Sonny Rollins:JJA Jazz Awards Winner Emeritus

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2011 Photo of the Year of Sonny Rollins by John Abbott

Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, stands monumentally atop the list of all-time JJA Jazz Awards winners. He won the "Best Instrumentalist" Award, in 1997, the first year the JJA Awards were presented. In 1998, he was voted both "Best Improviser" and "Best Tenor Sax." The following year, he received the "Lifetime Achievement in Jazz" award, which can be bestowed on  an individual only once. But Sonny wasn't done achieving, far from it:

2013 JJA Jazz Music Awards winners to be named May 1

Voting in the final round of the Jazz Journalists Association 2013 Jazz Awards closed yesterday, April 17, and ballots are now being counted to determine the winners in 37 categories of achievement in jazz musicianship and journalism. The names of the winners in the 26 music categories will be announced on May 1; the winners of the eleven journalism and media Awards will be announced at a Media Party at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City on June 19.

2013 JJA Jazz Awards Nominees and Jazz Heroes Named

2013 JJA Jazz Heroes named
for their dedicated community work.

Today the Jazz Journalists Association kicks off  both JazzApril --a  month long celebration of all things jazz-- and the 2013 JJA Jazz Awards season by announcing this years Awards' finalist nominees along with the names of this year's JJA Jazz Heroes, cited for their exemplary work in keeping jazz alive and well in their communities.