*a/k/a the American Smooth Jazz Awards, Friday, October 29, at the DuSable Museum, Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

In my opening remarks before a capacity crowd at the DuSable Museum Friday night I referred to the last time an awards show in Smooth Jazz took place in Chicago (March 3, 2001) as “something those of us who were there have never stopped talking about.”  I went onto say that I felt Friday night held the same promise, that we were in for something special.  Turns out, we were.

The 2010 American Smooth Jazz Awards will go down as a night of exceptional all-around entertainment.  The music was scintillating, the performers and presenters cordial and upbeat, the crowd enthusiastic and the mood electric throughout the evening.

Event organizer, the indefatigable Bernie Scott, mentioned to me that they had had to turn away over a hundred people who showed up at DuSable hoping to buy tickets at the door Friday night.  With every seat spoken for, when the program began at 8:00 pm and Nick Colionne hit the stage to begin his opening number, it was standing room only.  There’s nothing like a packed house and this crowd, I could tell, was ready to rock—smoothly, of course.  For the next 3 ½ hours there were countless laughs and plenty of magical moments.  Off the top of my head, let me share with you a few of them:

The Canadian group Four80East, led by Tony Grace, were the first of the nominees to perform.  They chose to play their 2009 hit, “Roll On,” which turned out to be the ideal tone-setter for the evening, with its sprightly, positive beat.  Jeff Kashiwa deftly handled the melody on flute.

Trumpeter Cindy Bradley led a riveting impromptu jam session by rising stars, the “Up and Comers,” as they called themselves.  Joining Cindy in the band were saxophonist Kyle Wolverton, Valparaiso native Bryan Lubeck, Chicago’s Gerey Johnson and Michael Manson, keyboardist Nate Harasim and (very impressive) drummer Hannah Ford.  They, along with “Best International Male Artist” nominee Anders Holst, gave me a hopeful feeling about the future of Smooth Jazz.

Also, Cindy related to me after the show that her mother had been diagnosed with kidney cancer a year ago.  This past August, when she got the word that she was cancer free, she declared to the family, “Now I can book tickets for the Awards!”  She and her husband flew in from Buffalo and ended up seeing their daughter win the “Best New Artist” award.  Cindy acknowledged her parents in a touching and heartfelt acceptance speech.

Mike Scott, of TheMikeScottJazzShow.com out of Toledo, Ohio, couldn’t contain his astonishment upon learning he was named “Broadcaster of the Year – Internet.”  In an acceptance speech filled with moments of hilarity, he went on and on for over ten minutes.

The evening’s most touching moments came during Regina Tisdale’s introduction of the Humanitarian Award named in her husband Wayman’s honor.  Overcoming a case of stage fright and explaining that “Wayman would have wanted me up here to do this,” she reminded us of Wayman’s total devotion to Smooth Jazz and the fans he made as a musician.   He’d rather be remembered as a musician than a basketball player, she revealed.

Steve Cole, Kim Waters and Jeff Kashiwa—as The Sax Pack–kept the mood light, clowning around on stage while, at the same time, treating us to some heavy-duty playing.  They got one of the biggest hands of the night with their recent hit, “Can’t Help Myself.”

Dave Koz couldn’t make the Awards.  He was on the first leg of his Asian tour, performing in China this weekend.  Longtime Koz band director Brian Simpson accepted both of Dave’s awards for him.  I had the pleasure of meeting Brian’s two daughters who were there, rooting on their dad, a nominee in the keyboardist category.

It took stagehands five minutes to roll a grand piano out on stage.  Then, David Benoit sat down and, in three numbers, proved once again why he’s the finest Smooth Jazz pianist ever–treating us to his signature pieces “Freedom at Midnight,” “Kei’s Song” and “Beat Street.” Once the applause finally died down, he graciously accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bernie Scott, who announced the award would be renamed the “David Benoit Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Smooth Jazz’s old guard acquitted itself well, with Boney James’ and Richard Elliot’s sharing the “Brass/Woodwinds Artist of the Year” award, Peter White’s taking home three awards (the most by any artist), and David Benoit’s Lifetime Achievement award.   For his live number, Richard Elliot chose to perform his first Smooth Jazz hit, “When a Man Loves a Woman,” with all the flourish and the wonderful fat notes that made his rendition a standard during the early years of the genre.

