GRAMMY 2008
CARIBBEAN JAZZ PROJECT
CARIBBEAN JAZZ PROJECT
WINS LATIN GRAMMY® AWARD
Caribbean Jazz Project–Afro Bop Alliance Claims Best Latin Jazz Album
Cleveland-based Heads Up International Up, a division of Concord Music Group, is proud to announce that the Latin Recording Academy has awarded the Caribbean Jazz Project a Latin GRAMMY® in the category of Best Latin Jazz Album for Caribbean Jazz Project-Afro Bop Alliance. Winners were announced at the 9th Annual Latin GRAMMY® Awards Ceremony on Thursday, November 13 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The ceremony was broadcast live on the Univision Network.
The Caribbean Jazz Project-Afro Bop Alliance, released on Heads Up on March 25, 2008, recasts nine CJP signature pieces – some by leader/vibraphonist David Samuels and others by Coltrane, Monk and other jazz luminaries – in a fresh new light via full-bodied arrangements by the Maryland-based Afro Bop Alliance, one of the most exciting new bands on the Latin jazz scene today
The Caribbean Jazz Project crafted their first recordings on Heads Up International in the 1990s and immediately captured the imagination of audiences and critics worldwide. In the years since, a few of the faces in the group’s roster have changed. Nevertheless, Samuels and company continue to explore and test the commonly accepted boundaries of Latin jazz – and jazz in general – via innovative compositions and exciting arrangements. This is the Caribbean Jazz Project’s first Latin GRAMMY® Award for Heads Up. The group also won a GRAMMY® Award in 2003.
Samuels says, “What a great honor to be recognized by your peers. Keep music alive!”
“I am excited about the Caribbean Jazz Project winning their second GRAMMY® Award for Best Latin Jazz Album,” says Dave Love, President of Heads Up International. “I’ve been working with Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project since their inception in 1995, and I’m thrilled to reunite with them after all these years.”
The Latin Recording Academy is a membership-based organization comprised of recording artists, musicians, producers and other creative and technical recording professionals who are dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural conditions for Latin music and its makers. In addition to producing the Latin GRAMMY® Awards to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences, the Latin Recording Academy provides educational and human services programs to the Latin music community.
19 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS
TELARC AND HEADS UP
RECEIVE 19 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS
Telarc International and Heads Up International received 19 GRAMMY® nominations, as announced by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) on December 3, 2008. The nominations were in an array of categories including pop, jazz, classical, Latin, blues and gospel. All nominations were for albums released between October 2007 and September 2008. Winners will be announced at the 51st Annual GRAMMY® Awards Ceremony, to be held on Sunday, February 8, 2009, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, and once again will be broadcast live on CBS at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
The nominations are:
General Field
Category 9 – Best Pop Instrumental Performance
“Fortune Teller” (track from Energy)
Artists: Fourplay
[Heads Up International]
General Field
Category 10 – Best Pop Instrumental Album
A Night Before Christmas
Artists: Spyro Gyra
[Heads Up International]
Field 10 – Jazz
Category 45 -- Best Contemporary Jazz Album
Lifecycle
Artists: Yellowjackets featuring Mike Stern
[Heads Up International]
Field 10 – Jazz
Category 47 – Best Jazz Instrumental Solo
“Seven Steps To Heaven” (track from The Standard)
Artists: Take 6
[Heads Up International]
Field 10 – Jazz
Category 50 – Best Latin Jazz Album
Afro Bop Alliance
Artists: Caribbean Jazz Project
[Heads Up International]
Field 11 – Gospel
Category 51 – Best Gospel Performance
“Shall We Gather At The River” (track from The Standard)
Artists: Take 6
[Heads Up International]
Field 13 – Blues
Category 66 – Best Traditional Blues Album
Pinetop Perkins & Friends
Artists: Pinetop Perkins & Friends
[Stoneagle Music/Telarc]
Field 13 – Blues
Category 67 – Best Contemporary Blues Album
Maestro
Artist: Taj Mahal
[Heads Up International]
Field 16 – World Music
Category 74 – Best Traditional World Music Album
Ilembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu
Artists: Ladysmith Black Mambazo
[Heads Up International]
Field 23 – Composing/Arranging
Category 85 – Best Instrumental Composition
“Claire’s Closet” (track from Lifecycle)
Composer: Russell Ferrante
Artists: Yellowjackets featuring Mike Stern
[Heads Up International]
Field 23 – Composing/Arranging
Category 87 – Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)
“Grace” (track from The Standard)
Arranger: Cendric Dent
Artists: Take 6
[Heads Up International]
“Johnny One Note” (track from With A Song In My Heart)
Arranger: Don Sebesky
Artist: John Pizzarelli
[Telarc International]
Field 28 – Surround Sound
Category 95 – Best Surround Sound Album
Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition; Night On Bald Mountain; Prelude To Khovanshchina
Michael Bishop, surround mix engineer; Michael Bishop, surround mastering engineer; Robert Woods, surround producer (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
[Telarc International]
Field 29 – Production, Classical
Category 96 – Best Engineered Album, Classical
Puccini: La Bohème
Michael Bishop, engineer (Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus)
[Telarc International]
Field 29 – Production, Classical
Category 97 – Producer Of The Year, Classical
Judith Sherman
Carter, Elliott: String Quartets Nos. 1 And 5 (Pacifica Quartet)
Piano Music Of Salonen, Stucky And Lutoslawski (Gloria Cheng)
Reich: Daniel Variations (Grant Gershon, Alan Pierson, Los Angeles Master Chorale & London Sinfonietta)
Riley, Terry: The Cusp Of Magic (Kronos Quartet & Wu Man)
String Poetic (Jennifer Koh & Reiko Uchida)
Robert Woods
Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition, Night On Bald Mountain, Prelude To Khovanshchina (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, Lieutenant Kijé Suite (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)
Puccini: La Bohème (Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus)
Ravel: Boléro (Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra)
Revolutionary (Cameron Carpenter)
Field 30 – Classical
Category 103 – Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra)
Piano Music Of Salonen, Stucky, And Lutoslawski
Artist: Gloria Cheng
[Telarc International]
Revolutionary
Artist: Cameron Carpenter
[Telarc International]
Field 30 – Classical
Category 107 – Best Classical Contemporary Composition
Gandolfi: The Garden Of Cosmic Speculation
Composer: Michael Gandolfi (Robert Spano)
[Telarc International]
Since 1980, Telarc International has been honored with 55 GRAMMY® Awards for performance, production, and engineering. Other important awards have included the French Grand Prix du Disque and Diapason d’Or; Japan’s Record of the Year; Germany’s Audiophile CD of the Year; and Gramophone Magazine’s 2004 Label of the Year. Although it began as a classical-only label, Telarc now boasts a catalog of more than 1000 recordings, ranging from classical and classical-crossover to jazz, contemporary jazz, Americana, pop and blues. Telarc releases approximately fifty-five recordings each year, working with a notable roster of artists.
For nearly 20 years, Heads Up International has been successfully carving its niche in the world of contemporary instrumental music. In that time, Heads Up artists and releases have consistently landed on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz, Traditional Jazz and World Music charts, and have garnered numerous industry awards, including Billboard’s Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year, the AFIM’s Independent Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year, five GRAMMY® Awards and numerous GRAMMY® nominations. Heads Up was also the winner of JazzWeek’s Radio Programmers Album Of The Year Award for two consecutive years, and Gibson Guitar’s Best Female Jazz Guitarist. In addition to the awards and accolades, Heads Up artists have regularly captured the #1 slot in national radio airplay.
