On April 23, Estonian Jazz Awards will be given out for the second time. Elion Jazz Award for Tanel Ruben and Young Jazz Talent Award for Kadri Voorand will be given out in co-operation with the Estonian telecommunication and IT company Elion, Estonian Jazz Union and the festival Jazzkaar just before Avishai Cohen’s concert.
This year, the Elion Jazz Award will be given to Tanel Ruben (1970), freelance percussionist, composer and producer who gives approximately hundred concerts a year. He plays music in various projects of his own (Syncrotron, Hinkus, Drum Prana, Willane Bluus etc.), also in other musicians’ collectives, performing both in Estonia and foreign countries. Ruben teaches in the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and in the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy, he participates in the board of endowment for music of Estonian Cultural Endowment and compiles concert schedules for Estonian Jazz Union, additionally he composes and arranges music. Recently Tanel Ruben’s third CD Kogutud rikkus (Compiled Richness) with his own music was released.
Young Jazz Talent Award will be given to a singer-composer Kadri Voorand (1986). In her case the jury that mainly consisted of jazz teachers most evaluated her hard-working character and creative development, ardent stage personality, leader abilities and idiosyncratic improvising skills.
Both awards comprise a sculpture made by Tiiu Kirsipuu and an opportunity to record in Estonian Radio. Elion Jazz Award also includes 50 000 crowns scholarship, a painting made in Jazz Painting competition and a recording in Estonian Television; Young Jazz Talent Award includes a prize by Estonian Photo and an opportunity to perform during the next concert season of Jazzkaar. The jury of jazz awards included concert organizers and music critics as well as representatives of Estonian Jazz Union, Jazzkaar and Elion.
Estonian Jazz Awards are a tradition of a jazz month that is celebrated in Estonia in April. The aim of Elion Jazz Award is to acknowledge the most intense and idiosyncratic jazz musicians in Estonia for their work and achievements in three recent years. The aim of Young Jazz Talent Award is to acknowledge young, up to 26-year-old talented musician who has gained remarkable success with his or her creation and activities. In 2007, Elion Jazz Award was given to Jaak Sooäär and Young Jazz Talent Award was given to Erki Pärnoja.
Maria Mölder