Congratulations to Darcy James Argue, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Ambrose Akinmusire, Mary Halvorson, and Brad Mehldau, all of whom have been nominated in the JJA Jazz Association's 2025 JJA Jazz Awards.

Darcy James Argue has been nominated for three JJA Jazz Awards: Composer of the Year and Arranger of the Year—which he won last year—and, with Secret Society, Large Ensemble of the Year. Argue and the ensemble made their Nonesuch Records debut with the 2023 album Dynamic Maximum Tension. The album, which was nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, pays homage to some of Argue’s key influences with original songs dedicated to R. Buckminster Fuller, Alan Turing, and Mae West. Darcy James Argue's Secret Society celebrates its 20th anniversary with three shows at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, June 13 and 14, and is joined by pianist Aaron Diehl at 92NY on July 26.

Cécile McLorin Salvant, who can be heard on the Dynamic Maximum Tension track "Mae West: Advice," is up for two awards this year: Female Vocalist of the Year—which she won last year—and, with pianist Sullivan Fortner, Duo of the Year (a category in which Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer are also nominated). Salvant is currently up for the Deutscher Jazzpreis for Live Act of the Year International. Last year, she was also named Female Vocalist of the Year in the DownBeat Critics Poll, and her latest album, Mélusine, made the Jazz Albums of the Year list.

Ambrose Akinmusire is nominated again as Trumpeter of the Year, which he won last year. Akinmusire’s latest album, honey from a winter stone, released on Nonesuch in January, features improvisational vocalist Kokayi, pianist Sam Harris, Chiquitamagic on synthesizer, drummer Justin Brown, and the Mivos Quartet. “For arguably the most technically gifted trumpeter of his generation, a lot of Ambrose Akinmusire’s breakthroughs actually come from letting go of standards and structures," says the New York Times. "Lately Akinmusire has been making some of the most intimate, spellbinding music of his career.”

Mary Halvorson is nominated again as Guitarist of the Year, which she won last year. Her new album, About Ghosts, due June 13, features eight new compositions Halvorson, performed with her sextet Amaryllis: vibraphonist Patricia Brennan (a double nominee for Up & Coming Musician of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year), bassist Nick Dunston, drummer Tomas Fujiwara, trombonist Jacob Garchik, and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill. Saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins (a nominee for Alto Saxophonist of the Year) and Brian Settles join the ensemble on five tunes, and Halvorson adds Pocket Piano synthesizer overdubs on a number of tracks. Also among this year's nominees for Guitarist of Year are Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny.

Brad Mehldau is up for Pianist of the Year, for which he was nominated two years ago. Mehldau released two new albums on Nonesuch last year: After Bach II and Après Fauré. The Bach album comprises four preludes and one fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier, as well as the Allemande from the fourth Partita, interspersed with seven compositions or improvisations by Mehldau inspired by the complementary works of Bach—including Mehldau’s Variations on Bach’s Goldberg Theme. On Après Fauré, Mehldau performs four nocturnes, from a thirty-seven-year span of Gabriel Fauré’s career, as well as a reduction of an excerpt from the Adagio movement of his Piano Quartet in G Minor. He performs from the album at 92NY in New York City this Wednesday.

Among the other nominees familiar to Nonesuch Journal readers: John Patitucci, who performs on Caroline Shaw's score to Ken Burns's film LEONARDO da VINCI, released on Nonesuch last fall, has been nominated for Bassist of the Year, as has Christian McBride, a member of the LongGone and RoundAgain quartets with Mehldau, Joshua Redman, and Brian Blade, a nominee for Drummer of the Year. Harpist Brandee Younger, who can be heard on Makaya McCraven's 2022 album In These Times, is up for Strings: Violin, Viola, Cello or Harp Player of the Year. Rob Mazurek, whose album Dimensional Stardust, was released on International Anthem and Nonesuch Records in 2020, is up for Electronics.

Nominees were chosen by the votes of the Professional Journalist Members of the Jazz Journalists Association. For more information and to see the complete list of nominees, visit jjajazzawards.org.