Award / Grant News

With a Mix of Rock, Jazz and Blues, Reverend Zen Wins Artist of the Year at the Los Angeles Music Awards

Source: All About Jazz
July 16, 2009

By Rich Monetti Creating quality music takes time and patience - even if it doesn't always sound that way when we are inundated by commercial music played over and over on the radio. “I hear too much music that sounds like a first draft," said Jack Evans of Katonah, who recently won artist of the year at the Los Angeles Music Awards. Mr. Evans or Reverend Zen, along with the studio musicians who helped him put together the winning CD, ...

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Amanda Tosoff Quartet Wins the 2009 General Motors Grand Jazz Award

Source: All About Jazz
July 13, 2009

The Galaxie Rising Star Award of the CBC goes to Vincent Gagnon Montreal -- The Festival International de Jazz de Montreal in collaboration with General Motors Canada--partner and presenter of the event for the 10th consecutive year--are today pleased to be awarding the General Motors Grand Jazz Award to Amanda Tosoff Quartet. The artist was deemed best of 10 other jazz artists and ensembles who took part in the pan-Canadian competition. The jury wanted to acknowledge the talent of all ...

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Soloist Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Serenade in the Key of Glee

Source: Michael Ricci
July 12, 2009

Steve Lopez takes Nathaniel Anthony Ayers to San Francisco, where he is honored for helping decrease the stigma of mental illness.

He was so eager to make the trip, he called several times to make sure it hadn't been canceled.

“Mr. Lopez, is the pickup still at 9 a.m?"

“Yes, Mr. Ayers. I'll see you in the morning."

When I pulled up, he was standing on the sidewalk playing a skid row reveille on his trumpet. He had a small ...

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Neil Peart's Powerhouse Percussion Results in Third Consecutive Victory as Drummer of the Year in Enter Music Publishing's Drummies Awards

Source: JCM Media
July 10, 2009

SAN JOSE, Calif., -- Neil Peart's lucky number may just be three. He can definitely play in three; he has been part of a highly successful trio, Rush; and, he has now garnered his third consecutive victory as “Drummer Of The Year” in this year's Drummies. Additionally, he won “Best Progressive Drummer. Enter Music Publishing, publishers of hip, drum magazines worldwide, conducts The Drummies every year with voting open to anyone from February to May. This year 5,310 votes were ...

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Ornette Coleman Winner of the Miles Davis Award

Source: Michael Ricci
July 10, 2009

The Festival International de Jazz de Montreal this year offered the prestigious Miles Davis Award to the peerless free jazz titan Ornette Coleman. He was given the prize by Alain Simard, founder and president of the Festival. For over five decades, saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, 79, has played a major role in the evolution of American music; he belongs to that rare species of artists and thinkers whose influence extends far beyond the range of his instrument. Very early ...

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Toots and the Maytals, 6th Winners of the Antonio Carlos Jobim Award

Source: Michael Ricci
July 10, 2009

Montreal - Reggae pioneers Toots & The Maytals were honoured by the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal with the awarding of the Antonio Carlos Jobim Award. The prize was presented to them by Laurent Saulnier, vice-president of programming of the Festival, on stage at their concert on Thursday night. Toots & The Maytals are the 6th recipients of the Antonio Carlos Jobim Award, created for the Festival’s 25th anniversary to honour artists distinguished in the field of world music ...

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Manfred Eicher and ECM Win Downbeat 2009 Award

Source: All About Jazz
July 6, 2009

Echoing the results of last year's poll, Manfred Eicher and ECM are voted Producer of the Year and Label of the Year in the 57th Annual DownBeat Critics Poll. This double-win is announced in the August issue of the venerable US jazz magazine (founded 1934). The awards arrive in ECM's 40th anniversary year. It was in the autumn of 1969 that Eicher founded his label; seven years later, in 1976, he won DownBeat's Top Producer award for the first time. ...

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Eugene Register-Guard: Top Jazz Label Has Local Origins

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
July 6, 2009

From The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR): Although it’s based in Seattle, JazzWeek magazine’s “jazz label of the year” has Eugene’s fingerprints all over it. Origin Records bested Concord Records, Palmetto, Sunnyside, Heads Up and HighNote Records to take the prize in late June. The winner was announced at the JazzWeek Conference held during the Rochester Jazz Festival. The label’s founder, drummer John Bishop, accepted the award. Bishop, a 1978 South Eugene High School graduate, got most of his formal music education ...

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