This year’s Grammy nominations
are even duller than usual, but there are some highlights among the dross. I was amazed and delighted, for instance, to see that Karrin Allyson’s Footprints, Nancy King’s Live at Jazz Standard with Fred Hersch, and Diana Krall’s From This Moment On were all nominated as Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Here are some other noteworthy nominations:
– BEST COUNTRY INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE: Chris Thile, “The Eleventh Reel,” from How to Grow a Woman From the Ground (Sugar Hill)
– BEST JAZZ INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM, INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP: Jack DeJohnette, Larry Goldings, and John Scofield, Trio Beyond–Saudades (ECM)
– BEST LARGE JAZZ ENSEMBLE ALBUM: Bob Brookmeyer and the New Art Orchestra, Spirit Music (ArtistShare)
– BEST SOUTHERN, COUNTRY, OR BLUEGRASS GOSPEL ALBUM: Del McCoury Band, The Promised Land (McCoury Music)
– BEST CONTEMPORARY FOLK/AMERICANA ALBUM: Rosanne Cash, Black Cadillac (Capitol)
– BEST MUSICAL SHOW ALBUM: The original-cast albums of The Drowsy Chaperone (Ghostlight) and the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd (Nonesuch)
– BEST ALBUM NOTES: Fats Waller, If You Got to Ask, You Ain’t Got It! (Bluebird/Legacy, notes by Dan Morgenstern)
– BEST CLASSICAL VOCAL PERFORMANCE: Ian Bostridge, Britten Orchestral Song Cycles (EMI Classics)
Somehow I doubt that any of these folks will be seen on the Grammy telecast!
Speaking of niche marketing, I was fascinated to learn that in addition to such hair-splitting categories as Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Surround Sound Album, there are now Grammies for the best albums in the following categories: Tropical Latin, Mexican/Mexican-American, Tejano, Norte