Labels with local ties get Grammy nods

Publication: Durham Herald-Sun
Author: Cliff Bellamy
Date: December 1, 2011

DURHAM – Two locally connected recording labels – Merge Records and saxophonist Branford Marsalis’ label Marsalis Music – were nominated for Grammy Awards on Wednesday.

The Montreal-based band Arcade Fire earned Durham-based Merge Records its first Grammy Award when they took home Album of the Year in February for “The Suburbs.” Another Arcade Fire recording project earned the label a nomination this week. The Merge recording “The Suburbs – Deluxe Edition (Scenes from the Suburbs),” with art direction by Vincent Morissett, was nominated for Best Recording Package.

Saxophonist Miguel Zenón has been nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for “Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook,” on the Marsalis Music label. Zenón was also nominated in 2009 for Best Improvised Jazz Solo and Best Latin Jazz Album for his Marsalis Music recording “Esta Plena.”

The Arcade Fire package contains a booklet with photos by Eric Kayne, the CD itself, and a DVD of “Scenes from the Suburbs,” a short film directed by Spike Jonze, said Christina Rentz, spokeswoman for Merge. “I think it’s a really great package,” she said of the edition. “The book of photos has some really beautiful images.”

About the possibility of getting another Grammy, Rentz said, “We’re hopeful.”

Arcade Fire were nominated in 2007 for their recording “Neon Bible.” The award given out this year marked the band’s first Grammy.

Zenón’s release has 10 pieces, each an arrangement by Zenón and Argentine pianist Guillermo Klein of songs by composers such as Pedro Flores, Bobby Capó, Sylvia Rexach and other songwriters who created Puerto Rico’s tradition of popular song.

Also nominated for Best Recording Package are “Chickenfoot III,” Todd Gallopo, art director; “Good Luck & True Love,” Sarah Dodds and Shauna Dodds, art directors; “Rivers And Homes,” Jonathan Dagan, art director; and “Watch The Throne,” Virgil Abloh, art director.

Other artists nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album are Randy Brecker for “The Jazz Ballad Song Book,” Christian McBride Big Band for “The Good Feeling,” The Gerald Wilson Orchestra for “Legacy,” and Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra for “40 Acres And A Burro.”

The 54th Grammy Awards will be broadcast Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.