Cast Your Votes Now - Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2017

It's that time again - the voting is now open for the 2017 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. This year, they are supported by Pizza Express Live in conjunction with Peroni.

The winners will be announced at the awards bash in Pizza Express Live in Holborn, London on 10th October. The deadline for nominations is 16th August 2017.

The voting for these awards is open - each award has an open text box for you to submit your nomination. In case you're wondering about who is eligible for your vote, worry not -

Voting Criteria for each category

• Jazz Album of the Year (released in 2016 by a UK band or musicians)
• Jazz Vocalist of the Year (UK-based vocalist who impressed in 2016)
• Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year (UK-based musician who impressed in 2016)
• Jazz Ensemble of the Year (UK-based group who impressed in 2016)
• Jazz Venue of the Year (including jazz clubs, venues, festivals and promoters)
• Jazz Media Award (including broadcasters, journalists, magazines, blogs, listings and books)
• Jazz Education Award (to an educator or project for raising the standard of jazz education in the UK)
• Jazz Newcomer of the Year (UK-based artist, musician or group with a debut album released in 2016)
• Services to Jazz Award (to a living person for their outstanding contribution to jazz in the UK). 

So...Get voting! https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/parliamentary-jazz-awards-2017

JazzFM Award Winners Announced

The JazzFM Awards were held this week and below is the list of winners. It was a pretty star-studded affair, not only the jazz world celebrities but also Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger attending to these their awards in person.

Congratulations to all winners!

Breakthrough Act - Yussef Kamaal

International Artist - Donny McCaslin

Vocalist of the Year - Norma Winstone

Instrumentalist of the Year - Nikki Yeoh

Blues Artist of the Year - The Rolling Stones

Soul Artist of the Year - Laura Mvula

Jazz Innovation of the Year - Jaimeo Brown

Digital Initiative of the Year - Gilles Peterson - Worldwide FM

Album of the Year - Blue & Lonesome (The Rolling Stones)

UK Jazz Act of the Year - Shabaka Hutchings

Live Experience of the Year - Orphy Robinson All Stars - Booby Hutcherson Songbook

PPL Lifetime Achievement Award - Georgie Fame

Impact Award - Damien Chazelle

Gold Award - Charlie Watts

JazzFM Nominees Announced - Voting now open

The nominees for the 2017 JazzFM awards were announced this week and voting is now open on the 3 categories decided by public vote. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at Under The Bridge in Chelsea on April 25th.

Congratulations to all of the nominees and a special nod to LCoM jazz graduate Ashley Henry, who has been nominated in two categories!

For more information and to vote, visit the JazzFM Awards website.


Full Nominee List

Instrumentalist of the Year - Nikki Yeoh, Gwilym Simcock, Tim Garland

Vocalist of the Year - Norma Winstone, Polly Gibbons, Carleen Anderson

International Jazz Artist of the Year - Donny McCaslin, Brad Mehldau, Robert Glasper

Breakthrough Act of the Year - Ashley Henry, Yussef Kamaal, Nubya Garcia

UK Jazz Act of the Year - Dinosaur, Shabaka Hutchings, Soweto Kinch

Soul Artist of the Year - Laura Mvula, Jordan Rakei, William Bell

Blues Artist of the Year - Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones, Eric Bibb

Digital Initiative of the Year - Dave Douglas (Greenleaf Music), Gilles Peterson (Worldwide FM), Jaimeo Brown (Transcendence: Work Songs)

Innovation of the Year - Darcy James Argue, Jaimeo Brown, Moon Hooch

Live Experience of the Year - Ashley Henry Trio at Jazz Re:Freshed
                                              - Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles at Glee Club, Birmingham
                                              -  Julian Arguelles & Frankfurt Radio Big Band, Django Bates and Steve
                                                Arguelles at Cheltenham Jazz Festival
                                              -  Orphy Robinson All Stars - Bobby Hutcherson Songbook at St James
                                                The Great, London
                                              -  Roberto Fonseca Trio at Gateshead International Jazz Festival
                                              -  Wayne Shorter Quartet at The Barbican, London

PPL Lifetime Achievement Award - Georgie Fame

Impact Award - Damien Chazelle

LCoM Alumnus scoops Composition Award

Congratulations to saxophonist and LCoM alumnus Matt Anderson who was this week announced as one of the winners of the 2017 Dankworth Awards.

Anderson's piece 'Jig, Jag, Jug' received the prize for Small Ensemble, with Matt Sulzmann's 'Castle View' named as runner up. In the Big Band category, Jacky Naylor won with 'Bilbao' and James Brady came runner up with his piece, 'Hermeto's Hideaway'.

Also announced was the 2017 Eddie Harvey Arrangers Award, which this year goes to Tom Green for 'Badger Cam' and Jacky Naylor received the runner up position for 'Stockholm'.

