Category 9

Best Pop Instrumental Performance
(For solo, duo, group or collaborative performances, without vocals. Singles or Tracks only.)

* Off The Grid
Beastie Boys
Track from: The Mix-Up
[Capitol Records]

* Paris Sunrise #7
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Track from: Lifeline
[Virgin Records]

* Over The Rainbow
Dave Koz
Track from: At The Movies
[Capitol Records]

* One Week Last Summer
Joni Mitchell
Track from: Shine
[Hear Music]

* Simple Pleasures
Spyro Gyra
Track from: Good To Go-Go
[Heads Up International]



Category 10

Best Pop Instrumental Album
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of INSTRUMENTAL tracks.)

* The Mix-Up
Beastie Boys
[Capitol Records]

* Italia
Chris Botti
[Columbia]

* At The Movies
Dave Koz
[Capitol/EMI]

* Good To Go-Go
Spyro Gyra
[Heads Up International]

* Roundtrip
Kirk Whalum
[Rendezvous Entertainment]

field 10 — Jazz



Category 45

Best Contemporary Jazz Album
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of INSTRUMENTAL tracks.)

* Party Hats
Will Bernard
[Palmetto Records]

* Downright Upright
Brian Bromberg
[Artistry Music]

* Re-imagination
Eldar
[Masterworks Jazz]

* River: The Joni Letters
Herbie Han****
[Verve]

* He Had A Hat
Jeff Lorber
[Blue Note]



Category 46

Best Jazz Vocal Album
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of VOCAL tracks.)

* Avant Gershwin
Patti Austin
[Rendezvous Entertainment]

* Red Earth - A Malian Journey
Dee Dee Bridgewater
[DDB/Emarcy]

* Music Maestro Please
Freddy Cole
[HighNote Records]

* Nightmoves
Kurt Elling
[Concord Jazz]

* On The Other Side
Tierney Sutton (Band)
[Telarc Jazz]



Category 47

Best Jazz Instrumental Solo
(For an instrumental jazz solo performance. Two equal performers on one recording may be eligible as one entry. If the soloist listed appears on a recording billed to another artist, the latter's name is in parenthesis for identification. Singles or Tracks only.)

* Levees
Terence Blanchard, soloist
Track from: A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina)
[Blue Note]

* Anagram
Michael Brecker, soloist
Track from: Pilgrimage
[Heads Up International]

* Both Sides Now
Herbie Han****, soloist
Track from: River: The Joni Letters
[Verve]

* Lullaby
Hank Jones, soloist
Track from: Kids: Live At Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Joe Lovano and Hank Jones)
[Blue Note]

* 1000 Kilometers
Paul McCandless, soloist
Track from: 1000 Kilometers (Oregon)
[CamJazz]



Category 48

Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of INSTRUMENTAL tracks.)

* Pilgrimage
Michael Brecker
[Heads Up International]

* Live At The Village Vanguard
The Bill Charlap Trio
[Blue Note]

* Kids: Live At Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola
Joe Lovano And Hank Jones
[Blue Note]

* Line By Line
John Patitucci
[Concord Jazz]

* Back East
Joshua Redman
[Nonesuch Records]



Category 49

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
(For large jazz ensembles, including big band sounds. Albums must contain 51% or more INSTRUMENTAL tracks.)

* A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina)
Terence Blanchard
[Blue Note]

* Eternal Licks & Grooves
The Bob Florence Limited Edition
[MAMA Records]

* Hommage
The Bill Holman Band
[Jazzed Media]

* Sky Blue
Maria Schneider Orchestra
[ArtistShare]

* With Love
Charles Tolliver Big Band
[Blue Note]



Category 50

Best Latin Jazz Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)

* Funk Tango
Paquito D'Rivera Quintet
[Paquito Records]

* The Magician
Sammy Figueroa And His Latin Jazz Explosion
[Savant Records]

* Borrowed Time (TIEMPO PRESTADO)
Steve Khan
[Tone Center Records]

* Refugee
Hector Martignon
[Zoho]

* Big Band Urban Folktales
Bobby Sanabria Big Band
[Jazzheads]

It's been 43 years since a jazz album won "album of the Year".

Congratulations to Herbie Hanc0ck.

category 2

Album Of The Year
(Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s)/Mixer(s) & Mastering Engineer(s), if other than the artist.)

* Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Foo Fighters
Gil Norton, producer; Adrian Bushby & Rich Costey, engineers/mixers; Brian Gardner, mastering engineer
[Roswell/RCA Records]

* These Days
Vince Gill
John Anderson, Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Diana Krall & The Del McCoury Band, featured artists; Vince Gill, John Hobbs & Justin Niebank, producers; Neal Cappellino & Justin Niebank, engineers/mixers; Adam Ayan, mastering engineer
[MCA Nashville]

* River: The Joni Letters
Herbie Hanc0ck
Leonard Cohen, Norah Jones, Joni Mitchell, Corinne Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza & Tina Turner, featured artists; Herbie Hanc0ck & Larry Klein, producers; Helik Hadar, engineer/mixer; Bernie Grundman, mastering engineer
[Verve]

