This year’s Parliamentary Jazz Awards take place on 10 March, nearly three months earlier than usual due to the general election on 5 May, on the Terrace Pavilion at the Houses Of parliament and are set to recognise a wide range of emerging and established names from the British jazz scene.

These include nominations for rising stars singer/violinist Alice Zawadzki and trumpeter Laura Jurd respectively in the Jazz Vocalist and Instrumentalist categories, jazz-rockers Partisans for Jazz Album Of The Year for Swamp, and saxophonist Phil Meadow’s newly formed Engines Orchestra and resurgent Brit jazz icons Loose Tubes are nominated for Jazz Ensemble of the Year.

Now in its eleventh year the Parliamentary Jazz Awards are the premiere awards in the UK jazz calendar and are voted for by the public online with a shortlist of nominations subsequently voted for by a selection panel of jazz industry figures. Judging members of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) then chooses the winners. The awards are sponsored by PPL and will be presented by well-known broadcaster Moira Stuart.

The nominations are: Jazz Vocalist of the Year: Alice Zawadzki, Georgia Mancio, Norma Winstone MBE and Zara McFarlane; Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year: Jason Yarde, Laura Jurd and Phil Robson; Jazz Album of the Year: Partisans Swamp, Julian Argüelles Circularity and Tim Garland Songs to the North Sky; Jazz Ensemble of the Year: Engines Orchestra, Loose Tubes and Partisans; Jazz Newcomer of the Year: Blue-Eyed Hawk, Elliot Galvin Trio and Peter Edwards; Jazz Venue of the Year: Manchester Jazz Festival, Spice of Life and St Ives Jazz Club; Jazz Media Award: Jazz on 3, BBC Radio 3, London Jazz News, http://www.londonjazznews.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.thejazzbreakfast.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com" rel="nofollow -