by John Diliberto 5/23/2019

The ZMR AWARDS IS OUT OF THE TYPICAL AWARDS ZONE

The Zone Music Reporter Awards or ZMRs, bring a gel-filtered focus on music that often isn’t included in the usual Best Of and Awards lists. The Grammys pretty much ignore these recordings, although some have slipped into the New Age, Electronic, and Contemporary Instrumental categories. You’ll definitely never see these musicians on The People’s Choice Awards and many of them aren’t “hip” enough for rankings like the old Pazz & Jop Poll of the Village Voice. These are musicians in electronic, ambient, world music, neo-classical, solo piano and meditation worlds. Many of them are independent artists releasing their own music. Some, like White Sun, Sangeeta Kaur and Deva Premal, come from spiritual backgrounds more than musical ones. But The ZMR Awards, voted on by DJs who report to the Zone Music Reporter, a New Age music trade website, puts these artists at center stage.

This year’s awards were given out this past weekend, on May 18, at the annual Zone Music Awards Show in New Orleans. As usual, there were surprises, disappointments and for me, who cares winners.

Jeff Oster’s Reach also picked up Album of the Year Honors, beating out a surprisingly much weaker field, except for Erik Scott’s A Trick of the Wind.

In the Best Instrumental Acoustic category, pickings were also a little thinner. This category lends itself to quiet, polite music and that’s pretty much the way voters went, nominating the laid back guitar of Don Latarski’s “River”, Michael Kollwitz’s Serenity II: More Peaceful music for Chapman Stick (the title says it all); and Michelle Qureshi’s classically inclined solo guitar Short Stories. Only Jamie Bonk’s rhythm-enlivened, driving acoustic guitar album, Who Said It Was Easy, deviated from the formula. The win went to Ryan Judd’s album of guitar and cello duets, An Open Sky. It’s pleasant and well-mannered, like afternoon tea.