Latin Jazz cut from Grammys

I don't know how many of you have been following the new rules for how categories are selected for the Grammys. It has to do with the number of eligible recordings that have been submitted for nomination. The immediate result as been the removal of a number of separate categories, including Latin Jazz.

Eddie Palmieri has a press release about it, including a link to a petition to reinstate Latin Jazz as a category. Check it out if you're interested.

The link to Palmieri's statement is really long so here's a tiny url
http://tinyurl.com/3o65uvf

Here is a direct link to the petition
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/latinjazzatthegrammys/signatures

There's a parallel thread to this on congaplace.com; some people consider this topic important whilst others dismiss the significance of the Grammys.

http://www.mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=6459

The thread is well worth a read, it taps into some wider topics.

I assume Grammys is some kind of American sales engine, like Oscars? But then there is Latin Grammy and Grammy Latin. It's really confusing.

Smejmoon said:

I assume Grammys is some kind of American sales engine, like Oscars? But then there is Latin Grammy and Grammy Latin. It's really confusing.

Click to expand...

Yes it is an award that can give a big boost to record sales. Previously there were just the Grammys. Then someone decided they needed Grammys for just latinos and the Latin Grammys were born. But it's still more prestigious to win in the original Grammys probably simply because the number of competitors isn't just limited to Latin artists.

There are people who have been trying to get the catch-all category of "tropical" split into genres like salsa, merengue etc, but with the new rules this is even less likely to happen.

IMO the changes make sense. 109 different award categories was silly. There other changes that makes sense too:

>
Are there other changes this year in addition to the category restructuring?
Yes, two other changes were part of this proposal:

Minimum entry thresholds per Category.
It is now expected that each Category shall have at least 40 artist entries. If a Category receives between 25 – 39 artist entries, only three recordings would receive nominations. If a Category receives fewer than 25 artist entries, the Category would not be presented that year (and entries would be moved to the next most logical Category). If a Category receives fewer than 25 entries for three consecutive years, the Category would be discontinued (and submissions would be entered in the next most appropriate Category).

Number of allowable Fields/Categories per Voting Member.
Previously, voters were allowed to vote in up to nine genre Fields plus the General Field on the first ballot and eight genre Fields plus the General Field on the second ballot. Now, voters may vote in up to 20 Categories in the genre Fields plus the four Categories of the General Field on each ballot.
<

The music discussion boards must be full of heated debate about the specific item - deletion of the Latin Jazz category - I don't see it as a problem. The vast majority of self described Latin Jazz artists play a whole range of other genres in their concerts and many Jazz artists play latin rhythms in their Jazz sets. In the many Jazz concerts I see each and every year I would be challenged to say this or that artist is strictly in this or that subgenre/subcategory of Jazz. That is the whole point of Jazz, to break out of the mold and play on the expectations of the audience not play to the expectations of the audience. I think EP is just bummed that he won't get his guaranteed annual nomination in the Latin Jazz category and bummed that he doesn't get to trade awards with Paquito d'Rivera and Arturo Sandoval every other year.