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      Best Jazz Albums of 2021

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      In a year of continued uncertainty, musicians held their colleagues, and listeners, close.Esperanza Spalding, Pharoah Sanders and Jason Moran made some of the year’s strongest jazz releases.Clockwise from left: Will Matsuda for The New York Times; Sam Polcer for The New York Times; Heather Sten for The New York TimesEven the big-statement albums made by jazz musicians this year had a feeling of intense closeness: of large-scale problems being worked out within an enclosure, with limited tools and just a few compatriots. No surprise there, I guess. Twelve months ago, the year began with promise, but we’ve hardly returned to old comforts. Rather than breaking out, we spent 2021 getting used to a feeling of unquiet, making the most of being mostly alone. The best improvised music of the year understood that, and met us there.1. Pharoah Sanders, Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra, ‘Promises’Why fight it: This year’s big talker in the experimental-music world ended up being just as powerful as we’d hoped. Not really jazz, not exactly classical, definitely not electronic music per se, “Promises” is the first-ever collaboration between Pharoah Sanders, the octogenarian spiritual-jazz eminence, and Floating Points, nee Sam Shepherd, a 30-something British composer and polymath. They each use music to get at questions of healing — Shepherd typically as a solo musician, Sanders as a communitarian — and although “Promises” was recorded before the coronavirus pandemic began, it arrived a year into lockdown, just when we needed it most.2. Jason Moran, ‘The Sound Will Tell You’A pianist, visual artist, curator, writer and guiding force in jazz, Jason Moran has been quietly releasing albums on his Bandcamp over the past few years, after ending a lengthy relationship with Blue Note Records. He doesn’t have a publicist, and barely self-promotes beyond his personal social media feeds, but these releases are worth seeking out. Moran recorded “The Sound Will Tell You” alone in January, just as he was mounting an exhibition of deep-blue works on paper at Luhring Augustine in Tribeca. This is an intimate and tender, harmonically lush piano record, heavily inspired by the writings of Toni Morrison, blurred occasionally by electronic effects but always clear in its melodic intent. (Listen to “The Sound Will Tell You” on Bandcamp.)3. James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet, ‘Jesup Wagon’The tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis tends to blow hard into his horn, but he likes to save up extra breath in the bottom of his lungs, so that his notes don’t necessarily fade, but sometimes grow louder and stronger over time. It’s a way of broadcasting patience and urgency all at once, and reminding you that he’s in control. After years of mounting buzz, Lewis cashed in his chips with “Jesup Wagon.” The album’s seven original compositions — composed for an unorthodox quintet, with the life of George Washington Carver in mind — are built around yawning, polyphonic melodies (Lewis’s saxophone intertwined with Kirk Knuffke’s cornet) and layers of rhythm stacked underneath (William Parker’s bass and guimbri, Christopher Hoffman’s cello and Chad Taylor’s drums and mbira).4. Patricia Brennan, ‘Maquishti’Twinkling and mesmeric, the debut album from this Mexican-born, New York-based vibraphonist and marimba player mixes composed material with tracks that were improvised in the studio whole cloth. Some are retouched with echoey, scrambling effects, but none is particularly lush or layered. Moving way outside the standard language of jazz vibraphone, Patricia Brennan has created something like a landscape of vapor, full of wandering melodies lost in the fog.Patricia Brennan’s “Maquishti” blends composed tracks with improvisation.Noel Brennan5. Adam O’Farrill, ‘Visions of Your Other’Weaving, pulsing, fine-grain complexity, intense focus: They’re all at play in the trumpeter Adam O’Farrill’s tangled compositions. On “Visions of Your Other,” his third album with his quartet, Stranger Days (featuring Xavier Del Castillo on tenor saxophone, Walter Stinson on bass and Zack O’Farrill on drums), the group slips into the music like a perfectly tailored suit.Adam O’Farrill’s “Visions of Your Other,” his third album with his quartet, Stranger Days, is a study of intense focus.Camilo Fuentealba for The New York Times6. Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes, ‘Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar More Songs’Sam Gendel, a saxophonist, and Sam Wilkes, a bassist, are millennial pals who seem equally interested in using music for the purposes of comfort and disruption. In 2018, they put out “Music for Saxofone and Bass Guitar,” a stealthy little album that might have spluttered out of a vat where time, space, genre and the titular instruments themselves had all melted down into a roux. Recorded live to tape and released on Bandcamp, it became an underground obsession. Their follow-up LP, “More Songs,” contains nine additional tracks in the same vein, and it’s at least as hypnotic as the first.Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes followed up their 2018 release this year.Marcella Cytrynowicz7. William Parker, ‘Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World’The bassist, composer and organizer William Parker’s five-decade career sends a galvanizing message: Yes, you can do it all. You can play in and outside of any improvising style you choose; you can lead and you can follow; you can play the bass like a heavy rhythm instrument while coaxing grace and lyric from it. “Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World” is not one new LP, but in fact 10, each featuring Parker’s original music recorded with a different collaborator or band. So it works as a measure of his enormous range, and an index of his network on the downtown avant-garde — a scene that would hardly be the same without him.8. Sara Serpa and Emmanuel Iduma, ‘Intimate Strangers’Sara Serpa, a Portuguese singer whose voice is both small and bold, has spent the past few years immersing herself in the shocking history of Portugal’s colonial misadventures on the African continent, and responding through music. On “Intimate Strangers,” she collaborates with Emmanuel Iduma, a Nigerian memoirist and critic, who has written in evocative detail about the experiences of migrant laborers on the continent today. Through him, Serpa found a way to explore the present-day legacy of colonialism, while usefully decentering her own perspective. But the music remains distinctly Serpa’s: cool-toned, vocal-driven, abstract and yet immediately beautiful.9. Wadada Leo Smith/Douglas R. Ewart/Mike Reed, ‘Sun Beams of Shimmering Light’Nearing 80, Wadada Leo Smith retains one of the fullest and most arresting trumpet sounds around. But playing alongside him means getting in touch with silence, too, as if there might be energy coming from his horn that hasn’t yet become sound but still needs room to breathe. The saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Douglas R. Ewart — who, like Smith, moved to Chicago in the 1960s and became an early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians — brings a similarly restful approach to improvisation. Working with the younger Chicagoan drummer Mike Reed, Smith and Ewart created an album of expanse and vision that lives up to its name. (Listen to “Sun Beams of Shimmering Light” on Bandcamp.)10. Esperanza Spalding, ‘Songwrights Apothecary Lab’“Songwrights Apothecary Lab” takes the form of an album here, but it began as more than that (and it’s likely to continue as more, too). Esperanza Spalding, the bassist, vocalist and self-described “songwright,” held residencies in New York and her native Oregon during the pandemic, bringing together a mix of healers and artists in search of new and therapeutic methods of making music. Each of the LP’s 12 tracks is a “formwela,” blending lyrical and wordless vocals, instrumental textures and hooks that condense out of thin air.Esperanza Spalding held residencies during the pandemic.Will Matsuda for The New York Times More

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      5 Things to Do This Thanksgiving Weekend

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      Our critics and writers have selected noteworthy cultural events to experience virtually and in person in New York City.Art & MuseumsReframing FreedomOne of the murals of Shaun Leonardo’s “Between Four Freedoms,” on view at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park on Roosevelt Island through Tuesday.Anna LetsonThe making of Shaun Leonardo’s latest public artwork — “Between Four Freedoms,” the exhibition of which has been extended to Tuesday at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park on Roosevelt Island — is predicated on the notion that the four freedoms cited in Roosevelt’s 1941 speech don’t apply to everyone equally. How would our most vulnerable citizens interpret them? In a series of workshops leading up to the installation, Leonardo attempted to answer that question. For one, he pointed to the freedom from fear: How can it be considered attainable when children continue to be incarcerated? How can people declare it when for them fear persists in the shadows?The culmination of these exercises is represented in a series of large vinyl murals of hand gestures (which sometimes speak louder than words) that Leonardo applied to the granite walls at the entrance to the park. Words haven’t been completely ignored, though. QR codes surrounding the works link to audio recordings of workshop participants discussing what freedom — or its lack — means to them.MELISSA SMITHKIDSSetting Hearts AflutterAn emerald swallowtail butterfly, which is among the species in the American Museum of Natural History’s butterfly exhibition, on view through May 30.D. Finnin/American Museum of Natural HistoryThe butterflies are back in town.That may seem like a puzzling announcement in November, but at least one Manhattan site considers it routine: the American Museum of Natural History. After a yearlong pandemic-induced hiatus, the institution is once again presenting its annual exhibition “The Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter,” on view through May 30.Mimicking a light-filled 80-degree rainforest, this 1,200-square-foot vivarium provides close encounters with as many as 500 creatures, such as monarch, viceroy, blue morpho and emerald swallowtail butterflies, and atlas and luna moths. (Timed entry is required, and visitors must buy tickets that include special-exhibition access.) For curious children, the thrills of wandering among the show’s blossoms and greenery include seeing these free-flying international travelers alight on an outstretched hand or emerge from a chrysalis.Small visitors who prefer to keep insects at a distance can enjoy several exhibits outside the conservatory’s doors. Among them are a short film about metamorphosis and displays on butterfly habitats and adaptations. Owl butterflies, for instance, have large spots that resemble owl eyes — a way to fool predators — while monarchs contain foul-tasting toxins. Those bright orange wings are nature’s own caution sign.LAUREL GRAEBERFilm SeriesOf Instincts and BuboesSharon Stone in Paul Verhoeven’s “Basic Instinct,” one of the films IFC Center is showing for a retrospective of the director’s work in anticipation of his latest, “Benedetta.”Rialto PicturesBefore Paul Verhoeven’s latest provocation, the 17th-century lesbian-nun drama “Benedetta,” opens on Dec. 3, IFC Center invites viewers to revisit his scandals of yore. While his early Dutch outrages aren’t much represented (other than “Spetters,” one of the most phallocentric movies ever made, screening on Saturday), you couldn’t ask for a more ice-pick-sharp Friday-night selection than “Basic Instinct” (also showing Sunday through Tuesday), the subject of protests — even during filming — for its depiction of Sharon Stone’s bisexual murder suspect. It stands, along with Verhoeven’s return to Holland, the gripping World War II drama “Black Book” (on Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday), as the high point of his mastery of the erotic thriller.Perhaps less seen, but relevant to “Benedetta,” is “Flesh + Blood,” screening on 35-millimeter film on Sunday. Rutger Hauer’s character leads a group of mercenaries who claim a divine mandate, but the encroaching plague proves impervious to superstition. “Benedetta” will close the series on Dec. 2.BEN KENIGSBERGComedyNo Topic Too HotD.L. Hughley will be at Carolines on Broadway on Friday and Saturday.Phil ProvencioThey say the Thanksgiving table is no place for certain subjects, but those are just the kind of scraps D.L. Hughley can turn into a feast.The comedian, who hosts a nationally syndicated afternoon radio show with a companion series on Pluto TV’s LOL! Network, has been making waves since the late 1990s, when he starred in his own sitcom on ABC and toured as one of “The Original Kings of Comedy” alongside Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac, who died in 2008.Hughley had the political savvy to host his own CNN show and the mainstream appeal to compete on “Dancing With the Stars.” In 2012, he created and starred in “D.L. Hughley: The Endangered List,” a mockumentary for Comedy Central that won a Peabody Award. This year, he published his fifth book, “How to Survive America.” He’ll certainly have plenty to talk about when he performs at Carolines on Broadway on Friday and Saturday at 7 and 9:45 p.m. Tickets start at $60, with a two-drink minimum.SEAN L. McCARTHYFive Movies to Watch This WinterCard 1 of 51. “The Power of the Dog”: More

