The Best Of The Year Awards were established in 2007 as an opportunity to shed some much needed attention upon the Latin Jazz world. At the time, it seemed that Latin Jazz was a footnote in any awards process that touched upon jazz or Latin music. While these awards contained Latin Jazz categories that provided attention to a small number of nominees, they never seemed to respect the deep range of the modern Latin Jazz world. My hope was that the Best Of The Year Awards would shed some focused attention on the broad diversity that lived under the realm of Latin Jazz, providing visibility to established artists, upcoming musicians, and diverse approaches on an equal basis. Each year, the number of participants has grown into a voting event that involves thousands of people from around the world. In 2010, the Awards drew participants from across the whole United States, Canada, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Australia, and more. The Awards have grown into a major task that has taught me the complexities of the awards process. Still, I’m hoping that the Best Of The Year Awards provide a rallying point for all Latin Jazz artists to expose their work to the world.

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Changes Over The Year
Things have changed over the years, as the LJC Best Of The Year Awards have grown into a major event in the Latin Jazz world. In 2007, the Awards were out in the great-wide open, with little or no guidelines to structure them. Nominees were cast, voters arrived, nominees were added freely, and winners were announced. It was a good start to the awards that got things rolling in a big way. The 2008 Awards moved ahead in much the same way, but I started to notice some problems in the process. I addressed these issues in 2009 with a series of guidelines that outlined the qualifications for nominees and
added a number of categories to address growing changes in the Latin Jazz world – you can read these guidelines HERE. At this point, potential nominees needed to meet certain qualifications to fit into the awards structure, making sure that the nominated albums appeared for the first time during that year and that the nominated artists played a significant role in each recording. The added categories added specificity to the awards process and shed attention upon artists taking unique or different approaches to the creation of Latin Jazz. Each year, I’ve kept a list of elements that didn’t quite work with the intention of making future changes to the awards process. With each passing year, the Awards will most likely evolve, making changes to keep the Awards functioning as an event that best serves the Latin Jazz world.

“People’s Choice” Awards
One thing has remained the same – the Awards are based on an open ballot system and the results are based upon “people’s choice.” This process encourages artists to spread the word about their music in big way, bringing fellow musicians, fans, friends, and family into the voting. This certainly skews the Awards towards artists with a large base of supporters and an established communication network. As a result, sometimes the Awards recognize innovative artistic approaches or high-level musicality, and sometimes they simply highlight musicians that worked hard to promote their presence in the awards. I’m sometimes surprised at the results, and at other times, the winners seem like the obvious choice to me. LJC readers have voiced their opinion in various ways, sometimes showing support for the winners, and at other times displaying outrage over the Awards outcomes. There’s always going to be debate in a popular choice awards process, and the subjective nature of the voting process validates everyone’s opinion. Regardless of excitement or anger over the Awards, one thing lies at the foundation of the event – every year, there’s a huge amount of investment in the work of Latin Jazz artists that brings attention to a wide spectrum of musicality.

Ideas To Help The Awards Grow
I’m hoping that the Awards will continue for many years to come, so I’ve got a list of ideas to help them grow. I’d like to see additional categories that would continue to recognize the amazing amount of diversity in the Latin Jazz world. Some possibilities include instrumental subcategories for each Latin Jazz approach. For example, we might have several Pianist Of The Year awards that recognized individual work on Afro-Cuban Jazz albums, Brazilian Jazz albums, Afro-Peruvian Jazz albums, and more. I’d also like to see the Awards split into two individual events – one that would remain a “People’s Choice” process that would look similar to the events of the past four years and another event that would gather established musicians and critics to create a “Professional’s Choice” awards. There’s a lot of possibilities, some that would be within the short-term reach of LJC and some that would be long-term goals. Now’s the time to dream though, so if you’ve got thoughts on ways to structure the awards, please contact me with your ideas. Whatever direction we move the Awards in the upcoming years though, we’ll continue to support the outstanding work arising in the Latin Jazz work with the LJC Best Of The Year Awards!

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