Friday, June 05, 2009

Babel prize winners

It's great when musicians get recognised with prizes for their work. Kevin Le Gendre (with new Now's The Time compilation) and Phil Robson both won Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Ingrid Laubrock has won the prestigious SWR Jazz Prize.
Unlike the UK awards system, the German is recognised with a handsome sum of money (€15,000). By contrast I don't know of any UK awards that give more than a bit of local prestige. Even getting a major "gong" doesn't help pay the bills. Stan Tracey now has a CBE but, because he has a minimal pension, has to keep working at well over 80. Amusingly, I heard from Freddy Gavita, who won something at the British Jazz Awards, that he was notified of his award by text message and contact via Facebook. Not even a piece of paper!!

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