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      Jon Batiste and Young Chart-Toppers Lead 2022 Grammy Nominations

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      The Recording Academy, which expanded the top competitions to 10 slots, announces its first ballot since ending its heavily criticized review committees in nearly all categories.Nominations for the 64th annual Grammy Awards, announced on Tuesday, recognized chart-topping pop stars like Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat and Billie Eilish. But the artist with the most chances to win is Jon Batiste, the composer and bandleader known for his work in television and film, who was nominated 11 times, including for his eclectic, soul-inflected album “We Are.”Batiste, who also emerged last year as a voice of social protest, will face off in some of the most prestigious categories, like album and record of the year, as well as in an array of genre fields — including R&B, jazz, American roots and classical — at the ceremony, which is scheduled for Jan. 31 in Los Angeles, and will be broadcast by CBS.The list of nominees is even more robust than usual this year, after the Recording Academy, which presents the awards, expanded the ballots for the top four categories — album, record and song of the year, and best new artist — to include 10 nominees, up from eight. As recently as four years ago, there were just five slots in those categories.For album of the year, Batiste — perhaps best known as the musical director on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” on CBS — competes against Bieber (“Justice,” in a deluxe version), Doja Cat (“Planet Her,” also deluxe), Rodrigo (“Sour”), Eilish (“Happier Than Ever”), Taylor Swift (“Evermore”), Lil Nas X (“Montero”), Kanye West (“Donda”), H.E.R. (“Back of My Mind”), and Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (“Love for Sale,” a tribute to Cole Porter).Record of the year, which recognizes the recording of a single track, pits hits like Rodrigo’s “Drivers License,” Bieber’s “Peaches,” Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More,” Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” and “Leave the Door Open” by Silk Sonic, the retro-soul project of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, against Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever,” Brandi Carlile’s “Right on Time,” Bennett and Lady Gaga’s “I Get a Kick Out of You,” and “I Still Have Faith in You,” a comeback single by Abba — the Europop icons who were never nominated for a Grammy in their heyday of the 1970s and early ’80s.For song of the year, a songwriter’s award, the nominees include “Drivers License,” “Happier Than Ever,” “Kiss Me More,” “Leave the Door Open,” “Peaches,” “Right on Time” and “Montero,” along with Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits,” Carlile and Alicia Keys’s “A Beautiful Noise,” and “Fight for You” by H.E.R., who won the prize last year for a protest anthem, “I Can’t Breathe.”The new artist category is a mix of fresh pop stars and lesser-known acts. It includes Rodrigo, the singer and actress who rocketed to fame this year with hits like “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U”; the Kid Laroi, who has been ubiquitous on pop radio with “Stay,” featuring Bieber; and Saweetie, whose “Best Friend” featuring Doja Cat is another radio fixture; along with Finneas, Eilish’s producer brother; Japanese Breakfast, the alternative project led by Michelle Zauner, who has also won acclaim as a memoirist; the band Glass Animals; Arlo Parks; Baby Keem; Jimmie Allen; and Arooj Aftab.Olivia Rodrigo has seven nominations, including best new artist.Mat Hayward/Getty ImagesHarvey Mason Jr., the chief executive of the academy, said in an interview that the decision to expand the ballot was in part driven by the rapid growth of the quantity of music released in the streaming age; according to Spotify, for example, some 60,000 tracks are added to that service every day..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}“We saw an opportunity,” Mason said. “We felt it was an important time to allow our members to be heard in a wider and deeper way.”One prominent name that is nowhere to be found on this year’s ballot is Morgan Wallen, the country singer-songwriter who made one of the year’s most popular albums, “Dangerous: The Double Album” — it held the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s chart for 10 weeks straight — but came under fire after he was caught on video casually using a racial slur.Wallen has spent much of the year in industry purgatory, dropped from most radio playlists, though he remains a steady seller and is planning a major tour next year. His absence from top categories like album of the year is not surprising, yet he was also not nominated for any country award, despite holding on to substantial support in Nashville. (At the Country Music Association Awards this month, “Dangerous” was a contender for album of the year.)In the music industry, this year’s nominations are being scrutinized for the effects of a series of changes to the Recording Academy’s voting procedures, which have come under harsh criticism in recent years, often because of whom they have left out.Last year, for example, Abel Tesfaye, who performs as the Weeknd, accused the Grammys of being “corrupt” after he failed to receive any nominations, despite his album “After Hours” being a gigantic hit. In protest, Tesfaye pledged not to submit his music for Grammy consideration in the future.His attack focused attention on a little-understood part of the nomination process — the use of “review committees,” whose anonymous members pared down the choices of the academy’s more than 11,000 voting members to a final ballot, ostensibly to preserve the awards’ integrity.But those committees became the focus of criticism for perceived conflicts of interest and other agendas, and this year, the academy eliminated them in most categories. (They remain part of the process for “craft” categories, like packaging, liner notes and engineering.)The impact of those changes on this year’s ballot may be debated in weeks to come. For the most part, the effect seems less dramatic than many expected. This year, the distribution of Grammy nods has followed a familiar pattern of mixing pop superstars with heroes of the old guard (like the 95-year-old Bennett) and deeply skilled musicians who have the respect of the industry’s rank-and-file, even if they do not top charts (like Batiste).Batiste was nominated for eight awards for “We Are,” along with three connected to “Soul,” the 2020 animated film, for which Batiste has already won an Oscar for best original score (shared with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross).Justin Bieber has eight nominations across several genres, including pop and R&B.Mike Coppola/Getty ImagesAnother Grammy rule change has allowed more songwriters to become eligible for album of the year. In past years, writers had to contribute to 33 percent of an album to qualify, but that threshold has been removed. One effect is that dozens of names — including featured artists, producers and engineers, in addition to songwriters — can now be on the ballot as contributors to a single album. If Bieber’s “Justice” wins, for example, around 100 people will take home Grammys.Also notable are this year’s four rock categories. Last year, the Grammys earned plaudits for nominating many women, but this year the list is almost entirely male-dominated. For rock album, AC/DC competes against Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Chris Cornell and Black Pumas.Alternative music album features a more diverse mix, with Halsey (“If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power”) competing against Japanese Breakfast (“Jubilee”), Arlo Parks (“Collapsed in Sunbeams”), St. Vincent (“Daddy’s Home”) and the men of Fleet Foxes (“Shore”).Among other categories, the contenders for best pop vocal album are Bieber’s “Justice,” Doja Cat’s “Planet Her,” Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever,” Rodrigo’s “Sour” and Ariana Grande’s “Positions.”Drake, whose “Certified Lover Boy” was ignored by the top categories, is up for two awards: best rap performance (“Way 2 Sexy”) and best rap album, in which “Certified” will compete against “Donda,” J. Cole’s “The Off-Season,” Nas’s “King’s Disease II” and Tyler, the Creator’s “Call Me If You Get Lost.”The nominees for best country album are Chris Stapleton’s “Starting Over,” Sturgill Simpson’s “The Ballad of Dood and Juanita,” Mickey Guyton’s “Remember Her Name,” Brothers Osborne’s “Skeletons,” and “The Marfa Tapes” by Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall and Jack Ingram.Kacey Musgraves’s latest, “Star-Crossed,” was not eligible for country album, after being deemed insufficiently country by the academy’s screening committee; it was moved to the pop category, but received no nominations there. That decision drew wide notice in the industry since Musgraves’ last album, “Golden Hour,” won best country album — as well as album of the year — in 2019.The nominees for producer of the year, nonclassical, are Jack Antonoff (for his work with Swift, Lana Del Rey and others), Rogét Chahayed (Doja Cat), Mike Elizondo (Twenty One Pilots, Turnstile), Hit-Boy (“Judas And The Black Messiah: The Inspired Album”) and Ricky Reed (Lizzo, Batiste).With this year’s ballot, Jay-Z becomes the most nominated artist in Grammy history. He had been tied with Quincy Jones for 80 nods, but with another three — as a songwriting contributor on Bieber’s “Justice,” and twice in best rap song, for collaborations with DMX and West — he is now at 83. Jay-Z has won 23 Grammys so far.The nominations recognize music released from Sept. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021, and can be voted on by more than 11,000 members of the Recording Academy, who must qualify as working musicians.This year’s ballot was winnowed down from nearly 22,000 submissions — down slightly from the more than 23,000 submitted last year, which was a record. More

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      Slide Hampton, Celebrated Trombonist, Composer and Arranger, Dies at 89

