Triple Grammy-Winning Jazz Vocalist DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER
Honored with ASCAP-Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award
Cabaret Vocalist/Advocate FRANK DAIN, Jazz Vocalist/Archivist MARY FOSTER CONKLIN
Also Recognized Along with Others at the 41st Annual BISTRO AWARDS Gala
(New York, January 26, 2026) —NEA Jazz Master and triple Grammy-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater will be honored, along with 13 other artists, at the 41st Bistro Awards gala on Monday, March 16. The Bistro Award recognizes outstanding achievement in cabaret, jazz, and comedy performances over the prior calendar year or over the course of one’s career. The celebration will take place on Monday, March 16 at Chelsea Table + Stage, 152 W. 26th St., in New York. As is the Bistro Award tradition, the evening will feature performances by all the awardees. Stand-up comic Jim David is set to host.
Dee Dee Bridgewater is an electric and highly entertaining performer. In the jazz realm, she has excelled for five decades, both onstage and in recordings. Fearless, frank, and given to experimentation, she has performed in venues around the globe and has released a score of jazz albums, many of which were produced under her own label, DDB Records. Bridgewater has also distinguished herself as a memorable performer in musical theatre. She won a Tony Award for her first Broadway role, originating the role of Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, in the 1974 debut of The Wiz. Among her other musical-theatre credits are Sophisticated Ladies, Cabaret, and Lady Day. This is Bridgewater’s second Bistro Awards recognition, following a special award for Ongoing Jazz Artistry in 2012.
Other special awards will go to cabaret vocalist and advocate Frank Dain and jazz vocalist and archivist Mary Foster Conklin. Dain’s special Bistro Award is for his work as a sensitive, straight-from-the-heart singer, as well as his two decades as an editor at Cabaret Scenes magazine and his ongoing participation in a number of cabaret organizations. Onstage and in recordings, Mary Foster Conklin sings with passion and elegance. But she also regularly shares her knowledge of jazz history and lore on her WFDU 89.1 radio program. This is the fourth Bistro Award for Conklin.
Singled out for outstanding Tribute Show is Chicago-based Tammy McCann, who performed at 54 Below in Legendary Ladies of Jazz: Ella, Sarah, Dinah, & Billie. This show not only paid homage to four revered vocalists, but it also put a distinctive “Tammy McCann” stamp on songs from the repertoire of these immortal stars.
An award for her contributions as vocalist and educator will be bestowed on Corinna Sowers Adler. As a singer, she displays a keen knack for communicating with her audience, whom she engages with her sharp, refreshing wit. As an educator, she nurtures young performers and fosters a lifelong appreciation of the arts, while also helping students build essential life skills.
Pianist Chris Grasso, singer Lauren Scales, and saxophonist Mike Flanagan, brought a live version of their hard-edged jazz album Many Rivers to 54 Below. Both the album and the show spotlighted the individual talents of the participants, as well as their highly satisfying blends. The trio is being honored with an award for Outstanding Jazz Ensemble.
Another collaborative endeavor, String Theory—comprising the team of singer Deborah Stone, pianist Sean Harkness, guitarist Sean Harkness, and bassist Tom Hubbard—will be honored on Bistros night for their exceptional collaboration. The choices, arrangements, chemistry, and performances of the quartet were all stellar.
Also being honored are two young yet distinctive vocalists. David Marino is a multifaceted young singer-actor from Canada. With his style, grace, and resonant voice, he has proven to be a star on the rise in theatre, in clubs, and on recordings, both here in New York and abroad. Anaïs Reno’s exquisite artistry as a jazz vocalist, her ease and joy in singing, along with her technical skills, manifest onstage as what can best be described as radiance.
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Returning as host of the Bistro Awards is comic sensation Jim David. He was the first openly gay man to have a “Comedy Central Presents” network special. He has toured the country with his theatre comedy South Pathetic and has entertained international audiences for approximately four decades. A Bistro Award recipient in 1998, David has hosted or guested in many a Bistro Awards gala over the years.
