Phish will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award when the Jammy Awards return to New York’s Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 7, 2008. This year’s ceremony and all-star concert will mark the seventh installment of the The Jammys and, as in years past, will celebrate the best in live improvisational music. The Jammys will also
offer a number of unique pairings among musicians from the jam, pop, rock, reggae, gospel, indie, soul and jazz realms.
Produced by Relix Magazine, Jambands.com, and Peter Shapiro, The Jammys has grown considerably over the years, moving from Irving Plaza in 2000 to the Roseland Ballroom in 2001 and 2002. Since 2004 the Jammys has called Theater at Madison Square Garden its home. The ceremony has also welcomed a striking number of performers over the years, including Phil Lesh, Bob Weir & RatDog, the Allman Brothers Band, Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Steve Winwood, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Les Claypool. John Mayer, Buddy Guy, Ryan Adams, Gov’t Mule, the Tom Tom Club, Perry Farrell, The B-52s, Michael Franti, Sinead O’Connor, Burning Spear, B Fleck & the Flecktones, McCoy Tyner, Savion Glover, Travis Tritt, moe., the String Cheese Incident, Bruce Hornsby, the Disco Biscuits, Peter Frampton, Blues Traveler, Yonder Mountain String Band, Mavis Staples, Umphrey’s McGee, Zappa Plays Zappa, Chick Corea and Dave Matthews Band’s Stefan Lessard, among others.
As in years past, awards will be given out in a number of different categories, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, DVD of the Year, Download of the Year, Best New Artist, Tour of the Year, Live Show of the Year and Archival release of the Year. Phish has taken home a trophy at each of the ceremony’s first six installments.
‘We are extremely proud to present our Lifetime Achievement Award to Phish,’ says Jammys Executive Producer and Co-Creator Peter Shapiro. ‘Few bands have meant as much to the improvisational music community as they have, so celebrating their career is something that is a natural thing for us to do.’
Previous Jammys Lifetime Achievement Award winners include B.B. King, The Meters, The Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, Steve Winwood and Frank Zappa.
A full lineup will be confirmed in the coming weeks. Tickets go on-sale at Noon EST on March 20 via Ticketmaster and at the Madison Square Garden Box Office. For more information go to Jammys.com.