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      He began playing professionally as a child, worked with some of jazz’s biggest names in the late 1950s, and remained a leading figure in the music for the next 60 years.Slide Hampton, a jazz trombonist, composer and arranger who arrived on the scene at the end of the bebop era and remained in demand for decades afterward, was found dead on Saturday at his home in Orange, N.J. He was 89.His grandson Richard Hampton confirmed the death.Mr. Hampton made his name in the late 1950s with bands led by Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson and others. He was considered a triple threat — not just a virtuoso trombonist but also the creator of memorable compositions and arrangements.He won Grammy Awards for his arrangements in 1998 and in 2005, the same year the National Endowment for the Arts named him a Jazz Master.During the 1980s, he led a band called the World of Trombones that consisted of up to nine trombones and a rhythm section. Big, brassy jazz was out of favor at the time, but by then he had become an elder statesman of jazz, and he was able to insist on bringing his full band into clubs more interested in small, intimate groups. Once in the door, he was almost always a hit.He was also a fixture on college campuses, teaching composition and theory to the next generation of jazz musicians and instilling in them a respect for jazz — and the trombone — that went well beyond the music.“Playing a trombone makes you realize that you’re going to have to depend on other people,” Mr. Hampton told The New York Times in 1982. “If you’re going to need help, you can’t abuse other people. That’s why there’s a real sense of fellowship among trombonists.”Mr. Hampton in concert at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in Manhattan in 2006.Rahav Segev for The New York TimesLocksley Wellington Hampton was born on April 21, 1932, in Jeannette, Pa., about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh. He was the youngest of 12 children, and his parents, Clarke and Laura (Buford) Hampton, recruited most of them to be in the family band they led — Locksley joined as a singer and dancer when he was just 6.In 1938 the family moved to Indianapolis in search of more work. The city had a thriving jazz scene, and they were soon touring the Midwest.They never lacked for gigs, but they did lack a trombone player, a deficit the elder Mr. Hampton remedied by handing the instrument to his youngest son when he was 12 and teaching him to play it. He took to the instrument — no easy task for a child — and it didn’t take long for him to earn the nickname Slide.He studied at a local conservatory, but most of his musical education came through his family and other musicians. He was particularly taken by J.J. Johnson, the leading trombonist of the sophisticated school of jazz known as bebop, who lived in Indianapolis. Mr. Hampton later recalled that one evening he was standing outside a club with his instrument, too young to enter, when Mr. Johnson walked by. He was supposed to play that night, but he didn’t have his trombone. Mr. Hampton gave him his own.Mr. Hampton later adapted several of Mr. Johnson’s compositions. He kept one of them, “Lament,” in his repertoire for decades.After his father died in 1951, the family band was led by Locksley’s brother Duke. In 1952 the band won a contest to play at Carnegie Hall, opening for Lionel Hampton (no relation).While in New York, Mr. Hampton and one of his brothers went to Birdland, the fabled jazz club, where they saw the bebop pianist Bud Powell play. That experience, he later said, left a much greater impression on him than performing at Carnegie.Mr. Hampton married Althea Gardner in 1948; they divorced in 1997. He is survived by his brother Maceo; his children, Jacquelyn, Lamont and Locksley Jr.; five grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. His son Gregory died before him.The Hampton family band later returned to New York to play at the Apollo Theater, and Slide urged them to relocate to the city. When they demurred, he made his own plans.A friend recommended a once-a-week gig in Houston, and Mr. Hampton jumped at the chance. It paid well enough that he could use the rest of the week to study and compose.In 1955 the rhythm-and-blues pianist Buddy Johnson recruited him for his band, and he relocated to New York. A year later he moved to Lionel Hampton’s band, and a year after that he joined Maynard Ferguson’s. He composed some of the Ferguson band’s better-known pieces, including “The Fugue” and “Three Little Foxes.”Mr. Hampton found himself in high demand and struck out on his own in 1962 as the leader of the Slide Hampton Octet. Though that band lasted just a year and he later said he did a poor job as its leader, it greatly increased his visibility.As a leader, Mr. Hampton was humble. He often took a seat in the audience after playing a solo so as not to upstage other band members when their turns came. Once, when a television crew showed up to film the band, he cut his solo short to make sure everyone got a turn on camera.In the early 1960s he bought a brownstone in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, which quickly became a hot spot for jam sessions and a crash pad for some of the country’s top musicians. The saxophonists Wayne Shorter and Eric Dolphy and the guitarist Wes Montgomery all lived there for a time.After his octet broke up, Mr. Hampton worked as a musical director for Motown Records, collaborating on productions for Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops and others. There he encountered firsthand the rising popularity of pop and R&B and concluded that jazz was being boxed out of the American music scene. After touring Europe in 1968 with Woody Herman, he settled in Paris, where he found not just a thriving jazz audience, but public subsidies that supported the music.“The conditions and the respect for the artist in Europe were so incredible that I was overwhelmed,” Mr. Hampton told The Times in 1982. “They saw jazz as an art form in Europe long before they did here.”He returned to America in 1977, initially to write arrangements for the saxophonist Dexter Gordon, who himself had recently returned from Europe. By then the place of jazz had changed — major labels were becoming interested, government grants were becoming available and colleges were adding jazz to the curriculum.Mr. Hampton was once more in demand as a musician — and now also as an educator. Over the next decades he taught at Harvard, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, DePaul University in Chicago, and elsewhere. And he continued to play at New York venues into the 2010s.When asked what explained his success over such a long career, Mr. Hampton insisted that it wasn’t just talent, but also practice — he practiced four to five hours a day, and would do even more if he had the time.“Everything that’s really of quality requires a lot of work,” he said in a 2007 interview with the National Endowment for the Arts. “Things that come easy don’t have the highest level of quality connected to them.” More

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      Margo Guryan, Whose Album Drew Belated Acclaim, Dies at 84

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      She recorded “Take a Picture” in 1968, but it died when she declined to tour. Three decades later, adventurous listeners discovered it and gave it a new life.In the late 1990s Margo Guryan’s husband, David Rosner, opened an envelope that had come in the mail from Japan, and the two of them were surprised by what it contained: a royalty check generated by sales of Ms. Guryan’s album “Take a Picture.”The surprise was that the record — her only album at that point — had been released some three decades earlier, in 1968. Ms. Guryan was still carrying the memory of seeing it, not long after its release, languishing in the discount bin at a New York record store.The album, full of Ms. Guryan’s rhythmically complex yet beguilingly melodic songs about love, had died a quick death because Ms. Guryan, an enthusiastic songwriter but a reluctant performer, had declined her record company’s request to promote it by touring and making television appearances.Yet somehow decades later, with the digital age facilitating both word of mouth and the sharing of music, adventurous listeners discovered it — first in Japan, then in Europe, and finally in the United States, where in 2000 Franklin Castle Recordings rereleased it, followed the next year by “25 Demos,” a collection of other recordings of hers. Ms. Guryan, who by then was in her 60s and had settled into an anonymous career teaching music, had an unexpected burst of something resembling fame.“It’s still amazing to me to have something resurface after 30 years,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 2002. “People say I’ve been rediscovered. It’s not true — I’ve been discovered.”Ms. Guryan died on Nov. 8 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 84.Jonathan Rosner, her stepson, confirmed the death.As a songwriter, Ms. Guryan was best known for “Sunday Morning,” which became a Top 40 hit (with the “g” dropped from “Morning”) for Spanky and Our Gang in 1968 and was also recorded by the singer Oliver and others. Another of her songs, “Think of Rain,” has also been recorded by a number of singers, including Claudine Longet, Jackie DeShannon and Malcolm McNeill.But the reissue of “Take a Picture” and the follow-up album of demos brought a new appreciation of Ms. Guryan as someone who, her own insecurities aside, performed her own songs better than almost anyone else could. The records, J.R. Jones wrote in The Chicago Reader in 2002, “reveal one of the most overlooked talents of that explosively creative time, a reluctant vocalist whose songs, perversely, were indivisible from her voice.”Margo Guryan was born on Sept. 20, 1937, in Hempstead, N.Y., on Long Island, and grew up in the Far Rockaway section of Queens. Both of her parents played piano, though not professionally, and she began taking lessons when she was 6.She developed an interest in jazz early, and once she enrolled at Boston University she made a point of taking a course on jazz history taught by the Newport Jazz Festival impresario George Wein, who also owned a Boston nightclub, Storyville. He befriended her and would let her slip into the club through a side door, since she was underage. Once, when the pianist scheduled to play at intermission during an engagement by the Miles Davis Quintet didn’t show up, the club manager persuaded her to fill in; Mr. Davis, she said, gave her a congratulatory “Yeah, baby!”But, as would be the case later with her pop work, performing was not her priority. She often said that she switched her field of study at Boston University to composition from piano just to avoid having to give a senior recital.“To be a good jazz musician on any instrument, one has to be a really quick thinker, or internalize the chord progression,” she told the music magazine It’s Psychedelic Baby in 2018. “I’m a slow thinker — need time to think about where I’m going.”She began having success as a songwriter. While she was still in college one of her compositions, “Moon Ride,” was recorded by the jazz singer Chris Connor.In 1959 and 1960 she was among the students at the Lenox School of Jazz, a summer jazz education program in Massachusetts. The saxophonist and free-jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman was also a student there. After she had graduated from college, Ms. Guryan went to work for MJQ Music, a jazz publisher, which assigned her to put lyrics to the Coleman composition “Lonely Woman.” That version was recorded by Ms. Connor in 1962, among other singers.Ms. Guryan began having success as a songwriter when she was still in college.via Jonathan RosnerThat same year Harry Belafonte included her song “I’m on My Way to Saturday” on his album “The Many Moods of Belafonte.” That, she told It’s Psychedelic Baby, brought her a $1,500 paycheck, her largest to date.“I remember that I took some of the money and bought a red winter coat,” she said. “And I would tell people the coat was a gift from Harry Belafonte.”In 1966 her friend Dave Frishberg, the pianist and songwriter (who died on Nov. 17), changed her musical direction when he dropped by her apartment in Greenwich Village to play her an exciting new record: the Beach Boys’ ambitious “Pet Sounds.” The track “God Only Knows” especially caught her attention.“Margo was blown away and thought it was better and more interesting than anything going on in jazz at that moment,” Jonathan Rosner, a music publisher, said by email. “This inspired her to write ‘Think of Rain,’ which then led to all the other pop songs.”In 1967 David Rosner, whom she would marry in 1970, signed her to the music publisher April-Blackwood Music. He took demos she had made of her songs to record companies, trying to interest their artists in them.“One record company exec asked, ‘Why don’t we just record her?’” Ms. Guryan recalled in a 2015 interview with the music publication L.A. Record.Ms. Guryan had a flaw in her singing voice. (“I have a range break, right around G above middle C,” she told The Chicago Reader. “Above that I can sing, but it’s almost falsetto. Below it I can sing in full voice.”) As they set about recording the songs that would become “Take a Picture,” Mr. Rosner suggested doubling her voice, a recording technique in which the singer sings a track twice; that trick not only overcame the flaw but also gave her voice an ethereal quality that, three decades after the fact, would suit the record nicely for an era that favored whispy-voiced singer-songwriters.That was all in the future. First came a fateful meeting with Larry Uttal, the president of the label that issued the album, Bell Records. He outlined his plans for her to promote the record with lip-synced TV appearances and live shows.“I just sat there and shook my head from side to side,” she said years later. “After a frustrating half an hour or so — I’m sure for him as well as me — we left, and the promotion on the record immediately took a nosedive.”An early marriage to the trombonist and composer Bob Brookmeyer ended in divorce. David Rosner died in 2017. In addition to her stepson, Ms. Guryan is survived by two grandchildren.After her album died in the late 1960s, Ms. Guryan continued to write the occasional song, including some political ditties inspired by Watergate and by a speech by President George W. Bush. Another project, an extension of her work as a music teacher, was “The Chopsticks Variations,” a group of fanciful elaborations on the familiar piano exercise known to countless children — she wrote a ragtime variation, a boogie-woogie one, and 12 others. The works were so popular as sheet music that in 2009 she issued them on CD. More