From the press release...

"The winning pieces will be performed by members of the GSMD Jazz Dept under the direction of Scott Stroman and Malcolm Edmonstone at Milton Court, Silk Street, Barbican on: Thursday 23rd March 2017 7.30pm" 

The awards evening is produced by GSMD in partnership with the Worshipful Company of Musicians. The Dankworth Awards awards will be presented by members of the Dankworth Family.

Congratulations to Matt and all the other winners!

Vote Now in the British Jazz Awards

Voting has opened for the 2016 British Jazz Awards. Organised by Big Bear Music, this is the 31st consecutive year they have celebrated the best of British Jazz.

Open until 30th November 2016, the public are invited to vote for their top instrumentalists and vocalists as well as new album and best reissue.

In each category, 4 nominations are displayed. However, voters are welcome to provide an alternate nomination in the 'other' box. In two cases (clarinet and piano) the option to give an alternate nomination has not worked, so to vote for someone else in these categories, you should email mike@bigbearmusic.com.

Interestingly, one of the nominees, Liane Carroll as well as vocalist Sarah Jane Morris, have taken to facebook to call for the broadening of the nominees - encouraging voters to use the 'other' box to vote for musicians to spread awareness of the wealth of jazz talent across the UK.

To vote, follow this link.

MOBO Awards 2016 - Nominees Announced

The full list of nominees for the 2016 MOBO Awards were announced this morning at Ronnie Scott's in London. Public voting is now open and the winners will be announced at the ceremony on November 4th 2016.

There is one Jazz category in the MOBOs, Best Jazz Act. This year, the nominees list contains two international artists - pianist Cory Henry and double bassist Esperanza Spalding, along with three UK/UK-based musicians - multi-instrumentalist wunderkind Jacob Collier, double bassist and owner of Whirlwind Records Michael Janisch and finally, LCoM alumnus and globally recognised pianist Bill Laurance.

View the MOBO Awards website to see a full list of nominees and vote for your favourite.

Congratulations to all nominees!

Vote for Jazz in the Yorkshire Gig Guide Grassroots Awards

It's that time of year again - voting is open for the 2016 Yorkshire Gig Guide Grassroots Awards. These awards celebrate the regional music scene and the people who make it all happen with awards for promoters, venues, festivals, media and more.

This year, the awards ceremony will be held at the Marsden Jazz Festival on Sudnay October 9th. The public are invited to vote to decide on the winners and the very simple online voting form will be available online until August 31st.

To see a full list of nominees and to vote, visit the Grassroots Awards 2016 website.

Below, we've listed the nominees connected to the jazz scene - great to see some familiar faces and names on the list!

Oustanding New Festival of 2016: Ilkley Jazz Festival

Oustanding Established Festival of 2016: Marsden Jazz Festival

Outstanding Contributon of 2016: Barney Stevenson

Outstanding Promoter of 2016: Barney Stevenson, Martin Powell

Oustanding Small Live Venue of 2016: Glyde House (home of JATP), Seven Arts, Cafe Lento, Fox and Newt (home of Fusebox), Wharf Chambers (home of Sproggits), Inkwell (venue for Seven Jazz)

Yorkshire Outstanding Music Club of 2016: Wakefield Jazz Club

Seven Jazz wins Venue of the Year at Parliamentary Jazz Awards

Congratulations to Steve Crocker, Jean Watson and the team at Seven Jazz for scooping the Venue of the Year award at this year's Parliamentary Jazz Awards. The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Houses of Parliament in London last night.

Full List of Winners -

Instrumentalist of the Year: Alexander Hawkins
Vocalist of the Year: Emilia Martensson
Ensemble of the Year: Empirical
Newcomer of the Year: Binker & Moses
Education Award: Dr Tommy Smith
Venue of the Year: Seven Jazz
Media Award: Jez Nelson
Services to Jazz: Mary Greig
APPJAG Special Award: Evan Parker & Michael Connarty.

JazzFM Award Winners Announced

The 2016 Jazz FM Awards were held in London last night including performances by Kansas Smittys, Kandace Springs and Hiatus Kaiyote. Congratulations to all the winners, listed in full below.


Instrumentalist of the Year – Mark Lockheart 
Vocalist of the Year – Lauren Kinsella
Breakthrough Act of the Year – Binker & Moses

Blues Artist of the Year – Gary Clark Jr
Soul Artist of the Year (Sponsored by RCS) – Jill Scott

International Artist Of the Year (Sponsored by Yamaha) – Kamasi Washington
Album Of the Year – Choose Your Weapon by Hiatus Kaiyote

UK Jazz Act of the Year  – Binker & Moses

Digital Initiative of the Year – Jacob Collier

Lifetime Achievement Award - Quincy Jones
Jazz Innovation of the Year  – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
Live Experience of the Year  – Ice-T and Ron McCurdy – The Langston Hughes Project at the Barbican

Impact Award – Gregory Porter

Parliamentary Jazz Award Nominees Announced

Congratulations to Jamil Sheriff and Seven Jazz for their nominations in this year's APPJAG Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

The full list of nominations was announced this week ahead of the awards ceremony on 10th May. Jamil Sheriff is nominated for the Jazz Education Award and Seven Jazz receives the nomination for Venue of the Year.

