New Orleans jazz music icon Harold Battiste was named a “Jazz Hero” by the Jazz Journalists Association on April 1. Battiste received the honor along with 23 other activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz from across the United States.

The Jazz Journalists Association, in collaboration with grassroots supporters in 21 U.S. cities and Toronto, Canada, kicked off a JazzApril media campaign celebrating local scenes during Jazz Appreciation Month, which culminates in International Jazz Day.

The 2014 Jazz Heroes include music educators, festival producers, venue operators and presenters, broadcasters and journalists, a municipal cultural administrator, an instrument repair angel, and musicians who have been mentors to up ‘n’ coming musicians as well as audiences.

Jazz Heroes will be presented with engraved statuettes during April public events in Atlanta, Baltimore, Bloomington, IN, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, MO, Detroit, Durham, NC, Kingston, NY, the Litchfield, CT region, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Pittsburgh, Portland, OR, Santa Cruz, the SF Bay Area, Seattle, Schenectady, Tallahassee, Toronto and Washington D.C.

Alphabetically, the heroes are:

• Harold Battiste, New Orleans-based saxophonist, composer-arranger and producer

• John Bilotti, co-producer of the Wall Street Jazz Festival, Kingston NY

• Cephas Bowles, president and CEO of WBGO, Newark NJ

• Raymond Brown, trumpeter and head of jazz studies at Cabrillo College near Santa Cruz, CA

• Faye Carol, vocalist and educator in the SF Bay Area

• Bill Foster, founder of Detroit’s Jazz Network Foundation

• Bobby Hill, writer and broadcaster at WPFW, Washington DC

• Joseph Jennings, saxophonist and retired educator in Atlanta

• Jennifer Johnson Washington,director of programming for Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events

• Dr. John Lamkin II, cross-genres trumpeter and educator in Maryland

• Emilio Lyons, the Sax Doctor of Boston

• Thara Memory, composer, trumpeter and educator in Portland OR

• Vita West Muir, founder and producer of the Litchfield Jazz Festival and Jazz Camp

• Thomas Pierce, activist for the Schenectady-based Swingtime Jazz Society and A Place for Jazz

• Jon Poses, founder and executive director of the “We Always Swing”® Jazz Series in Columbia MO

• Geraldine “Gerry” Seay, owner/operator of B Sharps Jazz Café, Tallahassee

• Meghan Stabile, founder of Revive Music Group

• Peggy Stern, pianist and co-founder/producer of the Wall Street Jazz Festival, Kingston NY

• Janis Stockhouse, trumpeter and director of bands at Bloomington High School North, Bloomington IN

• Bill Strickland, founder of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild

• Patrick Taylor, founder and producer of the Toronto Jazz Festival

• Larry Reni Thomas, journalist and radio broadcaster working with Art of the Cool, Durham NC

• Wayne Thompson, writer and festival board member, Portland OR

• Jim Wilke, Jazz After Hours radio show producer, Seattle

You can read more about Battiste’s remarkable career in “All for Harold,” a story by John Swenson in the April 2014 issue of OffBeat.