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      Grammys Snubs and Surprises: Kacey Musgraves, Jon Batiste and Abba

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      A jazz musician snagged the most nominations, and the Weeknd, an artist who said he’s boycotting the awards, found his name on the ballot.Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo — sure, of course.H.E.R., Brandi Carlile, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga — OK, fine, that makes some sense. These are the Grammys, after all.But Jon Batiste — the most-nominated artist overall? And … Abba? Who knew.The contenders for the 64th annual Grammy Awards in January were announced on Tuesday. The New York Times music team — reporter Joe Coscarelli, chief pop music critic Jon Pareles and pop music critic Jon Caramanica — are here to break them down.JOE COSCARELLI Let’s just start with the real shocker: A jazz pianist leads the field with 11 total nominations.Yes, Batiste is a genre-crossing multihyphenate who works as the bandleader and musical director for CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” He’s already won a Golden Globe and an Oscar (best original score for Pixar’s “Soul,” alongside Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) and is liable to pop up anywhere music is played — even alongside Madonna, as she promoted her “Madame X” concert movie in Harlem.Yet seeing him not only in the R&B, jazz, classical and American roots categories but also in the general field — record and album of the year — alongside those I considered shoo-ins (Rodrigo, Eilish, Taylor Swift, Doja Cat) was the sort of surprise that only the Grammys can consistently provide.Which is to say, was this actually a twist or was this the most Grammys thing that could have possibly happened? I’m torn, because on one hand, it felt like we were moving away from this. On the other, Jacob Collier got an album of the year nod last time around.JON CARAMANICA Last year, when talking about the ubiquity of the retro rock-soul band Black Pumas, we underscored a now-familiar Grammy sleight of hand: Rather than nominate older musicians well past their prime popularity, the show instead nominates younger musicians who make music in an old-fashioned way. That can mean Black Pumas, and it can mean Billie Eilish.This year, it means Jon Batiste, who is 35, but pointedly carries on the long tradition of New Orleans music, and who in recent years has become an institutionalist, a slightly less progressive version of his bandleader competitor, Questlove of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”The Grammys are, naturally, the ultimate institution — I would not be surprised if, a decade or two from now, Batiste becomes the show’s musical director. That he is also the bandleader on the marquee late-night show on CBS, the network that also broadcasts the Grammys, isn’t evidence of a fix, but it’s a reminder that the presumed and actual audiences for the awards show and the network both skew old — and that in this echo chamber, and perhaps only in this echo chamber, Batiste qualifies as a pop star..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}JON PARELES Batiste is an impressive musician and performer — pianist, singer, dancer — and his album, “We Are,” is a trove of good intentions and good playing, including New Orleans connections with appearances by Trombone Shorty and the Hot 8 Brass Band. Like Black Pumas (also nominated this year!), Batiste’s album harks back to vintage soul and R&B, clearly a sweet spot for Grammy voters, although it also ventures toward hip-hop. The album is a serious, thoughtful statement, celebrating New Orleans roots — Batiste is a member of a longstanding musical family — and his own memories of growing up. It also has positive-thinking message songs like “Freedom” and “We Are.” But Batiste’s nightly broadcast exposure clearly has a lot to do with all his nominations; someone’s still watching network TV.You get a lot of Grammy nominations by qualifying for multiple categories — and a lot of nominations does not guarantee a lot of wins. Batiste is in R&B, jazz, American roots, soundtrack (for “Soul”), music video and even contemporary classical for one of the album tracks, “Movement 11” — which is a stretch, since it shares far more similarity to a two-minute jazz improvisation with added strings than it does to its fellow nominees, like the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen’s knotty orchestral song cycle, “The Only One.”COSCARELLI Rounding out album of the year, in addition to Batiste’s “We Are,” you have “Love for Sale” by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, “Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)” by Justin Bieber, “Planet Her (Deluxe)” by Doja Cat, “Back of My Mind” by H.E.R., “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish, “Montero” by Lil Nas X, “Sour” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Evermore” by Taylor Swift and “Donda” by Kanye West.Many of those artists are also represented in song and record of the year, where you also get a mix of Brandi Carlile, Ed Sheeran, Silk Sonic and Abba’s “I Still Have Faith in You,” which is apparently a record that moved people? That means no Halsey, Ariana Grande, BTS, Megan Thee Stallion, Chris Stapleton or Tyler, the Creator in the major categories, which plenty will see as galling.The 2019 best album winner, Kacey Musgraves, was also eligible again, for her latest LP, “Star-Crossed,” which wasn’t nominated as a body of work. Instead, she landed only two nods overall: best country song and best country solo performance for “Camera Roll,” despite the album being reportedly removed from the country categories by the Recording Academy’s genre police.PARELES One thing that struck me, as a writer for a sometime print publication, was the sheer typographical burden of this year’s Grammy nominations. The list simply has not looked like this before. The album of the year category goes on for three full pages to name all the songwriters, producers and engineers credited on albums by Batiste, Bieber, Doja Cat, H.E.R., Lil Nas X, Swift and West.It’s a reflection of how albums are made now. It’s not a band and a producer sequestered in the studio. It’s about beat-shopping, samples, songwriting camps, remote collaborations, multiple tweaks and iterations — and all the participants want those credits and publishing points. The nominees alone are going to be a sizable voting bloc for each album, especially in a category split 10 ways.COSCARELLI But then there’s Gaga and Bennett, Eilish and Rodrigo, whose credits are minuscule by comparison. That could potentially give them an edge with more conservative voters who remain concerned with the bespoke quality of the music.Along with expanding the Big Four categories to 10 nominees each — and lowering the bar for how much any one collaborator has to contribute to be among those recognized in the best album field (hello, Zadie Smith!) — this year also marked the end of the so-called Nominations Review Committees. (These were the source of the Weeknd’s frustration last year, after he was snubbed and eventually decided to boycott.)Rather than some shadowy cabal taking the members’ top vote-getters, considering them and then making their own final decision on the nominees anyway, the Recording Academy says these picks are pure: Whoever got the most votes from their music industry peers is who is appearing on the final ballot.Do you see that reflected here? My sense is that it benefits those with wide name recognition and enduring industry connections and respect — Bieber, Abba, maybe even Carlile, who has a record of the year nomination and two for song, including an Alicia Keys duet. At the same time, you could imagine the secret committees keeping out something like Lady Gaga and Bennett’s “Love for Sale,” because it’s so stereotypically Old and Stuffy Grammys — the kind of thing it felt like they were distancing themselves from in recent history.CARAMANICA I will not lie: my heart palpitated a little erratically (and worryingly) when I read the first name in the first category, record of the year: Abba. Now look, I exult at weddings just like the next sap, and I honor anyone whose albums were in my parents’ vinyl collection. But this new Abba music is thin, thin, thin. It exists primarily as an advertisement for the old Abba music, and the group’s avatar-led stage show that’s debuting next year.PARELES That’s obviously one of the Grammys’ better-late-than-never nominations. Abba never got a Grammy in its prime; this nomination is the apology.Meanwhile, count me surprised that Arooj Aftab turns up in the best new artist category. She is a Pakistani musician who studied at the Berklee School of Music and is based in Brooklyn, mingling South Asian music, jazz and chamber music; some of the songs on her (third) album, “Vulture Prince,” presumably the one that caught the Grammys’ attention, have lyrics by the 13th-century Persian mystical poet Rumi. It’s a lovely album, but I hardly expected to see her name alongside Rodrigo and Saweetie. Persian aside, there’s also still a language barrier for Grammy voters in this category; where are streaming blockbusters like Rauw Alejandro, whose debut album came out last November?COSCARELLI Best new artist is confusing, especially with the removal of the nomination committees taken into account. Enough people knew Aftab, Baby Keem and Japanese Breakfast to put them ahead of, say, Polo G, Tems, Jack Harlow and Maneskin (shudder)?I do miss the secret committees when it comes to rock. Last year, they seemed to make a point to shake up typically staid categories like best rock song, album and performance, the latter of which was all women for the first time, including Fiona Apple, Phoebe Bridgers and Haim. This year it’s back to basics: AC/DC, Black Pumas (for a live release), Chris Cornell, Deftones and Foo Fighters. Kings of Leon, Weezer and Paul McCartney also turn up in the rock field.That can’t help but feel like regression, even if it’s what the voters wanted.Kanye West’s “Donda” is up for album of the year.Randall Hill/ReutersCARAMANICA Joe, you see that shift also in the best rap album nominations. Last year, they consisted of purist-oriented artisanal albums at the intersection of process and aesthetic that the Grammys has long valorized in other genres. This year, the nominees are … reasonably popular and generally respected rap albums.That includes “Donda,” which is also nominated for album of the year. West received five total nominations this