Jazz award winners announced

The 2016 New Zealand Jazz Award winners have been announced after careful deliberation.

The winner of Best Jazz Album is Phil Broadhurst Quintet, for the album Panacea.

Panacea is the third instalment in a highly successful album trilogy from the Broadhurst ensemble and has been described by many as the finest of the three albums.

Broadhurst is one of New Zealand's leading Jazz artists, working as a pianist, composer and educator. He is currently course coordinator for the Albany campus of Te Koki New Zealand School of Music.

Recorded Music NZ CEO Damian Vaughan says Panacea is testament to Phil Broadhurst's immense talent.

"Panacea is another stunning album by Phil Broadhurst. Phil has always been a superb composer, yet he has absolutely excelled himself with this latest offering. I'm thrilled to see he's passing his skills on to the next generation of jazz musicians at Te Koki New Zealand School of Music. They are fortunate to be under the tutelage of an absolute living legend."

The other finalists for the 2016 Jazz Tui were Michael Houstoun and the Rodger Fox Big Band for Concerti and Kevin Field for The A List.

Alongside the winner of the Best Jazz Album, the inaugural APRA Best Jazz Composition winner has also been announced with Motueka's Callum Allardice taking the award for Sons of Thunder.

Callum Allardice's nearly 10 minute-long piece Sons of Thunder is a vivid reflection of his wide experience within the jazz genre.

Anthony Healey, head of NZ Operations for APRA AMCOS, is thrilled to see Allardice take out the first award.

"Out of an absolutely outstanding group of entries, it's with great pride that we hand Callum Allardice the first APRA Best Jazz Composition award. He is the beginning of what we hope will be a long and reflective list of recipients, showing the sensational jazz composition talent that we have in New Zealand. My heartiest congratulations go to Callum."

The other finalists for the 2016 APRA Best Jazz Composition were Norman Meehan for Dreams, Yellow Lions (featuring lyrics from a poem by NZ poet Alistair Campbell), and the 2016 Best Jazz Album winner Phil Broadhurst for Flaubert's Dance.

The announcements were made following the New Zealand Jazz Awards Concert in Tauranga on Saturday night.

Recent previous winners of the Tui for Best Jazz Album
• 2011 - Reuben Bradley for Resonator
• 2012 - Rodger Fox's Wellington Jazz Orchestra for Journey Home
• 2013 - Nathan Haines for The Poet's Embrace
• 2014 - Nathan Haines for Vermillion Skies
• 2015 - DOG for DOG