The full list of nominations are as follows -

Services to Jazz Award: Mike Janisch, Mary Greig, Evan Parker
Jazz Education Award:  Jamil Sheriff, Dr Tommy Smith, Gary Crosby OBE
Venue of the Year: Seven Jazz - Leeds, Jazz Re:Freshed at Mau Mau - London, Watermill - Dorking
Album of the Year: Let It Be Told - Julian Arguelles,  A Room Somewhere - Liam Noble, Seaside - Liane Carroll
Newcomer of the Year: Binker & Moses, Corrie Dick, Theon Cross
Instrumentalist of the Year: Alex Hawkins, Django Bates, Evan Parker, Liam Noble
Vocalist of the Year: Ian Shaw, Eska, Emilia Martensson
Jazz Media Award: Chris Phillips - Jazz FM, Mary Greig - Jazz in London, Jez Nelson - Jazz on 3, Richard Williams

Voting Now Open for the 2016 Parliamentary Jazz Awards

It's that time again! Voting is now open for the 2016 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. From the results of this open voting system, nominees for each category will be chosen and the winners will be announced at the ceremony at the House of Commons on May 10th.

Voters can submit one nomination for each of the following categories -

Vocalist of the Year
Instrumentalist of the Year
Ensemble of the Year
Venue of the Year
Media Award
Education Award
Newcomer of the Year
Services to Jazz Award

(2015 winners pictured above)

Voting forms can be filled in by clicking on this link or visiting the JazzUK website.

NJ Advent Calendar - Gogo Penguin (December 13th)

 Manchester trio Gogo Penguin have enjoyed a rise to fame in recent years, picking up numerous awards along the way. 2015 saw them selected to perform at Rochester Jazz Festival, receive a nomination for an Urban Music Award and a signing to Blue Note Records for their upcoming album (released on Feb 5th 2016). Behind door number 13 is a video of their tune, One Percent.

GoGo Penguin Nominated for Urban Music Award

The North has been well represented once again as the seemingly unstoppable Gogo Penguin receive another award nomination, this time for Best Jazz Act at the Urban Music Awards.

Shortlists were announced this week and voting began today at 1pm. The awards now into their 13th year and previous jazz winners have included Soweto Kinch, Courtney Pine and YolanDa Brown.

Votes can be cast by visiting the Urban Music Awards site. A full list of the jazz nominees is listed below.

Good luck to Gogo Penguin and all the other nominees!

UMA Best Jazz Act

Yolanda Brown
Binker and Moses
Dianne Reeves
Julia Biel
Zara McFarlane
Courtney Pine
David Lyttle
Polar Bear
GoGo Penguin
Sons of Kemet
Polar Bear
Gregory Porter

Vote for Scarborough Jazz Festival in the Scarborough UK Awards

The finalists have been announced for the second annual Scarborough UK Awards to celebrate the work of Scarborough's venues, restaurants and cultural institutions.

There are a number of categories including best local attraction, best bar and best entertainment venue and Scarborough Jazz Festival has been announced as a finalist in two categories - Best Cultural Attraction and Best Event.

Voting is open until September 6th and winners will be selected solely on public vote. The voting form is available on the Scarborough UK website and is very easy to fill out (if you don't wish to vote in every category, you can click categories by selecting 'continue' at the bottom of the voting form).

Good luck to Scarborough Jazz Festival! (This year's festival runs between 25th-27th September, by the way...)

Vote Jazz in the Yorkshire Gig Guide Grassroots Awards

The Yorkshire Gig Guide is running a Grassroots Awards ceremony honouring the venues, promoters and festivals for live music across Yorkshire. Members of public are invited to vote on categories including promoter of the year, established and new festivals of the year and outstanding contribution amongst others. Public voting closes on Sunday August 16th and a Top Five in each category will be announced. Winners will be revealed at a ceremony at Musicport Festival in Whitby on Friday October 16th.

Scattered amongst the many nominees are some jazz promoters, venues and festivals. We've listed them below and if you'd like to cast your votes, visit the Grassroots Awards online voting form.

