The inaugural Jazz Music Awards: Celebrating the Spirit of Jazz has announced its awards ceremony, scheduled on Saturday, October 22, 2022, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in metro Atlanta, GA. For five decades the premier venue is the home to Broadway shows, ballets, concerts, operas, and more. Presented by Jazz 91.9 WCLK, a public radio station licensed to Clark Atlanta University and known as “Atlanta’s Jazz Station,” the Jazz Music Awards (JMA) will be a dynamic presentation that recognizes the iconic spirit of jazz by shining a spotlight on Mainstream and Contemporary Jazz musicians who continue to make a mark on the music and the industry. The hosts, performers, presenters, and special honorees will be announced at a later date.
The Jazz Music Awards will recognize a broad spectrum of creators within the national and international jazz world, from mainstream and contemporary musicians, vocalists, and big bands, to composers, individual songs, and full-length albums. The eligibility period for the 2022 awards ceremony starts from April 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022. The online submissions will begin on New Year’s Day, Saturday, January 1, 2022, through Thursday, March 31, 2022. The award categories are as follows: Best Mainstream Artist, Best Contemporary Artist, Best Duo, Group or Big Band, Best New Jazz Artist (Contemporary or Mainstream), Best Jazz Vocalist, Best International Artist (Contemporary or Mainstream), Best Mainstream Album, Best Contemporary Album, Jazz Innovator of the Year, Composer of the Year, Educator of the Year, Jazz Legacy Award, and Song of the Year (Fan Vote).
Williams and David Linton, the station’s program director and the former record label executive, reached out to Rushion McDonald, the founder of 3815 Media, who will head the production for the upcoming star-studded celebration. A two-time Emmy Award-winning executive producer and a three-time NAACP Image Award winner, McDonald is the host of the popular “Money Making Conversations” podcast. 3815 Media will produce the Jazz Music Awards and its red-carpet event with plans to launch a live award telecast globally.
McDonald is the architect behind producing multi-media platforms for major clients, including the career of Steve Harvey and the widely successful Hoodie Awards, later renamed the Neighborhood Awards. His expansive work as a writer and producer also includes collaborations with other celebrity talents such as Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Gabrielle Union, Mo’Nique, Tia and Tamara Mowry, Stephen A. Smith, Jamie Foxx, and others from New York City to Hollywood. He has also created national media campaigns for State Farm, Ford, JC Penny, General Mills, iHeart Radio, Radio One, NBC, BET, and ABC networks, just to name a few. For more information about Rushion McDonald, go to rushionmcdonald.com.
The Jazz Music Awards committee secured three-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist and NEA Jazz Master, Terri Lyne Carrington, who will lead the musical direction and serve as a consultant to the first-ever awards ceremony. With technical wizardry and profound creativity, Carrington has become one of the giants of today’s jazz music. The multi-talented drummer, composer, producer, and educator, Carrington began her professional career at ten years old and received a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music at the age of eleven. Her artistry and commitment to education earned her honorary doctorates from Manhattan School of Music and Berklee College of Music, where she currently serves as founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice.
To date, she has released eight career albums. She is the first female artist to ever win the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, which she received for her 2013 project, Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue. Since she started her career, she has worked as an in-demand musician in New York City and later moved to Los Angeles, where she gained recognition on late-night TV as the house drummer for both “The Arsenio Hall Show” and Quincy Jones’ “VIBE TV” show, hosted by Sinbad. To date, Carrington has performed on more than one hundred recordings and has been a role model and advocate for young women and men internationally through her teaching and touring careers. She has worked extensively with jazz giants and legends including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Jarreau, Stan Getz, Woody Shaw, Clark Terry, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, James Moody, Joe Sample, Esperanza Spalding, and more. For more information about Terri Lyne Carrington, go to terrilynecarrington.com