The night’s finale was appropriately grand, with Nick Colionne and his supergroup led by David Benoit, Michael Manson, Richard Elliot, Peter White, Marc Antoine, Jackiem Joyner and Joey Sommerville playing a spirited extended rendition of “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” in memory of Wayman Tisdale.  Each musician in the 11-piece band got to do a solo.  It was also a rare opportunity to see Marc Antoine play something other than his customary acoustic guitar.  There weren’t enough acoustic guitars to go around, so Marc had to borrow Gerey Johnson’s electric axe, forcing Gerey to sit out during the final number.

Chicago’s Khari Parker, Dave Hiltebrand and Gerey Johnson were the core of a house band that showed its mettle all night, deftly backing up each of the acts as comfortably as though they’d been together for years.

Before the show started, the packed-to-the-gills lobby was the site of a massive meet-and-greet, with fans exchanging handshakes and hugs with musicians and presenters.  I renewed acquaintances with a number of former WNUA listeners going back nearly two decades.  We could have spent all night catching up!  As I was meeting saxophonist Darren Rahn for the first time, a gentleman came up and asked Darren if he knew where keyboardist Nate Harasim might be.  Darren disappeared into one of the upstairs projection areas at DuSable that had been turned into a makeshift green room and returned a minute later with Nate.  The gentleman reached into his bag and produced a custom made lampshade that he had decorated with amazingly accurate likenesses of his favorite artists.  I noticed that one of them was Bobby Lyle, who had placed his autograph next to his portrait on the lampshade some time back.  The space next to Bobby’s was a likeness of Nate Harasim.  Nate’s reaction was priceless.  He had never seen anything like it; nor had I.  This was a truly unique and remarkable keepsake, which Nate eagerly signed and then snapped a photo of.

Incidentally, if anyone doubts the power and popularity of Facebook, they should have been to the Awards.  Facebook was one of the most popular topics of conversation all evening, on and off stage.  Much to my delight, I got to meet Margie Fischer, part of a group of 87.7 listeners who frequently take part in my daily quiz on vintage Smooth Jazz tracks which I put up on the station’s Facebook page.  Margie was there with her husband, Jim.  She had won front row tickets to the Awards through a contest we ran two weeks ago on Facebook.  Margie had created a colorful poster listing the names of everyone in this Facebook group.  She and I stood next to each other holding the poster, while Jim took a picture of us.  By Sunday morning Margie had posted the photo on her page.

As things were winding down, around 11:45 pm, I overheard someone say, “This was as much fun as a Smooth Jazz cruise.”  I’d have to say that was an apt comparison.

Here are the 2010 Smooth Jazz Awards winners in the order they were announced:

Broadcaster of the Year – Terrestrial (Presenters:  Ken & Robin Levinson and Dorine Wright):  Dave Koz

Journalist of the Year (Presenters:  the Levinsons and Dorine Wright):  Melanie Maxwell (Smooth Jazz News)

Broadcaster of the Year – Internet (Presenter:  Carmen Kennedy):  Mike Scott

Gospel Jazz Artist of the Year (Presenter:  Carmen Kennedy):  Kirk Whalum

International Male Vocalist of the Year (Presenters:  Rob Tardik and Joey Sommerville):  Michael Buble’

International Female Vocalist of the Year (Presenters:  Tardik and Sommerville):  Diana Krall

International Artist of the Year (Presenters:  Tardik and Sommerville):  Marc Antoine

International Group of the Year (Presenters:  Tardik and Sommerville):  Incognito

Female Vocalist of the Year (Presenter:  Pat Kelley):  Norah Jones

Keyboardist of the Year (Presenter:  Pat Kelley):  Brian Culbertson

Guitarist of the Year (Presenter:  Pat Kelley):  Peter White

Percussionist of the Year (Presenter:  Rick O’Dell):  Harvey Mason

Male Vocalist of the Year (Presenter:  Rick O’Dell):  George Benson

New Artist of the Year (Presenters:  Marissa Caliguire, Joy Hall, Kim Giles):  Cindy Bradley

Brass/Woodwind Artist of the Year (Presenters:  Randy Bennett and Mike Scott): Richard Elliot

Group of the Year (Presenters:  Bennett & Scott):  Fourplay

Wayman Tisdale Humanitarian Award (Presenters:  Bernie Scott, Regina Tisdale):  Nick Colionne, Brian O’Neal

Lifetime Achievement Award (Presenter:  Bernie Scott):  David Benoit (the award will henceforth be known as the Dave Benoit Lifetime Achievement Award)

Song of the Year (Presenters:  Jim Peterik and Lisa McClowry):  “Bright” by Peter White

Album of the Year (Presenter:  Jason Polansky, American Airlines):  Good Day by Peter White.

Entertainer of the Year (Presenters:  Bernie Scott, Pat Kelley):  Dave Koz