Herbie Hancock's top-album Grammy: Right artist, wrong year
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.
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