31st Annual Jazz Journalists Association Awards Finalists Announced in 40 Categories of Excellence in Music-Making and Jazz Media

31st Annual Jazz Journalists Association Awards Finalists Announced in 40 Categories of Excellence in Music-Making and Jazz Media

Standard-bearers and avant-gardists, up-and-comers and a fresh generation of jazz recordings by composers, arrangers and soloists -- as well as journalists and media-makers bringing news and views, and books considering the art form with perspective -- are celebrated by the Jazz Journalists Association with publication of finalists for its 31stAnnual JJA Jazz Awards.

See more than 200 nominees in 40 categories, recognizing excellence in the career-long and recent music of vocalists and instrumentalists -- plus the journalists and media covering jazz.

Nominated for recognition with the JJA’s Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award are veteran pianist Kenny Barron, composer-educator-reeds virtuoso Anthony Braxton, standard-setting guitarist and educator Kenny Burrell, and master drummer Andrew Cyrille -- all artists in jazz for decades (and all clearly “winners,” having survived and thrived creating music of personal distinction). Nominees at earlier stages of their career paths vying for Up and Coming Artist of the Year are singers April Garner and Tyreek McDole, and reeds and winds players Nicole Glover and Alexa Tarantino. 

Nominated for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism are Nate Chinen, WRTI editorial director, author and host of The Gig; Dan Ouellette, author, columnist and blogger; Ben Ratliff, author, NYU professor, former New York Times jazz and pop critic; Zan Stewart, former jazz critic of the L.A. Times, author and active musician. Nominated books in two categories of awards include the autobiography of Billy Hart, writings of pianist Matthew Shipp, and Ricky Riccardi’s study of Louis Armstrong’s early years. 

Jazz Awards are also voted for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting and Photography, Photo of the Year, Album Art of the Year, Best Jazz Periodical (including websites), Best Blog, Best Podcast and and Best Streaming Production. 

JJA Awards finalists are those who received the most nominations in a first round of balloting, during which JJA professional members advanced three choices in each of 37 categories. Book of the Year, Photo of the Year, and Album Art of the Year nominees are pre-screened by JJA committees. Current voting ends May 1 at midnight, ET. Winners of the 31st annual JJA Jazz Awards will be announced May 5 at www.JJAJazzAwards.org. 

The JJA’s Jazz Awards follows the earlier April announcement of the organization’s 25th annual spotlight on activist Jazz Heroes in communities across the U.S. (and in London!) working behind the scenes to support the music. The JJA’s spring and summer programs -- including a Pre-International Jazz Day Media Meetup at Chicago’s historic Palmer House on April 29 -- are sponsored in part by Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts (which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation), with ongoing sponsorship from the Jazz Foundation of America.