The Hartt School’s Javon Jackson and Poet Nikki Giovanni Nominated for NAACP Image Award

Released August 23, 2024, Javon & Nikki Go to the Movies was the final project released by Giovanni before her passing on December 9, 2024. Giovanni and Jackson, who serves as professor of Jazz Saxophone and Director of the Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Division at Hartt, previously collaborated on 2023's The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni. That project was also nominated for a NAACP Image Award.

"On behalf of Nikki Giovanni and myself, I am truly humbled and honored by this nomination," says Jackson. "As I mourn the recent passing of Nikki, my friendship with her and our performances together leave me with a profound sense of gratitude and appreciation."

Jackson and Giovanni's artistic partnership started at UHart, when they discovered their shared connection to jazz during the University's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Observance in 2020.

For Javon & Nikki Go to the Movies, the pair drew on their shared interest in American cinema, selecting some of Giovanni's favorites-standards from the Great American Songbook, many of them originally composed for Hollywood classics-as well as some of Jackson's own compositions.

Recognized as the nation's preeminent multicultural awards show from an African American point of view, the NAACP Image Awards celebrates the outstanding achievements and performances in the arts, as well as individuals and groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors.

The 56th NAACP Image Award winners will be announced during a live TV special, airing Saturday, February 22nd, 2025 on BET and CBS. The NAACP will also recognize winners in non-televised Image Awards categories on February 21 at the Image Awards Creative Honors Ceremonies which will stream at www.NAACPImageAwards.net.