From the Editor… - Artículo Breve - Editorial

The big buzz around town (Los Angeles) recently was the celebration of the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. The Grammy Awards are the recording industry's most prestigious awards that honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences every year. This annual gala brings together thousands of artists, musicians, and technical professionals from all facets of the recording industry and all over the world. This year's festivities took place on February 27, 2002, at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

On the eve of the big night, many angry activists were on hand to protest and steal some of the spotlight away from the Grammys. Leading the way was a group called the Recording Artists Coalition established to lobby Congress for major changes in the record industry's present ability to tie artists to often low-paying long-term contracts. In protest, some notable musicians held four concerts around Los Angeles dubbed the "Concert for Artist Rights" as part of a crusade against what they say is unfair record company control of an artist's career. The concerts featured performances by Don Henley, Billy Joel, Sheryl Crow, Beck, Eddie Vedder, Mike Ness, the Dixie Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, the Eagles, Weezer, the Offspring, No Doubt and Stevie Nicks. The coalition has been promoting its events with posters that show a giant fist clenching a microphone with smaller fists below it, somewhat reminiscent of the protest days of the 1960s. A main objective of the coalition is to repeal an amendment won by the music industry in 1987 that allows record labels to keep artists contractually committed longer than talent in other areas. The record labels feel that they conduct their business fairly and that artists benefit from the contracts that they sign. Facing the worst year in album sales in the last decade, it seems that everyone is looking for excuses in this business. Our constitutional right to organize and express our views and beliefs is the first step to try to remedy the unstable state of the recording industry. I only hope that this serves as a wake-up call to the rest of the musicians, artists and industry techs out there, presently missing in action. Make yourself be heard, whether or not you agree. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis was able to negotiate out of his recording contract with Columbia Records last year after being with the label for 20 years. He's presently making beautiful music on his own (Marsalis Music).

Despite the protests, the Grammys centered on music this year, handing out most of its awards at an earlier ceremony and focusing the air-time on performances such as Alejandro Sanz singing along with the polished and bilingual Destiny's Child. While Irish rockers U2 and 21-year old Alicia Keys grabbed numerous top honors, our readers would be interested to hear about these other Grammy winners: for Large Jazz Ensemble Album: Homage to Count Basie, Bob Mintzer Big Band; Latin Jazz Album: Nocturne, Charlie Haden; Latin Pop Album: La Música de Baldemar Huerta, Freddy Fender; Latin Rock/Alternative Album: Embrace the Chaos, Ozomatli; Traditional Tropical Latin Album: Dejame Entrar, Carlos Vives; Salsa Album: Encore, Robert Blades; Merengue Album: Yo Por Tí, Olga Tañón; Mexican/Mexican-American Album: En Vivo...El Hombre y Su Música, Ramón Ayala y Sus Bravos del Norte; Tejano Album: Nadie Como Tu, Solido; and World Music Album: Full Circle/Carnegie Hall 2000, Ravi Shankar.

And now on to this special issue! We hope you'll enjoy our annual Latin jazz issue featuring the magic of Uruguayan harpist Roberto Perera, the piano wizardry of Michel Camilo, a talk with Max Salazar about the late "King of the Timbal" Tito Puente, a look at the women behind the Playboy Jazz Festival, and much more. Rudy Mangual

COPYRIGHT 2002 Latin Beat Magazine
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group