Janine Irons

Last updated

Janine Irons
Born
Janine Mireille Irons

Harrow, London, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Music educator, artist manager and producer
Known forChief executive of Tomorrow's Warriors
Partner Gary Crosby
AwardsServices to Jazz Award at 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards

Janine Mireille Irons OBE FRSA is a British music educator, artist manager and producer, who in 1991 co-founded with her partner Gary Crosby the music education and professional development organisation Tomorrow's Warriors, of which she is Chief Executive. [1] [2] In 1997, she and Crosby also initiated the Dune Records label, with a focus on Black British jazz musicians and musicians from Tomorrow's Warriors. [3] [4] [5] Irons has also worked as a photographer and musician. [4]

Contents

In 2023, Irons received the Services to Jazz Award at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, [6] and she was also honoured as an OBE in the Birthday Honours for services to the music industry. [7] and also

Biography

Born in Harrow, London, Irons studied classical piano "with a teacher who was rumoured to have worked with [André] Previn". [4] As a young teenager, she sang in a funk band and at 16 was offered a contract as a vocalist; instead, however, she decided to pursue a career in The City. [4] Finding this work "well-paid but boring", she enrolled on a photography course at the City and Guilds of London Institute. It was while covering a jazz performance as a freelance photographer that she met her future partner, bass player Gary Crosby, and after helping with his band she went on to manage artists, as well as becoming involved with recording and releasing records. [4]

Tomorrow's Warriors

Irons and Crosby founded in 1991 the jazz music education and artist development organisation Tomorrow's Warriors, of which Irons is managing director/CEO, and in 1997 began Dune Records, which soon developed into an award-winning label, with Irons as managing director. [4] She has recalled initially having to do "everything apart from play the music! I did the photography, the liner notes, the artwork, the press/PR, the distribution… everything! However, with our third release, Denys Baptiste's Be Where You Are (1999), we decided to engage professional designers to ease the pressures on me. Again, this album received great critical acclaim and, to our utter amazement, was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, the most prestigious music prize in the UK which looks for the best releases of British music regardless of genre." [8] [9] In addition to Baptiste, other notable acts associated with Dune include Nu Troop, J-Life, Jazz Jamaica, Soweto Kinch and Abram Wilson. [8] [10]

Awards and recognition

Irons was nominated for a European Federation of Black Women Business Owners award in 1999. [11] In 2006, she completed the Clore Leadership Programme Short Course on Cultural Leadership and, also in that year, was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2006 Birthday Honours for services to the music industry. [1] [12] She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). [13]

In 2019, she was recognised in the Alternative Power 100 Music List, which was established as a response to Billboard magazine's Power 100 List with the aim to challenge conventional music industry standards by SheSaid.So, a global network of women in the music industry. [14] [15]

Irons was an honoree on the Roll of Honour for the 2020 Music Week Women In Music Awards, held in association with AIM and UK Music. [16] [17]

On 23 November 2020, she was featured by Robert Elms as a "Listed Londoner" on his BBC Radio London programme. [18]

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours, for services to the music industry. [19]

At the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards, Irons received the Services to Jazz Award (with the award for "Jazz Newcomer of the Year" going to Tomorrow's Warriors alumnus Sultan Stevenson). [20] [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Courtney Pine</span> British jazz musician (born 1964)

Courtney Pine,, is a British jazz musician, who was the principal founder in the 1980s of the black British band the Jazz Warriors. Although known primarily for his saxophone playing, Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and keyboards. On his 2011 album, Europa, he plays almost exclusively bass clarinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soweto Kinch</span> British jazz saxophonist and rapper (born 1978)

Soweto Kinch is a British jazz saxophonist and rapper.

Debbie Wiseman, OBE is a British composer for film, television and the concert hall, known also as a conductor and a radio and television presenter.

British jazz is a form of music derived from American jazz. It reached Britain through recordings and performers who visited the country while it was a relatively new genre, soon after the end of World War I. Jazz began to be played by British musicians from the 1930s and on a widespread basis in the 1940s, often within dance bands. From the late 1940s, British "modern jazz", highly influenced by American bebop, began to emerge and was led by figures such as Sir John Dankworth, Tony Crombie and Ronnie Scott, while Ken Colyer, George Webb and Humphrey Lyttelton played Dixieland-style Trad jazz. From the 1960s British jazz began to develop more individual characteristics and absorb a variety of influences, including British blues, as well as European and World music influences. A number of British jazz musicians have gained international reputations, although the music has remained a minority interest there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jazz Jamaica</span>

Jazz Jamaica is a British jazz/reggae music group founded by musician Gary Crosby in London in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Crosby (bassist)</span> British jazz musician and educator (born 1955)

Gary Crosby is a British jazz double bassist, composer, music arranger, and educator. He was a founding member of the celebrated group the Jazz Warriors in the 1980s and has worked with many top international artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orphy Robinson</span> British jazz musician and composer

Orphy Robinson MBE is a British jazz multi-instrumentalist who plays vibraphone, keyboards, saxophone, trumpet, piano, marimba, steelpans and drums. He has written music for television, film and theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coleridge Goode</span> British Jamaican-born jazz bassist (1914–2015)

George Coleridge Emerson Goode was a British Jamaican-born jazz bassist best known for his long collaboration with alto saxophonist Joe Harriott. Goode was a member of Harriott's innovatory jazz quintet throughout its eight-year existence as a regular unit (1958–65). Goode was also involved with the saxophonist's later pioneering blend of jazz and Indian music in Indo-Jazz Fusions, the group Harriott co-led with composer/violinist John Mayer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denys Baptiste</span> English jazz musician (born 1969)

Denys Baptiste is an English jazz musician. A graduate of Tomorrow's Warriors, Baptiste plays tenor and soprano saxophone in addition to composing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abram Wilson</span> American jazz musician (1973–2012)

Abram Wilson was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist raised in New Orleans and based in London, England, where he also taught music in schools.

