Fifteen stalwarts of the music fraternity will tomorrow night be inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame, in recognition of their sterling contributions to the development of Jamaican music as well as the preservation and promotion of jazz.
The induction ceremony, for ten entertainers and five past presidents of the Jamaica Federation of Musicians (JFM), will take place during the annual International Jamaica Ocho Rios Jazz Festival Awards Show, to be held at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande Hotel.
Those artistes receiving awards are: accomplished pianist and pioneer female bandleader Ivy Craydon; noted composer/arranger Peter Ashbourne; veteran bassist & arranger Jackie Jackson; popular cabaret performer, Karen Smith; jazz vocalist Myrna Hague; drummer extraordinaire Desi Jones; top saxophonist Dean Fraser; the highriding 30-year-old Fabulous Five Band; the first international promoter of ska Byron Lee; and pioneer sound system operator Winston "Merritone" Blake.
The festival organisers, in addition to expanding the list of inductees, have also decided to honour the five JFM past presidents who are still alive.
Under the theme, "Remembering The Past Protecters of The Music Industry", awards will be presented to deputy prime minister and one-time top jazz pianist, Seymour "Foggy" Mullings, Robert Peart, and Horace Abrahams, all of whom led the JFM for one year each.
To be honoured also are Headley Jones who headed the music union for ten years, and Sonny Bradshaw who served as president for all of 20 years.
"What better time to recognise not only those who have contributed to jazz, but those who have made significant contributions to the development and exposure of Jamaican music and talent," declared festival director Sonny Bradshaw.
The Jazz Hall of Fame, which started nine years ago, has in the past also inducted media personalities Dermott Hussey, Tony Verity, the late G. Fitz Bartley, Ossie Clarke, Michael Sharpe, Justin Whyte and the Jamaica Observer's Basil Walters.
Adding glamour to what has traditionally been a gala occasion, will be performances by legendary guitarist Ernie Ranglin, blues diva Irene Reid, the Terence Blanchard Quintet and the United States 2001 Jazz Ambassadors, the Doron Johnson Trio.