So, what do we think of the new Grammy category "Alternative Jazz," awarded for the first time this year? The nominees were "Love In Exile" by Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily; "Quality Over Opinion" by Louis Cole; "SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree" by Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter, SuperBlue; "Live At The Piano" by Cory Henry; and (the winner) "The Omnichord Real Book" by Meshell Ndegeocello.
I'm not sure exactly how Kurt Elling and Arooj Aftab belong in the same category, but at least this way Ndegeocello doesn't have to compete with, say, Fred Hersch.
On the one hand, more attention to the diversity of jazz is good, and more attention to jazz with another award is good publicity.
On the other hand, I've never heard that term used or defined before. Isn't pretty much all #jazz "alternative"? Does anyone know of an "alternative jazz" radio station or section in a record store?
@allenmichie I'm perplexed by it for the reasons mentioned in this thread, which generally boil down to "which jazz is what now?" But my second reaction is that there must be some validity to it, because the exclusion of my personal favorites that might be "alternative" (much as I love Meshell & respect these others) makes me annoyed right away, and if it didn't matter I wouldn't care? IOW, the fact that I immediately feel invested in what was nominated makes me feel like there's something to it
@allenmichie but the best "alternative and largely jazzlike music" I saw in 2023 was definitely Shakti and they won a Grammy in another category altogether 😂
semantics are hard
anyway I want Shabaka Hutchings to win a Grammy and that might be the category for it, maybe that's really my point?
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