On the heels of heavy protest and a law suit (which was dismissed in April), the Grammy Recording Academy has reversed it's decision to omit the Best Latin Jazz category from it's awards list. The decision came last week, during the recording Academy's Board of Trustees meeting.
According to the "The New York Times", “The reinstatement of the Latin jazz category represents a retrenchment for the Recording Academy. Last year, the trustees rattled the music industry when they reduced the categories from 109 to 78. By a narrow vote, they decided to get rid of separate awards for men and women in many fields, consolidate many categories and eliminating individual awards for several regional or ethnic genres, among them zydeco, Hawaiian music, American Indian music and Latin jazz.”
Board President, Neil Portnow noted: "Every year, we diligently examine our awards structure, including evaluating proposals, to develop an overall guiding vision and ensure that it remains a balanced and viable process, as well as maintains the prestige of the highest and only peer-recognized award in music."
Additionally, the Acad announced that recording engineers would become eligible for record of the year recognition, and a new music educator of the year award will be added to the Special Merit Awards held prior to the Grammys.
According to the "The New York Times", “The reinstatement of the Latin jazz category represents a retrenchment for the Recording Academy. Last year, the trustees rattled the music industry when they reduced the categories from 109 to 78. By a narrow vote, they decided to get rid of separate awards for men and women in many fields, consolidate many categories and eliminating individual awards for several regional or ethnic genres, among them zydeco, Hawaiian music, American Indian music and Latin jazz.”
Board President, Neil Portnow noted: "Every year, we diligently examine our awards structure, including evaluating proposals, to develop an overall guiding vision and ensure that it remains a balanced and viable process, as well as maintains the prestige of the highest and only peer-recognized award in music."
Additionally, the Acad announced that recording engineers would become eligible for record of the year recognition, and a new music educator of the year award will be added to the Special Merit Awards held prior to the Grammys.