Herbie Hancock, Charles Lloyd and Yazz Ahmed hit big at the 2020 Jazz FM Awards
Jon Newey
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Jazz FM held its annual awards last night with a star-studded international line-up of winners and presenters live-streamed from Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, which saw both Herbie Hancock and the UK’s own Yazz Ahmed amongst the delighted recipients.
Moving from its regular awards venue in London’s Shoreditch Town Hall across town to a socially distanced Ronnie’s in Soho, the Jazz FM Awards 2020 were held in association with OANDA and celebrated the depth and diversity of both the international and domestic UK jazz scene during this very difficult year dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Presented by actor, comedian and TV star Marcus Brigstocke, who recently presented the Jazz FM series Jazz Family Trees, the awards were streamed via JazzFM.com and the Jazz FM Facebook page. The broadcaster also managed to secure the services of a number of big-name presenters, including bassist Marcus Miller and actor Hugh Laurie, who all appeared by Zoom video links.
Live performances from the Ronnie Scott’s stage included music from double award winner Yazz Ahmed (she scooped Album of the year Award, and UK Jazz ACT of the Year Award, presented to her by Jamie Cullum); vocalist of the Year winner Judi Jackson; and Breakthrough Act of the Year winner saxophonist Zhosa Cole.
Two major American names were celebrated with Special Awards: Herbie Hancock, who turned 80 this year, was presented with the PPL Lifetime Achievement Award by Robert Glasper; and singer-songwriter Norah Jones, presented with the Impact Award by Kandace Springs.
This year’s Gold Award was presented by Jazz FM’s Chris Philips to the vibraphonist, band leader and educator Orphy Robinson MBE for his services to UK jazz and education, while Charles Lloyd was presented with the prestigious International Jazz Act of the Year Award by Christian McBride. UK saxophonist Binker Golding received his Instrumentalist of the Year award from Marcus Miller and actor Hugh Laurie handed the Blues Act of the Year to pianist and bandleader Jon Cleary, originally from the UK but now based in New Orleans.
Other award winners were Chiminyo for The Digital Award; Jazz Re:Freshed for The Innovation Award; Philip Bailey for Soul Act of the Year and London’s Vortex Jazz Club for Venue of the Year Award. Oliver Weindling of the Vortex accepted the award with a heartfelt speech that thanked the club’s fans, volunteers and musicians and pointed to the difficult times being faced by the jazz scene: “We need to use our energy, passion and imagination to see us through and we will come out the other side stronger than ever to survive the strings and arrows of outrageous Dominic Cummings!”
The Jazz FM Awards can be viewed at Jazzfm.com and Jazz FM’s Facebook page