Canadian Jazz Awards Online Vote Begins Today

[Lois Gilbert]

Jazz Awards Online Vote Begins Today


Online voting begins for National Jazz Awards

The fifth National Jazz Awards will pay tribute to Canadian musicians, festival organizers, journalists, broadcasters and enthusiasts at the awards night Gala, to be held in Toronto April 10th at the newly refurbished Palais Royale.

Nominees for the awards are selected by a committee of industry leaders, and honour outstanding Canadian achievements. Winners will be announced at the Gala event.

Jazz fans are invited to cast online votes for their favourite nominees by visiting www.nationaljazzawards.com before the midnight, March 25, 2007. This year there are 26 different categories including: Jazz Journalist of the Year; Jazz Broadcaster of the Year; Jazz Producer of the Year and International Musician of the Year.

Hosting the event are Juno-nominated vocalist Dione Taylor and veteran David Clayton-Thomas. Performances include: saxophonists P.J. Perry, John Nugent, Jim Galloway and Murley; vocalists Holly Cole, Sophie Berkal-Sarbit and Taylor; pianist Oliver Jones; vibraphonist Peter Appleyard; trumpeter Guido Basso; and a house band led by Hugh Fraser.

for more info visit www.nationaljazzawards.com.

[Nate Dorward]

The "None of the above" category comes in awfully handy.

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Who would you vote for (or nominate, or both), Nate?

[jazzgregg]

Originally Posted by Nate Dorward

The "None of the above" category comes in awfully handy.

It certainly does, doesn't it?

G

[Nate Dorward]

Dennis: well, for starters the omission of Jesse Zubot in the "Best Violinist" category is disgraceful: his Dementia was one of the best releases (Canadian or otherwise) of 2006. It takes serious effort to omit him from a list of notable Canadian jazz violinists, given it's not exactly a heavily populated category.

Hard to see why anyone would care about the poll's results anyway: there's no mechanism set up to prevent multiple votes by a single person, for instance, & I certainly know of Canadian musicians who orchestrate massive voting campaigns in their favour for such things.

Of Canadian jazz albums, Dementia, Drumheller's Wives, the Reveries' Live in Bologna, Nimmons'n'Braid's Beginnings, Thom Gossage's 5, Miles Perkins' Common Thread & Andrew Rathbun/George Colligan's Renderings all strike me as notable releases from the past year.

[Nate Dorward]

PS I guess the reason why I find the lists particularly random is that they don't seem to have any correlation to the musicians' actually doing anything of real note in 2006--e.g. releasing an album, doing a major tour, putting together a new band, making news. So the "...of the Year" tag seems inappropriate.

[Lois Gilbert]

Music enthusiasts encouraged to vote and support nominees

Toronto--Canadian jazz artists, festival organizers, journalists, broadcasters and enthusiasts will gather to pay tribute to their own at the 2007 National Jazz Awards on April 10, 2007.


Celebrating its sixth anniversary, the National Jazz Awards, presented by Galaxie, CBC's continuous music network, recognizes contributions to jazz excellence in Canada. The nominees selected by a committee of industry leaders honour outstanding Canadian achievements.


Jazz fans across Canada are encouraged to visit www.nationaljazzawards.com before the midnight, March 25, 2007 deadline to cast their vote for their favourite nominee in 27 different categories including: Jazz Journalist of the Year; Jazz Broadcaster of the Year; Jazz Producer of the Year and International Musician of the Year. Also among this year's recognitions will be the Paul Hoeffler Jazz Photographer of the Year Award and the introduction of a new award, Male Jazz Vocalist of the Year. Please visit ftp:// tor.ddb.ca to download the category and nominees listing. Username: nationaljazzawards, password: nationaljazzawards.


The National Jazz Awards Canada was created by pianist, composer and publisher Bill King, in an effort to fill the void in the jazz continuum. Committee members include Downtown Jazz's Pat Taylor (Executive Producer), Kris King (Administrator), Hal Hill (Nominations and Voting), JVC Jazz Festival Director Sybil Walker (Event Design) and Justin Time's Jim West (Consultant).


“Now, more than ever, Canadian Jazz artists have an enormous influence on the world stage and are contributing greatly to the genre”, says Bill King. “The National Jazz Awards were created to honour these achievements at home.”


The National Jazz Awards winners, chosen by the public via a national on-line voting system will be honoured at an exclusive gala taking place at Toronto's Palais Royale. Hosted by songstress extraordinaire Dione Taylor and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee David Clayton Thomas, this year's theme will be Giants of Canadian Jazz and will be celebrated via a host of activities and entertainment.


The Hugh Fraser Band will complement a multitude of talented performers including the Oliver Jones Trio; vibraphonist Peter Appleyard; vocalists Sophie Berkal-Sarbit and Holly Cole; saxophonists Jim Galloway and John Nugent; the PJ Perry Quartet and Guido Basso and the Mike Murley 3.


The National Jazz Awards will take place on Tuesday April 10, 2007 at the Palais Royale Ballroom, located at 1601 Lakeshore Blvd in Toronto. Dinner reservations can be booked prior to the awards by contacting the venue directly at (416) 516-4496. Please ask for Nanci Malek. Dinner begins at 6 pm at a cost of $35.00. General Admission tickets are $75.00. Tickets are available by calling TicketMaster at (416) 870-8000 or online at www.ticketmaster.ca. The show begins at 8 pm. All ticket holders will be eligible to win a trip for two to the 2008 Barbados Jazz Festival - accomodations provided by the beautiful Bougainvillea Beach Resort. Winners will be drawn the night of event.


For further information, please contact the National Jazz Awards at (416) 533-4883 or visit the website below.