The Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony will give away all those awards that music fans love...but that CBS just doesn't have the time to put on television. Winners in the some of the less popular genres such as classical, jazz and metal, as well as the winners for more behind-the-scenes awards will be announced from 3:30 until 6:30 EST. Stay tuned to Music Times for a list of award winners as it develops, and perhaps even a word or two from the ever-attentive Ryan Book.
You can also watch a live stream at Grammy.com to see the action as it takes place.
3:32: Although scheduled to start at 3:30 P.M. (12:30 for our PST friends), we're still focusing on fashion at Grammy.com/live. Looks like I'll need to be typing especially quickly and perhaps throwing out fun facts when the actual awards begin. We're keeping our eye out for Hunter Hayes, the host of the Premiere Ceremony.
3:38: And we're rolling with live music! Last year you could have seen jazz and funk (The Ray Chew Orchestra) like this at the main ceremony thanks to Daft Punk. Maybe not so much this year however. We'll enjoy it while we can.
3:43: Hunter Hayes takes the stage with a white Stratocaster and promptly begins playing a blues solo. He reportedly thought about singing but figured if there was anywhere to play blues or instrumental music in general, he should probably take advantage and do it at the Premiere Ceremony, where they applaud such things.
3:49: The Grammy for Best New Age Album goes to Winds of Samsara by Ricky Kej and Wouter Kellerman, a combo of South African and Indian musicians. It's the first Grammy for both. Kej gives a shoutout to Narendra Modi, President of India.
3:52: Best Regional Roots Album goes to The Legacy by Jo-El Sonnier. This album was also funded via Kickstarter.
3:54: Best Reggae Album goes to Fly Rasta by Ziggy Marley.
3:56: Best World Music Album goes to Eve by Angelique Kidjo.
3:58: Best Children's Album goes to I Am Malala by Neela Vaswani (accepted by its narrator).
4:00 Hilary Hahn takes the stage to give Hayes a break. The first award, for Best Instrumental Composition goes to John Williams for The Book Thief.
4:03: Pentatonix, the biggest name (if you don't know who John Williams is) so far takes the award for Best Vocal Arrangement.
4:04: Best Arrangement Instruments and Vocals goes to Billy Childs for "New York Tendaberry," a tribute to Laura Nyro.
4:07: Best Recording Package goes to Pearl Jam's album Lightning Bolt, accepted by Jerome Turner we believe.
4:11: Best Boxed or Limited Edition Package goes to The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, the huge and expensive tribute to Paramount Records from Jack White and friends, which we will never be able to afford.
4:13: Best Album Notes goes to Ashley Kahn, also a co-producer for Offering: Live at Temple University, a John Coltrane release.
4:15: Best Historical Album goes to The Graden Spot Programs 1950, a Hank Williams collection from Omnivore.
4:19: Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical) goes to Morning Phase, Beck's hit album (but of course goes to his huge team of engineers. Sorry we missed the names!) Five members of the squad show up and argue about who should handle the mic. Florian
4:22: Best Remixed Recording (Non-Classical) goes to Tiesto for his remix of John Legend's "All of Me," the "Tiesto's Birthday Treatment Remix."
4:24: Best Surround Sound Album goes to Beyoncé Knowles for her album Beyoncé. She doesn't show but her team does. That's the second time Bob Ludwig has gotten up in three awards.
4:26: Alexandra Silver and Cheyenne Jackson take to the stage for some actual musical entertainment, reciting a number from The West Side Story.
4:31: Smokey Norful becomes our presenter, starting with a crowd "Amen!" and then Best Engineered Album (Classical). It goes to Michael Bishop.
4:34: Producer of The Year (Classical) goes to Judith Sherman.
4:36: Best Orchestral Performance goes to John Adams for City Noir, and to David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony.
4:37: Best Opera Performance goes to the cast and composers behind Charpentierre: La Descenete d'Orphee aux enfers.
4:39: The Sacred Spirit of Russia wins for Best Chorale Performance.
4:41: Hilary Hahn in back onstage for In 27 Pieces, which wins Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Cory Smythe also gets credit.
4:45: Best Classical Music Instrumental Solo goes to "Play" by Jason Vieaux, a classical guitarist. We're so grateful they didn't go for one of the longer names. Thanks Recording Academy.
4:47: Best Classical Solo Vocal Album goes to Douce France, conducted by Anne Sofie Von Otter.
4:48: Best Classical Compendium goes to Partch: Plectra & Percussion Dances, a tribute to Harry Partch.