year, representing something of a coming in from the cold for someone who, in Grammy terms, now qualifies as a legacy artist. He has been nominated over 70 times in his career, but apart from last year’s win for best contemporary Christian music album, hasn’t taken home a trophy since 2013. He also hasn’t been nominated for album of the year for an album of his own since his 2007 album “Graduation.” (He has been nominated as a producer on others’ albums.)The nominations of “Donda” and “Hurricane” (best melodic rap performance) also means nominations for the Weeknd, even after his boycott. (He is also nominated for his contributions to Doja Cat’s album.)COSCARELLI The inclusion of “Donda” in album of the year can’t help but highlight the lack of Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy,” which earned a rap album and a rap performance nod (for “Way 2 Sexy”) but nothing in the top categories. Both are among the year’s biggest albums commercially.Also on that best-seller list? Morgan Wallen, who has outperformed both rappers but came away with absolutely no nominations amid his soft industry banishment for drunkenly shouting a racial slur in a video captured by a neighbor. Does that count as a snub, or just a cultural land mine avoided?CARAMANICA It’s also worth mentioning Taylor Swift here — a lonely nomination for album of the year, for “Evermore,” perhaps the least commercially impactful album of her career, and also another nomination in the same category by dint of her writing “contributions” to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Sour.”PARELES In a way, Swift’s album nomination is the appropriate one: “Evermore” is an old-fashioned full-length album, made to be heard as a whole. Also on the absentee list: Lana Del Rey and Lorde, even though their (and Swift’s) producer Jack Antonoff is nominated as producer of the year, in part for his work with them.COSCARELLI I see neither of you want to touch the subject of Wallen right now — just like the Grammys.CARAMANICA On the other hand, there are a handful of TikTok hits that have now led to Grammy nominations: Giveon’s slow and aching “Heartbreak Anniversary” is nominated for best R&B song, and the British rock band Glass Animals had a huge TikTok hit this year with “Heat Waves,” and now the band, which has been releasing music for several years, is nominated for best new artist. Walker Hayes’s goofy country stomper “Fancy Like” started its ascent on TikTok and now is nominated in best country song.PARELES Well, at least they’re trying. You have to sympathize, a little, with how difficult it is for the Grammys to try to sum up all of music when there are so many niche audiences that barely intersect. But we’re lucky that hardly anyone who cares about music takes the Grammys as the ultimate judgment. More

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      Grammy Nominees 2022: The Full List

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      Artists, albums and songs competing for trophies at the 64th annual ceremony were announced on Tuesday. The show will take place Jan. 31 in Los Angeles.Nominees for the 64th annual Grammy Awards were announced on Tuesday. Jon Batiste leads all artists with 11 nominations; Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and H.E.R. follow with eight; Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo have seven each.The ceremony will be the first since the awards made a major change to its nominating process: In late April, the board of the Recording Academy, the governing body of the Grammys, voted to eliminate the use of anonymous expert committees to whittle down the final ballot in dozens of categories, a practice that had been in place since 1989. The Grammys have been criticized in recent years by prominent artists including Jay-Z, Drake, Kanye West and Frank Ocean, who amplified concerns that Black artists have been routinely passed over in the top all-genre categories. In March, the Weeknd announced a boycott of the Grammys, citing the committees.The ceremony will be held on Jan. 31, 2022, at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center) in Los Angeles.Here is the full list of nominees.Record of the Year“I Still Have Faith in You,” Abba“Freedom,” Jon Batiste“I Get a Kick Out of You,” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga“Peaches,” Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon“Right on Time,” Brandi Carlile“Kiss Me More,” Doja Cat featuring SZA“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish“Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” Lil Nas X“Drivers License,” Olivia Rodrigo“Leave the Door Open,” Silk SonicAlbum of the Year“We Are,” Jon Batiste“Love for Sale,” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga“Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe),” Justin Bieber“Planet Her (Deluxe),” Doja Cat“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish“Back of My Mind,” H.E.R.“Montero,” Lil Nas X“Sour,” Olivia Rodrigo“Evermore,” Taylor Swift“Donda,” Kanye WestSong of the Year“Bad Habits,” Fred Gibson, Johnny McDaid and Ed Sheeran, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)“A Beautiful Noise,” Ruby Amanfu, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, Alicia Keys, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Linda Perry and Hailey Whitters, songwriters (Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile)“Drivers License,” Daniel Nigro and Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Olivia Rodrigo)“Fight for You,” Dernst Emile Ii, H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)“Kiss Me More,” Rogét Chahayed, Amala Zandile Dlamini, Lukasz Gottwald, Carter Lang, Gerard A. Powell Ii, Solána Rowe and David Sprecher, songwriters (Doja Cat featuring Sza)“Leave the Door Open,” Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile Ii and Bruno Mars, songwriters (Silk Sonic)“Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, Omer Fedi, Montero Hill and Roy Lenzo, songwriters (Lil Nas X)“Peaches,” Louis Bell, Justin Bieber, Giveon Dezmann Evans, Bernard Harvey, Felisha “Fury” King, Matthew Sean Leon, Luis Manuel Martinez Jr., Aaron Simmonds, Ashton Simmonds, Andrew Wotman Aand Keavan Yazdani, songwriters (Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon)“Right on Time,” Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth, songwriters (Brandi Carlile)Best New ArtistArooj AftabJimmie AllenBaby KeemFinneasGlass AnimalsJapanese BreakfastThe Kid LaroiArlo ParksOlivia RodrigoSaweetieBest Pop Solo Performance“Anyone,” Justin Bieber“Right on Time,” Brandi Carlile“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish“Positions,” Ariana Grande“Drivers License,” Olivia RodrigoBest Pop Duo/Group Performance“I Get a Kick Out of You,” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga“Lonely,” Justin Bieber and Benny Blanco“Butter,” BTS“Higher Power,” Coldplay“Kiss Me More,” Doja Cat featuring SZABest Traditional Pop Vocal Album“Love for Sale,” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga“’Til We Meet Again (Live),” Norah Jones“A Tori Kelly Christmas,” Tori Kelly“Ledisi Sings Nina,” Ledisi“That’s Life,” Willie Nelson“A Holly Dolly Christmas,” Dolly PartonBest Pop Vocal Album“Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe),” Justin Bieber“Planet Her (Deluxe),” Doja Cat“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish“Positions,” Ariana Grande“Sour,” Olivia RodrigoBest Dance/Electronic Recording“Hero,” Afrojack and David Guetta“Loom,” Ólafur Arnalds featuring Bonobo“Before,” James Blake“Heartbreak,” Bonobo and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs“You Can Do It,” Caribou“Alive,” Rüfüs Du Sol“The Business,” TiëstoBest Dance/Electronic Music Album“Subconsciously,” Black Coffee“Fallen Embers,” Illenium“Music Is the Weapon (Reloaded),” Major Lazer“Shockwave,” Marshmello“Free Love,” Sylvan Esso“Judgement,” Ten CityBest Alternative Music Album“Shore,” Fleet Foxes“If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power,” Halsey“Jubilee,” Japanese Breakfast“Collapsed in Sunbeams,” Arlo Parks“Daddy’s Home,” St. VincentBest Contemporary Instrumental Album“Double Dealin’,” Randy Brecker and Eric Marienthal“The Garden,” Rachel Eckroth“Tree Falls,” Taylor Eigsti“At Blue Note Tokyo,” Steve Gadd Band“Deep: The Baritone Sessions, Vol. 2,” Mark LettieriBest Rock Performance“Shot in the Dark,” AC/DC“Know You Better (Live From Capitol Studio A),” Black Pumas“Nothing Compares 2 U,” Chris Cornell“Ohms,” Deftones“Making a Fire,” Foo FightersBest Metal Performance“Genesis,” Deftones“The Alien,” Dream Theater“Amazonia,” Gojira“Pushing the Tides,” Mastodon“The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition),” Rob ZombieBest Rock Song“All My Favorite Songs,” Rivers Cuomo, Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson and Ilsey Juber, songwriters (Weezer)“The Bandit,” Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill and Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings of Leon)“Distance,” Wolfgang Van Halen, songwriter (Mammoth Wvh)“Find My Way,” Paul McCartney, songwriter (Paul McCartney)“Waiting on a War,” Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear, songwriters (Foo Fighters)Best Rock Album“Power Up,” AC/DC“Capitol Cuts – Live From Studio A,” Black Pumas“No One Sings Like You Anymore Vol. 1,” Chris Cornell“Medicine at Midnight,” Foo Fighters“McCartney III,” Paul McCartneyBest R&B Performance“Lost You,” Snoh Aalegra“Peaches,” Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon“Damage,” H.E.R.“Leave the Door Open,” Silk Sonic“Pick Up Your Feelings,” Jazmine SullivanBest Traditional R&B Performance“I Need You,” Jon Batiste“Bring It on Home to Me,” BJ The Chicago Kid, PJ Morton and Kenyon Dixon featuring Charlie Bereal“Born Again,” Leon Bridges featuring Robert Glasper“Fight for You,” H.E.R.“How Much Can a Heart Take,” Lucky Daye featuring YebbaBest R&B Song“Damage,” Anthony Clemons Jr., Jeff Gitelman, H.E.R., Carl McCormick and Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)“Good Days,” Jacob Collier, Carter Lang, Carlos Munoz, Solána Rowe and Christopher Ruelas, songwriters (SZA)“Heartbreak Anniversary,” Giveon Evans, Maneesh, Sevn Thomas and Varren Wade, songwriters (Giveon)“Leave the Door Open,” Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II and Bruno Mars, songwriters (Silk Sonic)“Pick Up Your Feelings,” Denisia “Blue June” Andrews, Audra Mae Butts, Kyle Coleman, Brittany “Chi” Coney, Michael Holmes and Jazmine Sullivan, songwriters (Jazmine Sullivan).css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c 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em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Best Progressive R&B Album“New Light,” Eric Bellinger“Something to Say,” Cory Henry“Mood Valiant,” Hiatus Kaiyote“Table for Two,” Lucky Daye“Dinner Party: Dessert,” Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder and Kamasi Washington“Studying Abroad: Extended Stay,” MasegoBest R&B Album“Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies,” Snoh Aalegra“We Are,” Jon Batiste“Gold-Diggers Sound,” Leon Bridges“Back of My Mind,” H.E.R.