# At the 65th Grammys, triumphs came in different guises for Samara Joy and Beyoncé: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/02/17/at-the-65th-grammys-triumphs-came-in-different-guises-for-samara-joy-and-beyonce-video-photos/
- Published: 2023-02-17T00:02:22+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**The takes poured in, fast and oh-so-furious, after these 65th Annual Grammy Awards.
At issue was the fact that Beyoncé, despite making history by now racking up more
golden gramophones than anyone ever, didn’t end the night with the big one: Album
of the Year, for Renaissance, which seemed to many (myself included) both like the
obvious choice on its merits and an overdue but welcome corrective.**

Days before Music’s Biggest Night™️, I took part in an NPR Music critics exchange
that opened with a Zen koan from Ann Powers: basically, how is it that Beyoncé can
seem at once like an imperial power and a perennial hopeful? History has our answer,
as Ann went on to elaborate, pointing to “a pattern of exclusion that has come to
feel inevitable” in the major categories, Album and Record of the Year. Arguing 
for Record as a likelier outcome, she put her finger on the problem (one of them,
at least): “I could see some fuddy-duddy Grammy voters still resisting Bey in the
album category, even though Renaissance is definitely a unified listening experience.”
Mmhmm.

We’ll get back to Beyoncé. Before we do, I’d like to draw a contrast with one of
the other, happier storylines from Sunday — the Best New Artist anointing of Samara
Joy, who was exactly as stunned and charming in her acceptance speech as you’d expect.
I had a vested interest in this outcome, having devoted a good amount of time and
energy to writing a piece about her phenomenal rise, also for NPR Music. As you’re
reading me here, I hope you’ll also read me there; it’s a reported profile that 
also functions as a critic’s notebook, and I think it puts her into some useful 
context.

The award went instead to Harry Styles, who literally seemed lost during his performance
earlier in the ceremony. If you sifted through the postgame analysis today, you 
might have seen any number of dramatic headlines — like No One Won at the Grammys(
from a typically much more nuanced Carl Wilson piece in Slate) or Beyoncé Should
Never Attend Another Grammy Awards (from a behind-the-paywall story at the Los Angeles
Times).

Those fuddy-duddy Grammy voters, whose aggregate numbers make a difference in the
four General Field categories, surely played a role in propelling Joy to the finish
line. Her sound and style, no less than her repertory, point toward an established
model of greatness — a reassuringly familiar form of artistry with undeniable power.
It’s not a knock on Joy to state this, plain and clear.

I think she totally deserves the honor. Her win speaks to what Best New Artist _should_
be: a vote of confidence, even more than a certificate of achievement. Like esperanza
spalding, who managed a more literal upset in 2011, Joy will be judged by how she
fulfills her promise. I have absolute confidence in that bet, but no clear ideas
about the precise musical outcome; to me, that’s the most exciting thing about her
triumph.

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Now back to Beyoncé, in a roundabout way. During the Winter Jazzfest Brooklyn Marathon
last month, I was leaving a show at the Opera House when somebody pulled me aside.
It was Melanie Charles, the multi-hyphenate creative force whose most recent album
is titled Y’all Don’t (Really) Care About Black Women. Melanie was conducting on-
the-spot interviews for the Make Jazz Trill Again podcast, which she hosts with 
Yunie Mojica. Suddenly I was on mic, talking about the euphoria of the fest, and
how good it felt to be back in full. Then as a parting question, Charles threw something
of a curveball: “Who is your jazz Beyoncé?”

I hope I’m not stealing some thunder from the pod by sharing the answer here, but
after taking a moment, I said that my jazz Beyoncé is… Beyoncé. By which I mean:
Beyoncé could make a pretty ridiculous jazz album if she chose to, and not in a 
throwback songbook fashion. This is outright fantasy, but hear me out. We know about
the shining synthesis of HBCU brass and drums on Homecoming, and the horns that 
bring New Orleans swagger to “Daddy Lessons,” her collab with The Chicks. We know
she can sing whatever and however she likes, and possesses both the Virgo tendency
to do her homework and the peerless resources to bring her ideas to life.

Perhaps you also know about her time at Houston’s High School for the Performing
and Visual Arts, curtailed by the massive success of Destiny’s Child. She was there
a few years behind pianist Robert Glasper, who just won his latest Grammy in the
Best R&B Album category, for _Black Radio III — _another star-studded affair, featuring
everyone from Jennifer Hudson to Lalah Hathaway to Killer Mike. But still: no Bey.
What if she decided to direct her famous talent and work ethic toward a 21st century
jazz album, one with a Houston accent? Tia Fuller, a veteran Beyoncé band member,
would naturally be on alto saxophone. Glasper would be just one of the contributing
pianists, alongside Jason Moran, James Francies and Helen Sung. I’m hearing Mike
Moreno on guitar, Walter Smith III on tenor, and some of the finest drummers on 
the planet: Eric Harland, Chris “Daddy” Dave, Jamire Williams, Kendrick Scott.

Scott has a big Da Camera commission, Unearthed, premiering in Houston this spring.
It’s inspired by the discovery of the Sugar Land 95 — crucial Black history of the
same dimensions that Beyoncé has sought to explore musically. Imagine what kinds
of gears might get turning if she showed up to that concert with open ears. I’ll
remind you that I am fully aware of how delusional this sounds, but I think she 
could deliver something no less immersive, transformative and freeing as Renaissance,
in a different musical mode — one that (cough, ahem) much of the Grammy electorate
seems to appreciate, if not understand. Not every jazz album by a pop star has to
be a conservative move, and Beyoncé could have some serious fun in that zone. Putting
my Bitcoin down on an Album of the Year win in 2027.

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