The winners of the Jazz FM Awards were announced on April 27 at a ceremony at the Bloomsbury Ballroom in London. Highlights this year included awards for vocalist Gregory Porter and Quincy Jones.
Gregory picked up the Impact Award, presented to a jazz artist who’s made an outstanding impression on the wider global music scene. Upon receiving the award, he said ”Thank you to everybody because it is you who inspire me and then I just give it back to you. I’m inspired and impacted by you.”
Composer, arranger and producer was honored with the PPL Lifetime Achievement Award.
Saxophonist Kamasi Washington took home the title of International Act of the Year. Trumpeter Christian Scott won the Jazz Innovation of the year award for his Stretch Music project, while the London-based duo Binker and Moses was presented with the prize for Breakthrough Act of the Year. EFG London Jazz Festival’s The Langston Hughes Project at the Barbican with Ice-T and Ron McCurdy picked up the Live Experience Award voted for by the public.
The ceremony was hosted by writer, actor and broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohli, and featured performances from Kansas Smitty’s House Band, singer and pianist Kandace Springs and Liv Warfield, who also accepted the Female Vocalist of the Year Award on behalf of Lauren Kinsella.
For more information, and a full list of winners, go to http://www.jazzfm.com/club/jazz-fm-awards-2016/