Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
Singer-songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant won a Grammy for her 2017 release, Dreams And Daggers.
(Photo: Mark Fitton)Singer-songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant, pianist Billy Childs and bassist Christian McBride are among the jazz artists who won Grammy Awards on Jan. 28.
During the 60th annual edition of the Grammys, held at Madison Square Garden in New York, Salvant won the category Best Jazz Vocal Album, for Dreams And Daggers (Mack Avenue), and Childs topped the category Best Jazz Instrumental Album, for Rebirth (Mack Avenue).
The Christian McBride Big Band topped the category Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Bringin’ It (Mack Avenue).
Among the other winners is veteran guitarist John McLaughlin, who was honored in the Best Improvised Jazz Solo category for “Miles Beyond,” a track from Live @ Ronnie Scott’s (Abstract Logix), which was recorded with his band The 4th Dimension.
The various artists collection Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 (Columbia) topped the category Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Among the contributors to the album are Stevie Wonder, Diana Krall, Lady Gaga, K.D. Lang, Leslie Odom Jr. and Bennett himself.
The Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album went to the Pablo Ziegler Trio for its release Jazz Tango (Zoho). The winner for Best Tropical Latin Album was Salsa Big Band (Ruben Blades Productions), recorded by Rubén Blades Con Roberto Delgado & Orquesta.
The album that topped the category Best Surround Sound Album is soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom’s Early Americans (Outline). Honored were Jim Anderson, surround mix engineer; Darcy Proper, surround mastering engineer; and Anderson and Bloom, surround producers. Bloom won the Soprano Saxophone category in the 2017 DownBeat Critics Poll.
The Rolling Stones won the Best Traditional Blues Album category for Blue & Lonesome (Interscope). The bluesmen Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ took home the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for TajMo (Concord), which also topped the Blues Album category in the 2017 DownBeat Readers Poll.
To see a clip of Jazzmeia Horn demonstrating her singing and scatting skills at the Grammys, click here.
For a complete list of winners, visit the Grammy website. DB
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
Lettuce, from left: Eric Coomes, Adam Deitch, Ryan Zoidis, Eric Bloom, Adam Smirnoff and Nigel Hall
Feb 17, 2026 11:05 AM
They were Berklee misfits. Neither jazzy enough for the straightahead crowd at Boston’s highly prestigious College of…
Lovers of the big band experience, clockwise from top left, John Clayton, Leigh Pilzer, Ted Nash, David Pietro and Christine Jensen.
Feb 10, 2026 11:00 AM
The popularity of big band music might have peaked in the 1930s and ’40s, but despite the many changes on the jazz…
New Orleans Trad Jazz Camp
Feb 19, 2026 10:39 AM
Jazz camps have exploded around the globe as a summertime tradition for working on your chops and making new friends.…
Sullivan Fortner continues a winning streak with his third Grammy for Jazz Album of the Year after earning the Gilmore Larry J. Bell Artist Award last October.
Feb 10, 2026 10:48 AM
The 68th Annual Grammy Awards presented a marathon of winners, tributes and music on Feb. 1. Kendrick Lamar added five…
