With his Grammy Award for album of the year Sunday, Herbie Hancock joins a long list of venerated musicians who have won music's biggest prize decades after releasing their best work.

      Hancock's “River: The Joni Letters” joins Ray Charles' “Genius Loves Company” (which won in 2005), Steely Dan's “Two Against Nature” (2001) and Tony Bennett's “MTV Unplugged” (1995) in a dubious category: Right Artist, Wrong Year.

      These awards honored career achievement more than they did artistic excellence or impact on the year in music. “River” is certainly a competent piece of work, but it's far from Hancock's best. There were at least a dozen hard-core jazz albums released last year that received far greater accolades from music buffs. From his classic solo album “Maiden Voyage” (1965) to his innovative meld of jazz, electro-funk and hip-hop on “Rockit” (1983), Hancock has done better work in the past. He's won Grammys for some of his achievements, but never for album of the year; indeed, “River” was the first album by a jazz artist to win the top honor in five decades.   

"Unbelievable," said presenter Quincy Jones.

No kidding. On a night dominated by a bicontinental catfight between two drama queens, Kanye West and Amy Winehouse, it was a veteran jazz artist who stole the show Sunday at the nationally televised 50th annual Grammy Awards.

Click here for more photos | The list of winners

Pianist Herbie Hancock won album of the year for his tribute album to folk icon Joni Mitchell, "River: The Joni Letters." In so doing, he topped the favored West and Winehouse, who won a combined nine awards, for the most prestigious music prize.

Still, Winehouse likely wasn’t pouting after winning best new artist, and record and song of the year for the hit single "Rehab." On the contrary, she was bear-hugging her band and shouting out to her jailed husband Blake Fielder-Civil. She dedicated one of her awards "to my Blake, incarcerated."

The drug-bedeviled Winehouse played her bad-girl image to the hilt in a black cocktail dress that prominently displayed her tattoos, and performed slinky versions of her self-referential hits "You Know I’m No Good" and "Rehab." Despite the "no, no, no" protestations of the latter song, Winehouse was indeed fresh out of a rehab clinic and had to perform via satellite from London, because she couldn’t get visa clearance in time to attend the awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

    More than 18,000 members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences vote on the Grammy Awards each year. The academy says it’s out to reward “artistic excellence,” but history shows us that sales and chart position often matter just as much, if not more. If you’re looking for up-and-coming talent, or under-recognized veterans, the Grammys are not for you.

    That’s where the accompanying chart of predictions comes in. Next Sunday, when Grammys will be handed out in a record 110 categories and you’re left wondering if there’s anything better out there, here’s your guide to the music you really ought to hear:   

    Neil Portnow, the president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, has been sounding desperate in recent days.

       When the striking Writers Guild of America threatened to shut down the 50th annual Grammy Awards, scheduled for Feb. 10 in Los Angeles, Portnow practically begged for a reprieve.

       The music industry, Portnow said, “needs this show.”

       The writers eventually agreed not to picket the Grammys, Portnow breathed a sigh of relief and the Amy Winehouse watch resumed: Would the British singer get out of a rehab clinic in time to perform her hit “Rehab” on the nationally televised awards show?

    Unfortunately, that’s what passes for drama these days in Grammy world. For 50 years, the Grammys have been the most prestigious (and most criticized) of the music awards shows. In many ways, they still are. But they’re still operating as if it’s 1988. Much like the industry they represent, the Grammys have been slow to adjust to the massive technological changes that have made music more accessible than ever. Middle men no longer run the business; fans with Internet addresses do.