PBS Member Station Georgia Public Broadcasting Announces The Broadcast Of The Inaugural Jazz Music Awards

PBS member station Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) TODAY announces the inaugural Jazz Music Awards: Celebrating The Spirit of Jazz, which it will make available for streaming on demand on PBS Passport on Monday, January 1, 2024.

The Georgia statewide broadcast will air on GPB's nine stations WGTV-TV (Atlanta/Athens), WNGH-TV (Chatsworth), WMUM-TV (Macon), WJSP-TV (Columbus), WACS-TV (Dawson), WABW-TV (Albany), WVAN-TV (Savannah), WXGA-TV (Waycross) and WCES-TV (Augusta) on the same day at 7:00 p.m. ET.

The Jazz Music Awards is a new two-hour award show celebrating the best in Jazz including traditional, contemporary, vocal, instrumental, and experimental. It is the first global, full-scale, music award show dedicated to Jazz and the artists who create it. Hosted by multiple Grammy Award-winning artist, NEA Jazz Master and Tony Award winner Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the widely acclaimed stage and screen actor, Peabody Award winner, and Tony Award nominee Delroy Lindo.

"GPB is excited to partner with WCLK [an NPR member station] to broadcast and stream the Jazz Music Awards," said GPB CEO Bert Wesley Huffman. "Through the years, we've found ways to collaborate that deepen the value of public media to our respective listening audiences, and the Jazz Awards offer a perfect opportunity to strengthen the partnership between GPB and WCLK while providing a wonderful platform for this treasured art form."

"We are grateful to partner with Georgia Public Broadcasting," says Wendy F. Williams, the founder and executive producer of the Jazz Music Awards and the General Manager of 91.9 WCLK, an NPR-affiliated station. "GPB is an excellent home for the Jazz Music Awards, and we look forward to building a national platform with PBS and its 150 affiliates. GPB presented us with a great opportunity to broadcast and stream our program around the world."

Under the brilliant musical direction of multiple Grammy Award winner and NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington, the award show features eight performances by internationally renowned artists including Dianne Reeves, Kenny Garrett, Orrin Evans, Ledisi, Somi, Lizz Wright, Braxton Cook, Brandee Younger, Jazzmeia Horn, The Baylor Project, Lindsey Webster, and the show's co-host Dee Dee Bridgewater. Musical tributes included performances for the late Ramsey Lewis, Pharoah Sanders, Joey DeFrancesco, and Jaimie Branch.

Carrington's All-Star Band features a collective of world-class musicians who played throughout the show. The group includes keyboardist Ray Angry, trumpeter Milena Casado, alto saxophonist Braxton Cook, pianist Orrin Evans, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE bassist, James Genus, drummer and percussionist Nikki Glaspie, percussionist Gerson Lazo-Quiroga, electronics, DJ/percussionist Kassa Overall, tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland, guitarist Mark Whitfield, and drummer Carrington.

Carrington, who serves as musical director and one of the executive producers of the show says, "Our theme, 'Jazz is the Culture' best exemplifies the excellence that was exhibited by the musicians and artists. It was a memorable and stellar night filled with magic. So many of the artists expressed their joy and heartfelt sentiments about building community and the need for an annual platform such as this."

The awards ceremony will also recognize winners in eight competitive categories including Best New Artist, Best Contemporary Artist, Best Mainstream Artist, Best Vocal Performance, Best Duo, Group or Big Band, Best Contemporary Album, Best Mainstream Album, and Song of the Year.

The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to the late Wayne Shorter. The Legend Award will be presented to THE FAMILY of the late McCoy Tyner. The three recipients of the Awards of Distinction include Pulitzer Prize-winning Henry Threadgill for the Jazz Composer Award; avant-garde Jazz trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire will receive the Jazz Innovator Award; and former U.S. Jazz Ambassador and twice appointed Fulbright Senior Music Specialist, Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds will be presented with the Jazz Educator Award. Additionally, the beloved Jazz Professor James H. Patterson of Clark Atlanta University will receive the Jazz Impact Award.

The production credits include Wendy F. Williams (founder and executive producer), Rushion McDonald (executive producer), Terri Lyne Carrington (executive producer and musical director), Gwendolyn Quinn (executive producer), J. Kevin Swain (director of live production), Elizabeth Healy (director of broadcast and supervising producer of broadcast); Wendy F. Williams, Gwendolyn Quinn, Terri Lyne Carrington, Elizabeth Healy, and J. Kevin Swain (producers); Eugenia P. Ricks, David C. Linton, James Locklin, and Ray Cornelius (consulting producers); Eric Singer (editor), and Janine Coveney (head scriptwriter). 

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