Award / Grant News

Grammy Jazz Picks Stick to a Middle Octave

Source: Michael Ricci
February 9, 2009

Chick Corea and Randy Brecker delivered skillfully, but they weren't the forward-looking choices.

In the can't-please-everybody proposition that is the Grammy Awards, it's difficult to find much fault in the Recording Academy's choice to again honor piano great Chick Corea with a best jazz instrumental album award.

Still, as close as Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton might have come to recapturing the magic of the classic Crystal Silence released in 1972, it's hard not to think the voters again reached ...

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The Grammys Turn up the Volume

Source: Michael Ricci
February 9, 2009

Yes, trophies are given out. But they are secondary to the celebration of music that was displayed.

If the apocalypse is here, we might as well enjoy it. Stomp down the doors of your comfort zone. Hook up with unlikely new friends. Get noisy. Have a party before the flames consume us all.

That seemed to be the prevailing attitude during the 2009 Grammy Awards telecast Sunday night. Times are beyond tough for the music industry and cultural endeavors in ...

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Grammy Full-Tilt Performances and Defiant Bravado

Source: Michael Ricci
February 9, 2009

At the Grammy Awards, the oldest songs win album of the year.

Raising Sand, the duo album by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss with sparse, evocative versions of songs that date back as far as the 1950s, won awards in pop, country and contemporary folk categories before being named album of the year.

It was one in a long line of winning albums with old songs, from last years winner, Herbie Hancocks Joni Mitchell tribute River: The Joni Letters, to ...

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Early Grammys Honor Film, Latin Music

Source: Billboard Magazine
February 9, 2009

The soundtrack for “Juno" was the first winner at the 51st annual Grammy Awards, taking home the trophy for best compilation soundtrack. Meanwhile, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer won best score soundtrack for “The Dark Knight." The Grammy for best motion picture song went to “Down To Earth" from the Disney/Pixar film “Wall-E." Thomas Newman, who co-wrote the song with singer Peter Gabriel, accepted the award. The song is also nominated for an Oscar. “Define Dancing," another collaboration by ...

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The 2009 Grammys: What You Didn't See on TV

Source: Billboard Magazine
February 9, 2009

With Alison Krauss' five Grammys on the night, she now has an astonishing 26 total Grammy wins. It makes her the most-winning woman of all time (a title she even held before tonight's haul) -- and is one behind Quincy Jones' living record of 27. “I'm still amazed I get to do this for a living," she says. (The most ever wins is 31, from the late conductor Georg Solti.) When asked where Krauss keeps all her Grammys, Plant interjected, ...

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Voices Newly Amplified by Grammy Nominations

Source: Michael Ricci
February 8, 2009

With 1,117 nominees performers, songwriters, producers and more sprinkled over 110 categories, the Grammy Awards can be an unnavigable thicket. Here are some worthy discoveries that shouldnt be allowed to slip through the cracks.

Luis Fonsi The Puerto Rican star Luis Fonsi, 30, has been famous for a decade, but now hes becoming interesting too. Up for best Latin pop album, Mr. Fonsis artfully constructed seventh release, Palabras del Silencio (Universal Music Latino) was one of last years ...

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Album of the Year Nominee Has Everything the Academy Loves ... but Will It Win?

Source: All About Jazz
February 8, 2009

Robert Plant And Alison Krauss Raising Sand Was Made For The Grammys

If it were possible to create the perfect Grammy album, there's a good chance Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand could be it. Take two well-worn, respected veterans. Add one critically lauded producer. Throw in some sandpaper-and-velvet vocals and a baker's dozen of time-tested standards. Mix with some artful black-and-white photography. Shake well. Serve on ice. Reap rewards.

The only difference is, unlike some Grammy albums, Raising ...

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2009 Grammy Awards Live!

Source: Michael Ricci
February 8, 2009

Live-blogging the 2009 Grammy Awards

5:01 p.m.: Here we go, opening the 2009 with a Grammy preview of 2010. U2's performing “Get On Your Boots." How many noms are U2 up for? That's right, none.

Radiohead, or even Coldplay, should have opened the show. Let one of the album of the year artists start the Grammys. Instead, Bono is singining with the lyrics to to song blasted on the screen behind him -- it's all set for inclusion in Rock ...

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