Andrew Hill (1931-2007), JJA 2007 Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award Winner Photo by Jimmy Katz, courtesy Boosey & Hawkes |
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Ornette Coleman and the late Andrew Hill were the two big winners of the 2007 Awards of the Jazz Journalists’ Association (JJA), an organization comprising 400 journalists, editors, broadcasters, and photographers working internationally. JJA President Howard Mandel presided over the afternoon awards ceremony which took place on June 28 at the Jazz Standard in New York City.
Ornette Coleman’s independently-released Sound Grammar, which earlier this year made history as the first jazz album ever to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music, was the obvious choice for Album of the Year. Coleman, who is about to embark on a lengthy tour and was unable to attend the ceremony, also received awards for Musician of the Year and Alto Saxophonist of the Year, and his Quartet received the award for Small Ensemble of the Year. Also, John Abbott was awarded Photo of the Year for a photo of Ornette Coleman he took in August 2006. (To see Abbott’s photo along with the other nominations for 2007 JJA Photo of the Year, click here.)
Previous JJA Lifetime Achievement Awardees 1997 Benny Carter 1998 Max Roach 1999 Sonny Rollins 2000 Ornette Coleman 2001 John Lewis 2002 Clark Terry 2003 Cecil Taylor 2004 Dave Brubeck 2005 Hank Jones 2006 Roy Haynes Previous JJA Composers of the Year 1998 Maria Schneider 1999 Dave Douglas 2000 Andrew Hill 2001 Andrew Hill 2002 Henry Threadgill 2003 Andrew Hill 2004 Maria Schneider 2005 Maria Schneider 2006 Andrew Hill |
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Andrew Hill (1931-2007), now a five-time recipient of the JJA’s Composer of the Year, also posthumously received Pianist of the Year, and the JJA’s highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement in Jazz award. Hill’s awards were accepted by his widow Joanne Hill and representatives from his publisher Boosey & Hawkes with whom he signed shortly before his death earlier this year. Piianist Frank Kimbrough, a Hill protégé, brought Andrew Hill directly to the audience with riveting solo performances of two Hill compositions from the 1970s, “Clayton Gone” and “Tinkering.”
In addition, Maria Schneider, who has frequently been named Composer of the Year and Arranger of the Year by the JJA, was once again honored with the Arranger of the Year award. Israeli-born, New York-based clarinetist Anat Cohen received the Clarinetist of the Year and Up and Coming Artist of the Year awards, and Sonny Rollins, who earlier this year received the 2007 Polar Prize, received Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. In the Journalism categories, Ashley Kahn’s The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records (W.W. Norton) received Best Book of the Year, and Francis Davis was awarded the Jazz Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award. Legendary jazz record producer Orrin Keepnews, among others, was honored with an “A Team Award,” a discretionary award established by the JJA in 2001 to recognize a unique effort in support of jazz. But perhaps the most memorable event of the afternoon was an impromptu pre-acceptance speech drum solo on the podium microphone by Roy Haynes, last year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in Jazz award and this year’s recipient of Drummer of the Year. Since 1997, the JJA has presented Jazz Awards to notable musicians and journalists each June in New York City. A full list of 2007 award recipients appears below.
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2007 Award Winning Musicians, Labels and Presenters Lifetime Achievement in Jazz: Andrew Hill Musician of the Year: Ornette Coleman Up and Coming Artist of the Year: Anat Cohen Composer of the Year: Andrew Hill Arranger of the Year: Maria Schneider Male Singer of the Year: Kurt Elling Female Singer of the Year: Roberta Gambarini Trumpeter of the Year: Dave Douglas Trombonist of the Year: Wycliffe Gordon Soprano Saxophonist of the Year: Dave Liebman Alto Saxophonist of the Year: Ornette Coleman Tenor Saxophonist of the Year: Sonny Rollins Baritone Saxophonist of the Year: Gary Smulyan Clarinetist of the Year: Anat Cohen Flutist of the Year: Frank Wess Pianist of the Year: Andrew Hill Organ/Keyboards of the Year: Joey DeFrancesco Guitarist of the Year: Pat Metheny Acoustic Bassist of the Year: Dave Holland Electric Bassist of the Year: Steve Swallow Strings Player of the Year: Regina Carter Mallets Player of the Year: Bobby Hutcherson Percussionist of the Year: Cyro Baptista Drummer of the Year: Roy Haynes Player of the Year of Instruments Rare in Jazz: Scott Robinson, multi-reeds Small Ensemble of the Year: Ornette Coleman Quartet Large Ensemble of the Year: Charles Tolliver Big Band Album of the Year: Ornette Coleman, Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar) Latin Jazz Album of the Year: Brian Lynch and Eddie Palmieri, Simpatico (ArtistShare) Reissue of the Year, single CD: Charles Mingus, Music Written for Monterey 1965 Not Heard; At UCLA 1965 (CME-Sunnyside) Reissue of the Year, boxed set: Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (Concord) Record Label of the Year: ECM Events Producer of the Year: Patricia Nicholson Parker, Vision Festival 2007 Award Winning Journalists, Broadcasters, Photographers, and Publications Jazz Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award: Francis Davis Helen Dance-Robert Palmer Award for Excellence in Newspaper, Magazine or Online Writing: Nate Chinen Best Book About Jazz: Ashley Kahn, The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records (W.W. Norton) Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Excellence in Jazz Broadcasting: Bob Porter Lorna Foote-Bob Parent Award for Excellence in Photography: Gene Martin Best Photo of the Year: John Abbott Best Periodical Covering Jazz: JazzTimes Best Website Concentrating on Jazz: AllAboutJazz “The A Team Awards” Donald Harrison, Artistic Director, and Bill Taylor, Executive Director The Tipitina’s Foundation Leslie Johnson Founder, The Mississippi Rag Orrin Keepnews record producer, journalist and annotator Bob Koester Founder, Delmark Records; Proprietor, Chicago’s Jazz Record Mart Dr. F. King Alexander Chairman of the Board for KKJZ-FM, L.A.’s 24-hr blues and jazz radio station Mark Masters Conductor and President of the American Jazz Institute, Pasadena CA Jan Perry Councilwoman, 9th District, Los Angeles CA Jose Rizo Radio Host, KCSB-FM’s “Barrio Soul” (1970s) and KKJZ-FM’s “Jazz on the Latin Side” (currently) Clint Rosemond Executive Director, The World Stage |
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