2024 – NEW YEAR - NEW AWARDS PROCESS!
See Awards Page for Details
See Awards Page for Details
Honoring the memory of John Stites and his passion for jazz music
Honoring the memory of John Stites and his passion for jazz music
Posted April 3, 2024
The John Stites Jazz Awards, a Presenting Partner with The Gilmore is extremely proud to sponsor Hiromi with the PUBLIQuartet as the opening concert of the 2024 Gilmore Festival. Hiromi began studying piano when she was 6 and by the age of 17, she was playing with Chick Corea. Jazz legend Ahmad Jamal became her mentor while she was studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston. The diversity of her art defies classification – Avante- guard, post-bop, classical, progressive rock, contemporary jazz, fusion – she has done it all while recording 13 studio albums and 7 live albums since 2003. She characterized her most recent album Sonicwonderland (her second 2023 release) as “electric”, because it features her playing keyboards and she imagined the unique sound she wanted in her mind and then identified specific musicians and instruments that could create that sound. By contrast, her earlier 2023 release, Blue Giant is the soundtrack to an animated film based on manga characters.
The Gilmore Festival concert will feature Hiromi with the PUBLIQuartet, 3 violinists and a cellist in a concert that blends contemporary jazz with classical fusion. Like John Stites’ idols the great jazz icons Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, Hiromi continuously reinvents herself and can chart new directions across multiple genres. John Stites created the John Stites Jazz Artist Organization to bring jazz to new audiences and what better artist to do that than one who has received worldwide recognition for her innovative and creative approaches to jazz. Please join us on April 24th at 7:00 pm at Chenery Auditorium when we partner with the Gilmore to present the incomparable Hiromi in concert with the PUBLIQuartet. Tickets are available at the Gilmore website or click here.
Photo credit: Mari Amita
This world needs more of him, not less.
Ray Kamalay
The John Stites Jazz Awards (JSJA) are funded by the John Stites Jazz Artist Organization.
The organization funds advanced studies for emerging and established professional jazz musicians, as well as personal development projects which enhance their career opportunities.