4:50: Best Contemporary Classical Composition goes to John Luther Adams for Become Ocean, our favorite classical album of last year. Mr. Adams is probably in Alaska, but hopefully watching if he has internet. Strikes us as a very outdoorsy guy.
4:52: Ana Tijoux appears as our second guest performer. Heck of a choice! If we didn't know that Kanye would make an appearance at the actual ceremony we'd say something smartass like "at least there's one good rapper performing tonight." English lyrics displayed onscreen.
4:55: Gloria Gaynor becomes presenter. She's dressed as shiny as we'd expect from the disco queen. Best Gospel Performance goes to "No Greater Love," which means Mr. Norful is back onstage after a very short break. He ain't complaining. Aaron Lindsey joins him as a songwriter. Norful thanks his church (he's a pastor) for letting him off this Sunday.
4:58: Best Contemporary Christian Music Performace goes to "Messengers" by Lecrae and he appears, despite having been nominated for Best Rap Song on the big stage tonight.
5:01: Best Gospel Album goes to Help by Erica Campbell. It's her fifth win. She still seems surprised.
5:03: Best Contemporary Christian Music Album goes to Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong by For King & Country.
5:05: Best Roots Gospel Albums goes to Shine for All The People by Mike Farris. He talks openly about be a "cracker dude" singing black spiritual music.
5:07: Best Latin Pop Album goes to legend Ruben Bladés for Tangos.
5:08: Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album goes to Multiviral by Calle 13, who surprisingly doesn't show up as a rather rebellious act.
5:09: Best Regional Mexican Album goes to Mano a Mano by Vincente Fernandez.
5:10: Best Tropical Latin Album goes to Mas + Corazon Profundo. Carlos Vives is the first Latin award winner to show up. "I apologize...my English is not good. My music is much better," the Colombian icon jokes.
5:13: Best Dance Recording goes to "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne. If you weren't charmed by the song already, the winners' British accents win you over.
5:15: Best Dance/Electronic Album goes to Syro by Aphex Twin. We, alas, don't get to see what he's like in person onstage. Which isn't surprising.
5:16: Robert Glasper and Nathan East are but two of the stars playing in a jazz quartet while we switch presenters. A good time for us to promote the interview Music Times did with East just a month ago. Everyone gets a brief solo and all is well with the world.
5:22: John Waters, film director and Best Spoken Word Grammy nominee, comes aboard presentation duty. He talks about teaming up with Justin Bieber as "Bizzle and Wizzle" as a hip-hop group. The first award: Best Improvised Jazz Solo goes to piano icon Chick Corea for his song "Fingerprints." He appropriately gets a longer jazz intro from Ray Chew as he comes down the aisle. He gives credit to Brian Blade, his drummer, and bassist Christian McBride, saying that no soloist performs alone.
5:27: Best Jazz Vocal Album goes to Dianne Reeves for Beautiful Life. It's her fifth win since the turn of the century.
5:30: Best Jazz Instrumental Album goes to the Chick Corea Trio for Trilogy. Considering how much he spoke for his first award a few minutes ago, he may not have much to say. He again encouarges Brian Blade to come up and talk. "'Trilogy' means the three of us," he reminds his spotlight-shy bandmates. Corea has won 22 Grammys now. Try sharing dude.
5:33: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album goes to Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band for Life In The Bubble. Producer Greg Field thanks Corea for not making a large ensemble record.
5:36: Best Latin Jazz Album goes to Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra for The Offense of The Drum.
5:39: Best Musical Theater Album goes to Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, particularly Jessie Mueller, who played the title vocalist.
5:42: Best Compilation Sountrack for Visual Media goes to Frozen. SURPRISE! Perhaps you heard of "Let It Go"? You may see the vocalist behind that track, Idina Menzel, later tonight.
5:44: Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media goes to The Grand Budapest Hotel by Alexandre Desplat. Good luck repeating at The Oscars.
5:45: Best Song Written for Visual Media goes to "Let It Go," for songwriting couple Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Kristen alludes to how hard it will be to escape this song's influence, and Robert thanks all the YouTube users who made it viral, including "African tribal chiefs" and "Korean drag queens."
5:47: Best Music Video goes to "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. So much for seeing "Turn Down for What" winning anything.
5:48: Best Musical Film Goes to...WAITAMINUTE! The "Happy" music video people are here after all!
5:49: OK, seriously this time: Best Music Film goes to 20 Feet From Stardom, the great documentary on '60s background stage singers. Oh My God: Producer Gil Friesin died of leukemia following the film's release, and his children read the thank yous! Oh God. Really, really, really touching. And this is coming from a guy waiting for Best Metal Performance announcement.
