FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
First-Ever Jazz Music Awards Adds Performers Dee Dee Bridgewater,
Dianne Reeves, Ledisi, The Baylor Project, Kenny Garrett, Somi,
Lizz Wright, Jazzmeia Horn, Brian Bromberg and Lindsey Webster
Event Celebrating the Spirit of Jazz to Be Hosted by
Delroy Lindo and Dee Dee Bridgewater with
Musical Direction by Terri Lyne Carrington
(Atlanta, GA – October 3, 2022) – The Jazz Music Awards: Celebrating the Spirit of
Jazz, the first awards celebration to exclusively focus on Jazz announces a star-studded
the lineup of acclaimed artists who will perform live under the musical direction of NEA Jazz
Master and three-time Grammy Award-winning musician, composer, and educator Terri
Lyne Carrington. Grammy and Tony Award-winning artist Dee Dee Bridgewater and
multiple award-winning British-American stages and screen actor Delroy Lindo will serve as
co-hosts for the Jazz Music Awards, set for Saturday, October 22, 2022, at the Cobb
Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, GA.
Confirmed as musical performers are a cast of multiple Grammy Award winners, including
NEA Jazz Masters Dianne Reeves, Kenny Garrett, and Dee Dee Bridgewater, vocalist
Ledisi, husband-and-wife team Marcus and Jean Baylor of The Baylor Project, and
preeminent jazz, gospel, and blues vocalist Lizz Wright. Also confirmed to perform are Jazz
Music Awards nominees: vocalists Jazzmeia Horn, Somi, and Lindsey Webster,
guitarist Brian Bromberg, harpist Brandee Younger, and pianist Orrin Evans.
Among the musical highlights of the inaugural awards presentation – with the theme “Jazz Is
The Culture” – will be an opening performance by The Baylor Project, which led the Jazz
Music Awards with three nominations. They will be joined by five-time Grammy winner
Dianne Reeves and three-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Jazzmeia Horn. The celebration
will also include a musical tribute, “Songs of Social Justice,” featuring Reeves and Horn, along
with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ledisi, and Lizz Wright.
Two-time Jazz Music Award nominees Kenny Garrett and Orrin Evans are also featured
performers during the evening, honoring McCoy Tyner, who is posthumously receiving the Jazz Legend Award, and there will be a tribute to Lifetime Achievement honoree Wayne
Shorter. Ray Angry, Mark Whitfield, and Marcus Strickland will perform in a special
medley in honor of the late Joey DeFrancesco (a Jazz Music Awards nominee), Ramsey
Lewis and Pharoah Sanders. In addition to other performances, Lizz Wright will perform
a beloved classic to close this unique program.
The Jazz Music Awards Musical Director Terri Lyne Carrington put together some of the best
of the best jazz musicians including bassist James Genus, trumpeter Milena Casado,
drummer Nikki Glaspie, pianist Orrin Evans, organist Ray Angry, guitarist Mark Whitfield,
and DJ and percussionist Kassa Overall.
As previously announced, the Jazz Music Awards will present awards in eight competitive
categories as well as six special honors. For the three Awards of Distinction categories,
modern jazz trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire will receive the Jazz Innovator
Award; vocalist and composer Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds will receive the Jazz
Educator Award; and saxophonist, woodwinds player, and composer Henry Threadgill will
be honored with the Jazz Composer Award. The Jazz Impact Award will be given to a veteran
musician and educator James H. Patterson.
ABOUT THE HOSTS
Dee Dee Bridgewater is a veteran actor, vocalist, and broadcaster. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Flint, Michigan, she was inspired by listening to Ella Fitzgerald to pursue a musical career. She launched a successful jazz vocal career in New York, singing with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and then with a series of notable jazz bands before landing a recording contract. She migrated to musical theater, earning a Tony Award in 1975 for her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch in the Broadway musical The Wiz. The cast album of the show also earned Bridgewater her first Grammy Award. She performed as part of the international touring company of Sophisticated Ladies and earned accolades for her performance in the Off-Broadway production of Lady Day, the story of Billie Holiday at the Little Shubert Theatre, in New York City, as well as performances of Lady Day in Paris and London. She also had a starring roleinCabaret. She recorded a series of tribute albums through the 1990s, earning another Grammy Award for Dear Ella in 1997 and her third Grammy Award in 2010 for Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee Bridgewater. Among her many honors are a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, induction into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and the then Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Maria Fisher Founder’s Award. In 2017, Bridgewater was named a 2017 NEA Jazz Master.
Delroy Lindo is a critically acclaimed stage and screen actor. Born in London to Jamaican parents, he also lived in Toronto, Ontario, and San Francisco, California. He made his big screen debut in the 1976 comedy Find The Lady. He recently appeared as Bass Reeves in 2021 western The Harder They Fall. Lindo starred in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, which earned him Best Actor awards from the Hollywood Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the National Society of Film Critics. He also appeared in a trio of Lee’s other top-grossing films: Clockers, Crooklyn, and Malcolm X. He had memorable film roles in Congo, The Cider House Rules, Get Shorty, and Heist, among others. He will star in the upcoming Marvel Studios’ reboot of Blade with Mahershala Ali. On the television side, Lindo appeared in four seasons of CBS’s “The Good Fight” as Adrian Boseman; as well as “Belief,” “The Chicago Code,” “Kidnapped,” and in films for TV, such as Soul of The Game, (playing baseball legend Satchel Paige); Strange Justice (winning a Peabody Award); and Glory & Honor (playing Arctic Explorer Matthew Henson).
He won an NAACP Award for a guest appearance on “Law & Order: SVU.” He will also star in Neil Gaiman’s upcoming limited- series Anansi Boys for Amazon Studios. Lindo made his Broadway debut in Athol Fugard’s play Master Harold and the Boys with James Earl Jones. He received a Tony Award nomination playing Herald Loomis in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. He directed the plays Blue Door and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone to critical acclaim at Berkeley Repertory Theater. Lindo has an Honorary Doctorate in Arts and Humanities from Virginia Union University; a BFA degree (cum laude) from San Francisco State University; and an
MFA from New York University’s Gallatin School.
ABOUT THE JAZZ MUSIC AWARDS
The inaugural Jazz Music Awards will establish a new platform for recognizing the rich
history, musical innovation, and vital artistry that continue to inform America’s truly original
art form – Jazz Music. As an essential component of the vast tapestry that weaves together
African Americans’ contributions to the arts, Jazz is The Culture. It is a unique sound and
style that is beloved around the world. The Jazz Music Awards and its creators recognize and
amplify Jazz as a vibrant cornerstone of all American music that has profoundly
influenced American language, style, traditions, and sounds, producing heroes and cultural
phenomena. The Jazz Music Awards is a nonprofit division of Jazz 91.9 WCLK at Clark
Atlanta University, the HBCU owner and licensee of WCLK.
For updates and information on the award ceremony, please visit jazzmusicawards.com.
Media Contact:
Gwendolyn Quinn
The Jazz Music Awards
[email protected]
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917-769-7808