Henrik Schwarz) and The Rebirth's “Evil Vibrations" track from Ubiquity's Rewind! 4 compilation were all nominated for track of the year. Of the nominated tracks, “Evil Vibrations" earned a place at #6 on the Worldwide Top 20 tracks of the year.

SA-RA is back in the studio following recent performances in Amsterdam with The Roots, and a New Years Eve special performance at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia with The Roots, Rahzell, Black Sheep and more. You'll find SA-RA Creative Partners on the cover of the latest issue of Straight No Chaser (at newsstands now).