The Latin Jazz Corner Best Of The Year Awards is an annual event fueled by the will of our readers – the winners are selected through a voting process open to LJC readers, Latin Jazz artists, Latin Jazz fans, and the general public. The voting for our fourth annual awards ran from December 8, 2010 – December 23, 2010 and drew thousands of participants from around the world. It was an exciting process that has provided some interesting results, spotlighting a variety of different artists from all areas of the Latin Jazz world. You can learn more about the LJC Best Of The Year Awards by checking out this post – What Are The LJC Best Of The Year Awards?; on that page you’ll find links to frequently asked questions that should give you the complete scoop on the awards.

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In the remaining days of 2010, we’ll be taking a look at the winners in each of the Best Of 2010 Award categories, revealing a small number with each passing day. In today’s post, we’ll be looking at the second half of the winners in Category 2 – Musicians. We’ll be covering five awards today – 2010 Latin Jazz Pianist Of The Year, 2010 Latin Jazz Guitarist Of The Year, 2010 Latin Jazz Drum Kit Player Of The Year, 2010 Latin Jazz Percussionist Of The Year, and 2010 Latin Jazz Bassist Of The Year.

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2010 Latin Jazz Pianist Of The Year

Axel Tosca Laugart
Timbasa
Mark Weinstein
Latin Jazz certainly looks and sounds quite a bit different in the twenty-first century, a fact exemplified by Axel Tosca Laugart’s performance on Mark Weinstein’s Timbasa. As a pianist, his broad training allows him to channel a wide array of influences, ranging from Herbie Hancock to Chucho Valdés, as well classical and dance musicians. Laugart’s playing stretches the standards found on Timbasa into a thousand different directions, coloring the music with a massive harmonic and rhythmic palette. It’s an impressive performance that announces Latin Jazz’s movement into the future with a bold and confident voice, as Laugart employs his vast piano skills with a forceful musicality that needs to be heard to be believed.

2010 Latin Jazz Guitarist Of The Year

Chico Pinheiro
There’s a Storm Inside
Chico Pinheiro
The guitar has long been an important part of Brazilian music, and as a result, the style holds a number of impressive performers on the instrument. With this type of history behind the music, modern guitarists need to bring a complete musicality into the their performances, a fact that Chico Pinheiro handles with ease on his 2010 release There’s a Storm Inside. Pinheiro easily evokes the swaying cool of bossa nova guitar or tears into an edgy modern jazz improvisation without breaking a sweat. Pinheiro demonstrates stylistic diversity, tasteful musicality, and individual personality with an underlying instrumental virtuosity throughout There’s a Storm Inside, skillfully carrying on the important history of the guitar in Brazilian music.

2010 Latin Jazz Drum Kit Player Of The Year

Hugo Alcázar
Pucusana
Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet
The integration of the drum kit into Afro-Peruvian Jazz is still a young art, but one this is sure – if you’re looking for a musician to sit behind the drums in this type of project, go to Lima and find Hugo Alcázar. Over the past few years, Alcázar has dominated the major Afro-Peruvian Jazz releases, making his presence known on Gabriel Alegría’s 2008 release Nuevo Mundo, Geoffrey Keezer’s 2009 album Áurea, and Alegría’s 2010 recording Pucusana. Alcázar creatively blends important elements of each Afro-Peruvian style into his drum kit patterns, but his jazz influenced approach sets him apart, as he plays with the modern interactive spirit of Elvin Jones. As more artists pursue their interest in Afro-Peruvian rhythms, they would be wise find some time with Alcázar and check out his ground-breaking approach to Latin Jazz drumming.

2010 Latin Jazz Percussionist Of The Year

Freddy “Huevito” Lobatón
Pucusana
Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet
Many people consider the conga as an iconic symbol for Latin music, a fact that may change once they hear Freddy “Huevito” Lobatón. A charismatic personality as well as a virtuosic performer, Lobatón’s performances leap out of Pucusana and capture the hearts of audiences everywhere Gabriel Alegría’s Afro-Peruvian Sextet performs. Lobatón’s performances are supported by his encyclopedic knowledge of cajon technique across a wide array of folkloric Peruvian styles, his gracefully skill in zapateo dancing, and his flexible ability to interact and improvise. As the Latin Jazz world slowly and surely makes room for a growing Afro-Peruvian presence, Lobatón stands as a role model for percussionists everywhere, demonstrating an equal footing for the cajon alongside the conga.

2010 Latin Jazz Bassist Of The Year

Panagiotis Andreou
Timbasa
Mark Weinstein
Latin Jazz is a flexible music that can easily integrate cultural elements from around the world, as long as skilled and creative musicians are behind that blend. Bassist Panagiotis Andreou proves that point, as he fluidly incorporates his background in jazz, funk, modern Cuban dance music, and traditional Greek folk music into Mark Weinstein’s Timbasa. His approach to the standards found on the album could be described as anything but conventional; at the same time though, Andreou’s playing charges through the recording with a massive groove and undeniable musicality. Timbasa holds a bass performance informed by a broad spectrum of influences – once these different ideas come together under Andreou’s fingers though, it’s a Latin Jazz bass sound that looks directly towards the future.

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Make sure that you check out the results for Category 3 – Composition/Arrangement and Category 4 – Business/Promotion. In this post, we look at the winners for 2010 Latin Jazz Composition Of The Year, 2010 Latin Jazz Arrangement Of The Year, 2010 Latin Jazz Record Label Of The Year, and 2010 Latin Jazz Album Artwork Of The Year. You can find those results HERE.

You can find the first half of the results for Category 2 – Musicians in another post. Take a minute to read the results for 2010 Latin Jazz Vocalist Of The Year, 2010 Latin Jazz Flautist Of The Year, 2010 Latin Jazz Trombonist Of The Year, 2010 Latin Jazz Trumpet Player Of The Year, and 2010 Latin Jazz Saxophonist Of The Year by going HERE.

Come back tomorrow as we complete the results for the 2010 Best Of The Year Awards with Category 1 – Albums, covering the winners for 2010 Latin Jazz Large Ensemble Album Of The Year, 2010 Afro-Peruvian Album Of The Year, 2010 Brazilian Jazz Album Of The Year, 2010 Latin Jazz Next Generation Artist, and 2010 Latin Jazz Album Of The Year. Don’t miss it – it’s a great way to close out the year!

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Latin Jazz Conversations: Mark Weinstein (Part 4)
Album Of The Week: Timbasa, Mark Weinstein
Weekly Latin Jazz Video Fix: Mark Weinstein
Latin Jazz Conversations: Gabriel Alegría (Part 2)

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