Pianist Kenny Barron received the Miles Davis Award during his performance with guitarist Lionel Loueke at the Montreal Jazz Festival on the 3rd of July. The award was given to him by André Ménard, the artistic director and co-founder of the festival.
Barron is the 23rd recipient of the Miles Davis Award, which was established in 1994 to honor a great international jazz musician for the entire body of his or her work and for that musician’s influence in regenerating the jazz idiom. The bronze statuette was created from a self-portrait by Miles Davis, sketched for the Montreal Jazz Festival poster in 1988.
Last year, the award went to guitarist Al Di Meola. Other previous recipients include bassist Ron Carter, guitarist John McLaughlin, pianist Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Charles Lloyd.