L.A.’s Sounds Are Heard

Grammy voters didn’t come up with any surprises in their jazz selections--which in itself was not surprising, given that the nominations were mostly unadventurous.

Still, Southern California’s oft-maligned jazz scene made a good showing. Wayne Shorter (instrumental solo), Bob Florence’s Limited Edition band (large ensemble performance) and Poncho Sanchez (Latin jazz performance) are all Los Angeles residents. Shorter’s selection was fairly predictable; his recordings are always high-quality. And Florence and Sanchez--both of whom have labored long and hard--are deserving winners.

Diana Krall’s album bested a quality field for the jazz vocal award (see additional coverage on S4), and David Sanborn was an appropriate choice in the contemporary album field, a genre he was instrumental in founding, and one of the few artists in the field who maintains connections with the jazz mainstream. And it’s hard to argue with the quality of the Gary Burton/Chick Corea/Pat Metheny/Roy Haynes/Dave Holland performance on “Like Minds” (individual instrumental performance), even though, in this vague category, the Grammy could just as easily have gone to any of the nominees.