Double bassist Christian McBride wins the Musician of the Year award
The Jazz Journalists Association has announced the winners for its 2026 Jazz Awards, prominently featuring string players.
The 2026 Musician of the Year award went to US double bassist Christian McBride. The other finalists were pianist Sullivan Fortner, guitarist Mary Halvorson and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis.
A winner of eleven Grammy Awards and a Juilliard School graduate, McBride has distinguished himself as a recording artist, curator and a composer–arranger–producer, as well as an educator and mentor. He has served as bandleader for acclaimed ensembles including Inside Straight, Ursa Major, the Christian McBride Big Band, Christian McBride’s New Jawn, the Christian McBride trio and A Christian McBride Situation, and, early on in his career, collaborated with renowned jazz bassists Ray Brown and John Clayton.
In the strings category, the Player of the Year award was won by US cellist and composer Tomeka Reid. The other finalists in the category were jazz violinists Regina Carter, Mark Feldman and Jenny Scheinman, and harpist Brandee Younger.
Reid released her debut recording as bandleader of the Tomeka Reid Quartet in 2015; the group issued its fourth album this year. She leads the Tomeka Reid Stringtet and the Tomeka Reid Septet. She has also performed with ensembles including the Zim Sextet, Gifts Quintet, Roscoe Mitchell Quartet and the 7 Poets and Craig Taborn trios. Reid also founded the Chicago Jazz String Summit, the twelfth edition of which took place in May this year.
The Bassist of the Year award went to Australian bassist and composer Linda May Han Oh. The other finalists were bassists Ron Carter, Dave Holland, John Patitucci and Christian McBride.
Oh previously won the award in both 2018 and 2023, and was also named Bassist of the Year in 2019 by Hothouse Magazine. She is currently associate professor at the Berklee College of Music and has released five albums as bandleader to critical acclaim. Other accolades include a 2020 APRA award, the 2023 Herb Albert award, and an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music in 2024. Oh was also featured as the double bassist in the Pixar film Soul, in which the character Miho is based on her likeness.
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