Legendary Guitarist Earl Klugh To Be Honored At The Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards
Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards to Honor Guitarist
Earl Klugh
The Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards’ Nominating Committee is pleased to
announce Earl Klugh as the recipient of the 2009 ‘George Benson
Lifetime Achievement Award.’ Klugh, a Jazz legend, first gained
recognition at 15 when he played with Jazz innovator Yusef Lateef. Two
years later Klugh was discovered by George Benson who says, “I heard
him play the acoustic guitar and I knew that if he were successful,
he’d be one of a kind.” Benson, who has remained close friends with
Klugh since 1971 adds, “He had that finger style technique down pat, he
had a lot of sentimentality to his playing and he’s very believable so
it wasn’t just technique with him.” The Jazz giants recorded the duo
album Collaboration in 1987.
Klugh has also recorded with a previous “Lifetime Achievement Award” winner, Bob James, who received the award in 2006. The pair recorded three albums together, One on One (1979), Two of a Kind (1982) and Cool (1992).
The guitarist’s ground breaking albums include Heart String(1979), Late
Night Guitar(1980), Soda Fountain Shuffle (1985), Life Stories(1987)
and Move (1994).
Mary Kirk, producer of the Canadian Smooth
Jazz Awards and Music Director for Canada’s first Smooth Jazz station,
Wave 94.7FM says, “We are delighted that the Benson Award will be
recognizing Earl’s trailblazing contributions to the popularity of the
Smooth Jazz format around the world, and doing so following soon after
the 2008 release of his wonderful new album, The Spice of Life.”
“Earl Klugh is one of the few guitarists on the planet who can please
both Jazz purists and music fans who don’t even like the genre,” says
John Beaudin, co-chair of the awards and president of Smoothjazznow.com. “He’s an incredibly talented technical guitarist but his sense of melody and emotion is also what grabs fans,” he adds.
Klugh will receive the award and perform on April 24, 2009 at the
Awards Show in Mississauga, Ontario at the 1300 seat Living Arts Centre.
The Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards is presented by Wave 94.7 in Toronto/Hamilton and Smooth Jazz Now.com.
Introduced in 2005, the first Lifetime Achievement Award was presented
to guitar legend, George Benson, after whom it was named. Nominations
include International Vocalist, Instrumentalist, and Group. Canadian
categories include Album, Original Composition, Wind Instrumentalist,
Guitarist, Keyboardist, Drummer, Broadcaster and Male and Female
Vocalists. Previous winners include Warren Hill, Michael Buble, Diana
Krall, Carol Welsman, Marc Jordan, Amy Sky and Jesse Cook. Award
winner, Alexander Zonjic, will return as the hilarious host of the show
for the 5th consecutive year.
List of Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
2005 George Benson
2006 Bob James
2007 Spyro Gyra
2008 Lee Ritenour
2009 Earl Klugh
Official Awards Website: www.canadiansmoothjazzawards.com
Cheryl Hughey Promotions