I have resolutely ignored the Grammy since Joan Osborne's masterful Relish lost to that dreadful jagged little what's her name. This year I was compelled to pay attention because Joe Lovano and Hank Jones were up for best Jazz Instrumental Album (Kids), and I saw Lovano play in Sioux Falls. Kids is a beautiful series of duets, and it would have been a very respectable winner. But I didn't expect it to win.
I thought the winner of Best Jazz Instrumental Album would be Michael Brecker's Pilgrimage, and I was right. Brecker, a major tenor player for decades, died of leukemia before the CD was finished. It featured contemporary giants Brad Mehldau and Herbie Hancock on piano, and guitarist Pat Metheny. It is a little too fusionesque for my tastes, but it surely had the sympathy vote.
Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters not only won Best Jazz Album, but Album of the Year. I can hardly say I'm disappointed. It's been about forty years since a jazz recording has won that prize. In retrospect, one can say that River was designed to win a Grammy. The title is a little precious, but it does well-deserved honor to Joni Mitchel, who was both a pop icon and a fine jazz singer. It has an all-star cast, including Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corinne Bailey Rae, Leonard Cohen. It also features my personal favorite jazz man, Wayne Shorter, on sax.
I first heard a cut off River, Tina Turner singing "Edith and the Kingpin," on Ken Laster's In The Groove: Jazz and Beyond. Turner's voice is perfect for the tale, transporting the listener (at least this one) to the land of blue fantasy. I sat right down and downloaded the album from iTunes. All of it is good. Hancock plays subtle, gorgeous notes behind each singer. Besides, Herbie Hancock is not only one of the old men of jazz. He still makes for a very sexy album cover. This time the Grammy came through for jazz. Like most of the music industry, Jazz is in crisis. River is worth celebrating.
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