2010 Jazz Award Winners of Jazz Journalists Association – The organization of some 450 members honoring more than 40 musicians, presenters, jazz suppporters and jazz journalists for the 14th year at an awards program in NYC on June 14. Highest honors went to saxist/flutist James Moody for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz, and to music journalist Don Heckman for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism. Musician of the Year was pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, and multiple awards were received by Joe Lovano, Maria Schneider, and Darcy James Argue. George Wein was Events Producer of the Year, Roberta Gambarini and Kurt Elling were Female and Male Singers of the Year, Pianist of the Year was Kenny Barron, Organist of the Year was Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Violinist of the Year was Regina Carter. Dan Morgenstern got the Best Liner Notes award for The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions.
Nashville Symphony Album to Help Rebuild its Home – A new digital download album featuring the Nashville Symphony’s recording of Michael Daugherty’s Metropolis Symphony is now available from all major DSPs and online retailers for $3.99. The Naxos album will have 100% of its sales devoted to helping the Nashville Symphony rebuild its Schermerhorn Symphony Center concert hall, damaged in the recent flood. Even after assistance from FEMA and its flood insurance, the Symphony still forecasts a gap of up to $10 million to cover the total cost of rebuilding. Composer Daugherty said “Let’s all work together to help repair the damage from this devasting flood and bring symphonic music back to historic downtown Nashville!”
Ray Dolby to Receive 2010 IEEE Edison Medal – The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers will award their Edison Medal on June 26 to the founder of Dolby Laboratories for his patented noise reduction technologies which have evolved to become an integral part of today’s high-quality digital audio. He revolutionized both professional and consumer audio recording with noise reduction algorithms developed during the 1960s. His idea was to compress audio signals during recording and then expand them on playback, processing softer signals but not louder ones that mask the noise. His work is considered a triumph of analog engineering, and has successfully evolved to digital applications. His noise reduction made multitrack recording feasible, and it was adapted for the broadcast and motion picture industries during the 1970s. Today Dolby Labs is the leading producer of digital sound technology built into CD and DVD players, surround sound systems, and HDTVs. Their present focus is on AV imaging applications, including 3D systems.
Expansion of Networked Audio Devices – The standard for home entertainment for a growing number of homes has become digital storage on a computer or music server and distributing the audio around the home. Those of us with separate playback components in a system will soon be in the minority. According to ABI Research practice direction Jason Blackwell: “So many people have music on their PCs as well as on MP3 players and other portable devices (not to mention Internet radio) that it’s just a small step to using the PC or a dedicated device as a server to send that content to other locations in the home.” The sales revenue from networked audio devices is expected to top $10 billion by 2015. Wi-Fi and Ethernet are the most common connectivity standards, and wireless options are boosting consumer demand. A huge number of vendors are involved, with many different non-compatible formats for networking. There are traditional networking companies such as D-Link, as well as specialized firms such as Sonos, which has a solid reputation for dedicated networked audio devices. Traditional consumer electronics firms have their own approaches to networked audio. Then there is the distribution of video, as offered in many of the newer systems.
