In a thoughtful letter to Portnow, vocalist Sandy Cressman shares her thoughts on the elimination of the Latin Jazz Grammy Award, based on her experiences as a member of NARAS.
Dear Neil and NARAS leadership,
As a long time NARAS member and having served multiple terms on the Board of Governors of the San Francisco Chapter, I am very disappointed to learn of the elimination of the Latin Jazz Category from the Grammy Awards.
Latin Jazz is such an important part of America's indigenous art form, and yet it would be wrong to lump it into the category of Jazz. Comparing a swing or bop record to a Latin Jazz record is truly apples and oranges. You might as well eliminate the Country categories, as they are just part of Pop music . . . 
I have to say that after my years on the Board of Governors, and trying to make Chapter activities more relevant to a wider group of NARAS members, I was already getting the feeling that the Recording Academy was really all about promoting music that has already been well recognized rather than helping members promote their music and expand their careers.
I was mainly active in the Education events in our chapter, spearheading Grammy in the Schools here in SF for many years.
However, I cannot represent an organization in encouraging young people to play broad varieties of music when this organization supports a narrower and narrower range of musical styles. Jazz and classical music have been so little represented in the broadcasts—what are we telling our youth except— be Beyoncé, be Justin Bieber? And if you are as phenomenally talented as Esperanza Spaulding, you may get the recognition of your peers, but you will probably be relegated to performing background music to a speech on the telecast.... is this what we want to be saying to our youth? Don't they get enough pop culture all around them?
One message I got loud and clear from National when I was an active governor was—Recruit more members! I tried to find relevance in the Recording Academy's activities to the careers and lives of my colleagues, and found less and less to recommend.
Now I cannot with good conscience recommend this organization, whose leadership takes such huge steps to marginalize certain forms of music with no feedback from the membership at large. Under current circumstances, I regret that I will not be renewing my membership when it comes up.
Sincerely,
Sandy Cressman
Vocalist, Composer, Arranger
S.F. Chapter
Don't let this attack on Latin Jazz go unnoticed—send your e-mail in support of the Latin Jazz Grammy today. You can start with a message to NARAS President and CEO Neil Portnow, his e-mail address is: [email protected] Make sure that you sign the petition to get the Latin Jazz Grammy reinstated—you can find it HERE. Get additional information and updates on LJC's Support Page For The Latin Jazz Grammy.
