Latin Artists Sue over Deletion of Latin Jazz Grammy Award

[Leeway]

According to news reports, Latin Jazz Grammy Award:

Latin Jazz Grammy

ugust 2, 2011, 6:26 PM

Latin Musicians Sue Over the Grammys

By BEN SISARIO6:49 p.m. | Updated

A group of Latin jazz musicians, angry that their genre was eliminated as a Grammy Award category, have sued the organization behind the awards to get their prize reinstated.

The suit, against the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, was filed on Monday in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan by four musicians who have been vocal critics of the recording academy's decision, announced on April 6, to eliminate 31 of its 108 categories, including Latin jazz. The musicians are Bobby Sanabria, Ben Lapidus, Mark Levine and Eugene Marlow, and the suit identifies all four as members of the academy.

The musicians had announced their intention to sue in June, along with a call for a boycott of CBS, which has broadcast the Grammys for decades.

In the suit, the musicians say that by cutting categories, the academy breached contractual obligations to its members, and that the loss of the Latin jazz category "could have a severe detrimental impact on the plaintiffs' musical careers." In public statements, Mr. Sanabria, a Grammy-nominated percussionist, has called the academy's decision "the most blatant example of racism in the history of any arts organization."

In response the Academy released this statement, "The Recording Academy believes this frivolous lawsuit is without merit, and we fully expect to prevail." The academy has defended its changes by saying that many of the cuts were made because the number of albums submitted in those categories had dwindled, and that the changes were made as part of a two-year review that looked at all categories. Among the other changes the academy made in April were merging some folk and Latin prizes and combining the separate male and female vocalist awards in R&B, pop and country. The suit says that the Latin jazz category "has consistently met the threshold for Grammy Award submissions," although it does not say how many albums have been submitted.

In their suit the four musicians ask for reinstatement of only the Latin jazz category, but in an interview on Tuesday Roger Maldonado, their lawyer, said: "If there were to be musicians in other categories that wanted to file their own suits, would we coordinate with them? We would be happy to do so."

[fasstrack]

Yes, they are 100% right. The academy (note the lower-case 'a') has always crapped on not only 'Latin' music (the name itself an insult, since it throws so many distinct musics and cultures ham-handedly under one roof), classical, (obviously) jazz---but just about any intelligent music trying to survive in the states.

I've heard Mr. Sanabria on NY radio pleading this case and I can only add that if one removed clave from pop music, white, black, or green, one would remove its very spine. From the 'Bo Diddly Beat' all the way down through current times, take away the Afro-Cuban influence and you'd have some very weak remnants. This lame and insensitive move is a slap in the face to one of our highest cultural resources, and we who love and play music should not sit still for this. Call the academy and let your voice be heard!

Far more importantly, and forgetting 'Latin Jazz' as a category, the Latino music in NYC alone has as rich a history as any art that could be named. Miami, Fla., is also a cultural capital. In recognition of this there have been many 'Latin' Grammy winners straight out of these incubating cultures in the past. What could the possible rationale for eliminating this opportunity now, especially when so many gifted performers (more than a few Sanabria students among them, I've no doubt) are rising in the ranks. The Grammies may be a beauty pageant of sorts, but a few on the wall sure help get a career into higher gear. Just ask Phil Woods.

It's really strange, and I take it as prescient, reading this thread in the same week as the sad news breaking of the suffering of a major stroke by a hero of mine, Mr. Gil Noble. Of course we all wish him godspeed in his recovery, but to the point: ABC TV, on which Noble's Like It Is airs, has tried to cancel it for years, to tremendous---and effective---protest. People know Gil's show is the only place on commercial TV to get not only black, but generally more progressive views than offered on the news or pap news magazine shows. Though the show ought to be named a national treasure, I was reading a blog today dealing with black news and media issues, and the author was very concerned that ABC would use Gil Noble's health setback as the needed excuse to finally sink Like It Is, and he asked people to call ABC in protest as a pre-emptive strike.

Duuuuuhhhh. Does anyone see the connection here?!!

[sonnymax]

[Chuck Nessa]

[ValerieB]

Yes, they are 100% right. The academy (note the lower-case 'a') has always crapped on not only 'Latin' music (the name itself an insult, since it throws so many distinct musics and cultures ham-handedly under one roof), classical, (obviously) jazz---but just about any intelligent music trying to survive in the states.

I've heard Mr. Sanabria on NY radio pleading this case and I can only add that if one removed clave from pop music, white, black, or green, one would remove its very spine. From the 'Bo Diddly Beat' all the way down through current times, take away the Afro-Cuban influence and you'd have some very weak remnants. This lame and insensitive move is a slap in the face to one of our highest cultural resources, and we who love and play music should not sit still for this. Call the academy and let your voice be heard!

Far more importantly, and forgetting 'Latin Jazz' as a category, the Latino music in NYC alone has as rich a history as any art that could be named. Miami, Fla., is also a cultural capital. In recognition of this there have been many 'Latin' Grammy winners straight out of these incubating cultures in the past. What could the possible rationale for eliminating this opportunity now, especially when so many gifted performers (more than a few Sanabria students among them, I've no doubt) are rising in the ranks. The Grammies may be a beauty pageant of sorts, but a few on the wall sure help get a career into higher gear. Just ask Phil Woods.

It's really strange, and I take it as prescient, reading this thread in the same week as the sad news breaking of the suffering of a major stroke by a hero of mine, Mr. Gil Noble. Of course we all wish him godspeed in his recovery, but to the point: ABC TV, on which Noble's Like It Is airs, has tried to cancel it for years, to tremendous---and effective---protest. People know Gil's show is the only place on commercial TV to get not only black, but generally more progressive views than offered on the news or pap news magazine shows. Though the show ought to be named a national treasure, I was reading a blog today dealing with black news and media issues, and the author was very concerned that ABC would use Gil Noble's health setback as the needed excuse to finally sink Like It Is, and he asked people to call ABC in protest as a pre-emptive strike.

Duuuuuhhhh. Does anyone see the connection here?!!

Bravo and Amen! and prayers go out to Gil Noble.