THE CLAUDIA QUINTET NAMED RISING STAR JAZZ GROUP by DOWNBEAT 56th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CRITICS POLL

[From top left-clockwise: Matt Moran, John Hollenbeck, Chris Speed, Ted Reichman, and Drew Gress]
CUNEIFORM RECORDS is honored to announce that THE CLAUDIA QUINTET, a jazz ensemble led by composer/percussionist JOHN HOLLENBECK, has been named the RISING STAR JAZZ GROUP by DOWNBEAT 56th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CRITICS POLL. In addition, John Hollenbeck is named as both the RISING STAR COMPOSER of the year and the RISING STAR ARRANGER of the year in the poll. Indeed, The Claudia Quintet and its members won a staggering number of awards and nominations in this year's Downbeat's International Critics poll. Other Claudia bandmembers nominated for awards by Downbeat include Chris Speed, nominated for RISING STAR CLARINET; DREW GRESS, nominated for RISING STAR ACOUSTIC BASS and RISING STAR ELECTRIC BASS, MATT MORAN, nominated for both VIBES and RISING STAR VIBES; TED REICHMAN (accordion), nominated for RISING STAR MISCELLANEOUS INSTRUMENT.
DownBeat's International Critics Poll is the most prestigious jazz poll in the world, and is compiled from votes submitted by many of the world's best jazz journalists.
The Claudia Quintet is signed to Cuneiform Records, an internationally acclaimed record label that releases jazz, improv, experimental rock, avant progressive, electronic/ambient, classical minimalism, 'new weird americana' and numerous other genres 'beyond', by some of the best and most adventurous musicians from around the world. Based in the Washington DC (Silver Spring, MD) area since 1984, Cuneiform was recently honored in the Washington City Paper's 2008 BEST OF DC as DC's 'BEST HYPHENATE LABEL' in recognition of its genre-busting multi-genre music.
In addition to the members of The Claudia Quintet, several other artists associated with Cuneiform received nominations in various categories in the DownBeat 56th Annual Poll. Wadada Leo Smith, whose "Tabligh" CD was just released by Cuneiform, was nominated for TRUMPET. An archival recording that Cuneiform recently released, the Steve Lacy / Roswell Rudd Quartet's "Early and Late", was nominated for HISTORICAL ALBUM (and Rudd was also nominated for TROMBONE).
http://cuneiformrecords.com