Hosted in conjunction with the Glasgow Jazz Festival, the awards bring together the best in Scottish jazz and honour the most talented and revered musicians in the industry. The awards themselves are shortlisted by industry specialists and then voted for by the public online.

This year Ticketmaster sponsored the Lifetime Achievement Award which went to the very talented and wonderful Fionna Duncan (pictured above left). Described as having a voice part silk and sandpaper, Fionna has been performing for over 60 years as a semi professional singer.

In 1955 she became resident vocalist with the Lindsay MacDonald Modern Jazz Quartet performing every Saturday in Glasgow University’s Snug Bar and was even offered a record deal in America with Riverside Records in 1956. In the mid ’90s Fionna also ran jazz workshops in Glasgow collaborating with renowned vocalist Madeline Eastman. Having had such an esteemed career, it was a pleasure to honour Fionna’s work amongst her peers.

Other winners included:

  • Rising Star Award – Luca Manning
  • Best Vocalist Award – Seonaid Aitken
  • Best Instrumentalist Award – Fergus McCreadie
  • Best Band Award – Rose Room
  • Best Album Award – Alan Benzie

We now look forward to this year’s Glasgow Jazz Festival running from Wednesday 20 to Sunday 24 June where the city will be transformed into a wealth of homegrown and international jazz talent, taking over some of the most iconic venues in the city. Highlights of Glasgow Jazz Festival 2018 include the former frontman of Bombay Bicycle Club, Mr Jukes, who will bring his debut solo album to this year’s festival, a project full of material that revives his long-standing interest in jazz, soul and RnB. Music legend Georgie Fame will also return to the festival to showcase his much-loved blend of jazz and rhythm & blues with his Family Trio, as well as Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, one of Africa’s biggest and longest running orchestras. Glasgow Jazz Festival has also signed up to be part of the Keychange project – a pioneering European initiative that empowers women to transform the future of the music industry and encourages festivals to achieve a 50:50 balance by 2022.

To find out more and buy tickets click here.

Words by Gillian Henderson