AWARDS SEASON

Blog of the Year? Blog of the Year!

‘Gregory Hutchinson’ by Tatiana Gorilovsky, JJA Awards Jazz Photo of the Year.

This image above captures Gregory Hutchinson performing with the Christian McBride Trio at Ronnie Scott’s, on Nov. 4, 2025. Taken by the London-based photographer Tatiana Gorilovsky, it was just deservedly named Jazz Photo of the Year in the 31st annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards. I love the shot for its kinesthetic crackle, its geometric ratio and its chiaroscuro drama — but more than anything, I love that it depicts a master craftsman doing what he does on the gig. To some extent, I think that’s what Tatiana was doing here too.

In the best outcomes, that’s what the JJA Jazz Awards are designed to recognize: the sort of high achievement in a field that also boils down to just doing the work. Peruse the 2026 Winners for Jazz Performance and Recordings and you’ll find many examples, starting with pianist-composer Kenny Barron, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz, and the aforementioned bassist Christian McBride, named Musician of the Year. Big congrats to them both, and to the two dozen or so other musicians honored this year, including Cécile McLorin Salvant, whose new accolades include Female Vocalist of the Year and Duo of the Year — the latter award shared with Sullivan Fortner, who himself also won Pianist of the Year.

There are many others! For the full rundown, here again is the list. One sad note: the award for Clarinetist of the Year went to Ken Peplowski, who died in February. I wrote this obituary for WRTI, but there are a few must-read pieces on Substack, including Lee Mergner’s personal remembrance and Loren Schoenberg’s report from the memorial just a week or two ago. Which provides me with a good segue.

More Than One “J” in the JJA

As a professional organization, the JJA bestows recognition beyond the ranks of celebrated recording artists. The 2026 Winners in Journalism and Media include veteran jazz journalists like Zan Stewart, a former critic at the Newark Star-Ledger, and the deserving recipient of a Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism; and Bill Milkowski, whose bylines stretch beyond the known horizon, and the latest recipient of the Robert Palmer-Helen Oakley Dance Award for Excellence in Writing.

I also want to extend kudos to Mark Sheldon, for the Lona Foote-Bob Parent Award for Career Excellence in Photography, and Chuck Obuchowski, for the Marian McPartland-Willis Conover Award for Career Achievement in Broadcasting. Big ups to DownBeat for once again grabbing Publication of the Year.

Now I hope you’ll forgive me for committing the journalistic gaffe of burying the lede, but The Gig also won a 2026 JJA Jazz Award, for Jazz Blog of the Year.

Graphic by the Jazz Journalists Association; author photo by Michael Lionstar.

I’d like to take this moment to thank the voting members of the Jazz Journalists Association for the honor, which I truly appreciate. And I want to thank you, for reading and supporting The Gig. Knowing you’re there on the other end of the line is a huge motivation — and something I don’t take it for granted, especially now.

I want to shout out the other nominees for Jazz Blog of the Year, because I’ve learned from each of them, and still read them with unqualified pleasure. It says something about the state of play that we’re all posting here. Practically speaking, the award category could have been “Jazz Substack of the Year.” I’m glad it wasn’t, but I also wonder whether any of my colleagues greeted their nomination with an internal-muttering “Not a blog.” Maybe they even shared my wry identification with Janet, the omniscient concierge from the NBC sitcom The Good Place, who keeps politely objecting to how she’s characterized. (“Not a robot.”) (“Not a girl.”)

Anyway, here are my fellow nominees. I recommend their newsletters — literally, as in, they’re all among my Substack recs. (In a couple of cases, I honestly thought I’d recommended them ages ago.) In case you need a field guide:

• Ethan Iverson: Transitional Technology is the latest platform for an O.G. scribe of ye olde jazz blogosphere. Astute analysis, with a personal touch.

• Bill Milkowski: Musings on Music by The Milkman draws on an expansive and far-ranging journalistic career. (See the Dance-Palmer Award above.)

• Lewis Porter: Playback with Lewis Porter! is a jazz history and research seminar from perhaps our leading archival scholar. As ever, the devil is in the details.

• Vinnie Sperrazza: Chronicles reveals a history-obsessed jazz drummer who also cares deeply about a community and a living scene.

Thanks for doing the work, guys! I’m honored to be in your company. And congratulations to all the winners of this year’s JJA Jazz Awards.

One more thing about The Gig — which, fine, call it a blog, if you like…

This has always been a publication with jazz at the center of the frame. But I’m glad that readers of The Gig also welcome excursions into other musical areas. The next post you’ll see here will be about The Roots Picnic, which subsumed my weekend with a sensory overload of hip-hop and R&B. (Coming soooooon, I swear.)

And you may have already put this together, but the title of this dispatch is a nod to the song by Bon Iver, originally released on a 2024 EP and then on the 2025 album SABLE, fABLE. This is not jazz — but also, in a funny way, not-not jazz. Listen and you decide. Just be sure to make it past 2:54, when Michael Lewis makes his grand, multi-tracked entrance on tenor saxophones.