Best in Scottish jazz celebrated at 2018 awards

Published: 04 Jun 2018

The 6th Scottish Jazz Awards, in association with Glasgow Jazz Festival and Hands Up for Trad, took place on Sunday 3 June in St Luke’s Glasgow. The awards once again brought together the best in Scottish jazz and honoured some of the most talented and revered musicians in the industry.

Last year, after an absence of four years, Glasgow Jazz Festival revived the prestigious awards ceremony that celebrates Scotland’s vibrant jazz scene.

A panel of industry specialists, including press and promoters, selected the shortlist for the five awards and the public were able to choose the winners by voting on an online platform. Over 3000 people voted for their favourite, a 20% increase in votes since last year.

In 2017 the festival incorporated the awards into their festival programme but thanks to the success of the event and the support it received from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland and the Scottish Jazz Community they decided to host it as a stand-alone awards ceremony for 2018.

The Winners for the 6th Scottish Jazz Awards were:

• Best Vocalist Award sponsored by Jazz from Scotland - Seonaid Aitken
• Best Instrumentalist Award sponsored by ESP Music Rentals - Fergus McCreadie
• Rising Star Award in association with Help Musicians Scotland - Luca Manning
• Best Band/Ensemble Award sponsored by The Blue Arrow - Rose Room
• Best Album Award sponsored by Birnam CD - Alan Benzie, Little Mysteries
• A Lifetime Achievement Award sponsored by Ticketmaster - Fionna Duncan

Later this summer, from Wednesday 20 - Sunday 24 June, Glasgow Jazz Festival will transform the city with a wealth of home-grown and international jazz talent, taking over some of the most iconic venues in the city. Highlights of Glasgow Jazz Festival 2018 include the former front-man of Bombay Bicycle Club, Mr Jukes, who will bring his debut solo album to this year’s festival, a project full of material that revives his long-standing interest in jazz, soul and R&B.

Music legend Georgie Fame will also return to the festival to showcase his much-loved blend of jazz and rhythm & blues with his Family Trio, as well as Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - one of Africa’s biggest and longest running orchestras. Glasgow Jazz Festival has also signed up to be part of the Keychange project – a pioneering European initiative that empowers women to transform the future of the music industry and encourages festivals to achieve a 50:50 balance by 2022.

Tickets and the full programme for Glasgow Jazz Festival is available at www.jazzfest.co.uk.