Birmingham man-about-music, Jim Simpson, received The Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Birmingham Awards presentation on Saturday 9 November at Eastside Rooms.

The Award acknowledged Jim's "decades-long influence in the music industry and his work with The Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival and Big Bear Music, which have been instrumental in shaping Birmingham’s cultural landscape”.

This award is most timely, coming in the same year that The Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival celebrated its successful 40th year with 239 performances, 230 of them free admission, in 120 venues, attracting musicians from Estonia, Spain, Norway, Italy, France, Singapore and the U.S.A. This year Jim Simpson also became an Honorary Doctor of Music, awarded by The University of Birmingham.

The Jazz Rag, the nationally distributed magazine published by Big Bear Music was winner of The 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Award while the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival previously received The Lord Mayor’s Award “in recognition of outstanding achievement and exceptional service to the city of Birmingham and its people through inspirational and dedicated work which has enhanced and promoted the reputation of jazz in the city and internationally”.