It’s that time of year again – time to enjoy the holidays, look back upon the year, and start voting on the Best Latin Jazz of 2008!

Voting begins today – just jump over to the LJC Best of 2008 page and place your votes. This will be available daily in the tab on the top of the page. Once there, make your choices carefully – you can only vote in each category once. After you place your vote, your IP address will be logged and you will not be able to vote in that category again. If you don’t see the artist or album that you’ think deserves the honor, just click “add an answer” and you will have the opportunity to add your own selection. I’ve started the lists with some of my top picks, but I want everyone’s voice heard, so please add anything that I’ve neglected! Voting will be open through December 23rd, so feel free to vote anytime within the next three weeks. Winners will be announced in small groups each day between December 27th & December 31st. It’s an exciting way to end the year!

When you add an answer to a category, please adhere to the following guidelines. If an added answer steps outside the guidelines, I’ll have to delete it. Here’s the specifics:

• Only recordings from 2008 are eligible. With my initial selections, I did not consider mid to late November or December releases. Any albums released during this time period will be eligible for the 2009 Awards.
• Stick to artists that contributed to specifically to a Latin Jazz album during 2008.
• Please write only one artist/album per added answer.
• For Album of the Year, Brazilian Jazz Album of the Year, or Large Ensemble Album of the Year, enter the album and then artist name.
• For Hall of Fame Entries, add only the name of the artist. Try to stick with artists that have contributed significantly to the Latin Jazz world over the course of at least 20 years.
• For Next Generation Artist, add the artist name and then their 2008 album. Try to stick with artists that have appeared as strong voices on the Latin Jazz scene recently.
• For Flute Player, Trombone Player, Trumpet Player, Sax Player, Vocalist, Piano Player, Guitar/Tres Player, Bass Player, Drum Kit Player, and Percussionist, add the musician’s name and then the 2008 album that best represents their nomination.
• For Record Label, add the Record Label name.

So head over to the Best of 2008 page and start voting! Take a few minutes to check out the entries and think back through your listening this year. You may not have heard every album on the list, but you’ve most likely heard some of them. Vote in the categories where you feel comfortable and where you find albums that inspire you. It might be a good chance to check out some albums that are still new to you; I’ll be creating links to LJC reviews of nominated albums soon. Look for missing albums or artists that really deserve the recognition – if I overlooked them, please add them! Most importantly, have some fun looking back at a great year of music & let’s recognize the outstanding work that Latin Jazz musicians have done during 2008.

Make sure that you spread the word about the Best of 2008 Awards as well – you may have friends that love these albums/artists but aren’t familiar with LJC yet. Point them towards the awards and let them get involved. It’s a great way to get more people supporting the Latin Jazz world and introduce a wider audience to LJC!

Any ideas or comments, please let me know; I simply want to make the awards a way for LJC readers to recognize excellence in Latin Jazz during 2008.

———
Click here to have these posts delivered via email. Or, click here to subscribe to the full text RSS feed and never miss another post!

Stumble it!