Gregory Porter, Lauren Kinsella and Binker & Moses win at Jazz FM Awards
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
The third edition of the Jazz FM Awards took place tonight at the Bloomsbury Ballroom, Victoria House, London, highlighting a diverse mix of UK and US jazz, soul and blues talent.
Presented by broadcaster and comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli, and jazz-loving guest presenters from music, radio and television including Cerys Matthews, Nitin Sawhney, Soweto Kinch and the Brand New Heavies, the night also saw live performances from Kansas Smitty’s House Band, Liv Warfield, Kandace Springs, and Hiatus Kaiyote.
Gregory Porter, recipient of the Impact Award, was unable to perform at the ceremony as previously announced (due to a clash with filming a live appearance on Later… With Jools Holland on BBC2 the same night) – while iconic producer/composer/big band leader Quincy Jones sent in a special video acceptance message for being awarded the PPL Lifetime Achievement Award saying: “What can I say Jazz FM? I’m so moved… To be so young and receive an award like this it’s astounding; I’m only 83 man! It’s with great honour and pride that I’d like to say thank you and show you my gratitude and my respect and love, I really appreciate it, thank you. It always feels good man!”
The big British winners of the night were sax and drums duo Binker Golding and Moses Boyd – better known simply by their surnames – as they took home both Breakthrough Act of the Year and UK Jazz Act of the Year, while Loose Tubes/Polar Bear saxophonist Mark Lockheart won Instrumentalist of the Year and adventurous Dublin-born, London-based singer Lauren Kinsella won the Vocalist of the Year award. All-conquering LA tenorist Kamasi Washington won International Artist of the Year, while the newly created Digital Initiative of the Year award was won by Quincy Jones protégé and vocal/multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier.
The full list of winners is as follows:
Instrumentalist of the Year – Mark Lockheart
Soul Artist of the Year (Sponsored by RCS) – Jill Scott
Breakthrough Act of the Year – Binker & Moses
Blues Artist of the Year – Gary Clark Jr
Vocalist of the Year – Lauren Kinsella
International Artist Of the Year (Sponsored by Yamaha) – Kamasi Washington
Album Of the Year (Public Vote , Sponsored by Arqiva) – Choose Your Weapon by Hiatus Kaiyote
UK Jazz Act of the Year (Sponsored by Grange Hotels) – Binker & Moses
Digital Initiative of the Year (sponsored by 7digital) – Jacob Collier
Jazz Innovation of the Year (sponsored by Mishcon de Reya) – Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
Live Experience of the Year (Pubic Vote) – Ice-T and Ron McCurdy – The Langston Hughes Project at the Barbican
Impact Award – Gregory Porter
PPL Lifetime Achievement Award – Quincy Jones.
For more info visit www.jazzfmawards.com
– Mike Flynn