29 Berklee Alumni Nominated for Grammy Awards
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah received nominations for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and Best Improvised Jazz Solo.
Image by Mike Spencer
The nominees for the 63rd annual Grammy Awards were announced on Tuesday, November 24, and Berklee alumni and faculty are once again well represented across many of the major categories. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) nominated 29 alumni and two faculty members across 18 categories.
Country artist Ingrid Andress ’13 was nominated for Best New Artist, alongside other prominent acts including Megan Thee Stallion, Phoebe Bridgers, and Noah Cyrus. Her debut album, Lady Like, was nominated for Best Country Album, and her single “More Hearts Than Mine” was nominated for Best Country Song.
Terri Lyne Carrington ‘83, founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, and her band Social Science, which features Matthew Stevens B.M. ’04 (guitar) and Debo Ray ’13 (vocals), were nominated in the Best Jazz Instrumental Category for their 2019 album, Waiting Game. This marks the fourth Grammy nomination for Carrington, who previously won Grammys in 2011, 2013, and 2014.
Danilo Pérez, founder and artistic director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, was nominated in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category for his contributions to Kurt Elling’s Secrets Are the Best Stories. This marks the sixth nomination for Pérez, who previously won Grammys in 2018 and 2005.
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah B.M. ’04 received two nominations, including Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for his record Axiom, and Best Improvised Jazz Solo for his solo on the album’s track “Guinevere.” Adjuah was nominated for three categories prior to this year. Also nominated in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album was alumni Bill Frisell ’77, for Americana, his album with Grégoire Maret and Romain Collin. Alumnus Julian Lage ’09 also joins Adjuah in the category of Best Improvised Jazz Solo, for his work as soloist on the track “Tomorrow Is the Question.”
Alumni band Big Thief continued their success after earning their first nomination last year, receiving nominations for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for the single “Not” from their album Two Hands. The band includes Adrianne Lenker B.M. ’12 (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek B.M. ’10 (guitar, vocals), and James Krivchenia B.M. ’14 (drums, vocals, percussion), with production by Andrew Sarlo ’11.
Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni were well represented in the Best Musical Theater Album category, with members of the original cast of Little Shop of Horrors, Jagged Little Pill, American Utopia on Broadway, and Soft Power receiving nominations.
Other nominees include Stephen Bray ’78, for his songwriting on Beyoncé’s “Black Parade” (Best R&B Song); Chico Pinheiro ’98, for his album City of Dreams (Best Latin Jazz Album); Lorenzo Ferrero '13 for Tradiciones by the Afro-Peruvian Jazz Orchestra; Sierra Hull ’11, for her song “Ceiling to the Floor” (Best American Roots Song); Gillian Welch ’92 and David Rawlings ’92, for their release All the Good Times (Best Folk Album); Alan Broadbent ’69, for his arranging on Pat Metheny’s “From This Place,” (Best Arrangement, Instruments, and Vocals); David Greenbaum B.M. ’05, for engineering Beck’s Hyperspace (Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical); Kirill Gerstein ’96, for Adès: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Best Classical Instrumental Solo); and Kyle Pyke B.M. ’10 M.M. ’14 for Hynes: Fields by Devonté Hynes and Third Coast Percussion (Best Engineered Album, Classical).
The 63rd annual Grammy Awards will be televised on CBS on January 31, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Below is a full list of Berklee alumni and faculty Grammy Award nominees. Please note the list is subject to change as we receive updated information.
Category 4: Best New Artist
Ingrid Andress ’13
Category 11: Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
Axiom, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah B.M. ’04
Americana, Bill Frisell ’77
Category 12: Best Rock Performance
“Not,” Big Thief
Adrianne Lenker B.M. ’12, guitar, vocals
Buck Meek B.M. ’10, guitar, vocals
James Krivchenia B.M. ’14, drums, vocals, percussion
Category 14: Best Rock Song
“Not” (Big Thief), Adrianne Lenker B.M. ’12, songwriter
Category 19: Best R&B Song
“Black Parade” (Beyoncé), Stephen Bray ’78, songwriter
Category 28: Best Country Song
“More Hearts Than Mine,” Ingrid Andress ’13
Category 29: Best Country Album
Lady Like, Ingrid Andress ’13
Category 31: Best Improvised Jazz Solo
“Guinevere,” Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah B.M. ’04, soloist
“Tomorrow Is the Question,” Julian Lage ’09, soloist
Category 32: Best Jazz Vocal Album
Secrets Are the Best Stories (Kurt Elling), Danilo Pérez ’88, piano
Category 33: Best Jazz Instrumental Album
Waiting Game, Terri Lyne Carrington ’83 (drummer, producer), Matthew Stevens B.M. ’04 (guitar), Debo Ray ’13 (vocals)
Category 35: Best Latin Jazz Album
City of Dreams, Chico Pinheiro ’98
Tradiciones (Afro-Peruvian Jazz Orchestra), Lorenzo Ferrero '13
Category 46: American Roots Song
“Ceiling to the Floor,” Sierra Hull ’11
Category 51: Best Folk Album
All the Good Times, Gillian Welch ’92 and David Rawlings ’92
Category 58: Best Musical Theater Album
Jagged Little Pill, Ebony Williams B.F.A. ’05 (original cast), John Cardoza B.F.A. ’16 (original cast)
American Utopia on Broadway, Angie Swan ’05, guitar (original cast)
Little Shop of Horrors, Salome Smith B.F.A. ’18 (original cast); Chelsea Turbin B.F.A. ’12 (original cast); Will Van Dyke, producer (Berklee Online)
Soft Power, Austin Ku M.M. ’09 (original cast)
Category 64: Best Arrangement, Instruments, and Vocals
“From This Place” (Pat Metheny featuring Meshell Ndegeocello), Alan Broadbent ’69, arranger
“Desert Song” (Säje), Erin Bentlage B.M. ’14, arranger
Category 69: Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Hyperspace (Beck) - David Greenbaum B.M. ’05, engineer
Category 73: Best Engineered Album, Classical
Hynes: Fields (Devonté Hynes and Third Coast Percussion), Kyle Pyke B.M. ’10 M.M. ’14, engineer and mastering engineer
Category 79: Best Classical Instrumental Solo
Adès: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Kirill Gerstein ’96