Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Theo Croker’s Dream … Manifested!
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
Bassist and bandleader Christian McBride, who has won six Grammy awards, has three more Grammy nominations.
(Photo: Anna Webber)Among artists receiving multiple nominations for the 62nd Grammy Awards are bassist Christian McBride, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Jacob Collier, saxophonist Branford Marsalis and blues-rock singer-songwriter Gary Clark Jr. The Recording Academy announced the nominees Nov. 20.
In the category Best Jazz Instrumental Album, the nominees are McBride, for Christian McBride’s New Jawn (Mack Avenue); Marsalis, for his namesake quartet’s The Secret Between The Shadow And The Soul (OKeh/Sony Masterworks); organist Joey DeFrancesco, for In The Key Of The Universe (Mack Avenue); pianist Brad Mehldau, for Finding Gabriel (Nonesuch); and saxophonist Joshua Redman, for his quartet album Come What May (Nonesuch).
The nominees in the category Best Jazz Vocal Album are Spalding, for 12 Little Spells (Concord); Sara Gazarek, for Thirsty Ghost (Self-Release); Jazzmeia Horn, for Love & Liberation (Concord); Catherine Russell, for Alone Together (Dot Time); and The Tierney Sutton Band, for ScreenPlay (BFM Jazz).
McBride and Marsalis are also nominees in the category Best Improvised Jazz Solo. The bassist’s solo is on “Sightseeing,” a track on Christian McBride’s New Jawn, and the saxophonist’s solo is on “The Windup,” from The Secret Between The Shadow And The Soul.
Additionally, McBride is nominated in the category Best Instrumental Composition, for “Walkin’ Funny,” the opening track on Christian McBride’s New Jawn.
The nominees for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album are Triple Helix (Anzic) by the Anat Cohen Tentet, Dancer In Nowhere (Sunnyside) by Miho Hazama, Hiding Out (Zoho) by Mike Holober & The Gotham Jazz Orchestra, The Omni-American Book Club (Hollistic MusicWorks) by the Brian Lynch Big Band and One Day Wonder (Outside in Music) by the Terraza Big Band.
Clark received three nominations. The title track to his album This Land (Warner) earned nods in the categories Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song, which is a composer’s award. The album is nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Also, in the category Best Music Video, the clip for “This Land” earned nominations for Savanah Leaf (video director) and Jason Cole, Danielle Hinde and Alicia Martinez (video producers).
Collier is nominated in the category Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals for “All Night Long,” a collaboration with Take 6, Jules Buckley and the Metropole Orkest that appears on Djesse–Vol. 1 (Hajanga/Decca). Collier also is nominated in the category Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella for “Moon River,” a track on Djesse–Vol. 2 (Hajanga/Decca).
Spalding also received a nomination in the category Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals, for her arrangement of “12 Little Spells (Thoracic Spine),” from 12 Little Spells.
The nominees for Best Latin Jazz Album are Antidote (Concord), by pianist Chick Corea and the Spanish Heart Band; Sorte! Music By John Finbury (Green Flash Music), by singer Thalma de Freitas with Vitor Gonçalves, John Patitucci, Chico Pinheiro, Rogerio Boccato and Duduka Da Fonseca; Una Noche Con Rubén Blades (Blue Engine), by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and vocalist Rubén Blades; Carib (Ropeadope), by saxophonist David Sánchez; and Sonero: The Music Of Ismael Rivera (Miel Music), by saxophonist Miguel Zenón.
In the category Best Music Film, the Miles Davis documentary Birth of the Cool earned nominations for Stanley Nelson (video director) and Nicole London (video producer).
The nominees for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album are trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, for Ancestral Recall (Ropeadope); trumpeter Theo Croker, for Star People Nation (Sony Masterworks); drummer Mark Guiliana, for Beat Music! Beat Music! Beat Music! (Motéma); the band Lettuce, for Elevate (Self-Release); and the duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, for Mettavolution (ATO).
A couple of holiday albums fared well, too. Pianist/vocalist John Legend’s A Legendary Christmas (Columbia) is nominated in the category Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, and singer CeCe Winans’ Something’s Happening!—A Christmas Album (Pure Springs Gospel) is nominated for Best Gospel Album.
Among the nominees for Best Album Notes are Judy Cantor-Navas, for her essay in the liner notes for The Complete Cuban Jam Sessions (Craft), a compilation by various artists that received a 5-star review in the January 2019 issue of DownBeat.
The Grammy Awards will be presented on Jan. 26, 2020, and a portion of the ceremony will be broadcast live by CBS.
For a complete list of nominations, visit the Recording Academy’s Grammy website. DB
To record Dream Manifest (Dom Recs), Croker convened artists from his current and recent past ensembles, plus special guests.
Jun 10, 2025 4:13 PM
Partway through his early set at Smoke Jazz Club, Theo Croker blinks the room back into focus. He leans over the piano.…
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