The artist at the forefront of today’s jazz, John Zorn, will receive the Donostiako Jazzaldia Award in San Sebastian

John Zorn will receive the 2019 Donostiako Jazzaldia Award, presented by the San Sebastian Heineken Jazzaldia in recognition of his profound influence on contemporary jazz.

John Zorn is a composer, instrumentalist and catalyst of an innovative scene encompassing hundreds of musicians of enormous importance and repercussion in today’s jazz. It is impossible to conceive the jazz made in New York today without the intervention of musicians who move in Zorn’s sphere.

John Zorn will return to the Heineken Jazzaldia following the resounding success of his Masada Marathon in 2013. This time round, he’ll do it as the frontman of the Bagatelles Marathon, split into two afternoon sessions at the Kursaal Auditorium; one on July 27th and the other on July 28th.

Zorn will receive the Donostiako Jazzaldia Award on Sunday 28 July at 17:30 on stage, before the start of his second concert.

The musical marathon will involve 14 different ensembles who will perform more than 50 compositions from The Bagatelles, John Zorn’s expansive new book of music. Among the more than thirty participating musicians are Mary Halvorson, Marc Ribot, Kris Davis, Julian Lage, Dave Douglas, Joey Baron, Craig Taborn, Peter Evans, John Medeski, Ikue Mori, Erik Friedlander, Mark Feldman, Sylvie Courvoisier, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn and many more who understand Zorn’s creative universe like nobody else.

Donostiako Jazzaldia Award
1994: Doc Cheatham
1995: Phil Woods
1996: Hank Jones
1997: Steve Lacy
1998: Chick Corea
1999: Max Roach and Clark Terry
2000: Kenny Barron
2001: Ray Brown
2002: Elvin Jones
2003: Bebo Valdés
2004: Shirley Horn and Fernando Trueba
2005: Keith Jarrett and Charles Mingus (in memoriam)
2006: Herbie Hancock
2007: Wayne Shorter
2008: Ahmad Jamal
2009: Roy Haynes
2010: Ron Carter
2011: Toots Thielemans
2012: Jimmy Cobb and Pierre Lafont (in memoriam)
2013: Lee Konitz and Juan Claudio Cifuentes
2014: Toshiko Akiyoshi
2015: Benny Golson
2016: Ellis Marsalis
2017: Charles Lloyd
2018: Mary Stallings and Michel Portal
2019: John Zorn