# Familiar faces and a few surprises in the Jazz and Blues nominees for the Grammy Awards: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/12/07/familiar-faces-and-a-few-surprises-in-the-jazz-and-blues-nominees-for-the-grammy-awards-video/
- Published: 2018-12-07T20:14:37+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Pianists Fred Hersch and Brad Mehldau, saxophonists Tia Fuller and Miguel Zenón,
and vocalists Gregory Porter and Cécile McLorin Salvant are among the nominees for
the 61st Grammy Awards.**

The announcement, spanning a total of 84 categories, was made this morning by the
Recording Academy.  

Tony Bennett and Diana Krall, both multiple Grammy winners, received a nomination
for _Love is Here to Stay, _in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
Their direct competitors are Gregory Porter, for _Nat “King” Cole & Me,_ as well
as Seal, Barbra Streisand and Willie Nelson, for albums largely featuring songbook
standards.

In the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category, Wayne Shorter received his 21st Grammy
nomination, for _Emanon_. His fellow saxophonists Joshua Redman and Tia Fuller are
also nominated, respectively, for _Still Dreaming _and _Diamond Cut. _Rounding out
the category are two pianists, for trio recordings: Hersch’s _Live in Europe _and
Mehldau’s _Seymour Reads the Constitution_.

Mehldau and Hersch also appear among the nominees for Best Improvised Jazz Solo.
Hersch’s lauded solo comes on “We See,” a tune by Thelonious Monk, and Mehldau’s
arrives in “De-Dah,” by Elmo Hope.

Other nominated solos are by violinist Regina Carter, on the title track of Karrin
Allyson’s _Some Of That Sunshine_; trumpeter John Daversa, on “Don’t Fence Me In,”
from his big band album _American Dreamers: Voices Of Hope, Music Of Freedom_; and
Zenón, for “Cadenas,” from _Yo Soy La Tradición_, which is also a nominee for Best
Latin Jazz Album.

[[

Zenón’s fellow nominees in that category are clarinetist Eddie Daniels, for _Heart
of Brazil_; pianist Elio Villafranca, for _Cinque_; the Dafnis Prieto Big Band, 
for _Back to the Sunset_; and the Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band, for West Side
Story Reimagined.

But neither Prieto nor Sanabria appear in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category,
which consists instead of albums by Daversa, Orrin Evans And The Captain Black Big
Band, the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, the Count Basie Orchestra, and Jim McNeely&
The Frankfurt Radio Big Band.

The nominees for Best Jazz Vocal Album are Freddy Cole, for _My Mood is You_; Kurt
Elling, for _The Questions; _Kate McGarry, for The Subject Tonight is Love; Raul
Midón, for _If You Really Want_; and Salvant, for _The Window. _(The distinctions
between a jazz vocal album and a traditional pop album are forever slippery; one
could argue that Bennett and Krall made the former, but their absence in this category
makes way for other nominees.)

The blues categories include a similar mix of seasoned hands and newer arrivals.
Nominees for Best Contemporary Blues Album include Fantastic Negrito, Boz Scaggs
and Teresa James. In the running for Best Traditional Blues Album are Buddy Guy,
Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio, Maria Muldaur, Cedric Burnside, and Ben Harper with
Charlie Musselwhite.

Another celebrated drummer, Chris Dave, has been nominated for Best Urban Contemporary
Album, for Chris Dave and the Drumhedz._ _But he’ll probably be facing some long
odds: other albums in the category include _War & Leisure_, by R&B dynamo Miguel,
and _Everything is Love_, by The Carters, otherwise known as Beyoncé and Jay-Z.

Here is [a complete list of nominees](https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/2019-grammy-awards-complete-nominations-list)
in the 61st Grammy Awards. The awards will be held on Feb. 10, and broadcast on 
CBS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6JYlceqNTQ

![Tia Fuller, a nominee for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, performing at WBGO](https://
i0.wp.com/mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wbgo/files/styles/medium/public/201812/
tia_fuller_crop.png?w=640)

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