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blog post Picking the jazz Grammy winners

posted by Kinzey Posen on Feb 09, 2012

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For me, one of the most difficult things to do is pick the winners from a category of award nominees. It’s already a given that the quality is there. That being said, I spent the week listening to the nominees, so here are my picks for winners and runner-ups in the Grammy jazz categories. If I’m wrong, don’t hold me to it. I’m just listening from the heart.

Here goes.

Best Improvised Jazz Solo

My pick to win is Sonny Rollins for “Sonnymoon for Two.” This live recording, made during his 80th birthday concert in New York City, is a testament to Rollins’ fertile mind. What makes it extra special is the appearance, mid-tune, of the extraordinary Ornette Coleman. It’s the first time these two titans have ever been recorded together and the magic is palpable.

If for some reason it doesn’t win, my other pick is Chick Corea, who takes the classic Return to Forever tune “500 Miles” and stretches out in his intro with creative reinvention and abandon. OK, I told you it was hard; if Corea doesn’t win, Fred Hersch might. His track is literally a solo, just piano and he does a great job of turning Thelonious Monk’s “Work” inside out. A tour de force.

Best Jazz Vocal Album

What’s interesting in this category is the many pop songs, old and newer, in the recordings. The one to take the Grammy is Terri Lyne Carrington’s The Mosaic Project. It offers a lot of value with so many credible vocalists – Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Dee Dee Bridgewater and last year’s Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding, among others. The repertoire is made up of new tunes and some more obscure pieces that may surprise you, while the other nominees are fairly straight ahead in terms of performance and vision.

If Carrington doesn’t win, Roseanna Vitro might. She’s up for her tribute to the Music of Randy Newman. Her voice may not be as distinctive as the others, but the good folks at the Grammys like tribute albums and Newman’s music wins them constantly.

Best Jazz Instrumental Album

Four out of the six artists in this category have already won Grammys and in the case of Corea, he’s got 12 on his shelf. That said, my pick would be either Joe Lovano or Hersch. On both their albums, the artists embody that quality of jazz that separates the noodlers from the noodles. Both reinvent, reinterpret and plug into that place Keith Jarrett calls “the zone;” where a musician is not thinking anymore, but accessing that musical muse. Rollins’ live CD is also special, because he’s Rollins and you get to hear him with a variety of players. When Rollins recorded it, he had just turned 80.

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

This category is all about the arrangements and orchestrations, of course. How cohesive everything is, and how creative the arranger can be in exploring the voicings of the chords and rhythmic lines they create. Being a bass player, I had to check out Christian McBride’s CD The Jazz Ballad Song Book first. It’s a fine album with top-notch playing, spotlighting McBride’s chops and arranging skills, but I think the winner will be Miguel Zenon. He’s a phenomenally gifted sax player who can soar musically wherever he wants. The repertoire on the album is made up of Puerto Rican songs Zenon grew up hearing in his place of birth. Zenon had Argentinean composer and arranger Guillermo Klein orchestrate the charts, and they are sophisticated and inspiring. It’s an impressive recording.

The album that gets the highest points for pure musical excitement has to be Arturo O’Farrill’s 40 Acres And A Burro. It’s in-your-face Latin jazz played with fire and passion and, if you like that kind of jazz, do yourself a favour and check it out.

Whatever the outcome, congratulations to all the nominees who did fine projects. Who are your picks to win? Let us know in the comment section, or send them to jazz@cbc.ca.