Yesterday afternoon, the Jazz Journalists Association's 2018 Jazz Awards ceremony was held at New York's New School. During the event, the acrylic statues were handed out to the winners, speeches were given and jazz performers entertained. The award above is as much yours as it is mine. Without you—JazzWax's loyal readers—this blog would have fizzled out years ago. I deeply appreciate all of my readers and social-media followers—people in every corner of the world who love jazz and enjoy visiting JazzWax to catch up on my daily listening recommendations and musings.
At the event, I had a chance to catch up with Nate Chinen (above). Yesterday, he was awarded his 10th Robert Palmer-Helen Oakley Dance Award for Excellence in Writing. For years, Nate wrote on jazz for The New York Times and The Village Voice. He's also the author of George Wein's memoir, Myself Among Others. Now Nate is director of editorial content at WBGO, a flagship NPR station in Newark, N.J. Nate's pieces on jazz are always thorough, fluid and beautifully articulated. To dig Nate's work for WBGO, go here. Then scroll down through the summaries of his recent posts.
In addition to Nate, I chatted with Resonance Records producer Zev Feldman and label owner George Klabin (above), WKCR's Sid Gribetz, writer and radio host Neil Tesser, the Songwriters Hall of Fame's Robbin Ahrold, JJA president Howard Mandel, jazz journalist Susan Brink, WBGO radio host Monifa Brown, Newport Jazz Festival publicist Carolyn McClair, and Mark Ruffin, host of SiriusXM's "Real Jazz."
On my way home, while crossing a street in Greenwich Village, I heard Tony Bennett singing David Rose's arrangement of Never Too Late from the 1965 film of the same name. The music was coming from a red Jaguar convertible with New Jersey plates that was stopped at the light. Dig the strings arrangement. Go here...
