Grammy Voting Changes Are Just a Form of Ageism

I was offended by Steve Hochman’s interview with Michael Greene, president and CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (“A Brand-New Grammy Day,” Calendar, Feb. 28). It’s another clear example of age bias that permeates society. Michael described in his interview the extremes this trade organization has gone to ignore and sublimate the excellence of the talent and work of older recording artists.

The article seems to suggest that “The Three Tenors in Concert” and “Tony Bennett Unplugged” were undeservingly included among last year’s nominated albums largely because of the age of the artists involved. The article further suggests that the voting procedure has been changed in order to exclude such artists from consideration this year and in the future. That is not only unfair, but borders on the criminal.

I have two albums that were distributed during the last calendar year. I am outraged to learn that they had no chance at all because I can no longer be considered equally with other artists for the recording industry’s top honor. Winning several Grammys for various records some years ago was meaningful to me because I was being compared to the likes of Sinatra, Bennett and Torme, as well as other “younger” artists, like the Beatles and Rolling Stones. The award would have had little meaning to me, the industry or the record-buying public if any of those artists had been excluded from consideration because of age.

When I won my Grammys, we had the ceremony in the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. The general public was totally unaware of what a Grammy was. Hence, there was no posturing, no hyping, no strategic planning by the record companies. The merits of the recording and the artist stood unenhanced. Age, or the points of view of sponsors or TV networks or the president of the recording academy, was totally irrelevant.

This new concept is particularly frustrating to me since the audiences I play to across the country and overseas always include large numbers of “younger” people.

To have 25 anonymous committee members make the final selections for these top honors is both ridiculous and exposes the academy to further ridicule. It behooves Michael Greene and his cohorts to reconsider their decision and come up with a system that provides a level playing field for all artists and recognizes excellence by recording artists, regardless of their age.