HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (June 29, 2006) — Yamaha Drummers
Roy Haynes and
Dafnis Prieto were recently honored with Jazz Awards presented by the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA). The legendary Haynes was given the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Prieto received the Up and Coming Musician of the Year Award.
"Yamaha Drums would like to congratulate these two extremely gifted musicians on their awards. Jazz today would not be the same without the legendary Roy Haynes – he is a walking icon. At the same time, I think the Jazz of tomorrow is being influenced today by the talented contributions of Dafnis Prieto," comments Joe Testa, international artist relations manager for
Yamaha Drums.
More than 200 jazz musicians and their supporters were nominated for the 10th annual Jazz Awards. Winners were voted on by the approximately 400 members of JJA, who are comprised of writers, broadcasters, photographers and new media professionals worldwide.
A very deserving recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Haynes has more than 60 years experience in the music business. He has played with jazz masters that include Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughan and
Chick Corea. Haynes' impressive body of his work has won him ample kudos over the years, including the Danish Jazz Center's "Jazzpar Award," dubbed the jazz world's Nobel Prize. Haynes was also inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in honor of his exceptional contributions to the art form.
A native of Santa Clara, Cuba, Prieto studied at the School of Fine Arts and later at the National School of Music in Havana. Prieto has been performing with jazz greats such as, Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana, Henry Threadgill and Zooid,
Eddie Palmieri's Afro-Caribbean Jazz Orchestra, Chico O' Farrill's Afro-Cuban Jazz Project,
Dave Samuels and The Caribbean Jazz Project, Peter Apfelbaum and The New York Hyrogliphics, D. D. Jackson Trio and Quartet, Ed Simon Trio, Michel Camilo Trio, Chucho Valdes Quartet, Claudia Acuna, Roy Hargrove's Havana Crisol, Herbie Hancock, and Arturo Sandoval.
