Samara Joy is set to receive the Ella Fitzgerald Award at the 2025 Montreal Jazz Festival on June 28 at Maison symphonique, Place des Arts. Joy has won five Grammys in the last three years (from five nominations, for a perfect score so far). She won best new artist in 2023 and has won two awards each for best jazz vocal album and best jazz performance.
Fitzgerald, of course, was Grammy royalty. At the inaugural Grammy ceremony in 1959, she became the first woman to receive an album of the year nomination (for Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook). In 1967, she became the first woman to receive a lifetime achievement Award from the Recording Academy.
Joy is the 25th winner of the Ella Fitzgerald Award, which is given annually to a talented jazz singer who has had a major impact on the international scene.
Thundercat, Natalia Lafourcade, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Duncan Hunter Neale are also set to be honored at the festival, which is officially dubbed the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.
Thundercat will receive the Miles Davis Award on Tuesday, July 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts. Thundercat is the 30th winner of the award, which pays tribute to a world-renowned jazz artist, their body of work and their innovation in the genre. Thundercat, who has won two Grammys, has in recent years gone from virtuoso bassist to star.
Natalia Lafourcade will receive the Antônio Carlos Jobim Award on Thursday, June 26, and Friday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m. at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts. Lafourcade is the 20th winner of the award, which honors artists who stand out in world music. Lafourcade, a four-time Grammy winner, blends traditional Latin American music and contemporary sounds.
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram will receive the B.B. King Award on Thursday July 3 at 7:30 p.m. at TD Stage. “Kingfish” is the eighth winner of the award, which honors a standout artist on the blues scene. “Kingfish,” who won a Grammy in 2022 for best contemporary blues album, is a critically-acclaimed guitarist, singer and songwriter.
Duncan Hunter Neale will receive the Oliver Jones Award on Saturday, July 5 at 6 p.m. at Le Studio TD. This award was created in honor of Oliver Jones, a Montréal jazz icon who has left an indelible mark on the history of the festival. Neale, an emerging trumpeter on the Montréal music scene, is the fifth recipient of the award, which is given to young, university-level musicians who identify as members of visible minorities or Indigenous communities. The Ottawa-born Neale studied music improvisation and composition at McGill University, where he became better acquainted with Black American music and the history of the African diaspora, while reconnecting with his Ghanaian heritage.
The 45th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal will take place from June 26 to July 5 in the Quartier des Spectacles, which is located in the heart of downtown Montreal. The festival will entail close to 150 indoor concerts and more than 350 free, open-air shows, presented on the Place des Festivals.