“Heaux Tales,” Jazmine SullivanBest Rap Performance“Family Ties” Baby Keem featuring Kendrick Lamar“Up,” Cardi B“My Life,” J. Cole featuring 21 Savage and Morray“Way 2 Sexy,” Drake featuring Future and Young Thug“Thot ___,” Megan Thee StallionBest Melodic Rap Performance“Pride Is the Devil,” J. Cole featuring Lil Baby“Need to Know,” Doja Cat“Industry Baby,” Lil Nas X featuring Jack Harlow“Wusyaname,” Tyler, The Creator featuring Youngboy Never Broke Again and Ty Dolla Sign“Hurricane,” Kanye West featuring the Weeknd and Lil BabyBest Rap Song“Bath Salts,” Shawn Carter, Kasseem Dean, Michael Forno, Nasir Jones and Earl Simmons, songwriters (DMX featuring Jay-Z and Nas)“Best Friend,” Amala Zandile Dlamini, Lukasz Gottwald, Randall Avery Hammers, Diamonté Harper, Asia Smith, Theron Thomas and Rocco Valdes, songwriters (Saweetie featuring Doja Cat)“Family Ties,” Roshwita Larisha Bacha, Hykeem Carter, Tobias Dekker, Colin Franken, Jasper Harris, Kendrick Lamar, Ronald Latour and Dominik Patrzek, songwriters (Baby Keem featuring Kendrick Lamar)“Jail,” Dwayne Abernathy, Jr., Shawn Carter, Raul Cubina, Michael Dean, Charles M. Njapa, Sean Solymar, Brian Hugh Warner, Kanye West and Mark Williams, songwriters (Kanye West featuring Jay-Z)“My Life,” Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph & Jermaine Cole, songwriters (J. Cole featuring 21 Savage and Morray)Best Rap Album“The Off-Season,” J. Cole“Certified Lover Boy,” Drake“King’s Disease II,” Nas“Call Me If You Get Lost,” Tyler, the Creator“Donda,” Kanye WestBest Country Solo Performance“Forever After All,” Luke Combs“Remember Her Name,” Mickey Guyton“All I Do Is Drive,” Jason Isbell“Camera Roll,” Kacey Musgraves“You Should Probably Leave,” Chris StapletonBest Country Duo/Group Performance“If I Didn’t Love You,” Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood“Younger Me,” Brothers Osborne“Glad You Exist,” Dan + Shay“Chasing After You,” Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris“Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” Elle King and Miranda LambertBest Country Song“Better Than We Found It,” Jessie Jo Dillon, Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz, songwriters (Maren Morris)“Camera Roll,” Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves and Daniel Tashian, songwriters (Kacey Musgraves)“Cold,” Dave Cobb, J.T. Cure, Derek Mixon and Chris Stapleton, songwriters (Chris Stapleton)“Country Again,” Zach Crowell, Ashley Gorley and Thomas Rhett, songwriters (Thomas Rhett)“Fancy Like,” Cameron Bartolini, Walker Hayes, Josh Jenkins and Shane Stevens, songwriters (Walker Hayes)“Remember Her Name,” Mickey Guyton, Blake Hubbard, Jarrod Ingram and Parker Welling, songwriters (Mickey Guyton)Best Country Album“Skeletons,” Brothers Osborne“Remember Her Name,” Mickey Guyton“The Marfa Tapes,” Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall and Jack Ingram“The Ballad of Dood & Juanita,” Sturgill Simpson“Starting Over,” Chris StapletonBest New Age Album“Brothers,” Will Ackerman, Jeff Oster and Tom Eaton“Divine Tides,” Stewart Copeland and Ricky Kej“Pangaea,” Wouter Kellerman and David Arkenstone“Night + Day,” Opium Moon“Pieces of Forever,” Laura SullivanBest Improvised Jazz Solo“Sackodougou,” Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, soloist“Kick Those Feet,” Kenny Barron, soloist“Bigger Than Us,” Jon Batiste, soloist“Absence,” Terence Blanchard, soloist“Humpty Dumpty (Set 2),” Chick Corea, soloistBest Jazz Vocal Album“Generations,” The Baylor Project“Superblue,” Kurt Elling and Charlie Hunter“Time Traveler,” Nnenna Freelon“Flor,” Gretchen Parlato“Songwrights Apothecary Lab,” Esperanza SpaldingBest Jazz Instrumental Album“Jazz Selections: Music From and Inspired by Soul,” Jon Batiste“Absence,” Terence Blanchard featuring the E Collective and the Turtle Island Quartet“Skyline,” Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette and Gonzalo Rubalcaba“Akoustic Band Live,” Chick Corea, John Patitucci and Dave Weckl“Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV),” Pat MethenyBest Large Jazz Ensemble Album“Live at Birdland!,” The Count Basie Orchestra directed by Scotty Barnhart“Dear Love,” Jazzmeia Horn and her Noble Force“For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver,” Christian McBride Big Band“Swirling,” Sun Ra Arkestra“Jackets XL,” Yellowjackets + WDR Big BandBest Latin Jazz Album“Mirror Mirror,” Eliane Elias With Chick Corea and Chucho Valdés“The South Bronx Story,” Carlos Henriquez“Virtual Birdland,” Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra“Transparency,” Dafnis Prieto Sextet“El Arte Del Bolero,” Miguel Zenón and Luis PerdomoBest Gospel Performance/Song“Voice of God,” Dante Bowe featuring Steffany Gretzinger and Chandler Moore; Dante Bowe, Tywan Mack, Jeff Schneeweis and Mitch Wong, songwriters“Joyful,” Dante Bowe; Dante Bowe and Ben Schofield, songwriters“Help,” Anthony Brown & Group Therapy; Anthony Brown and Darryl Woodson, songwriters“Never Lost,” CeCe Winans“Wait on You,” Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music; Dante Bowe, Chris Brown, Steven Furtick, Tiffany Hudson, Brandon Lake and Chandler Moore, songwritersBest Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song“We Win,” Kirk Franklin and Lil Baby; Kirk Franklin, Dominique Jones, Cynthia Nunn and Justin Smith, songwriters“Hold Us Together (Hope Mix),” H.E.R. and Tauren Wells; Josiah Bassey, Dernst Emile and H.E.R., songwriters“Man of Your Word,” Chandler Moore and KJ Scriven; Jonathan Jay, Nathan Jess and Chandler Moore, songwriters“Believe for It,” CeCe Winans; Dwan Hill, Kyle Lee, CeCe Winans and Mitch Wong, songwriters“Jireh,” Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music featuring Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine; Chris Brown, Steven Furtick, Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine, songwritersBest Gospel Album“Changing Your Story,” Jekalyn Carr“Royalty: Live at the Ryman,” Tasha Cobbs Leonard“Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition,” Maverick City Music“Jonny X Mali: Live in LA,” Jonathan McReynolds and Mali Music“Believe for It,” CeCe WinansBest Contemporary Christian Music Album“No Stranger,” Natalie Grant“Feels Like Home Vol. 2,” Israel and New Breed“The Blessing (Live),” Kari Jobe“Citizen of Heaven (Live),” Tauren Wells“Old Church Basement,” Elevation Worship and Maverick City MusicBest Roots Gospel Album“Alone With My Faith,” Harry Connick, Jr.“That’s Gospel, Brother,” Gaither Vocal Band“Keeping On,” Ernie Haase and Signature Sound“Songs For the Times,” The Isaacs“My Savior,” Carrie UnderwoodBest Latin Pop Album“Vértigo,” Pablo Alborán“Mis Amores,” Paula Arenas“Hecho a la Antigua,” Ricardo Arjona“Mis Manos,” Camilo“Mendó,” Alex Cuba“Revelación,” Selena GomezBest Música Urbana Album“Afrodisíaco,” Rauw Alejandro“El Último Tour Del Mundo,” Bad Bunny“Jose,” J Balvin“KG0516,” KAROL G“Sin Miedo (Del Amor y Otros Demonios),” Kali UchisBest Latin Rock or Alternative Album“Deja,” Bomba Estéreo“Mira Lo Que Me Hiciste Hacer (Deluxe Edition),” Diamante Eléctrico“Origen,” Juanes“Calambre,” Nathy Peluso“El Madrileño,” C. Tangana“Sonidos de Karmática Resonancia,” ZoéBest Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano)“Antología de la Musica Ranchera, Vol. 2,” Aida Cuevas“A Mis 80’s,” Vicente Fernández“Seis,” Mon Laferte“Un Canto por México, Vol. II,” Natalia Lafourcade“Ayayay! (Súper Deluxe),” Christian NodalBest Tropical Latin Album“Salswing!,” Rubén Blades y Roberto Delgado & Orquesta“En Cuarentena,” El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico“Sin Salsa No Hay Paraíso,” Aymée Nuviola“Colegas,” Gilberto Santa Rosa“Live in Peru,” Tony SuccarBest American Roots Performance“Cry,” Jon Batiste“Love and Regret,” Billy Strings“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” The Blind Boys of Alabama and Béla Fleck“Same Devil,” Brandy Clark featuring Brandi Carlile“Nightflyer,” Allison RussellBest American Roots Song“Avalon,” Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson and Francesco Turrisi, songwriters (Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi)“Call Me a Fool,” Valerie June, songwriter (Valerie June featuring Carla Thomas)“Cry,” Jon Batiste and Steve McEwan, songwriters (Jon Batiste)“Diamond Studded Shoes,” Dan Auerbach, Natalie Hemby, Aaron Lee Tasjan and Yola, songwriters (Yola)“Nightflyer,” Jeremy Lindsay and Allison Russell, songwriters (Allison Russell)Best Americana Album“Downhill From Everywhere,” Jackson Browne“Leftover Feelings,” John Hiatt with the Jerry Douglas Band“Native Sons,” Los Lobos“Outside Child,” Allison Russell“Stand for Myself,” YolaBest Bluegrass Album“Renewal,” Billy Strings“My Bluegrass Heart,” Béla Fleck“A Tribute To Bill Monroe,” The Infamous Stringdusters“Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions),” Sturgill Simpson“Music Is What I See,” Rhonda VincentBest Traditional Blues Album“100 Years of Blues,” Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite“Traveler’s Blues,” Blues Traveler“I Be Trying,” Cedric Burnside“Be Ready When I Call You,” Guy Davis“Take Me Back,” Kim WilsonBest Contemporary Blues Album“Delta Kream,” The Black Keys featuring Eric Deaton and Kenny Brown“Royal Tea,” Joe Bonamassa“Uncivil War,” Shemekia Copeland“Fire It Up,” Steve Cropper“662,” Christone “Kingfish” IngramBest Folk Album“One Night Lonely [Live],” Mary Chapin Carpenter“Long Violent History,” Tyler Childers“Wednesday (Extended Edition),” Madison Cunningham“They’re Calling Me Home,” Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi“Blue Heron Suite,” Sarah JaroszBest Regional Roots Music Album“Live in New Orleans!,” Sean Ardoin and Kreole Rock and Soul“Bloodstains & Teardrops,” Big Chief Monk Boudreaux“My People,” Cha Wa“Corey Ledet Zydeco,” Corey Ledet Zydeco“Kau Ka Pe’a,” Kalani Pe’aBest Reggae Album“Pamoja,” Etana“Positive Vibration,” Gramps Morgan“Live N Livin,” Sean Paul“Royal,” Jesse Royal“Beauty in the Silence,” Soja“10,” SpiceBest Engineered Album, Non-Classical“Cinema,” Josh Conway, Marvin Figueroa, Josh Gudwin, Neal H Pogue and Ethan Shumaker, engineers; Joe LaPorta, mastering engineer (The Marías)“Dawn,” Thomas Brenneck, Zach Brown, Elton “L10MixedIt” Chueng, Riccardo Damian, Tom Elmhirst, Jens Jungkurth, Todd Monfalcone, John Rooney and Smino, engineers; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer (Yebba)“Hey What,” BJ Burton, engineer; BJ Burton, mastering engineer (Low)“Love for Sale,” Dae Bennett, Josh Coleman and Billy Cumella, engineers; Greg Calbi and Steve Fallone, mastering engineers (Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga)Producer of the Year, Non-ClassicalJack AntonoffRogét ChahayedMike ElizondoHit-BoyRicky ReedBest Remixed Recording“Back to Life” (Booker T Kings of Soul Satta Dub); Booker T, remixer (Soul II Soul)“Born for Greatness” (Cymek Remix); Spencer Bastin, remixer (Papa Roach); track from: “Greatest Hits Vol. 2 The Better Noise Years”“Constant Craving” (Fashionably Late Remix); Tracy Young, remixer (K.D. Lang)“Inside Out” (3scape DRM Remix); 3scape DRM, remixer (Zedd and Griff)“Met Him Last Night (Dave Audé Remix); Dave Audé, remixer (Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande)“Passenger” (Mike Shinoda Remix); Mike Shinoda, remixer (Deftones); track from: “White Pony” (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)“Talks” (Mura Masa Remix); Alexander Crossan, remixer (PVA)Best Global Music Performance“Mohabbat,” Arooj Aftab“Do Yourself,” Angelique Kidjo and Burna Boy“Pà Pá Pà,” Femi Kuti“Blewu,” Yo-Yo Ma and Angelique Kidjo“Essence,” Wizkid featuring TemsBest Global Music Album“Voice of Bunbon, Vol. 1,” Rocky Dawuni“East West Players Presents: Daniel Ho and Friends Live in Concert,” Daniel Ho and Friends“Mother Nature,” Angelique Kidjo“Legacy +,” Femi Kuti and Made Kuti“Made In Lagos: Deluxe Edition,” WizkidBest Children’s Music Album“Actívate,” 123 Andrés“All One Tribe,” 1 Tribe Collective“Black to the Future,” Pierce Freelon“A Colorful World,” Falu“Crayon Kids,” Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam BandBest Spoken Word Album“Aftermath,” Levar Burton“Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation From John Lewis,” Don Cheadle“Catching Dreams: Live at Fort Knox Chicago,” J. Ivy“8:46,” Dave Chappelle and Amir Sulaiman“A Promised Land,” Barack ObamaBest Comedy Album“The Comedy Vaccine,” Lavell Crawford“Evolution,” Chelsea Handler“Sincerely Louis C.K.,” Louis C.K.