Winners of 2024 Parliamentary Jazz Awards announced

The winners have been announced for this year’s Parliamentary Jazz Awards with a wide of recipients picking up awards for a diverse selection of categories, dominated by leading  female jazz musicians from the UK jazz scene. The Awards are organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) and supported by music licensing company PPL, and in the words of the organisers “celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom”.

Winners this year include Emma Smith​, for Jazz Vocalist of the Year; saxophonist and composer Emma Rawicz for Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year; Zoe Rahman for Jazz Album of the Year and her LP, The Colour Of Sound, jazz harpist Alina Bzhezhinska’s HipHarp Collective for Jazz Ensemble of the Year; and Ezra Collective trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi for Jazz Newcomer of the Year. There were also wins for The Verdict Brighton for Jazz Venue of the Year; influential DJ and broadcaster Gilles Peterson MBE for the Jazz Media Award; pianist and composer Nikki Yeoh for the Jazz Education Award; and promoter and photographer George Nelson’s regular monthly night Moment’s Notice took home the Services to Jazz Award. There were two Special APPJG Awards this year to recognise the longstanding contributions of renowned singer and educator Anita Wardell, who earlier this year had a stroke, with Wardell reportedly responding well to treatment and making good progress. There was a second Special Award for Paula Gardiner, the Wales-based bassist, composer and educator who has just retired as Head of Jazz at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama after 22 years.

Commenting on the winners of this year’s awards Chi Onwurah, MP Co-Chair of APPJG, said: "These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who have kept jazz flourishing. These recipients demonstrate the wealth of talent and commitment that exists in the British jazz scene. Now in their 19th year, the Parliamentary Jazz Awards honour the best of British jazz. MPs and Peers in the All-Party Group are grateful to PPL music licensing company for supporting the event.”

And Peter Leathem OBE, Chief Executive Officer of PPL added: “PPL is delighted to support the 2024 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. The recipients reflect both the phenomenal jazz talent we have here in the UK and the community built around them in the nations and regions. Congratulations to all the recipients on their success to date.”

The Awards were introduced and presented by: Lord Mann and Chi Onwurah MP, Issie Barratt, Jo White MP, Yvette Griffith OBE, Steve Crocker, Orphy Robinson MBE, Peter Leathem OBE, Jane Cornwell, Jon Newey. MC Chris Hodgkins. The house band performing at the ceremony comprised Andrea Vicari (piano), Alison Rayner (bass), Tori Freestone (sax), Henry Lowther (trumpet) and Noah Ojumu (drums).

For more info visit www.appjag.org/parliamentary-jazz-awards/