5:53: Roseanne Cash takes the presenting stand. Best Country Solo Performance goes to Carrie Underwood for "Something In The Water." She isn't here.
5:55: Best Country Duo/Group Performance goes to The Band Perry for "Gentle on My Mind." Another no-show.
5:55: Best Country Song goes to Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond. Campbell obviosuly cannot attend based on the Alzheimer's that inspired that song, by Raymond does come forward to accept. Glen's wife Kim Campbell does appear on his behalf however. She tells us he's in great shape and happy. This is another song also nominated over at the Academy Awards.
6:01: Best Bluegrass Album goes to The Earls of Leicester for its self-titled album.
6:03: Best Pop Duo/Group Performance goes to "Say Something" by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera. Only the former shows up for this part of the show, believe it or not.
6:05: Best Traditional Vocal Pop Album goes to Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. They're performing at the big show however and can't attend. Danny Bennett, "Tony's longtime son," and Gaga's manager accept on their behalf.
6:06: Best Contemporary Instrumental Album goes to Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer for Bass & Mandolin.
6:09: Best Rock Performance goes to Jack White for Lazaretto. Alas, he doesn't appear.
6:10: Best Metal Performance goes to "The Last In Line" by Tenacious D. Cash "accepts in his behalf" (sic). A Dio cover. Featuring a flute solo. By a comedic duo. We love Tenacious D for what it is, but this is a joke.
6:10: Best Rock Song goes to Haley Williams and Taylor York for "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore.
6:11: Best Alternative Album goes to St. Vincent for her self-titled album. You may have noticed how fast we added entries above...that's because no one from the rock categories showed up for speeches or similar.
6:13: We take a water break as Angie Fisher takes the stage to perform her soulful "I.R.S."
6:15: Jimmy Jam takes the stand. Best Blues Album goes to Johnny Winter for Step Back. The guitarist, alas, died during 2014. His brother Edgar Winter accepts on his behalf.
6:18: Best Spoken Word Album has one of the most impressive nominees list we've heard, including directors and Presidents. It's a comedien who wins however, and the second award in a row to go to the recently deceased: Melissa Rivers accepts on the behalf of her mother for Joan Rivers for Diary of A Mad Diva. There's an appropriate level of disrespect in her speech.
6:21: Best Comedy Album goes to Weird Al Yankovic for Mandatory Fun, appropriate considering this is a music awards show after all. Thankfully the performer himself appears, although not in as colorful a suit as we had hoped for.
6:24: Best Rap Performance goes to "i" by Kendrick Lamar. Which means we got one right. Maybe. (CORRECTION: We said "i" should win. We predicted Drake and "0 to 100" would win however).
6:24: Best Rap Duo/Collaboration goes to "The Monster" by Eminem and Rihanna.
6:24: Best Rap Song goes to "i" and again Lamar is not there to collect. But his collaborator Rahki Beats appears and appropriately thanks The Isley Brothers.
6:26: Best Rap Album goes to Eminem for The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which is a joke. We're sorry. Eminem has now won 30 percent of all Best Rap Album trophies ever and this was not one that deserved it.
6:27: The Robert Glasper Experiement wins for Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Jesus Children." Glasper gets the "get off the stage" piano...which is ironic considering his own instrument of choice.
6:30: Best R&B Song goes to Beyoncé and Jay Z among many others for "Drunk In Love." This easily has the most nominees, songwriters included, of any category thus far. Finally, we pick one right.
6:33: Best Urban Contemporary Album goes to Pharrell Williams for Girl.
6:34: Best R&B Album goes to Toni Braxton and Babyface, as we said that it should, for Love, Marriage and Divorce.
6:35: Some mysterious high pitched noise is coming through the stream. Is it U2, not happy just to hack our iTunes, or just someone who really hates the Old Crow Medicine Show, performing onstage right now?
6:39: Best American Roots Performance goes to Roseanne Cash for her "A Feather Is Not A Bird." She notes that the kast time she won a Grammy, "Reagan was President."
6:41: Hopefully Cash didn't get too comfortable. She wins again with "A Feather Is Not A Bird" for Best American Roots Song. She doesn't note that Obama was President the last time she won a Grammy.
6:43: Best Americana Album goes to The River and The Thread by Cash. That's a turkey in the bowling industry...three in a row. She's seriously missing a chance to use our Obama joke.
6:44: Best Folk Album does not go to Cash. It goes to Remedy by the Old Crow Medicine Show.
6:46: Producer of The Year (non-Classical) goes to Max Martin. We ranked every no. 1 he's ever done, which you can check out here. He's got 18 of them, and now he's got his first Grammy.
6:48: We end, early by a total of negative-18 minutes.
