June 8, 2012

To all who supported the Petition to reinstate Latin Jazz to the GRAMMY'S,

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Science (NARAS) has reinstated Latin Jazz for GRAMMY consideration! While this is great news and reason to celebrate there is still room to pause.

I wish other categories had stood up in the passionate way that the Latin Jazz community did, as the decision for the cuts made were unfair on the basis that they were created by just a few, done without membership awareness and knowledge and done so behind closed doors. 

While I am very happy that Latin Jazz continues to be recognized for its greatness and is judged independently for the music that it is, there still are many genres of music that will remain unrecognized because of these unethical practices.

To remind folks, the categories that were cut included all the best male and female categories - so no differences in music is recognized based on gender, all but one Blues category remains, all but one R&B category remains, traditional Gospel eliminated, all the true ROOTS music categories are consolidated under broad umbrellas to be compared to each other and not named for what they are (this includes, Cajun/Zydeco, Hawaiian, Native American, Norteno and Banda.

In my observation these categories by and large come from poorer social/economic backgrounds and the cost to record a CD is extraordinary, therefore I understand why there are fewer submissions. The Record Labels do not support these genres as they are not huge sellers like Hip Hop is - however - does that mean these genres cannot compete with their peers on the basis of excellence? 

If the NARAS membership is comprised of some of these artists, and NARAS excepts their financial dues, then I believe NARAS has an ethical obligation to support these genres independently by their name and not under one BIG consolidated umbrella! Bottom line, how can you compare Hawaiian music to Native American? This just does not make sense to me.

The fact is, a GRAMMY award significantly impacts the financial well being of these artists, and even a bigger impact for the record labels. Essentially, I believe NARAS has succumbed to the big money of labels, and the labels themselves are putting out crap music and they cannot afford to lose to REAL music such as when Herbie Hancock beat out Kanye West in 2010 and Esperanza Spalding beat out Justin Bieber in 2011. Right after the 2011 awards is when NARAS President Portnow and NY Publicist, Stephen Stout for Jay-Z's record label (who carries Kanye and Justin) had a closed door meeting, after Stout took out a one page ad in the New York times denouncing NARAS, saying they were biased against black owned labels and essentially asserts that the Kanye's and the Bieber's sell their Telecast, so they have a RIGHT to win the awards. Shortly after this meeting, 31 categories were eliminated, including the genres that Kanye and Justin lost to. These are simply the facts. NARAS basically eliminated the competition to benefit BIG MONEY labels. Please click here to review archival articles on the NARAS/Grammy struggle.

Other categories that remain eliminated are classical and jazz has only 4 remaining categories... so I still remain concerned as the significance of the Grammy award does translate to real income for that artist, in the way of better paying performances, help with attaining grants for future recordings, and it is simply something to be extremely proud of, particularly in these less recognized categories!

It has been a pleasure to work, petition, protest, and write many a letters right along side you all. Thank you all for your support and putting up with me constantly putting it out there! 

Lastly, I do hope NARAS learns from this that MUSICIANS, and NOT producers, managers and labels stay to the forefront of this organization, it is after all, about excellence in music, and who knows better then the musicians themselves.

For more coverage on the reinstatement of the Latin Jazz category, please review this Miami Herald article. http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/08/2838736/grammys-add-changes-to-jazz-latin.html  

Peace through music,

Stephanie

Stephanie Dalton, Director  

Music*Community*Accessibility