The Jazz Warriors were an English all-black London-based group of jazz musicians, that made its debut in 1986. The idea for the band came from the Abibi Jazz Arts, a London organization that promoted black music and black culture. The Jazz Warriors provided black British musicians with a venue to showcase their talents, which until that time was limited mostly to funk music and reggae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Mitchell (jazz pianist)</span>

Robert Mitchell is an English jazz musician, composer and teacher.

Gary Crosby's Nu Troop is a post-bop jazz group formed in 1991 by musician Gary Crosby in London. Referred to by The Rough Guide to Jazz as "one of the most important UK bands", the group won the Best Ensemble award at the Jazz à Vienne festival in 1997, and their album of that year, Migrations, was described as "superb".

Shirley Joy Thompson is an English composer, conductor, and violinist of Jamaican descent. Her output as a composer encompasses symphonies, ballets, operas, concertos, and other works for ensembles, as well as music for TV, film, and theatre. Her New Nation Rising, A 21st Century Symphony was composed in 2002 and debuted in 2004. Also an academic, she is currently Professor of Music at the University of Westminster. In the 2019 New Year Honours she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Music.

Sonita Alleyne, is the Barbados-born British co-founder and former CEO of Somethin’ Else, a cross-platform media production company. Alleyne is a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Master of Jesus College, Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Watt (philanthropist)</span> New Zealand entrepreneur and philanthropist (born 1940)

Michael Heseltine Watt is a New Zealand entrepreneur, philanthropist, and investor. He was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the community in the 2005 New Year Honours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomorrow's Warriors</span> British music education organisation (founded 1991)

Tomorrow's Warriors (TW) is a jazz music education and artist development organisation that was co-founded in 1991 by Janine Irons and Gary Crosby, committed to championing diversity, inclusion and equality across the arts through jazz, with a special focus on "Black musicians, female musicians and those whose financial or other circumstances might lock them out of opportunities to pursue a career in the music industry". Crosby drew inspiration from having been a member of the Jazz Warriors, a London-based group of musicians that in the 1980s showcased many young Black British musicians who went on to achieve international success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shabaka Hutchings</span> British jazz musician, composer and bandleader (born 1984)

Shabaka Hutchings is a British jazz musician, composer and bandleader. He leads the band Shabaka and the Ancestors, and used to lead Sons of Kemet before its dissolution in 2022. He was also a member of The Comet Is Coming, performing under the stage name King Shabaka. Hutchings has played saxophone and other wind instruments with the Sun Ra Arkestra, Andre 3000, Floating Points, Mulatu Astatke, Polar Bear, Melt Yourself Down, Heliocentrics, London Brew and Zed-U.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nubya Garcia</span> English jazz musician (born 1991)

Nubya Nyasha Garcia is an English jazz musician, saxophonist, composer and bandleader.

Julie Dexter is a British singer, songwriter and producer, whose music spans the categories of jazz, soul and reggae. She was born and raised in Birmingham, England, and has been based in the United States since 1999. Notable musicians with whom she has worked include Courtney Pine, Soweto Kinch, Jason Yarde, and others.

References

  1. 1 2 "Janine Irons | Tomorrow's Warriors", AMA (Arts Marketing Association).
  2. "About", Tomorrow's Warriors website.
  3. John Murph, "Do Your Own Thing: The Dune Label", JazzTimes , March 2004.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Record label PR file: Dune Records", The Independent , 31 January 2007.
  5. Hilary Moore, Inside British Jazz: Crossing Borders of Race, Nation and Class (Ashgate Publishing, 2007), Routledge, 2016, p. 131.
  6. "Winners Announced at the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards". LondonJazz News. 4 July 2023.
  7. "Janine Irons Honoured with OBE for Services to the Music Industry". Tomorrow's Warriors. 2 February 2024.
  8. 1 2 The Independent Ear, "Black Empowerment: Dune Records" (part 1), Open Sky Jazz, 25 February 2008.
  9. Phil Johnson,"Music: Jazz lives, OK?", The Independent, 6 August 1999.
  10. Dune Records at Discogs.
  11. Gerry Lyseight (3 August 2012). "New LIVELY UP! Festival celebrates Jamaica¹s cultural icons. 28 September-2 November". gerrylyseight.com.
  12. Stephen Foster, "Feature: Foster Factor", BBC, Suffolk, October 2006.
  13. "Lively Up! Festival Celebrating 50 Year of Jamaican Independence, 2012, p. 4.
  14. "Alternative Power 100 Music List 2019". shesaid.so. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  15. "Janine Irons MBE, CEO and Co-Founder, Tomorrow's Warriors". womeninmusic.com. 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  16. "Meet the 2020 Music Week Women In Music Roll Of Honour". Music Week. 19 October 2020.
  17. Maya Radcliffe, "Music Week announces Women in Music Roll of Honour 2020". PRS for Music. 19 October 2020.
  18. "Listed Londoner: Janine Irons MBE", BBC Radio London, 23 November 2020.
  19. "No. 64082". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2023. p. B13.
  20. "Winners announced for the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards". Jazzwise . 4 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  21. "Janine Irons Receives Parliamentary Jazz Award for Services to Jazz". Tomorrow's Warriors. 14 July 2023.