Latin Jazz is Booming. Look Beyond the Grammys to Find It.

Giovanni Russonello shines a light on two things we’ve been writing about a lot in recent years:

The sublime pleasures of Latin Jazz and the incredible new generation of players and composers who merit a lot more attention than they are currently getting.

This appeared in today’s (February 11, 2017) New York Times:

Latin Jazz is Booming. Look Beyond the Grammys to Find It.
By Giovanni Russonello

When the Grammy Awards eliminated the category of best Latin jazz album six years ago, an outcry arose quickly. Musicians and advocates argued that the move cut off a rare source of institutional recognition for a genre at the commercial fringes. And the academy listened. The next year the category returned.

In the years since, the importance of that recognition has become even clearer: Latin jazz is experiencing a kind of creative bloom, with musicians diversifying their work at an uncommon clip. It’s generating some of the most invigorating improvised music around.

So maybe it is a bit disappointing that the Grammy nominations this year don’t fully reflect those developments, focusing instead on older musicians. Every nominee up for best Latin jazz album this Sunday is over 60.

More: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/arts/music/grammys-latin-jazz.html?_r=0

– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube

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