* Graduation
Kanye West
Dwele, Lil Wayne, Mos Def & T-Pain, featured artists; Warryn "Baby Dubb" Campbell, Mike Dean, Eric Hudson, Brian "Allday" Miller, Nottz, Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds, Gee Roberson, Toomp & Kanye West, producers; Craig Bauer, Bruce Buechner, Andrew Dawson, Mike Dean, Anthony Kilhoffer, Greg Koller, Manny Marroquin, Nottz Raw, Tony Rey, Seiji Sekine, Paul Sheehy & D. Sloan, engineers/mixers; Vlado Meller, mastering engineer
[Roc-A-Fella Records]

* Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
Mark Ronson & Salaam Remi, producers; Tom Elmhirst, Vaughan Merrick, Dom Morley, Gary Noble, Derek Pacuk, Matt Paul, Mark Ronson, Gabriel Roth & Franklin Socorro, engineers/mixers; Stuart Hawkes, mastering engineer
[Universal Republic Records]

HEADS UP WINS THREE GRAMMY® AWARDS



Michael Brecker’s Pilgrimage Wins Best Jazz Instrumental Album

Michael Brecker’s “Anagram” (From Pilgrimage) Wins Best Jazz Instrumental Solo

Joe Zawinul’s “In A Silent Way” (From Brown Street) Wins Best Instrumental Arrangement (Arranger: Vince Mendoza)



February 10, 2008 — Michael Brecker’s Pilgrimage and Joe Zawinul’s Brown Street, two recordings from Cleveland-based Heads Up International, were honored with three GRAMMY® Awards by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). The 50th Annual GRAMMY® Awards Ceremony was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 10, 2008.



Michael Brecker’s Pilgrimage scored a pair of GRAMMYs®, one for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and the other for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo for the track “Anagram.” Joe Zawinul’s “In a Silent Way,” a track from his Brown Street release, won a GRAMMY® for Best Instrumental Arrangement (arranger Vince Mendoza).



Michael Brecker – a 15-time GRAMMY® winner in a career that spanned more than three decades – was unquestionably the most influential tenor player in the history of jazz since John Coltrane. Sadly, after a two-and-a-half-year battle with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and leukemia, Brecker passed away on January 13, 2007. His work in the studio at the time of his death includes some of the finest music he has ever recorded. Pilgrimage (HUCD 3095), released on Heads Up International on May 22, 2007, features the all-star lineup of pianists Herbie Han**** and Brad Mehldau, guitarist Pat Metheny, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist John Patitucci.



Keyboardist/composer/bandleader Joe Zawinul, who rose to fame as one of the creators of jazz fusion, died on September 11, 2007. Zawinul’s final album, Brown Street (HUCD 3121), was released on February 27, 2007. The two-disc set captured Zawinul, a few of his longtime friends and collaborators, and the 15-piece WDR Big Band in an electrifying live performance. Recorded in October 2005 at Zawinul’s own Birdland Club in Vienna, Brown Street showcased Zawinul, Syndicate drummer Nathaniel Townsley, Weather Report and Syndicate bassist Victor Bailey and Weather Report drummer/percussionist Alex Acuna in expanded, orchestral renditions of some of the finest Zawinul compositions from the highly influential Weather Report oeuvre.



“Michael Brecker and Joe Zawinul were true jazz legends,” says Dave Love, President of Heads Up. “It was a very sad year for me with the passing of these two icons, but their creative spirit lives on in their music. We are honored that the Academy has recognized them.”

I didn't get to watch the Grammys, but it seems that they still refuse to give Gyra their just due.

Joni anything... a safe bet!

Four awards for the Heads Up / Telarc family.

                                                    Turtle Island Quartet, A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane
BEST CLASSICAL CROSSOVER ALBUM
 
Michael Brecker, Pilgrimage [Heads Up International]
BEST JAZZ INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM, INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP
 
Michael Brecker, “Anagram” (track from Pilgrimage) [Heads Up International]
BEST JAZZ INSTRUMENTAL SOLO
 
Joe Zawinul, “In a Silent Way” (track from Brown Street) [Heads Up International]
Arranger: Vince Mendoza
BEST INSTRUMENTAL ARRANGEMENT
 
I feel privileged having reviewed Michael Brecker's and Joe Zawinul's CDs, thinking very early on that one would hold up as one of the year's best jazz releases.
On the other hand, I've got a little egg on my face having passed up Turtle Island Quartet. I remember when I got that one, I had a backlog of about 30 CDs. By the time I got done with plays and stuff and was able to whittle the list down, I was very selective about which ones I'd write about. The Coltrane tribute didn't blow me away like so many others did, so I scratched it off my list.

Oops!

I was glad to see the awards go to Michael Brecker and Joe Zawinul.

Also I've been playing and plugging Patti Austin's "Avant Gershwin" release with the WDR Big Band on my radio show since it came out. I was very confident it would be a Grammy nominee. This release is killer on so many levels that it would have been a crime to give it to any of the other nominees. And that includes Kurt Elling's "Nightmoves" that was probably a close second. I think this was one of his very best, however, Ms. Austin 's performance simply had to be acknowledged beyond a nomination.

It was good to see "River," a jazz album, receive the "Album of the Year" Grammy as well. Herbie Hanc-ock's reputation and innovation will always get attention from the academy. Like Pat Metheny, when Herbie records, everyone listens!

Any takers on whether Pat Metheny's new trio album, "Day Trip," gets a nomination next year? And an 18th Grammy?

I'm sure it's a "no-brainer" when it comes to your guessing what my major disappointment was this year. I know it was equally so for many of you here. We'll get 'em next time!

Check out the sales after the Grammies....

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/02/winehouse-hanco.html