[jja-announce] pre-Jazz Awards

[howard Mandel]

Hi JJA members --

Tomorrow the JJA will present our 13th annual Jazz Awards, celebrating  
excellence in jazz music, presentation and documentation, with a  
cocktail barbeque at the Jazz Standard from 3 to 6 pm. Many JJA  
members are attending as presenters (hey, presenters -- look sharp!  
Let's put on a show of elegance, sophistication, charm, charisma!),  
many musicians are attending as hopeful nominees, sponsors and  
supporters will be there -- the music will be great and it's going to  
be fun.

As we have had limited national coverage for the Jazz Awards during  
our 13 year run, I want to ask you to consider covering the Awards in  
some way in your own outlets. The winners of the Awards will be posted  
at JazzJournalists.org by 6 pm Tuesday night, and at Jazzhouse.org  
too. DL Media will also be sending out news of the winners, as will  
JazzPromo Services. I am available for interviews or to put you in  
touch with other JJA members involved in the Awards -- ballot chair  
Chris Kelsey, for instance -- if you want quotes for your stories.  
Photos are more of a problem, but Enid Farber (farberfoto at aol.com)  
will post at least one for downloading; we're trying to organize a  
second photographer right now.

Thanks to all of you for voting, and for general support of this JJA  
initiative. The JJA is in good financial health due to the Awards,  
although we are in serious need of members' participation in many  
other areas to keep the organization thriving. We have several  
interesting plans on the drawing boards, including stronger link with  
the Jazz Foundation of America, intentions to get members Flip video  
cameras and some instruction so as to create web-ready jazz  
journalism, and a major conference on jazz journalism next January in  
New York. We will continue to try to improve our online presence  
through our websites and with Jazz Notes. We may need a new membership  
secretary -- if you are interested in this position, please send me a  
note at jazzmandel at earthlink.net. And we intend to hold an online  
discussion in July about all these issues and more related to the  
JJA's future.

The Jazz Awards have become a significant reflection of who's doing  
the best work in jazz now. No poll is perfect and all hierarchies of  
"best" are open to criticism -- and that's as it should be. But we can  
be proud of having put on these Awards, especially of having  
identified movers and shakers with the A Team awards, and we ought to  
trumpet them. If you have any questions or concerns, please get back  
to me. If you can, please cover the Jazz Awards the ways you think best.

yours, Howard



Howard Mandel
jazzmandel at earthlink.net
phone 212 533 9495
mobile 212 533 4952

see my blog:
www.HowardMandel.com
www.ArtsJournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz