“It’s Been Mental”. . . Backstage At The 2014 Grammy Awards

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The winner for Best Children’s Album was Jennifer Gasoi, for Throw A Penny In The Wishing Well.  “I dreamed of this day for 20 years,” she said, “It’s on my vision board. I am officially first Canadian to ever win for Best Children’s Album. Thank you to my family, my fans and to all my angels.”

Asked what brought her to children’s music, she said, “I am a jazz musician. I am from Vancouver, and have done jazz bars my whole life. So the music swings. I have always worked with kids, and always wanted to bring the two – jazz and children’s music. So I brought jazz elements into my children’s music.  But my goal was always to create music of world class caliber that can stand up to any genre, not just children’s music.”

“I dreamed of this day for 20 years. It’s on my vision board.”

The late composer Clare Fischer won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition for “Pensamientos for Solo Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra,” recorded by the Clare Fischer Orchestra.  Brent Fischer, his son, accepted: “This is my dream come true for my late father’s masterpiece.  Today marks almost the second year since my father breathed his final breath. I spent 47 years with him. The last time he ever signed his name was on a Grammy ballot. On behalf of my father and I, our most sincere and eternal thank you.” 

Backstage Brent said there is much of his father’s music which has yet to be released. “There’s Big Band sessions,” he said, “and also solo piano material he has recorded. We have a lot of material, it’s just a question of how much to put out, so people enjoy the music of Clare Fischer. He had a unique harmonic contribution, and I would love if his name is remembered along with Beethoven and Duke Ellington. I have all his scores, so I can look into his heart and soul in this music.”

Simon Earith and James Musgrave won for Best Boxed Package for Wings Over America, and spoke backstage about working with Sir Paul. “ [McCartney] is very involved,” said Earith. “We met with him many times. This is the fifth in the series . We know what works, using great content, so we had to credit the original artists who worked on this.  Without them, this package would have been nothing, especially Linda McCartney, who took so many photos over the years. We had some 15,000 photos we had access to. The idea was to make this more like a beautiful photo book. It came from Paul’s love of art and books related to that. Paul is very keen to give a lot of value to his fans.”

The writer Neil Tesser won for Best Album Notes, for Afro Blue Impressions by  John Coltrane. “A  lot of people don’t even know there are Grammy awards for liner notes,” he said. “But for any of us over 35, we know liner notes are so important. So many of us learned so much of what we know about music we love from liner notes. So when I say I want to thank the Academy, it’s for keeping this category.”

Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite won the Grammy for Best Blues Album for their collaboration, Get Up!  When they came back, I asked Charlie if, after having brought the blues through so many decades already, he felt they would always be around. “Yes,” he said. “As long as there are people, blues will be here. As long as people are down. The blues are your buddy in good times and your comforter in bad times, it’s always there for you.”

Rodney Crowell at the 2014 Grammys paul zollo

“To write songs with Emmylou Harris, all you have to do is get her started. She’s a fountain.”

Best Americana Album went to Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris for Old Yellow Moon. Backstage Rodney spoke about how great it is to get to sing with one of the world’s finest vocalists. “Sometimes I pinch myself, getting to sing with Emmylou every night, there’s nothing like it. In the midst of writing songs with Emmylou for her next record, I asked what that process was like, to write songs together. “Emmy is easy to write songs with,” he said. “As I’ve said before, she has a poet’s soul. To write songs with Emmy, all you have to do is get her started. It’s about getting her into the room. But once she starts rolling, it is wonderful. She is a fountain.”

Neil Portnow, president of NARAS, was asked about the Grammys supporting a “liberal agenda” to promote same sex marriage by including the mass wedding. “Personally, I think we live in a very divided country,” he said. “Turn your eyes to the nation’s capital, this is a fact of life. We represent creative artistry. We don’t take a political position. The statement that was made tonight was about individuals who love each other who want to be together. We didn’t take a stand on a political issue, we were taking a stand on a humanitarian issue.”

More Grammy Coverage:
The Songwriters Behind The Grammy-Nominated Songs Of The Year Sound Off

Mary Lambert On Writing “Same Love” With Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

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