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December 13, 2004
TT: Prize packages
Nobody in the business takes the classical-music Grammies seriously, even when deserving albums are nominated (which happens more often than you might think). The jazz Grammies are different, even when undeserving albums are nominated (which also happens more often than you might think), for a timely nomination can give a significant boost to an artist's career. Thus it's with the greatest of pleasure that I take note of the fact that several "About Last Night" faves got the nod last week:- For best large jazz ensemble album, Bob Brookmeyer's Get Well Soon and Maria Schneider's Concert in the Garden.
- For best instrumental composition, Schneider's "Bulería, Soleá y Rumba" (included on Concert in the Garden) and Schneider's "Three Romances," recorded by the University of Miami Concert Jazz Band on Romances.
- For best jazz instrumental album, individual or group, the Bill Charlap Trio's Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein.
- For best jazz instrumental solo, Donny McCaslin on Schneider's "Bulería, Soleá y Rumba" and John Scofield on "Wee" (included on EnRoute).
- For best historical reissue and best album notes (by Loren Schoenberg), Woody Herman's The Complete Columbia Recordings Of Woody Herman And His Orchestra & Woodchoppers (1945-1947), available only by mail order from Mosaic Records.
I think these more than make up for Queen Latifah's nomination for best jazz vocal album, don't you? (We simply won't talk about the scandalous omission of Luciana Souza's exquisite Neruda.)
I might add--because it's hugely significant--that Concert in the Garden is only available on line from Maria Schneider's Web site, which uses ArtistShare's radical new Web-based technology to market Schneider's music directly to listeners. In effect, Schneider is now her own record label. That's the future, folks.
I am, needless to say, torn in twain by the fact that Schneider and Brookmeyer, both of whom I admire extravagantly and without reserve, were both nominated for best big-band CD, especially since their albums are both sensationally good. (Isn't it a wonderful coincidence, by the way, that Schneider studied composition with Brookmeyer? He's so proud of her that he could explode.)
I e-mailed congratulations to them last week, adding, "But who am I going to root for?" To which Brookmeyer instantly replied, "The Red Sox, of course."
That's a good answer.
Posted December 13, 2004 12:45 PM