The evening’s musicians include the award show’s resident maestro, Musical Director Daryl Kojak (piano), along with veteran Bistro Awards musicians Ritt Henn (bass) and Rex Benincasa (drums).
Writer and critic Gerry Geddes, a longtime contributing member of the Bistro Awards Committee, is set to helm the show for the fifth year.
Sherry Eaker, formerly the longtime Editor-in Chief of Back Stage, has produced the event since its inception in 1985. Eaker heads up the BistroAwards.com roster of writers and critics. Mark Dundas Wood, who has been part of the Bistro Awards committee since 2012 and who writes regularly for BistroAwards.com,returns for a fifth time to his role as associate producer, and award-winning singer, dancer, choreographer, and coach Mary Lahti is back again as assistant producer.
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The gala event will be held on Monday, March 16,at 7:00 pm at Chelsea Table + Stage in Manhattan, 152 W. 26th Street, NYC. Tickets range from $100 to $225. Ticket buyers in all categories are invited to the Bistro After Party. For details about the various ticket categories, visit BistroAwards.com.
Following is a complete list of artists who, we believe, attained Outstanding Achievement in 2025 and/or for their body of work:
Dee Dee Bridgewater / ASCAP-Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award
Frank Dain / Vocal Artistry and Cabaret Advocate
Mary Foster Conklin / Consummate Jazz Vocalist and Archivist
Tammy McCann / Tribute Show (Legendary Ladies of Jazz: Ella, Sarah, Dinah, & Billie)
Corinna Sowers Adler / Vocalist and Educator
Chris Grasso, Lauren Scales, and Mike Flanagan / Jazz Ensemble
Deborah Stone, Daryl Kojak, Sean Harkness, and Tom Hubbard / Collaboration (String Theory)
David Marino / Vocalist
Anaïs Reno / Jazz Vocalist
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The Bistro Awards has been recognizing, encouraging, nurturing, and educating cabaret, jazz, and comedy artists for 41 years through our insightful reviews and our annual awards — the oldest award of its kind in the industry. It was established by Bob Harrington in 1985 in his “Bistro Bits” column in the trade weekly Back Stage, then under the editorship of Sherry Eaker. For the first few years, the awards were merely listed in Harrington’s column as notable performances he had seen during the calendar year. The first formal presentation of the awards was held in 1990 at Eighty Eight’s, a popular cabaret venue in the West Village. From there, the show moved on to The Ballroom in Chelsea and then relocated to the Supper Club in the Broadway District, where it remained for many years. Then the awards were held for 19 years at Gotham Comedy Club. This year marks the first Bistro Awards gala at Chelsea Table + Stage.
The guidelines that Harrington set up for himself to determine the first winners have become the basic philosophy behind the Bistro Awards, which recognize achievement in a wide variety of categories — from outstanding performances to outstanding contributions by members of the cabaret community. The object is not to choose the “best” of anything of the year, but to recognize and congratulate the accomplishments of those who have done something special. Accordingly, categories can easily be created from year to year as they best fit the year’s distinguished work.
Some of the Bistro’s special honorees have included Sandy Stewart (2025), Robert Klein (2024), Ronny Whyte (2023), Jimmy Webb (2022), Petula Clark (2021); Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire (2020); Judy Collins (2019); André De Shields (2018); Darlene Love (2017); Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Janis Siegel, and Christine Andreas (2016); Carol Fredette and Lillias White (2015); Ben Vereen (2014); Lainie Kazan, Maurice Hines, and Clint Holmes (2013); Kaye Ballard, Melissa Manchester, and Dee Dee Bridgewater (2012); Dionne Warwick and Carol Channing (2011); Mitzi Gaynor and Elaine Stritch (2010); Charles Aznavour and Liza Minnelli (2009); Marilyn Maye (2008); Betty Buckley (2007); Steve Ross (2006); as well as Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Bobby Short, Eartha Kitt, Barbara Cook, and many others.