“Thanks for Risking Your Life,” Lewis Black“The Greatest Average American,” Nate Bargatze“Zero ___ Given,” Kevin HartBest Musical Theater Album“Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella,” Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nick Lloyd Webber and Greg Wells, producers; Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel, composers/lyricists (Original Album Cast)“Burt Bacharach and Steven Sater’s Some Lovers,” Burt Bacharach, Michael Croiter, Ben Hartman and Steven Sater, Producers; Burt Bacharach, composer; Steven Sater, lyricist (World Premiere Cast)“Girl From the North Country,” Simon Hale, Conor Mcpherson and Dean Sharenow, Producers (Bob Dylan, composer and lyricist) (Original Broadway Cast)“Les Misérables: The Staged Concert (The Sensational 2020 Live Recording),” Cameron Mackintosh, Lee Mccutcheon and Stephenmetcalfe, producers (Claude-Michel Schönberg, composer; Alain Boublil, John Caird, Herbert Kretzmer, Jean-Marc Natel and Trevor Nunn, lyricists) (The 2020 Les Misérables Staged Concert Company)“Stephen Schwartz’s Snapshots,” Daniel C. Levine, Michael J Moritz Jr, Bryan Perri and Stephen Schwartz, producers (Stephen Schwartz, composer and lyricist) (World Premiere Cast)“The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” Emily Bear, producer; Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, composers/lyricists (Barlow & Bear)Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media“Cruella,” (Various Artists)“Dear Evan Hansen,” (Various Artists)“In The Heights,” (Various Artists)“One Night In Miami…,” (Various Artists)“Respect,” Jennifer Hudson“Schmigadoon! Episode 1,” (Various Artists)“The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” Andra DayBest Score Soundtrack for Visual Media“Bridgerton,” Kris Bowers, composer“Dune,” Hans Zimmer, composer“The Mandalorian: Season 2 – Vol. 2 (Chapters 13-16),” Ludwig Göransson, composer“The Queen’s Gambit,” Carlos Rafael Rivera, composer“Soul,” Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, composersBest Song Written For Visual Media“Agatha All Along [From Wandavision: Episode 7],” Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, songwriters (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez featuring Kathryn Hahn, Eric Bradley, Greg Whipple, Jasper Randall and Gerald White)“All Eyes On Me [From Inside],” Bo Burnham, songwriter (Bo Burnham)“All I Know So Far [From Pink: All I Know So Far],” Alecia Moore, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, songwriters (Pink)“Fight for You [From Judas and the Black Messiah],” Dernst Emile Ii, H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)“Here I Am (Singing My Way Home) [From Respect],” Jamie Hartman, Jennifer Hudson and Carole King, songwriters (Jennifer Hudson)“Speak Now [From One Night in Miami…],” Sam Ashworth and Leslie Odom, Jr., Songwriters (Leslie Odom, Jr.)Best Immersive Audio Album“Alicia,” George Massenburg and Eric Schilling, immersive mix engineers; Michael Romanowski, immersive mastering engineer; Ann Mincieli, immersive producer (Alicia Keys)“Clique,” Jim Anderson and Ulrike Schwarz, immersive mix engineers; Bob Ludwig, immersive mastering engineer; Jim Anderson, immersive producer (Patricia Barber)“Fine Line,” Greg Penny, immersive mix engineer; Greg Penny, immersive mastering engineer; Greg Penny, immersive producer (Harry Styles)“The Future Bites,” Jake Fields and Steven Wilson, immersive mix engineers; Bob Ludwig, immersive mastering engineer; Steven Wilson, immersive producer (Steven Wilson)“Stille Grender,” Morten Lindberg, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive producer (Anne Karin Sundal-Ask and Det Norske Jentekor)Best Immersive Audio Album (for 63rd Grammy Awards)“Bolstad: Tomba Sonora,” Morten Lindberg, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive producer (Stemmeklang)“Dear Future Self (Dolby Atmos Mixes),” Fritz Hilpert, immersive mix engineer; Jason Banks, Fritz Hilpert and David Ziegler, immersive mastering engineers; Tom Ammerman, Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger, immersive producers (Booka Shade)“Fryd,” Morten Lindberg, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive producer (Tove Ramlo-Ystad and Cantus)“Mutt Slang Ii – A Wake of Sorrows Engulfed in Rage,” Elliot Scheiner, immersive mix engineer; Darcy Proper, immersive mastering engineer; Alain Mallet and Elliot Scheiner, immersive producers (Alain Mallet)“Soundtrack of the American Soldier,” Leslie Ann Jones, immersive mix engineer; Michael Romanowski, immersive mastering engineer; Dan Merceruio, immersive producer (Jim R. Keene and the United States Army Field Band)Best Engineered Album, Classical“Archetypes,” Jonathan Lackey, Bill Maylone and Dan Nichols, engineers; Bill Maylone, mastering engineer (Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad and Third Coast Percussion)“Beethoven: Cello Sonatas – Hope Amid Tears,” Richard King, engineer (Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax)“Beethoven: Symphony No. 9,” Mark Donahue, engineer; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck, Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)“Chanticleer Sings Christmas,” Leslie Ann Jones, engineer (Chanticleer)“Mahler: Symphony No. 8, ‘Symphony Of A Thousand,’” Alexander Lipay and Dmitriy Lipay, engineers; Alexander Lipay and Dmitriy Lipay, mastering engineers (Gustavo Dudamel, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Luke McEndarfer, Robert Istad, Grant Gershon, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus, Pacific Chorale and Los Angeles Philharmonic)Producer of the Year, ClassicalBlanton AlspaughSteven EpsteinDavid FrostElaine MartoneJudith ShermanBest Orchestral Performance“Adams: My Father Knew Charles Ives; Harmonielehre,” Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor (Nashville Symphony Orchestra)“Beethoven: Symphony No. 9,” Manfred Honeck, conductor (Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)“Muhly: Throughline,” Nico Muhly, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)“Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3,” Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor (Philadelphia Orchestra)“Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra; Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy,” Thomas Dausgaard, conductor (Seattle Symphony Orchestra)Best Opera Recording“Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle,” Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Mika Kares and Szilvia Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor (Nashville Symphony Orchestra)“Glass: Akhnaten,” Karen Kamensek, conductor; J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Zachary James and Dísella Lárusdóttir; David Frost, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)“Janáček: Cunning Little Vixen,”” Simon Rattle, conductor; Sophia Burgos, Lucy Crowe, Gerald Finley, Peter Hoare, Anna Lapkovskaja, Paulina Malefane, Jan Martinik and Hanno Müller-Brachmann; Andrew Cornall, producer (London Symphony Orchestra; London Symphony Chorus and LSO Discovery Voices)“Little: Soldier Songs,” Corrado Rovaris, conductor; Johnathan McCullough; James Darrah and John Toia, producers (The Opera Philadelphia Orchestra)“Poulenc: Dialogues Des Carmélites,” Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Karen Cargill, Isabel Leonard, Karita Mattila, Erin Morley and Adrianne Pieczonka; David Frost, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)Best Choral Performance“It’s a Long Way,” Matthew Guard, conductor (Jonas Budris, Carrie Cheron, Fiona Gillespie, Nathan Hodgson, Helen Karloski, Enrico Lagasca, Megan Roth, Alissa Ruth Suver and Dana Whiteside; Skylark Vocal Ensemble)“Mahler: Symphony No. 8, ‘Symphony of a Thousand,’” Gustavo Dudamel, conductor; Grant Gershon, Robert Istad, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz and Luke McEndarfer, chorus masters (Leah Crocetto, Mihoko Fujimura, Ryan McKinny, Erin Morley, Tamara Mumford, Simon O’Neill, Morris Robinson and Tamara Wilson; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus and Pacific Chorale)“Rising w/ the Crossing,” Donald Nally, conductor (International Contemporary Ensemble and Quicksilver; The Crossing)“Schnittke: Choir Concerto; Three Sacred Hymns; Pärt: Seven Magnificat-Antiphons,” Kaspars Putnins, conductor; Heli Jürgenson, chorus master (Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir)“Sheehan: Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom,” Benedict Sheehan, conductor (Michael Hawes, Timothy Parsons and Jason Thoms; The Saint Tikhon Choir)“The Singing Guitar,” Craig Hella Johnson, conductor (Estelí Gomez; Austin Guitar Quartet, Douglas Harvey, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and Texas Guitar Quartet; Conspirare)Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance“Adams, John Luther: Lines Made By Walking,” JACK Quartet“Akiho: Seven Pillars,” Sandbox Percussion“Archetypes,” Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad and Third Coast Percussion“Beethoven: Cello Sonatas – Hope Amid Tears,” Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax“Bruits,” Imani WindsBest Classical Instrumental Solo“Alone Together,” Jennifer Koh“An American Mosaic,” Simone Dinnerstein“Bach: Sonatas and Partitas,” Augustin Hadelich“Beethoven and Brahms: Violin Concertos,” Gil Shaham; Eric Jacobsen, conductor (The Knights)“Mak Bach,” Mak Grgić“Of Power,” Curtis StewartBest Classical Solo Vocal Album“Confessions,” Laura Strickling; Joy Schreier, pianist“Dreams of a New Day – Songs by Black Composers,” Will Liverman; Paul Sánchez, pianist“Mythologies,” Sangeeta Kaur and Hila Plitmann (Virginie D’Avezac De Castera, Lili Haydn, Wouter Kellerman, Nadeem Majdalany, Eru Matsumoto and Emilio D. Miler)“Schubert: Winterreise,” Joyce DiDonato; Yannick Nézet-Séguin, pianist“Unexpected Shadows,” Jamie Barton; Jake Heggie, pianist (Matt Haimovitz)Best Classical Compendium“American Originals – A New World, A New Canon,” Agave and Reginald L. Mobley. Geoffrey Silver, producer.“Berg: Violin Concerto; Seven Early Songs and Three Pieces for Orchestra,” Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Jack Vad, producer.“Cerrone: The Arching Path,” Timo Andres and Ian Rosenbaum. Mike Tierney, producer.“Plays,” Chick Corea. Chick Corea and Birnie Kirsh, producers.“Women Warriors – The Voices of Change,” Amy Andersson, conductor; Amy Andersson, Mark Mattson and Lolita Ritmanis, producers.Best Contemporary Classical Composition“Akiho: Seven Pillars,” Andy Akiho, composer. (Sandbox Percussion)“Andriessen: The Only One,” Louis Andriessen, composer. (Esa-Pekka Salonen, Nora Fischer & Los Angeles Philharmonic)“Assad, Clarice and Sérgio, Connors, Dillon, Martin and Skidmore: Archetypes,” Clarice Assad, Sérgio Assad, Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore, composers. (Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad and Third Coast Percussion)“Batiste: Movement 11,” Jon Batiste, composer (Jon Batiste)“Shaw: Narrow Sea,” Caroline Shaw, composer (Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish and Sō Percussion)Best Instrumental Composition“Beautiful is Black,” Brandee Younger, composer (Brandee Younger)“Cat and Mouse,” Tom Nazziola, composer (Tom Nazziola)“Concerto for Orchestra: Finale,” Vince Mendoza, composer (Vince Mendoza and Czech National Symphony Orchestra featuring Antonio Sánchez and Derrick Hodge)“Dreaming In Lions: Dreaming In Lions,” Arturo O’farrill, composer (Arturo O’farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble)“Eberhard,” Lyle Mays, composer (Lyle Mays)Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella“Chopsticks,” Bill O’Connell, arranger (Richard Baratta)“For The Love Of A Princess (From ‘Braveheart’),” Robin Smith, Arranger (Hauser, London Symphony Orchestra and Robin Smith)“Infinite Love,” Emile Mosseri, Arranger (Emile Mosseri)“Meta Knight’s Revenge (From ‘Kirby Superstar’),” Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman, arrangers (The 8-Bit Big Band featuring Button Masher)“The Struggle Within,” Gabriela Quintero and Rodrigo Sanchez, arrangers (Rodrigo Y Gabriela)Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals“The Bottom Line,” Ólafur Arnalds, Arranger (Ólafur Arnalds and Josin)“A Change is Gonna Come,” Tehillah Alphonso, Arranger (Tonality and Alexander Lloyd Blake)“The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),” Jacob Collier, Arranger (Jacob Collier)“Eleanor Rigby,” Cody Fry, Arranger (Cody Fry)“To The Edge Of Longing (Edit Version),” Vince Mendoza, Arranger (Vince Mendoza, Czech National Symphony Orchestra and Julia Bullock)Best Recording Package“American Jackpot / American Girls,” Sarah Dodds and Shauna Dodds, Art Directors (Reckless Kelly)“Carnage,” Nick Cave and Tom Hingston, Art Directors (Nick Cave and Warren Ellis)“Pakelang,” Li Jheng Han and Yu, Wei, Art Directors (2nd Generation Falangao Singing Group and the Chairman Crossover Big Band)“Serpentine Prison,” Dayle Doyle, Art Director (Matt Berninger)“Zeta,” Xiao Qing Yang, Art Director (Soul Of Ears)Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package“All Things Must Pass: 50th Anniversary Edition,” Darren Evans, Dhani Harrison and Olivia Harrison, art directors (George Harrison)“Color Theory,” Lordess Foudre and Christopher Leckie, art directors (Soccer Mommy)“The Future Bites (Limited Edition Box Set),” Simon Moore, art director (Steven Wilson)“77-81,” Dan Calderwood and Jon King, art directors (Gang of Four)“Swimming in Circles,” Ramón Coronado and Marshall Rake, art directors (Mac Miller)Best Album Notes“Beethoven: The Last Three Sonatas,” Ann-Katrin Zimmermann, album notes writer (Sunwook Kim)“The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966,” Ricky Riccardi, album notes writer (Louis Armstrong)“Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology,” Kevin Howes, album notes writer (Willie Dunn)“Etching the Voice: Emile Berliner and the First Commercial Gramophone Discs, 1889-1895,” David Giovannoni, Richard Martin and Stephan Puille, album notes writers (Various Artists)“The King of Gospel Music: The Life and Music of Reverend James Cleveland,” Robert Marovich, album notes writer (Various Artists)Best Historical Album“Beyond the Music: Her Complete RCA Victor Recordings,” Robert Russ, compilation producer; Nancy Conforti, Andreas K. Meyer and Jennifer Nulsen, mastering engineers (Marian Anderson)“Etching the Voice: Emile Berliner and the First Commercial Gramophone Discs, 1889-1895,” Meagan Hennessey and Richard Martin, compilation producers; Richard Martin, mastering engineer (Various Artists)“Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World’s Music,” April Ledbetter, Steven Lance Ledbetter and Jonathan Ward, compilation producers; Michael Graves, mastering engineer (Various Artists)“Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967),” Patrick Milligan and Joni Mitchell, compilation producers; Bernie Grundman, mastering engineer (Joni Mitchell)“Sign O’ the Times (Super Deluxe Edition),” Trevor Guy, Michael Howe and Kirk Johnson, compilation producers; Bernie Grundman, mastering engineer (Prince)Best Music Video“Shot in the Dark,” (AC/DC); David Mallet, video director; Dione Orrom, video producer.