The 60th GRAMMY Award nominations, announced recently by the Recording Academy, include a handful of UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music faculty, artists-in-residence, staff or alumni, among them Richard Danielpour, Billy Childs, Chris Potter, Daniel Seeff and Randy Newman.
Award-winning composer and Professor of Composition Music Richard Danielpour tops the list. He is competing for two GRAMMYs for Songs of Solitude & War Songs, a recording he made with baritone Thomas Hampson and the Nashville Symphony. The album —Songs of Solitude & War Songs— was nominated for Best Engineered Album, Classical, and the cycle “Songs of Solitude,” for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. “Songs of Solitude” is Danielpour’s artistic response to 9/11. “War Songs” (2008) was prompted by photographs of young soldiers killed in Iraq.
Composer and jazz pianist Billy Childs, a current Monk Institute Composition Artist-in-Residence, received two nominations: a Best Jazz Instrumental Album nomination for his album Rebirth, and the album’s track “Dance of Shiva” is competing in the Best Improvised Jazz Solo category. Chris Potter, who was an Institute Artist-in-Residence several years ago, is also up for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “Illimba” and Best Jazz Instrumental Album for The Dream is the Dreamer.
Daniel Seeff, West Coast Director, The Thelonious Monk Institute, is the co-writer, bassist, guitarist, and saxophonist on one song “Shot Down” on Ledisi’s Let Love Rule album, which is competing for Best R&B album. Seeff was nominated last year for his role on Anderson Paak’s album Malibu, where he was recognized as co-writer on “Your Prime” and on “Heart Don’t Stand a Chance.”
Alumnus Randy Newman was nominated in the Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals category for “Putin” from his album Dark Matter.
For a complete list of GRAMMY nominations, please go here. The 60th GRAMMY Awards show is Sunday, January 28, broadcast live on CBS.