Congratulations to all the winners of the 24th annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards for Jazz Journalism. Professional journalist members of the JJA made open nominations in a first-selection round; those who received the most nominations advanced to the finalists’ ballot, and JJA’s professional members voted on them to arrive at these honorees.
Our congratulations, of course, to all the 2020 Nominees for Jazz Journalism in all categories. And please click the photos to expand them — some wonderful images here reward much larger presentation.
The 2020 JJA Jazz Awards was made possible with support from Blue Note Jazz Club, Joyce & George Wein Foundation, Jazz Foundation of America, ECM, Century Media Partners LLC, Carolyn McClair Public Relations, Jazz Promo Services, and Hot House Global.
Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism
STANLEY CROUCH
Poet, music and cultural critic, syndicated columnist, novelist, biographer
Photo by Zack Zook
Nominees: Larry Blumenfeld, Dan Oullette, Ben Ratliff, Howard Reich
Stanley Crouch is a cultural critic, author, curator and recreational drummer. Based in New York City since 1975, he booked avant-garde jazz for the Tin Palace, wrote for the Village Voice from 1980-88, and became artistic consultant to Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He’s been a columnist for the New York Daily News, syndicated and commissioned by many periodicals, including a column for JazzTimes. His books include Notes of a Hanging Judge: Essays and Reviews, 1979-1989; The All-American Skin Game, or, The Decoy of Race: The Long and the Short of It, 1990-1994; Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker; The Artificial White Man: Essays on Authenticity; andConsidering Genius: Writings on Jazz.He speaks in Ken Burns’ Jazz and other documentaries, and has been President of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation.
Publication of the Year
JAZZTIMES Magazine
Nominees: AllAboutJazz.com, DownBeat, HotHouse, Jazziz, The New York City Jazz Record
Blog of the Year
WBGO
Nate Chinen, Director of Editorial Content
Nominees: Jazz Profiles, by Steven Cerra; Do The Math, by Ethan Iverson; JazzOnTheTube.com, directed by Ken McCarthy, JazzWax, by Marc Myers
Robert Palmer-Helen Oakley Dance Award for Excellence in Writing
NATE CHINEN
(For works in 2019)
Photo by Michael Lionstar
Nominees: Larry Blumenfeld, Ted Panken, Giovanni Russonello
Marian McPartland-Willis Conover Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting
RICHARD HADLOCK
Photo by Andrew Gilbert
Nominees: Rusty Hassan, Simon Rentner, Alisa Clancy
Book of the Year About Jazz
JAZZ FROM DETROIT
(University of Michigan Press) by Mark Stryker
Music: A Subversive History (Basic Books), by Ted Gioia; Rabbit’s Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges (Oxford University Press), by Con Chapman; Women in Jazz: The Women, The Legends & Their Fights (8th House Publishing), by Sammy Stein; Miles Davis: New Research on Miles Davis and His Circle (Masaya Music), by Masaya Yamaguchi
Lona Foote-Bob Parent Award for Lifetime Achievement in Photography
RICHARD CONDE
Photo by Jerry Lacay
Nominees: Peter Gannushkin, Steven Sussman, Robert Sutherland-Cohen
Photo of the Year
JAZZMEIA HORN, BELGRADE JAZZ FESTIVAL BY NEDICI DRAGOSLAV
Nominees: Victor Lewis, Half Note Jazz Club in Athens, Greece, by Thrassos Irinis; Francesco Diodati Yellow Squeeds, Umbria Jazz Winter 2019/Palazzo del Popolo, by Andrea Rotili; Kiyoshi Kitagawa, Leopolis Jazz Fest Lviv Ukraine, by Serhiy Horobets; Marco Piccirillo, Milk Jazz Way, Torino, Italy, by Carlo Mogavero
Album Art of the Year
YASHUA KLOS for A Wall Becomes A Bridge
(by Kendrick Scott Oracle, Blue Note)
Nominees: Playtime 2050 (Nick Sanders Trio, Sunnyside), Art by Leah Saulnier and Christopher Drukker; Water (Fima Chupakhin, s/r), Art by Andrew Nedzvedsky, Hellmark Studio; Dream A Little… (Champian Fulton/Cory Weeds, Cellar Live), Art by Takao Fujioka; Longboard: Being Wild (Alban Darche/Matthieu Donarier/Meivelyan Jacquot, YOLK Music), Art by Kerne Erickson © Greg Young Publishing, Inc. and by Jean Depagne, Anima Productions
2020 AWARDSSPONSORS
Visit Jazz Journalists Association to participate as a future voting member or as a sponsor.
