The Peter Whittingham Jazz Award was established in 1990. The award is judged independently of HMUK and is awarded annually to emerging Jazz musicians and offers development funding, to allow high potential artists to take their careers to the next level. Many previous Peter Whittingham Jazz Award awardees have made it to the forefront of the jazz scene, they include Errollyn Wallen MBE, Soweto Kinch, Andrea Vicari, Empirical, Led Bib, Phil Meadows and the Mercury Prize nominated Roller Trio.
HMUK is committed to supporting and championing women in Jazz and last year announced the Jazz Promoter Fellowship Programme in partnership with jazz composer and gender equality campaigner Issie Barratt, with the aim of closing the identified gender gap in the sector.
The charity will celebrate Women in Jazz, with a line of up of the two Peter Whittingham awardees Helena Kay’s KIM Trio and Jasmine Whalley’s Tȇtes De Pois, alongside Laura Jurd at an exclusive Jazz show curated by HMUK, as part of Independent Venue Week at London’s 100 Club on Sunday 4 February. Tickets will be released later this week, see www.helpmusicians.org.uk for more information.
The charity will celebrate Women in Jazz, with a line of up of the two Peter Whittingham awardees Helena Kay’s KIM Trio and Jasmine Whalley’s Tȇtes De Pois, alongside Laura Jurd at an exclusive Jazz show curated by HMUK, as part of Independent Venue Week at London’s 100 Club on Sunday 4 February. Tickets will be released later this week, see www.helpmusicians.org.uk for more information.
Helena Kay, originally from Perth, Scotland, is an exceptionally gifted alto saxophonist, former Young Scottish Jazz Musician Of The Year, jazz graduate and artist fellow of Guildhall School, as well as bandleader of KIM Trio.
Reacting to winning the award, Helena Kay said “Recording, releasing and promoting my debut album is a daunting and expensive prospect, but the support and guidance that this award provides will be a massive help in making it possible. It means a lot to have been selected for this prestigious award, given the reputation of the panel and previous winners; I'm very grateful and excited to get started.”
Claire Gevaux, Help Musicians UK Creative Director, added “The Peter Whittingham Jazz Award is open to all and has been won by a diverse array of incredible British jazz talent. And this year is no exception, Helena Kay has an exciting future ahead of her. Women are under-represented in jazz and through a series of programmes and initiatives including the Jazz Promoter Fellowship, HMUK will continue to work collaboratively to redress the gender imbalance by championing women in the music industry.”
The independent judging panel of the award was chaired by Peter Whittingham’s son-in-law Clive Shelton, alongside eminent jazz experts Zoe Rahman, Geoff Gascoyne, Issie Barratt and Noel Langley.
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