Heads Up Wins Three Grammys!
HEADS UP WINS THREE GRAMMY® AWARDS
Michael Brecker’s Pilgrimage Wins Best Jazz Instrumental Album
Michael Brecker’s “Anagram” (From Pilgrimage) Wins Best Jazz Instrumental Solo
Joe Zawinul’s “In A Silent Way” (From Brown Street) Wins Best Instrumental Arrangement (Arranger: Vince Mendoza)
February 10, 2008 — Michael Brecker’s Pilgrimage and Joe Zawinul’s Brown Street, two recordings from Cleveland-based Heads Up International, were honored with three GRAMMY® Awards by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). The 50th Annual GRAMMY® Awards Ceremony was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 10, 2008.
Michael Brecker’s Pilgrimage scored a pair of GRAMMYs®, one for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and the other for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo for the track “Anagram.” Joe Zawinul’s “In a Silent Way,” a track from his Brown Street release, won a GRAMMY® for Best Instrumental Arrangement (arranger Vince Mendoza).
Michael Brecker – a 15-time GRAMMY® winner in a career that spanned more than three decades – was unquestionably the most influential tenor player in the history of jazz since John Coltrane. Sadly, after a two-and-a-half-year battle with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and leukemia, Brecker passed away on January 13, 2007. His work in the studio at the time of his death includes some of the finest music he has ever recorded. Pilgrimage (HUCD 3095), released on Heads Up International on May 22, 2007, features the all-star lineup of pianists Herbie Hancock and Brad Mehldau, guitarist Pat Metheny, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist John Patitucci.
Keyboardist/composer/bandleader Joe Zawinul, who rose to fame as one of the creators of jazz fusion, died on September 11, 2007. Zawinul’s final album, Brown Street (HUCD 3121), was released on February 27, 2007. The two-disc set captured Zawinul, a few of his longtime friends and collaborators, and the 15-piece WDR Big Band in an electrifying live performance. Recorded in October 2005 at Zawinul’s own Birdland Club in Vienna, Brown Street showcased Zawinul, Syndicate drummer Nathaniel Townsley, Weather Report and Syndicate bassist Victor Bailey and Weather Report drummer/percussionist Alex Acuna in expanded, orchestral renditions of some of the finest Zawinul compositions from the highly influential Weather Report oeuvre.
“Michael Brecker and Joe Zawinul were true jazz legends,” says Dave Love, President of Heads Up. “It was a very sad year for me with the passing of these two icons, but their creative spirit lives on in their music. We are honored that the Academy has recognized them.”
For more information, please visit Heads Up International