The nominees for the 51st Grammy Awards have been announced. I don’t have anything to say about this year’s jazz nominees that I haven’t already said. It’s a lot of familiar names if you’ve followed the nominees and winners in the past. My criticism from three years ago is still valid. Except for maybe the [...]

Grammy winners usually see a bump in sales. So, what is the best-selling recording today on Amazon.com? It’s not Amy Winehouse and it’s not Kanye. Jazz rules the music sales charts today. Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters may double its sales in one day. It’s only sold about 53,000 copies since it’s release last [...]

I know I’ve written a lot about this already but this is one of, if not the, biggest thing to happen in jazz in years. I’ve already posted about the immediate sales impact for River: The Joni Letters, Herbie Hancock’s winning recording for the Grammy Album of the Year. Now the sales for the week [...]

“Unbelievable,” said Quincy Jones after he read the winner of the Album of the Year Grammy. My reaction would have needed to be bleeped. River: The Joni Letters by Herbie Hancock, a pure jazz recording, won the music’s biggest award. Herbie said it was the first time in 43 years that a jazz album has [...]

As predicted, Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker were the Grammy contemporary jazz winners. I’m happy to see Terence Blanchard win as well. The Grammy site has the complete list of winners. I’ve archived my initial reaction to the nominees.

The nominees for the 50th Grammy Awards was announced yesterday. As always, it’s interesting to see whom the Recording Academy has deemed worthy of music’s highest award. This year, I’m happy to see a few younger musicians being recognized in jazz (though you can expect bigger name artists to go home with the award). Let’s [...]

The nominees for the 49th annual Grammy Awards were announced this morning. It’s the only visible awards show that recognizes all genres of music, including jazz. The selections for Best Contemporary Jazz Album are the most interesting (and exciting) I’ve seen in years: Bela Fleck, Groove Collective, Sex Mob, Christian Scott, and Mike Stern. It’s [...]

Hey, I predicted it! Bill Frisell won for Best Contemporary Jazz Recording. None of the rest of the batch inspired me this year so, for the rest of the winners, see the list at the Grammys site. None of the major jazz award winners are under the age of 50. I don’t have any kind [...]

Nominees in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album (For albums containing 51% or more playing time of INSTRUMENTAL tracks.) Shouldn’t they replace the word “album” with “recording?” Nominees are: Journey by Fourplay, Unspeakable by Bill Frisell, In Praise of Dreams by Jan Garbarek, The Hang by Don Grusin, and the Strength EP from Roy Hargrove (The [...]

This year’s Grammy selections in the jazz categories surprised me. The nominees and winners are frequently predictable if you’ve paid attention to the categories in the last 20 years. This year’s omissions are perplexing. The Chick Corea Elektric Band reunited for a concept album. A concept album by a fusion era leader not recognized by [...]