JJA Jazz Awards 2007 Winners

NEW YORK – June 29 2007

Two icons of avant-garde jazz — saxophonist-composer Ornette Coleman and pianist-composer Andrew Hill — were celebrated with highest honors at the 2007 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards, during a luncheon at the Jazz Standard on June 28, attended by some 100 movers and shakers of the national jazz scene.

Voting members of the JJA, a non-profit professional organization, cited Coleman, who received a Pulitzer Prizer earlier in 2007, as Musician of the Year, Alto Saxophonist of the Year; named Sound Grammar, his quartet release on his own Sound Grammar label, Record of the Year and the quartet itself Small Group of the Year. Hill, who died of lung cancer on April 20, was voted the Jazz Award for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz, Jazz Composer of the Year, and Pianist of the Year; he had performed in trio as recently as weeks before his death.

Other top honoreees in 41 categories (detailed below) were — Anat Cohen, Up and Coming Artist and Clarinest of the Year; Sonny Rollins, Tenor Saxophonist of the Year; Charles Tolliver for leading the Big Band of the Year; and Roy Haynes (last year's Lifetime Achievement in Jazz winner), Drummer of the Year. ECM, directed by founder Manfred Eicher since 1969, was named Record Label of the Year. Francis Davis, columnist for the Village Voice, contributor to the Atlantic Monthly and author of several books on music and culture, was recognized for his Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism.

Davis, Cohen, Tolliver and Haynes were among the winners and nominees in attendance, along with representatives from sponsoring organizations BMI, Boosey & Hawkes, Blue Note Records, Concord Records, ECM (voted Label of the Year), Mosaic, Iridium Jazz Club, WBGO, and past-honored JJA Lifetime Achievement in Jazz winners Gary Giddins, Dan Morgenstern, and Howard Mandel, who presided over the event. Pianist Frank Kimbrough performed a tribute to Andrew Hill, following a toast by BMI's Robbin Ahrold, "To Andrew." Joanne Robinson Hill, his wife, received the Awards with acknowledgement Andrew would have loved the Award event's buffet of the Jazz Standard's acclaimed barbeque.

The following are all the winners of 2007 Jazz Awards. For further information, visit www. Jazzhouse.org, and/or contact hman <at> jazzhouse.org, 212 533 9495.

Lifetime Achievement in JazzAndrew Hill
Musician of the YearOrnette Coleman
Up & Coming Musician of the YearAnat Cohen
Jazz Album of the YearSound Grammar (Sound Grammar) Ornette Coleman
Jazz Reissue of the Year, Single CDMusic Written for Monterey 1965 Not Heard: At UCLA 1965 (CME-Sunnyside) Charles Mingus
Jazz Reissue of the Year, Boxed SetThe Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (Riverside) Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane
Jazz Record Label of the YearECM
Jazz Events Producer of the YearPatricia Nicholson Parker – Vision Festival/Arts for Art, Inc.
Jazz Composer of the YearAndrew Hill
Jazz Arranger of the YearMaria Schneider
Male Jazz Singer of the YearKurt Elling
Female Jazz Singer of the YearRoberta Gambarini
Latin Jazz Album of the YearSimpatico (ArtistShare) Brian Lynch & Eddie Palmieri
Small Ensemble Group of the YearOrnette Coleman Quartet
Large Ensemble of the YearCharles Tolliver Big Band
Trumpeter of the YearDave Douglas
Trombonist of the YearWycliffe Gordon
Player of the Year of Instruments Rare in JazzScott Robinson, multi-reeds
Alto Saxophonist of the YearOrnette Coleman
Tenor Saxophonist of the YearSonny Rollins
Soprano Saxophonist of the YearDave Liebman
Baritone Saxophonist of the YearGary Smulyan
Clarinetist of the YearAnat Cohen
Flutist of the YearFrank Wess
Pianist of the YearAndrew Hill
Organ-keyboards of the YearJoey DeFrancesco
Guitarist of the YearPat Metheny
Acoustic Bassist of the YearDave Holland
Electric Bassist of the YearSteve Swallow
Strings Player of the YearRegina Carter
Mallets Player of the YearBobby Hutcherson
Percussionist of the YearCyro Baptista
Drummer of the YearRoy Haynes
Jazz Journalism Lifetime Achievement AwardFrancis Davis
Excellence in Jazz Broadcasting — The Willis Conover-Marian McPartland AwardBob Porter
Excellence in Photography — The Lona Foote–Bob Parent AwardGene Martin
Excellence in Newspaper, Magazine or Online Feature or Review Writing — The Helen Dance–Robert Palmer AwardNate Chinen
Best Periodical Covering JazzJazzTimes
Best Website Concentrating on JazzAllAboutJazz.com
Best Book About JazzThe House That Trane Built: The Story Of Impulse Records (W. W. Norton) Ashley Kahn
Best Jazz Photo of the YearJohn Abbott
A Team Awards (for activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz) to: Leslie Johnson, publisher of the Mississippi Rag;

Bob Koester, owner of Chicago's Jazz Record Mart and Delmark Records;

Orrin Keepnews, record producer and writer;

Donald Harrison, artistic director, and Bill Taylor, executive director of the New Orleans-based Tipitina's Foundation;

Clint Rosemond of The World Stage for inner city-outreach programs;

Mark Masters of the American Jazz Institute;

Dr. F. King Alexander, the President of the Cal State University of Long Beach, chairman of the Board of KJAZZ 88.1 FM;

Jose Rizo and Councilwoman Jan Perry for their work with the Board of the Dunbar Economic Development Corporation in support of the Central Avenue Jazz Festival


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