Grammys add changes to jazz, Latin, R&B fields

by Associated Press

A year after the Grammy Awards cut 31 categories, sparking protests and a lawsuit by Latin jazz musicians, the music organization has made more changes by adding three awards, including the reinstatement of best Latin jazz album.

The Recording Academy announced Friday in a statement to The Associated Press that the upcoming Grammys will feature 81 categories. It reduced the number from 109 to 78 last year.

New entries include awards for best urban contemporary album—to honor R&B albums that may include elements of pop and rock—and best classical compendium to highlight albums “involving a mixture of classical subgenres.”

The Academy shook up the music industry when it announced in April 2011 that it would downsize its categories to make the awards more competitive. That meant eliminating categories by sex, so men and women compete in the same vocal categories.

But it also eliminated other niche fields and created broader ones.

Some artists protested the change and others—including Herbie Hancock, Paul Simon, and Bill Cosby—complained. The group that filed a lawsuit, which was dismissed in April, was led by Bobby Sanabria, the Grammy-nominated Latin jazz musician who accused the Academy of not following the proper procedures to implement the changes. Part of the class-action lawsuit called for the reinstatement of the best Latin jazz album award.

That award was consolidated, making Latin jazz musicians compete against a larger group of artists in the best jazz instrumental category at the 54th Grammys, which were held in February.

“Every year we want to look at these objectively and make a good musical decision and not be influenced by politics and pressure,” Neil Portnow, the president and CEO of the Recording Academy, said in an interview. “I will say it’s incredibly unfortunate that a very small group chose to voice their discontent with a lawsuit that had no basis.”

He continued: “Not only is it distracting from a time standpoint, but it costs a great deal of money to have to defend something that we knew was completely defensiveable.”

The new decisions were made at the Academy’s annual Board of Trustees meeting last month.

Other changes include splitting up the best Latin pop, rock or urban album honor into two awards, now known as best Latin pop album and best Latin rock, urban, or alternative album. However, the best Banda or Norteno album and best regional Mexican or Tejan album have been combined into one award: best regional Mexican music album.

Portnow says a number of proposals were filed, noting that “the volume was definitely up” this year compared to past ones.

“I don’t hold anything against the Latin jazz community for the passion that they have for their music,” he said. “The [Latin jazz] community put a good proposal together this year, and we see the results of that.”

The 55th Grammy Awards will air on CBS on Feb. 10.

R&B Field

Best Urban Contemporary Album is for albums containing 51 percent playing time of newly recorded contemporary vocal tracks derivative of R&B. This category is intended for artists whose music includes the more contemporary elements of R&B and may incorporate production elements found in urban pop, urban europop, urban rock, and urban alternative.


So yeah, those artist fit this category. My only problem is that its not many artist.....  

Quote by music forever

R&B Field

Best Urban Contemporary Album is for albums containing 51 percent playing time of newly recorded contemporary vocal tracks derivative of R&B. This category is intended for artists whose music includes the more contemporary elements of R&B and may incorporate production elements found in urban pop, urban europop, urban rock, and urban alternative.


So yeah, those artist fit this category. My only problem is that its not many artist.....  

They only made that new Urban Contemporary album because of the bitching behind Chris' win.

But what is the major difference between this new category and Contemporary R&B Album? Who makes urban rock music? And Rihanna should submit here, not pop, looking at those descriptions. No exceptions.

Quote by MusicLuva1

They only made that new Urban Contemporary album because of the bitching behind Chris' win.

 

But what is the major difference between this new category and Contemporary R&B Album? Who makes urban rock music? And Rihanna should submit here, not pop, looking at those descriptions. No exceptions.

Are we talking about the rumor that Chris paid for his Grammy or the criticism for his album not being "R&B ?"


I dont think Jill Scott, Marsha Etc would have submitted here. This seems to be for Urban/R&B artist who make Dance-Pop music which is very popular now. If you ask me, this is just an upgraded version of "Contemporary R&B Album" considering most mainstream urban/R&B are doing Dance-Pop more than Hip-Hop now. Usher, Rihanna, Ceelo, Chris Brown, Beyonce, Janelle, Miguel etc come to mind right away.