Women Dominate Jazz Awards

Maria Schneider swept five categories at the 2016 Jazz Awards, leading the charge during a year in which women were prominent among winners announced by the Jazz Journalists Association May 15.  

Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file
Poses with her Grammys in the press room at the 58th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

Schneider won for musician of the year and best album for The Thompson Fields. She also won for composer, arranger and best large ensemble. Other winners include Anat Cohen (clarinetist and multi-reeds player), Regina Carter (violinist), Mary Halvorson (guitarist), Nicole Mitchell (flutist), Jane Ira Bloom (soprano saxophonist), and Myra Melford (midsize ensemble).

Henry Threadgill, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for music, received the award for lifetime achievement in jazz. Saxophonist Kamasi Washington, who released the critically acclaimed triple album The Epic, was chosen up and coming artist of the year.