2005 Jazz Grammy Award Winners

[SGUD missile]

I take it our own Phil Kelly didn't win?

Nope ..I didnt expect to ..

I predicted Slide and I was right ..good for him ..he really deserved it after all the years of great charts.

Besides, being in the "loser" column with Corea, McNeely and Calandrelli is excellent company!

Also, good for Maria S and CITG ..her best work so far ..

BTW:

been outta town nfor a couple days ..whuppin' some funky horn stuff on an upcoming Stix ( Crusaders) Hooper CD ..a good time was had by all ..Six was dancin ..

more later as things develop!

[Free For All]

..Six was dancin ..

Six out of how many?

[chandra]

"The dead guy rule". If you've just kicked it, you're bound to win. That's the American way

I feel there are 5 or 6 top notch songs in that album and on that merit itself deserves the recognitionand sales. The 'contrafactual' argument 'what if he was not dead' bothers me.

I read a few news stories mentioned a similar thing, some in sort of a lighter vein which is fine. I also hear people saying that this is demeaning to his life time of work. This usually bugs me if it comes from someone who has not really been that kind to Ray over the years or does not really otherwise care for his music. I don't know why it has to be the best of his 5 decade long career to have higher sales and grammy recognition. It is just good this year, compared to the competition.

At some point, one also has to account for why this album sold more than any of his other albums. Better marketing, Starbucks alliance, you get a bit of mindshare from every one of his duet partners, bigger market due to higher population than when he did his acclaimed past works, etc. But most of the musical journalists forget to mention that there is some good music from Ray Charles here as well ( not all tracks, in some tracks it is easy to feel his failing health in his voice ).

But giving this 'dead guy' hypothesis some weight, how consistent is this? Is there data to support this? One needs to look at positive correlation( a well knonwn musician who released a record in the year of his death gets Grammys and lot of sales ) and negavtive correlation( a well known musician who released a record in the year of his death does not get any grammys or recognition and no one cares).

Are there such data points from the past?

My feeling is this phenomenon is isolated to a few great legends...

Edited February 16, 2005 by chandra

[wolff]

Then, too, think about the album that was given 8 Grammys, the worst album Ray Charles ever made. What do these people stuff into their ears, one wonders.

A friend gave me this CD to listen to. I made it through 4 songs before ejecting it in disgust. I gave my friend a burn of Ray Charles and Betty Carter and she has thanked me every day since.

Edited February 20, 2005 by wolff

[chandra]

Then, too, think about the album that was given 8 Grammys, the worst album Ray Charles ever made. What do these people stuff into their ears, one wonders.

A friend gave me this CD to listen to. I made it through 4 songs before ejecting it in disgust. I gave my friend a burn of Ray Charles and Betty Carter and she has thanked me every day since.

Ooch... You should have given track 5 a chance.. Fever with Natalie Cole. I thought that track was fun, playful and energetic and vintage Ray Charles...

Edited February 20, 2005 by chandra