Norah Jones to receive special prize at delayed Jazz FM Awards

Norah Jones is to be honoured at this year’s Jazz FM Awards for her two decades in music.

The Grammy award-winning soul singer, 41, will receive the impact award during the event at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho on October 27.

Previous recipients have included vocalist Gregory Porter and La La Land and Whiplash director Damien Chazelle.

Jones, the daughter of sitar player Ravi Shankar, shot to fame with her 2002 debut album Come Away With Me.

The 2020 ceremony was postponed from earlier this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

A small audience will attend, with the ceremony streamed on both Jazz FM and Ronnie Scott’s Facebook page alongside special programming on Jazz FM.

Also among this year’s nominees are US saxophonist Charles Lloyd, Earth Wind And Fire founding member Philip Bailey, rising star Celeste, Grammy-winner Jacob Collier and Anderson .Paak.

The lifetime achievement award and gold award winners will be announced in due course.

Jazz FM’s content director Nick Pitts said: “There’s so much to say! Firstly, I’m so pleased that we are now in a position to move forward with a celebration of the Jazz FM Awards 2020 with OANDA. I’d also like to thank OANDA for showing their continued support and faith in our annual celebration and upgrading their support to headline sponsor.

“Elsewhere, it’s been a tough few months for everyone in our community so a real moment to allow the brilliance to shine through is most welcome.

“Venues have of course also suffered terribly so to be able to partner with the world famous Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club as our ‘base’ for this year reminds people that live music is still there and vitally important. I thank Fred Nash and his team for loving the idea as much as us.

“And finally… congrats to Norah Jones and her impact award. Norah has done so much to bring jazz music to the greater public and her 50 million records and nine Grammys prove it. This years Jazz FM Awards with OANDA is shaping up to be not only rather unique, but also something incredibly special.”

Ronnie Scott’s general manager Fred Nash said: “We felt that Ronnie’s was the perfect place to host the awards. The connection between Jazz FM and Ronnie’s is longstanding, and we hope this continues for many years.”