“Freedom,” (Jon Batiste); Alan Ferguson, video director; Alex P. Willson, video producer.“I Get a Kick Out of You,” (Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga); Jennifer Lebeau, video director; Danny Bennett, Bobby Campbell and Jennifer Lebeau, video producers.“Peaches,” (Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon); Collin Tilley, video director.“Happier Than Ever,” (Billie Eilish); Billie Eilish, video director; Michelle An, Chelsea Dodson and David Moore, video producers.“Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” (Lil Nas X); Lil Nas X and Tanu Muino, video directors; Frank Borin, Ivanna Borin, Marco De Molina and Saul Levitz, video producers.“Good 4 U,” (Olivia Rodrigo); Petra Collins, video director; Christiana Divona, Marissa Ramirez and Tiffany Suh, video producers.Best Music Film“Inside,” (Bo Burnham); Bo Burnham, video director; Josh Senior, video producer.“David Byrne’s American Utopia,” (David Byrne); Spike Lee, video director; David Byrne and Spike Lee, video producers.“Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles,” (Billie Eilish); Patrick Osborne and Robert Rodriguez, video directors.“Music, Money, Madness … Jimi Hendrix in Maui,” (Jimi Hendrix); John McDermott, video director; Janie Hendrix, John McDermott and George Scott, video producers.“Summer of Soul,” (Various Artists); Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, video director; David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent and Joseph Patel, video producers. 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      Jazz at Lincoln Center Reopens, With Four Young Players in the Spotlight

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      The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra returned to indoor performance with “Wynton at 60,” a program featuring Marsalis originals and a quartet of up-and-coming trumpeters.The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was amused as four trumpet players, all but one under the age of 30, took their position in the rehearsal room late Tuesday morning.“It’s the Young Lions!” called out the baritone saxophone player Paul Nedzela, referring to the coterie of sharp-dressed, tradition-minded bop up-and-comers who rose during the Reagan and Clinton administrations while edging jazz toward a concert art with a classical-music-style repertoire.That got a laugh.“We tried that in the ’90s,” said the bassist Carlos Henriquez.Another laugh.Soon, Wynton Marsalis, once the pride of those young lions, called the band to order from his perch in the trumpet section and the orchestra lit into “Windjammers,” a Marsalis cooker arranged to showcase the quartet of guest trumpeters, some of them students. The four swapped bars, breaks and occasionally expressions of wonderment, like they couldn’t believe they were — to borrow a title from Marsalis’s own repertoire — in this house, on this morning.The occasion: the kickoff to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 34th concert season — and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s first indoor New York City performance since the Covid-19 shutdowns. The season will include a tribute to Chick Corea, who died in February; a celebration of the centennial of Charles Mingus; and three concerts showcasing extraordinary women singers, Dianne Reeves, Catherine Russell and Cécile McLorin Salvant.Excitement about the reopening pulsed through the band. “To look at and see our audience, and to feel that energy, I’m going to be overwhelmed,” said Ted Nash, a saxophonist and composer. “We’ve been doing all this virtual stuff, but to create together a sound field and an energy field in person, where all the sounds meld together — this is why I do this.”From left: Carlos Henriquez, Obed Calvaire and Marsalis rehearsing earlier this week.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesMarsalis was quick to say he didn’t name this weekend’s concerts — “Wynton at 60” — which celebrate his new status as a sexagenarian with a program of his originals from four decades.Still, despite a warm, even gentle demeanor, there was no doubt he was in charge, announcing the order of soloists at rehearsal, or small tweaks to the charts. But when a soloist occasionally asked how to approach a section, he replied, “Just do what you all want.” Or, “It’s you playing it.”Freedom within a structure, of course, separates Jazz at Lincoln Center from other major performing arts institutions with a repertoire. So does Marsalis’s tradition of inviting young musicians to play on its biggest stage, the Rose Theater in the Columbus Circle complex.“It shows the generations working together,” he said. “When we started the orchestra, surviving members of Duke Ellington’s orchestra played. Marcus Belgrave played with Ray Charles. Sir Roland Hanna played with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. Jerry Dodgion and Frank Wess played with Basie. They passed on a lot of the feeling of the music and its identity and meaning to us. So, this is a continuation.”Chris Crenshaw, a trombonist, composer and arranger who has been in the orchestra since 2006, said, “We have a charge to keep. We have a responsibility. There’s so many things in all traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation orally or with music.”The responsibilities that come with serving as the artistic director and public face of a major arts organization has meant that, for Marsalis, the shutdown was never truly a shutdown. He pulled out his phone and thumbed through dozens of photos of score pages for upcoming projects (a tuba concerto, a bassoon piece).Versions of the band have toured the United States and the world, taking endless Covid-19 tests and often playing music from his politically engaged “The Democracy! Suite,” which boasts song titles like “Sloganize, Patronize, Realize, Revolutionize (Black Lives Matters).” Streaming concerts, from the vault and some fresh, have abounded and will continue — this season, any concert can be streamed for a donation of $10.The work helps distract from the losses that have mounted since March 2020, including Marsalis’s musician father, Ellis, and his friend and mentor, the critic Stanley Crouch, in addition to more musicians than any institution could fully memorialize. “I tend not to dwell,” he said. “My dad, he said ‘Everybody’s losing people. And when you focus too much on yours …’” He let that thought drift away and then recalled something the pianist John Lewis once said to him. “‘To focus too much on even something negative is a form of deep ego.’”“You got to keep moving forward, keep being productive and trying to create the world you envision,” Marsalis added.The saxophonist Walter Blanding with Marsalis as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra prepared for its return to indoor performances.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesAt 60, Marsalis, who won a Pulitzer in 1997 for “Blood on the Fields,” his oratorio about slavery, sees a world in which democracy itself is imperiled, and “the intellectual class still always wants the Black man to be a fool on all levels.” His humanism, though, buoys him. “You can subvert the Constitution and make it harder for people to vote, make it more difficult for government to work,” he said. “But there’s always voices that defend the integrity of the document, which is changeable — it’s not set in stone.”He shifted quickly back to the subject upon which he has most often stirred controversy. “Music is the same. You can be glib enough to undermine the integrity of it and be successful. But there’s always just enough voices who believe in the integrity of it.”Those young trumpeters, in his estimation, count among those voices. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s mission has always focused on jazz education and advocacy, and the guest artists at “Wynton at 60” — Summer Camargo, Giveton Gelin, Tatum Greenblatt and Anthony Hervey — demonstrate the power of that outreach.Camargo caught Marsalis’s attention when her South Florida high school placed in the institution’s annual “Essentially Ellington” contest, which invites school bands to record themselves playing free Duke Ellington charts and then brings the finalists to New York City to perform. Now a Juilliard student, Camargo said she never would have attempted composition without the impetus of the contest, where, in 2018, she won awards for composing as well as for soloing.“When people ask me what was one of the best days of your life, I always go back to that moment,” she said. “Wynton took me backstage and gave me compliments and advice. He doesn’t sugarcoat it — he tells you what you need to do to get better.”Gelin, a recent Juilliard graduate who self-released his debut album, also praised Marsalis’s generosity as a mentor — and his practical advice. Visiting New York from the Bahamas during his high school years, Gelin attended a free Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra concert in Queens and afterward worked his way through the line to meet Marsalis. The next day, Gelin played for him at his home and was surprised that so famous a figure invested such energy in urging a kid to dig deeper into developing his own voice.“I spent a lot of time in the Haitian church,” Gelin said. “One of the first things Wynton said to me was to listen closely to the singers there and how their vocal qualities reflect where they’re from.”Marsalis nodded when reminded of this encounter. “Your sound will be organic when who you are doesn’t fight with who you want to be,” he said.“To create together a sound field and an energy field in person, where all the sounds meld together — this is why I do this,” said the saxophonist Ted Nash.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesOn opening night Thursday, the four up-and-comers got their shot onstage. The orchestra’s 90-minute set surveyed some of Marsalis’s most crowd-pleasing compositions, including big-band stompers, ballads and percolating curios marked by his fondness for musical onomatopoeia, with muted horns aping the buzz of bees and the keening of train whistles.The 15-member ensemble tackled “The Holy Ghost,” from Marsalis’s “Abyssinian Mass,” and he delivered a bracing, unamplified solo on a quartet treatment of Gordon Jenkins’s “Goodbye” that he dedicated “to all the people who have lost someone and didn’t get to tell them goodbye.”But the most boisterous crowd response came soon after those young trumpeters took the stage. Camargo’s gutsy opening solo brought patrons to their feet and inspired Marsalis — her hero — to muse afterward, “She ain’t playing around at all.”The four ringers’ joyous clamor brought the house down. Marsalis called their presence “a birthday present to myself,” but their performances suggested it’s not just a gift for him. More