17.06.2011
ACT receives Echo Jazz Award as Label of the Year for the second time in a row
 Echo Jazz 2011 : Michael Gottfried, Katja Rothe, Marco Ostrowski, Youn Sun Nah, Siggi Loch, Petra Deka - © ACT / Manfred Gillig-Degrave
With a total of six awards, including Label of the Year, ACT is among the big winners at the Echo Jazz Awards 2011, Germany’s most prestigious music award, which was presented on June 17th at the “Gläserne Manufaktur Volkswagen” in Dresden. The Echo Jazz for the Label of the Year was determined in a public online voting. This is, what makes the award especially important for ACT head Siggi Loch.
Besides the Label of the Year award, five ACT artists received an Echo for their current albums: The Korean singer Youn Sun Nah was awarded Best international female Vocalist of the Year. Since the release of her recent album “Same Girl” (ACT 9024-2), Youn Sun Nah has experienced a sheer unbelievable success. In France, her second home, she made it to the No.1 of the jazz charts and since then, for now 30 consecutive weeks, stays in the top 10. With her very own interpretation of the Metallica classic “Enter Sandman”, Youn Sun Nah was also the big surprise of the Echo award ceremony. Youn Sun Nah, once more, proved, that she is among the most promising and exciting jazz vocalists worldwide. The versatility and emotionality of her performance and her stage presence made the audience listen breathlessly and then led to thunderous applause.
Two Echo awards went to the trio [em] Wollny | Kruse | Schaefer for their album “[em] LIVE at JazzBaltica” (ACT 9668-2). [em] was awarded Ensemble of the Year national and Eric Schaefer Drummer of the Year national. Their live performance was, without any doubt, the most energetic of the evening. [em] LIVE is one of the most acclaimed albums of 2010 and last but not least another peak in the career of pianist Michael Wollny, who already took home the Echo Jazz 2010 as best pianist.
With the award as Saxophonist of the Year national for Heinz Sauer and his album “If (Blue) Then (Blue)” (ACT 9493-2), the Echo went to one of Germany’s most important, influential and unique artists. Together with the pianists Michael Wollny and Joachim Kühn, the current album is a highly inspired gathering of three generations of German jazz.
The Echo Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to the brothers Joachim and Rolf Kühn. With his unique way of playing, which defies all stylistic boarders, pianist Joachim Kühn has made it to the worldwide top flight of jazz. Until today, Joachim Kühn, as well as his brother, the clarinettist Rolf Kühn, ranks among the few German jazz musicians, who reached high acclaim not only in their home country but also worldwide and particularly in the US, the originating country of jazz. In a touching speech, Joachim Kühn thanked his brother Rolf for introducing him to music and art in his early youth, which later became the whole meaning of his life Back to list | 
