With “Afro-Cuban jazz that shakes, quakes and practically immolates,” as described in DownBeat magazine, music alumnus Wayne Wallace has earned his seventh Grammy Award nomination.
The Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet picked up its third Best Latin Jazz Album nod in five years. The ensemble is honored for Intercambio (Patois Records), its latest release, inspired by cultural exchanges between the rich African Diaspora cultures of the United States, Cuba and other Caribbean islands.
Grammy Award nominations were announced December 7.
In a career spanning four decades, master trombonist, composer, arranger and producer Wallace has collaborated with a dazzling array of artists including Count Basie, Ray Charles, Joe Henderson, Carlos Santana, Lionel Hampton, Earth Wind & Fire, Sonny Rollins, Aretha Franklin, Tito Puente, Lena Horne, Stevie Wonder, John Lee Hooker, Earl “Fatha” Hines and cellist Jean Jeanrenaud. Wallace (attended ’70–’73) was a driving creative force behind some of the Bay Area’s most creative ensembles, including the Machete Ensemble and Anthony Brown’s Asian American Orchestra. He has received grants from the Creative Work Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, Lila Wallace Foundation and San Francisco Arts Commission.
Known to many as “The Doctor” for his production skills, Wallace earned a place in the 2015 DownBeat poll as a rising star producer. The San Francisco native is also a lauded composer and educator. He heads up Patois Records, which has released a rapidly growing catalog of acclaimed CDs, and is a professor at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
The Grammy Awards ceremony will air at 8pm February 15 on CBS.
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Photo by David Belove