Outstanding Established Festival of 2015 - Marsden Jazz Festival

Outstanding Contribution - Barney Stevenson (director of Marsden Jazz Festival)

Outstanding Small Live Venue (nb - these venues don't exclusively host jazz but it's a part of their regular programming so we've included them)

Glyde House, Bradford (home of JATP), Fox and Newt (home of Fusebox), Seven Arts (home of Seven Jazz)

Outstanding Songwriting - Jasmine Kennedy (who recently appeared with James Hamilton's Jazz Orchestra)

JazzFM Award Winners Announced

                                                   Zara McFarlane - winner of Vocalist of the Year

The winners of the 2015 JazzFM Awards were announced at Vinopolis in London last night, including categories voted on by the public and those decided by a judging panel. Congratulations to all the winners, especially to Manchester's Gogo Penguin who scooped the UK Jazz Act of the Year.

Winners:

Instrumentalist of the Year - Shabaka Hutchings
Vocalist of the Year - Zara McFarlane
Breakthrough Act - Bill Laurance
Jazz Innovation - Jason Moran
International Jazz Act - Gregory Porter
Blues Artist - Dr John
Soul Artist - Jarrod Lawson
Lifetime Achievement Award - Hugh Masekela
UK Jazz Act of the Year - Gogo Penguin (PUBLIC VOTE)
Live Experience of the Year - Loose Tubes at Cheltenham Jazz Festival (PUBLIC VOTE)
Album of the Year - Dianne Reeves 'Beautiful Life' (PUBLIC VOTE)

JazzFM Awards Shortlist Announced

The complete shortlist of JazzFM Award nominations has been announced ahead of the June 10th winners ceremony at Vinopolis in London.

Manchester's Go-Go Penguin are up for UK Jazz Act of the year and Breakthrough Act, continuing their reign of jazz celebrity while LCoM alumnus Pete Wareham also appears in the UK Jazz Act category with Polar Bear.

The awards, produced by Serious, featured three categories open to public vote and the rest decided by a panel.

For more information, see JazzFM Awards website.

Album of the Year (Public vote): Ambrose Akinmusire The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint; D'Angelo Black Messiah; Dianne Reeves Beautiful Life; Chris Potter Underground Orchestra Imaginary Cities; Polar Bear In Each and Every One; Troyka Ornithophobia

Live Experience of the Year (Public Vote): Loose Tubes at Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Blue Note 75th Birthday at EFG London Jazz Festival, Jamie Cullum at Love Supreme Jazz Festival

UK Jazz Act of the Year (Public Vote): GoGo Penguin, Polar Bear, Sons of Kemet

Breakthrough Act: Bill Laurance, GoGo Penguin, Peter Edwards

Instrumentalist: Alex Hawkins, Laura Jurd, Shabaka Hutchings

Vocalist: Alice Zawadzki, Lauren Kinsella, Zara McFarlane

Jazz Innovation: Henry Threadgill, Jason Moran, Theo Croker

International Jazz Artist: Antonio Sanchez, Gregory Porter, Snarky Puppy

Blues Artist: Dr John, Otis Taylor, Valerie June

Soul Artist: D’Angelo, Jarrod Lawson, Lalah Hathaway

Lifetime Achievement Award: Hugh Masekela

APPJAG Jazz Awards 2015 Winners Announced

                                Photo Credit: Hayley Madden


The APPJAG Jazz Awards ceremony took place earlier this week, seeing LCoM alumnus Phil Meadows pick up the Jazz Ensemble of the Year award for his 23-piece crossover orchestra, The Engines Orchestra. Congratulations to Phil and all the other winners!

Winners:

Vocalist of the Year - Norma Winstone MBE
Instrumentalist of the Year - Laura Jurd
Album of the Year - Partisans 'Swamp'
Newcomer of the Year - Peter Edwards
Venue of the Year - St Ives Jazz Club
Media Award - LondonJazzNews
Education Award - NYJO
Services to Jazz Award - Chris Hodgkins
Ensemble of the Year - Engines Orchestra
Special Award - Peter Ind

JazzFM Awards 2015

This year's JazzFM awards will take place in London on Wednesday 10th June at Vinopolis, London Bridge.

This will be 3rd JazzFM and marks 25 years of JazzFM. The winners of awards in 11 categories (including jazz innovation of the year, breakout act of the year and international jazz act of the year amongst the usual fare) will be announced at the event, as well as a performance by Hugh Masekela who will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

More details can be found here - JazzFMawards.com

Django Bates wins BASCA Award

Django Bates has won a BASCA (British Composers Association) award for his composition, The Study of Touch.

Bates joins 8 other composers as first time winners of the awards including Mark Anthony-Turnage and Tom White.

Contemporary Jazz Composition is the only jazz category and has been previously won by John Surman, Christine Tobin and two LCoM graduates, Tommy Evans and James Hamilton.

For a full list of winners and more information, see the BASCA website.