According to a recent news release, pianist Randy Weston headlines the artist lineup, and tickets are now on sale at www.JJAJazzAwards.org for the 15th annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards gala, to be held on Saturday, June 11, 2011, from 1 to 5 p.m. EDT at City Winery, 155 Varick St. at Vandam in New York City.
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| Randy Weston/African Rhythms Photo credit Ariane Smolderen |
Besides Weston, trumpeter Wallace Roney’s sextet, Canadian flutist/soprano saxophonist Jane Bunnett with Cuban-born pianist Hilario Duran and special guest Candido on congas, singer Gregory Porter (a nominee for the JJA’s Male Vocalist of the Year Award) and the Hammer Klavier Trio from Hamburg will perform at the event. The JJA gala, a fundraiser for the non-profit professional organization that promotes coverage of jazz in all media, will also feature announcements and presentations of the Awards to winners, and introductions of “Jazz Heroes” honored for extra-musical jazz activism in locales across the U.S. (in order to highlight the decentralized aspect of jazz activism, the JJA is not inducting “A Team” jazz activists this year).
The Jazz Awards is being produced as live streaming video, viewable online (and later archived) at JJAJazzAwards.org. Free satellite parties have been convened to watch the Awards in Berkeley, Boston, Nashville, Phoenix, Portland OR, Seattle and Washington, D.C, among other sites.
The general public may purchase tickets to the Awards gala in New York for $150. Ticket reservations, the list of all nominees for 2011 JJA Jazz Awards, details about the satellite parties and videos of the performers are also available at JJAJazzAwards.org.
