ESPERANZA SPALDING NOMINATED FOR BEST NEW ARTIST

Telarc International and Heads Up International, divisions of Concord Music Group, received 7 GRAMMY® nominations, as announced by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) on December 1, 2010. The nominations were in an array of categories including Best New Artist, pop, jazz, blues and classical. All nominations were for albums released from September 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010. Winners will be announced at the 53rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards on Sunday, February 13, 2011 (8:00-11:30 PM, ET/PT), at Staples Center in Los Angeles, airing live on the CBS Television Network.



Esperanza Spalding



The Telarc and Heads Up nominations are:

Best New Artist
ESPERANZA SPALDING

Bassist, singer and composer Esperanza Spalding combines the imaginative flights of a serious improviser with the musical accessibility of a pop star and within two years of her solo debut has beguiled success at nearly unimaginable heights. Esperanza, her 2008 release, spent over 70 weeks on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart and was the most successful internationally selling debut that year. Spalding’s most recent release, Chamber Music Society, is a brilliant marriage of string and jazz trio, and a showcase for her eclectic sensibilities along with her vocal and compositional talents. Other career highlights include two televised performances at the White House, a Banana Republic ad campaign, features in Oprah Magazine and The New Yorker, numerous awards and high profile tour dates, capped by an invitation to perform at the 2010 Nobel Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Spalding was nominated for Best New Artist along with Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & the Machine, and Mumford and Sons. Her inclusion in this mainstream category signifies her considerable appeal to a broad audience.

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have just announced that bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding, in response to the Diversity and Innovation Fund Request for Proposals, has been asked to host Find The Beat, a progressive new television show on PBS. Find The Beat, a new program that promotes diversity, features Spalding joining with a group, a band or solo musician to explore the roots of their music. Their journeys take them to see authentic performers, explore cultural connections and investigate musical history.  PBS and the CPB issued a request for proposals for a new television show to be sponsored by their Diversity and Innovation Fund. The DI Fund, “seeks to diversify the National Program Service by attracting younger and more racially and ethnically diverse viewers and visitors.” More than 200 submissions were received in response to the request for proposals, from which only 16 were chosen by their editorial staff to advance to panel review. Esperanza Spalding combines the imaginative flights of a serious improviser with the musical accessibility of a pop star and within two years of her solo debut has beguiled success at nearly unimaginable heights.
http://www.esperanzaspalding.com/

Best Pop Instrumental Performance
NO MYSTERY
Stanley Clarke
Track from: The Stanley Clarke Band
[Heads Up International]

Best Pop Instrumental Album
PUSHING THE ENVELOPE
Gerald Albright
[Heads Up International]

Best Contemporary Jazz Album
THE STANLEY CLARKE BAND
The Stanley Clarke Band
[Heads Up International]

NOW IS THE TIME
Jeff Lorber Fusion
(Heads Up International]

Best Traditional Blues Album
JOINED AT THE HIP
Pinetop Perkins & Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith
[Telarc]

Best Engineered Album, Classical
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN...?
Robert Friedrich, engineer (Turtle Island Quartet, Stefon Harris & Mike Marshall)
[Telarc

Since 1980, Telarc International, a division of Concord Music Group, has won 58 GRAMMY® Awards for performance, production and engineering. Other important awards include the French Grand Prix du Disque and Diapason d’Or; Japan’s Record of the Year; Germany’s Audiophile CD of the Year; and Gramophone Magazine’s 2004 Label of the Year. Although it began as a classical-only label, Telarc now boasts a catalog of more than 1000 recordings, ranging from classical and classical-crossover to jazz, contemporary jazz, Americana, pop and blues. For nearly 20 years, Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, has been successfully carving its niche in the world of contemporary instrumental music. Heads Up artists and releases have consistently landed on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz, Traditional Jazz and World Music charts, and have garnered numerous industry awards, including Billboard’s Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year, the AFIM’s Independent Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year, seven GRAMMY® Awards and numerous GRAMMY® nominations. Heads Up was also the winner of JazzWeek’s Radio Programmers Album of the Year Award for two consecutive years, and Gibson Guitar’s Best Female Jazz Guitarist. In addition to the awards and accolades, Heads Up artists have regularly captured the #1 slot in national radio airplay.