The exceptional talent within Scotland’s progressive and burgeoning jazz scene was celebrated last night at the 10th Scottish Jazz Awards.
Winners across six categories, including Best Vocalist, Best Band and Rising Star, were honoured at Glasgow venue The Savings Bank as the event applauded stand out musical endeavours.
A record-breaking 3,300 public votes were cast for the nominees, while the Lifetime Achievement Award was selected by a panel of industry specialists, including press and promoters from across the UK.
Winners of the 10th Scottish Jazz Awards are:
Rising Star Award: Cara Rose
Best Instrumentalist Award: Helena Kay
Best Vocalist Award: kitti
Best Band Award: Tenement Jazz Band
Best Album Award: Fergus McCreadie, Forest Floor
Lifetime Achievement Award: Alan Steadman
Also recognised as part of this milestone event, was Scottish jazz royalty Fionna Duncan who sadly passed away earlier this week. Her musical partner Brian Kellock led a moving musical tribute to her as part of the night’s proceedings. Fionna was often described as a ‘national treasure’ and she started running Vocal Jazz Workshops at Glasgow Jazz Festival in 1996 which went on to become legendary on both the Scottish and wider jazz scene. Fionna was also the much loved host of the Glasgow Jazz Festival’s Late Night Jam Sessions for many years.
This year’s Rising Star winner, 25-year-old Glasgow-based singer Cara Rose, started performing at a young age before going on to study songwriting at Glasgow’s Academy of Music and Sound. She has since amassed over two million Spotify streams, with her 2022 single ‘Lovin’’ being featured on the platform’s New Music Friday playlist in October.
Helena Kay, 2022’s Best Instrumentalist Award winner, is a London-based tenor saxophonist who grew up in Perth. In 2015 she won the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year, and in 2017 she won the Peter Whittingham Jazz Award. She used the prize money from this prestigious award to record and release her debut album Moon Palace.
Best Vocalist Award winner kitti is a singer from Paisley. She also won Best Vocalist in 2020, and as well as winning the Scottish Music Awards ‘Best Female Breakthrough’ the same year. She supported Georgia Cecile at the Glasgow Jazz Festival this year as well as playing at the Edinburgh and Dundee Jazz Festivals. She also supported other greats such as Mavis Staples and Van Morrison.
Tenement Jazz Band, this year’s Best Band, are a traditional jazz outfit formed in 2018 in Edinburgh. This year they’ve delighted audiences at festivals across the UK, as well as performing at Edinburgh Jazz Festival.
Jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie was awarded this year’s prestigious Best Album Award for Forest Floor, which topped the UK Jazz and Blues Chart, and was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. This groundbreaking album was also crowned overall winner at the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award.
Renowned jazz promoter and broadcaster Alan Steadman was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award to coincide with his retirement this year following an illustrious career supporting and promoting jazz within Scotland. Hailing from Broughty Ferry, Alan is also the voice of the Speaking Clock.
Jill Rodger, Director of Glasgow Jazz Festival and Producer of the Scottish Jazz Awards, said:
This year’s Scottish Jazz Awards were a milestone moment for the jazz scene as we not only celebrated ten years of the event but also how far we have come as a genre. The awards also celebrate the increasing diversity of the Scottish jazz scene and the boundary-defying musicians who continue to produce groundbreaking material year on year. Scotland’s exceptional jazz scene continues to thrive and I would like to say a huge congratulations to everyone who was nominated, and to all of our winners.
The Scottish Jazz Awards are produced as an independent event by the organisers of Glasgow Jazz Festival.