London Jazz Awards 2010

It was an enormous privilege to be attending the London Jazz Awards last evening, at Pizza Express Jazz Club.  A whole host of people were there - of course the calibre of musician on the shortlist meant that there was a melange of talent present. The evening began with wine and pizza (and continued with wine and wine).  About half of the club had been emptied of its tables, leaving room for mingling and chatting - making for an unusual and great atmosphere.

It wasn't only the London Jazz Awards that were presented last night, but also the London New Poetry award.  The shortlisters were announced, and then the winner - Carrie Etter for her work The Tethers - read something from her winning entry.  It was truly wonderful.  I don't know much about poetry (even though some parallels can be drawn with singing jazz) but the words were so deliciously woven that I found myself - to my surprise - moved and captivated. http://carrieetter.blogspot.com/

There was a great feeling of community between two societies that don't often mix, but have shared experiences and interests.  Even so, the jazz community was certainly more vocal!  The shortlist was announced, to degrees of applause for each candidate.  It was the job of London Fringe director Greg Tallent (what a wonderful name!) to announce the nominees.  Unfortunately for him, his list was incomplete, and he wasn't familiar with all the names.  With true camaraderie, corrections and missing candidates were offered and applauded suitably.

Helen Mayhew stepped up to the stage to present the jazz awards.  The instrumental award went to John Turville, particularly in reference to his album Midas.  The vocal award was split between two singers - apparently the judges had such a hard time separating these two, that it was decided there should be two vocal awards this year.  They were Cleveland Watkis, and Norma Winstone.  As a singer myself, I am thrilled that two singers were recognised in such an award ceremony, despite the fact that there was already a separate category for vocalists.  

It's often very difficult to decide on who is a better singer, or who is your favourite, because even though the instrument is the same, the way two people sing can be worlds apart from each other - in effect, two totally different instruments.  It's only a shame that not everyone could be awarded last night, because each jazz musician who was nominated brings something particular, individual and special to this diverse UK jazz scene.

A jam session ensued, during which John took to the stage along with Norma and Cleveland, finishing Blue Monk with an epic last note that they clearly didn't want to end!  Other nominees including Nia Lynn, Fini Bearman, Derek Nash, Gary Husband, Patrick Bettison performed, as did panel members Barry Green, Asaf Sirkis and Mark Hodgson.  An enormous treat.  A notable performance was an improvised duet between Gary Husband (drums) and Jazzcotech dancer Perry Louis (feet).  Unfortunately the carpetted stage meant that it didn't quite have the impact it should have.

I want to make a personal mention of one of the nominees - Emma Smith.  Emma was my 'student' at NYJO (when I was the principal vocalist and vocal coach, Emma came to my workshops each week and began singing with the band at various gigs.)  I am so proud to know that she was nominated this year, as she is by far the youngest of all the candidates both in years, and experience on the London jazz scene.  I remember when she first came to NYJO... I was 24 (meaning that apparently I had only one year left of being a 'youth'), and although I wasn't planning on leaving the band, I knew the time was near when I would have to start considering my replacement.  As soon as she opened her mouth to sing I knew I could leave the band without worrying about who would be able to take on the job.