Jazz Sandwich wins Best Jazz Award at 2008 LMAs

The Buzz/WPGU's Local Music Awards were held last night, and for the first time, they actually included a separate category for jazz (in previous years, the jazz had been bundled up with blues bands, with predictable results). This year's winner? Jazz Sandwich, of which (in full disclosure) I am a member. Hooray.

Here are pics and video from the event.

Apparently, there's been some controversy surrounding the LMAs over the past few years. Lindsey Markel, over at Smile Politely, has a nice rundown, including quotes from some of the musicians.

In the past, my objections to the awards have strictly been about how utterly difficult it is for small-audience jazz groups to compete with any/all the blues groups for an award. So I was glad to see them split it out.

Now, the other issue is how arbitrary the nominee selection appears to be for the jazz groups. And maybe that's unreasonable. I suppose that if the object is to increase public exposure of a number of groups to a larger audience, you can make a case for rotating bands and individuals in and out. But I'm at a loss to suggest an explanation for selecting a community college big band as a nominee (the In Your Ear Big Band) when you've got a comparatively titanic jazz program at the University of Illinois.

I suppose I should just stop grousing and be happy that they're including jazz at all.

Congrats to all the "victors."