Sentimental flight

Few artists in the history of American pop are more deserving of the Grammys’ top award than the late Ray Charles, so it was hard to feel too disappointed Sunday when his “Genius Loves Company” was named album of the year -- even if the award was 40 years too late. In sports, it’s known as a makeup call.

Because the Recording Academy did such a dismal job for years in saluting talent that didn’t fit into the comfortable boundaries of mainstream pop, many of the greatest artists in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s were ignored.

An embarrassing number of artists who have won Lifetime Achievement Awards from the academy were never honored with a high-profile Grammy during their most creative years. It’s a list that stretches from Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones to, until Sunday, Ray Charles.

Makeup calls struck four times in the last seven years in the album of the year category: Bob Dylan in 1998, Carlos Santana in 2000, Steely Dan in 2001 and now Brother Ray. Only Dylan, honored for his widely heralded “Time Out of Mind” album, was a deserving choice.

Though it may seem sacrilegious to suggest it after Charles’ dominant showing Sunday, when he won a total of six awards, the academy needs to stop this cycle, even if it means something as drastic as adding a new Grammy category. They already have 107, so why not? Category 108 -- best album by an artist we should have honored in the album of the year category more than 25 years ago but didn’t.

By continuing to honor the past, the Grammy organization is compounding its long-running credibility problem by not recognizing the truly deserving artists of today.

Charles’ posthumous collection, which featured the soul music great in duets with Norah Jones, B.B. King and others, was endearing, but more for the celebration of Charles’ legacy than the music itself. When future generations want to sample the greatness of the man whose mix of R&B; and gospel helped create the rich soul genre, they most certainly won’t turn first (or second or third) to “Genius Loves Company.”

Better choices are such classics as “The Genius of Ray Charles,” which was overlooked by the Grammy voters in 1961 when the award went to a Bob Newhart comedy album, or the trailblazing “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” which was nominated for best album in 1963 but lost to a Vaughn Meader comedy collection.

Indeed, “Genius Loves Company” was the weakest of this year’s five nominees, which also included Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Usher and Green Day. It falls short particularly when compared to West’s “The College Dropout,” by far the most honored album of 2004.

By contrast, Charles’ victory in the record of the year category, for his duet with Norah Jones on “Here We Go Again,” was far more deserving -- a simply enchanting vocal pairing on a lovely romantic ballad.

Grammy voters would have better served Charles’ legacy -- and their own credibility -- by honoring West, Keys or Usher in the album of the year category. The young artists, in effect, are children of Charles’ great musical vision.

Their emergence last year as leaders in a hip-hop/R&B; field so rich and diverse that it has become the dominant sound in American pop was saluted Sunday even if they didn’t win the evening’s top prize.

Indeed, it felt much of the evening as if a torch were being passed to this new generation of stars, who are all in their 20s. Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers joined with West in a striking presentation of his uplifting, spiritual-tinged hit, “Jesus Walks.”

Jamie Foxx, sitting in for Charles (whom he plays in the Oscar-nominated film “Ray”), teamed with Keys on one of Charles’ most celebrated numbers, “Georgia on My Mind.” In an equally dramatic moment, James Brown, the godfather of soul, traded a few dance steps with Usher, who has become pop’s premier song and dance man. (“The new godson!” Brown beamed at the end of the number.)

Though these three young artists did pick up 10 Grammys among them in lesser categories, ranging from rap album (West’s “The College Dropout”) to R&B; performance by a duo or group with vocals (Usher and Keys teaming on “My Boo”), their failure to win in the top category was a serious misjudgment.

Yet it paled alongside some of the evening’s other top decisions -- such as naming the vacuous pop-rock group Maroon5 best new artist over the marvelously gifted West, and giving the capable but hardly memorable songwriter John Mayer the best song award (for “Daughters”) over tunes associated with Keys (“If I Ain’t Got You”) and West (“Jesus Walks”).

The result is that the Grammys still have the feel of a crapshoot, even though the Recording Academy deserves much credit for taking dramatic steps to upgrade its credibility in recent years.

The credibility gap has been with the Grammys since industry insiders first gathered on May 4, 1959, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to launch their version of the Oscars. Frank Sinatra was the heavy favorite to walk away with the evening’s most prestigious award, album of the year. With two of his classic collections, “Only the Lonely” and “Come Fly With Me,” nominated for the award, Ol’ Blue Eyes even agreed to help hand out Grammys during the program.

Imagine the surprise when Henry Mancini’s “The Music From Peter Gunn” won. Sinatra was so upset, his date for the evening later told a biographer, that he refused to let photographers “take our picture.”

Sinatra, then, was apparently the first victim in the award show’s long history of “vote splitting.” When the awards were given out the following year, Sinatra had only one album nominated (“Come Dance With Me”). While far less distinguished than “Only the Lonely,” the album won.

With academy membership favoring mainstream hit-makers over cutting-edge artists, the Grammy credibility was so bad by 1995 that the academy took a revolutionary step.

To ensure more credible nominees, the final decision for nominations in key categories was taken out of the hands of the total membership. Instead, a blue ribbon committee was set up to make the final choice from 20 choices voted by the full membership.

The move has worked well, isolating such cutting-edge nominees as Eminem, Beck, Radiohead and OutKast. But it hasn’t fully solved the problem. The final choice is still in the hands of the full membership, and the choices have often made pop fans reach for the Excedrin.

In four of the last eight years, voters have bypassed the most daring and deserving choices -- giving us Celine Dion (over Beck, Fugees and Smashing Pumpkins), Steely Dan (over Beck, Radiohead and Eminem), the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack (over Bob Dylan, OutKast and U2) and Norah Jones (over Eminem).

Watching the smiles on the faces of Keys and others when Charles’ win for best album was announced, it was hard to fault academy members this year for voting with their hearts.

Maybe a new category, though, would protect them from themselves.

Robert Hilburn, pop music critic of The Times, can be reached at Robert.hilburn@latimes.com.