Esperanza Spalding, the 26-year-old jazz bassist and singer hand-picked by President Obama to perform at his Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in 2009, marked one of the Grammys' surprises this year with a high-profile nomination in the best new artist category.
Considering that Spalding has been a celebrated figure on the jazz scene since her 2008 album, “Esperanza," the nomination is a bit of a head-scratcher, but it is consistent with the Grammys' rules of an artist not releasing more than three albums before the recording that “establishes the public identity of that artist." Her ambitious 2010 album, “Chamber Music Society," certainly marked a step forward, and given her airily inviting vocal style and a deft hand with pop, funk and Latin influences, it's possible to draw at least a dotted line to Spalding from Norah Jones' runaway success in 2003, the closest equivalent to Grammy voters looking toward jazz's neighborhood in this category in recent years.
Elsewhere Grammy voters rightly honored the Vijay Iyer Trio's “Historicity" in the instrumental album category, an invigorating thrill-ride of a record that was a critical favorite last year. Among those Iyer will be competing against include veteran saxophonist James Moody's “Moody 4B" and keyboardist John Beasley's “Positootly."
Trombone Shorty, a raucous New Orleans favorite and frequent guest on HBO's “Treme," was honored in the contemporary jazz category, which otherwise tilts heavily toward fusion with nods toward albums by Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin and Jeff Lorber. The wild, steampunk-informed Darcy James Argue's Secret Society earned some well-deserved recognition in the large ensemble category, competing against the Billy Childs Ensemble's rich chamber-jazz and the ever-adventurous Dave Holland, whose octet's live album “Pathways" was a fine example of the bassist's democratic hand as a bandleader.
Elsewhere Grammy voters rightly honored the Vijay Iyer Trio's “Historicity" in the instrumental album category, an invigorating thrill-ride of a record that was a critical favorite last year. Among those Iyer will be competing against include veteran saxophonist James Moody's “Moody 4B" and keyboardist John Beasley's “Positootly."
Trombone Shorty, a raucous New Orleans favorite and frequent guest on HBO's “Treme," was honored in the contemporary jazz category, which otherwise tilts heavily toward fusion with nods toward albums by Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin and Jeff Lorber. The wild, steampunk-informed Darcy James Argue's Secret Society earned some well-deserved recognition in the large ensemble category, competing against the Billy Childs Ensemble's rich chamber-jazz and the ever-adventurous Dave Holland, whose octet's live album “Pathways" was a fine example of the bassist's democratic hand as a bandleader.
Complete on >> http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=71406
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