Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Blindfold Test: Buster Williams
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Jon Batiste (center) performs at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards on April 3.
(Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for the Recording Academy)Jon Batiste was the big winner at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, held April 3 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. The genre-busting multi-instrumentalist and bandleader took home multiple awards, including Album of the Year honors.
Grammy winners from the realms of jazz, blues and beyond included:
• Best Album of the Year: Jon Batiste, We Are
• Best Music Video: Jon Batiste: “Freedom”
• Best American Roots Song: Jon Batiste, “Cry”
• Best American Roots Performance: Jon Batiste, “Cry”
• Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: Jon Batiste, Soul
• Best Jazz Instrumental Album: Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Skyline
• Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: Christian McBride Big Band, For Jimmy, Wes And Oliver
• Best Jazz Vocal Album: Esperanza Spalding, Songwrights Apothecary Lab
• Best Improvised Jazz Solo: Chick Corea, “Humpty Dumpty (Set 2)”
• Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: Tyler Eigsti, Tree Falls
• Best Instrumental Composition: Lyle Mays, “Eberhard”
• Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella: Charlie Rosen & Jake Silverman, “Meta Knight’s Revenge”
• Best Contemporary Blues Album: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, 662
• Best Bluegrass Album: Béla Fleck, My Bluegrass Heart
• Best Global Musical Performance: Arooj Aftab, “Mohabbat”
• Best Global Music Album: Angélique Kidjo, Mother Nature
• Best Album Notes: Ricky Riccardi, The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946–1966
For a complete list of this year’s winners, visit the Recording Academy’s Grammy website. DB
“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.
Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.
Aug 26, 2025 1:32 PM
Record producer and “Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman has launched his next endeavor, the archival label Time Traveler…
Butcher Brown, clockwise from top left: Marcus Tenney, DJ Harrison, Morgan Burrs, Corey Fonville and Andrew Randazzo. (Keyboardist Harrison couldn’t make the gig, so special guest Jacob Mann sat in with the band at the Reno Jazz Festival.)
Aug 19, 2025 12:41 PM
The band known as Butcher Brown has enjoyed the last half-decade basking in the glow from the twin engines of critical…
This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.
Aug 26, 2025 1:31 PM
The organizers of Lisbon, Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto Festival assume its audience is thoughtful and independent. Over…
