THE GRAMMYS : Sorting Out an Uneven Jazz Field

Call it an off year. Call it one of those in-between periods that always seem to confuse the recording academy membership.

How else to explain a set of jazz nominations for Grammys that almost completely overlooks the arrival of such increasingly influential young players as Benny Green, Joshua Redman, Roy Harper and Cyrus Chestnut (to name only a few)?

Still, somebody in every area of this year’s uneven hodgepodge of nominations has to take the gold statue. Let’s look at each category.

Best Contemporary Jazz Performance: There isn’t a single standout among a congregation that includes albums from the Brecker Brothers (“Out of the Loop”), Jan Garbarek (“Twelve Moons”), Marcus Miller (“The Sun Don’t Lie”), Mike Stern (“What It Is”) and the Yellowjackets (“Run for Your Life”). But it’s unlikely that the most interesting recordings--from Garbarek and Stern, who are surely the least known of the performers--will have much of a shot. Best bets may be Miller or the Breckers’ album, which seems to be receiving a major record company push from GRP (a relatively ordinary outing, it is nonetheless represented in two other categories as well).

Best Jazz Vocal Performance: Incredibly, there is not a single album by a male singer in this category--an obvious and sad reflection on the paucity of available recordings. Fortunately, the female tradition of jazz vocalizing continues strong, and there is a healthy range of selections, with entries from Dee Dee Bridgewater (“Keeping Tradition”), Shirley Horn (“I Love Paris”), Lena Horne (“We’ll Be Together Again”), Etta James (“Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday”) and Cassandra Wilson (“Blue Light ‘Til Dawn”). It would be nice to see Wilson win for her remarkable redefining of jazz singing, but the voting membership could understandably elect to honor the lifetime achievements of the 77-year-old Horne.

Best Jazz Instrumental Solo: A foolish grouping. How does one compare a bass solo by Charlie Haden (“Alone Together” from “Always Say Goodbye”) to an alto saxophone chorus from Benny Carter (“Prelude to a Kiss” from “Elegy in Blue”)--much less choose between them? The remaining performers--Michael Brecker (“African Skies” from “Out of the Loop”), Chick Corea (“Lush Life” from “Expressions”) and Wayne Shorter (“Pinocchio” from “A Tribute to Miles”)--play commendably in their nominated recordings. But picking one to the exclusion of the others or, for that matter, to the exclusion of the year’s thousands of recorded jazz choruses is a study in futility. At 87, Carter, like Horne, deserves the award for longevity and lifetime achievement as well as sheer musical skill, and the academy might, and probably should, make its decision on that basis.

Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group: Probably the most competitive category. Last year’s jazz Grammy winners included three Miles Davis-associated albums (two from Joe Henderson, one from Davis). The smart wager, therefore, would appear to favor the category’s most attractive item, “A Tribute to Miles,” the superb recording of Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Wallace Roney, Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams performing works they (except for Roney) played with Davis in the ‘60s. But Gonzalo Rubalcaba (“Rapsodia”) and Joe Lovano (“Tenor Legacy”) have been two of the most visible of the younger jazz artists in the last year, and either one could grab the prize. And, if Charlie Haden, always a strong contender, fails to score in the instrumental solo category, he might easily be a dark-horse threat.

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance: Amazingly, there are three female composer-arrangers represented: Toshiko Akiyoshi (“Desert Lady/Fantasy”), Carla Bley (“Big Band Theory”), and newcomer Maria Schneider (“Evanescence”). Will one of the only two guys nominated --Bob Mintzer (“Only in New York”) and McCoy Tyner (“Journey”)--take the award? Probably not. Either Akiyoshi or Bley will be the likely winner, even though the talented Schneider is the real, cutting-edge class of the field.

Best Instrumental Composition: Although not specifically identified as a jazz category, this grouping is totally dominated by jazz composers, with entries from the Breckers (“African Skies”), Carter (“Elegy in Blue”), Schneider (“Evanescence”), Louis Bellson (“Ellington-Strayhorn Suite” from “Black, Brown & Beige”) and Arturo Sandoval (“A Mis Abuelos” from “Danzon”). Carter could make it a double here, but the impact of the GRP push for the Breckers cannot be underestimated. Schneider might have a better shot at a statuette in this low-visibility category.