2012 JJA JAZZ AWARDS WINNERS

Three 2012 JJA Jazz Awards to Sonny Rollins. Photo by  Tom Wetmore.

Sonny Rollins, saxophone colossus, was the big winner of the 2012 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards, announced this afternoon at a gala party at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City. The tenor saxophonist was named Musician of the Year, his album Road Shows, Vol. 2 chosen as Best Record of the Year and he was judged Best Tenor Saxophonist, too. 

Horace Silver, who at age 84 is residing in an assisted care facility in upstate New York, was hailed for his Lifetime Achievement in Jazz.

Amiri Baraka, author of the books Blues People and Black Music as well as plays, poetry and social criticism, was the recipient of an Award for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism; author Albert Murray, age 94, was honored with a "Words and Music" Award, co-presented by the JJA and the Jazz Foundation of America. Robin Bell-Stevens, executive director of JazzMobile, and Adrian Ellis, recently resigned executive director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, were celebrated as New York City "Jazz Heroes."

Other Awards in the 40 categories of excellence in music and music journalism voted on by professional members of the JJA went to a broad spectrum of jazz stylists; all the winners are listed below.

2012 Jazz Journalists Association Awards winners announced today at Awards Gala in New York City

Today's the day! The winners of the Jazz Journalists Association's 2012 Jazz Awards will be announced at the Awards gala at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City. We'll be live tweeting from the gala, and you'll be able to view the winners' names and more right here. Congratulations to ALL the 2012 Nominees; the work of every one of you is a demonstration that jazz lives and thrives.

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Between now and June 28, Awards satellite parties will be held in many places. You are cordially invited to the one near you. (Parties are scheduled for today in Auckland, New Zealand, Boston, San Francisco and Tallahassee, Florida.)

To support the Awards and the year-round work of the JJA in using media to tell the story of jazz, consider becoming a JJA Member or making a tax-deductible donation to the JJA.  We thank all of the Awards sponsors and we thank all of the JJA supporters and volunteers who contributed time and effort to producing the gala and satellite parties; without them all the Awards program would not be possible.