Held last night in London’s Bloomsbury Ballroom and hilariously hosted by the inimitable Scottish Sikh comic, Hardeep Singh, the annual Jazz FM Awards was star-studded event that saw drum and saxophone duo, BINKER and MOSES (pictured left) scoop a stunning two awards – as Breakthrough Act and UK Jazz Act Of The Year. GREGORY PORTER – who was scheduled to perform but was whisked away at the last minute by Jools Holland to appear on Later – won the Impact Award while his compatriot, trumpeter and music app designer, CHRISTIAN SCOTT, picked up a trophy for Jazz Innovation Of The Year. Scott was nominated for best album but lost to Australian quartet, HIATUS KAIYOTE, for their LP, ‘Choose Your Weapon.’ The group appeared in person to collect the award and then performed the ethereal ballad, ‘Borderline With Your Atoms,’ where singer/guitarist Nai Palm delivered a magnetic vocal. Other musical performances came from rising Blue Note starlet, singer/pianist KANDACE SPRINGS who performed ‘Soul Eyes,’ the title cut of her debut album scheduled for July. Springs had an enthusiastic supporter in the late Prince Rogers Nelson, who also nurtured the career of singer, LIV WARFIELD, who appeared at the show, demonstrating her amazing vocal prowess on a version of her song ‘Blackbird.’
The full list of winners is below:
Instrumentalist of the Year
Winner: Mark Lockheart
Soul Artist of the Year
Winner: Jill Scott
Breakthrough Act of the Year
Winner: Binker & Moses
Blues Artist of the Year
Winner: Gary Clark Jr.
Vocalist of the Year
Winner: Lauren Kinsella
International Artist Of The Year
Winner: Kamasi Washington
Album Of The Year – Public Vote
Winner: Hiatus Kaiyote
UK Jazz Act of the Year
Winner: Binker & Moses
Digital Initiative of the Year
Winner: Jacob Collier
Jazz Innovation of the Year
Winner: Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
Live Experience of the Year – Pubic Vote
Winner: Ice-T and Ron McCurdy – The Langston Hughes Project at the Barbican
Impact Award
Winner: Gregory Porter
PPL Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner: Quincy Jones
