Official Montreal Jazz Festival's press release:
http://www.brownman.com/MontrealJazzFest2001/PressRelease.htm
The Canadian Press coverage (carried by all newspapers in Canada and US)
http://www.brownman.com/MontrealJazzFest2001/CanadianPress.htm
Full-length Feature article from July 22nd Toronto Star :
http://www.brownman.com/MontrealJazzFest2001/TorontoStar-BigArticle.htm

        I think we're all still in total shock.  Actually it might be the sleep deprivation... hard to tell.  I'm pretty sure that all of you knew that we - Nick Ali and CRUZAO - had been nominated for the 2001 General Motors Grand Prix de Jazz award at the Montreal Jazz Festival.  For anyone that might not have heard - out of the the 500 something bands in the festival they nominate TEN (Canadian) bands. CRUZAO won.  I still can't believe it.  Getting a gig on one of the big Montreal stages was fantastic... getting nominated was wondrous... but winning?  That was unthinkable.  *shaking head*  Still can't believe it... I really didn't think a latin-jazz group would win as most of the past winners have been very traditional kinds of units... and especially not one like mine that incorporates funk elements too.  *bouncing*
        The award itself consists of a bunch of things including: Bursuries from both GM ($5000) and Galaxie ($3000) to be put towards the forwarding of the band's future (hookers and crack), 50 hours of studio time at one of the top studios in Montreal, a licensing agreement to produce and distribute an album with Justin Time records, invitations to play at both the 2002 Montreal Jazz festival and the 2002 Festi-Jazz International de Rimouski, and my personal favourite - a reeeeeeally big cardboard cheque (we all had to stand there at the press conference holding the damn thing while they snapped photo after photo), and all five of us got actual award trophies!  GM took a bunch of REAL Besson pocket-trumpets, gave'em to an artist and said "Make them look kind of 'automotive'.  Try to combine cars and music".  So they turned the valve casing into an engine block and the valves into cylinders and piston heads.  Very cool.  My brother keeps saying that we're gonna have to move now 'cause it's just WAAAAAAY too nice for our basement apartments.  It looks so out of place on top of my tv. 
Are mantelpieces expensive?
        We played our scheduled set on Friday night from 9pm to 10pm to a crowd of about 10,000 people.  The crowd response was insane.  We were the last nominated band to play as the other nine played over the course of the week and the decision was made shortly after we finished our set and just after 11pm I got the call telling us we'd won.  Much revelry then ensued.  I'll have to tell you guys the full story another time 'cause frankly I'm EXHAUSTED... (we had to leave at 5am on Sunday so we could get back to play the Toronto Street Festival at 1pm, and another gig at 6pm.  *pant*.)  I'll just say that walking out onto the GIGANTIC GM main stage the next night in front of an estimated 35,000 person crowd to receive the awards and play another set was... well...  There is no word.  "Spectacular" comes close, but doesn't capture the gut-wrenching joy of seeing that many people cheering as your own band plays your compositions.  Nutty.

Lastly, I think it's important to note a few things - the players... without whom, there would be nothing but notes on a page :
----------------------------------------
Nick Ali & CRUZAO is :
----------------------------------------
 Nick "The Brownman" Ali - trumpet / flugelhorn / effects
         (Trinidad)
 Marcus Ali - alto sax / flute / effects
         (Trinidad)
 Luisito Orbegoso - congas
         (Peru)
 Chendy Leon - drum set & timbales
         (Cuba)
 Paco Luviano - 6-string electric bass
         (Mexico)
----------------------------------------
Luisito had a family emergency just hours after our win was announced and had to leave... Chendy drove him... so we consequently did the press conference and played the main stage the next day with a conga and drum sub, both of whom did an admirable job... the drummer never having played with us before!
----------------------------------------
 Ruben "Bennie" Esguerra - congas (subbing for Luisito)
  (Columbia)
 Joaquin Nuñez - drum set & timbales (subbing for Chendy)
  (Cuba)
----------------------------------------
Two ultra special thank-you's to  (1) Jon "Linus" Kay who acted as our road manager, driver, videographer, photographer, stand assembler, keeper of good spirits and drinker of beer.  So glad to have had him there.  And to (2) Caroline Johnson at the Montreal Jazz festival who stayed smiling in the face of all adversity... while the world threatened to come crashing down, she continued to act as a professional, solving problems and supporting CRUZAO at every turn.  An amazing woman.
----------------------------------------
        Two more things should be mentioned - the killer quebec unit THREE OF A KIND were also one of the last 2 groups in the running (us and them).  The judges in fact wanted to share the award between CRUZAO and them, but the jazz festival said no - that they HAD to pick a single winner... 2 winners would create to many logistical problems.  They put all 6 judges (from all over the world) in 6 separate rooms and said "pick one".  They all picked CRUZAO... making the honour even greater (this story was told to me by one of the judges after the awards ceremony).
        Andrew Downing's fantastic group DOWNING, TURCOTTE, ZUBOT and DAWSON were disqualified from the Prix De Jazz due to rain.  Andrew's an old friend (we went to jazz camp together when we were 17!) and it was an honour to have my band been nominated for this award in the same year as his band was.  It saddens me to know he was bumped out due to whether.  Please take a moment to check him out at www.andrewdowning.com  He's one of the premiere young bass players in this country and deserves the recognition.
----------------------------------------

I Still can't believe it. 

Thanks to all who have given me and my jazz visions support over the years.  I hope to see you all soon.

A'ight... I'm out.  Peace.

             - Brown