Daily Archives: 24 November 2021

2 posts
Jon Batiste We Are

11 Reasons to Love the 2022 Grammys

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Those reasons can be summed up in just two words: Jon Batiste. The embarrassingly multi-talented musician from New Orleans tops the list of artists vying for music’s top award with an amazing eleven nominations. He shares the record with Kendrick Lamar (2016) and only has one less than Michael Jackson (1984) and Babyface (1997).

Remarkably, he’s in a range of different Grammy categories. Batiste is up for Album of the Year and Best R&B Album (the eclectic We Are). “Freedom” is up for Record of the Year. “I Need You” may win for Best Traditional R&B Performance.

On top of all that, Jon Batiste is also in the Jazz category for music from the motion picture Soul. “Bigger Than Us” from: Soul (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is nominated for a Best Improvised Jazz Solo Grammy. And Jazz Selections: Music From And Inspired By Soul is up for Best Jazz Instrumental Album.

But wait — there’s more! Yet another track from We Are — Movement 11 — is up for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category.

The Recording Academy nominated Batiste once in 2018 and twice in 2020 but he hasn’t won. Quite possibly that’s about to change. And since Batiste’s original score for Soul already won an Oscar, he may be halfway to a coveted EGOT.

The Grammy Awards have been rescheduled to April 3rd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. We’ll be doubling down on this guy.

Gramophone

Music Inside Out in Grammy’s House

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The list of 2022 Grammy nominations is full of Louisiana artists not named Batiste, and we couldn’t be more proud to have had some of them as guests on Music Inside Out. In addition, our out-of-town friends Sylvan Esso and Ricky Riccardi each snagged a nom. What’s not to like? Here are some of the highlights:

Blanchard’s Absence is Present

Trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard has nominations in two jazz categories. The first, for Best Improvised Jazz Solo; the other for Best Jazz Instrumental Album (Absence). That recording also features The E Collective and The Turtle Island Quartet.

Grammy? Bring It

PJ Morton lends his considerable chops to a gorgeous cover of “Bring it on Home to Me (feat. Charlie Bereal).” That song is nommed for a Best Traditional R&B Performance Grammy. Check it out:

Numb With Gratitude

The Recording Academy gave Sylvan Esso their second nomination in the Best Dance/Electronic Music Album category for Free Love. Just off their Shaking Out the Numb Tour, vocalist Amelia Meath and electronics wizard Nick Sanborn wrote:

“…after a year where sometimes we couldn’t even tell if anyone was listening – Free Love and this tour feel like the best work we’ve ever done, and to have that reflected back by y’all on the road and now by the Academy is just overwhelming.”

Notes on Satch

Our favorite maven of all things Louis Armstrong is Ricky Riccardi, whose erudite liner notes are up for an award. The recording in the Grammy spotlight is The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966, on Mosaic Records.

For much of those 20 years, Riccardi writes, many critics and many in the jazz community viewed Armstrong as someone whose best days were behind him. But, he says, “One person never ever bought into that line of thinking: Armstrong himself.”

The Grammy Awards were moved from L.A. to Las Vegas, because Covid. They’re now scheduled for April 3rd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.