NEWS 04 Dec 2008

Concord Music Group Garners 38 Grammy Nominations

Independent Record Label Grabs An Astonishing 7% Of Total Nominations

Last night, Concord Music Group, one of the world's largest independent record companies, and its family of imprints including Concord Records, Hear Music, Concord Jazz, Fantasy, Stax, Telarc, Heads Up International and Peak, among many others, garnered 38 GRAMMY nominations. The label achieved an astounding 7% of the total number of GRAMMY nominations, marking a company record for the number of Grammy nominations received in a year. The nominations were announced at the first-ever GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live! that was held in downtown Los Angeles and televised on CBS. The CMG nominations span an amazing array of genres including jazz, rock, classical, pop, urban, Latin, blues and R&B.

"The Concord Music Group is blessed with some of the world's most talented and innovative artists. We are extremely proud that the Recording Academy has recognized their hard work. The breadth of our nominations is a tribute to our strength and diversity as a label, and our ongoing commitment to music as a company," stated Gene Rumsey, Concord Music Group general manager.

Below is the complete list of nominations for the Concord Music Group:

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

• Wichita Lineman

James Taylor

Track from: Covers

[Hear Music]

• That Was Me

Paul McCartney

Track from: Amoeba's Secret

[Hear Music/MPL Communications Ltd.]

Best Pop Instrumental Performance

• Love Appetite

Steve Cropper & Felix Cavaliere

Track from: Nudge It Up A Notch

[Stax]

• Fortune Teller

Fourplay

Track from: Energy

[Heads Up International]

• Blast!

Marcus Miller

Track from: Marcus

[Concord Jazz]

Best Pop Instrumental Album

• Sax For Stax

Gerald Albright

[Peak Records]

• A Night Before Christmas

Spyro Gyra

[Heads Up International]

Best Pop Vocal Album

• Covers

James Taylor

[Hear Music]

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

• The Sinatra Project

Michael Feinstein

[Concord Music Group]

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance

• I Saw Her Standing There

Paul McCartney

Track from: Amoeba's Secret

[Hear Music/MPL Communications Ltd.]

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance

• A Change Is Gonna Come

Wayne Brady

Track from: A Long Time Coming

[Peak Records]

Best Contemporary Jazz Album

(Various Artists)

Gregg Field & Tom Scott, producers

[Concord Jazz]

• Lifecycle

Yellowjackets Featuring Mike Stern

[Heads Up International]

Best Jazz Vocal Album

• Imagina: Songs Of Brasil

Karrin Allyson

[Concord Jazz]

Best Jazz Instrumental Solo

• Be-Bop

Terence Blanchard, soloist

Track from: Live At The 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary All-Stars)

[Monterey Jazz Festival Records]

• Seven Steps To Heaven

Till Brönner, soloist

Track from: The Standard (Take 6)

[Heads Up International]

• Waltz For Debby

Gary Burton & Chick Corea, soloists

Track from: The New Crystal Silence

[Concord Records]

• Be-Bop

James Moody, soloist

Track from: Live At The 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary All-Stars)

[Monterey Jazz Festival Records]

Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group

Chick Corea & Gary Burton

[Concord Records]

Best Latin Jazz Album

• Afro Bop Alliance

Caribbean Jazz Project

[Heads Up International]

Best Gospel Performance

• I Understand

Kim Burrell, Rance Allen, Bebe Winans, Mariah Carey & Hezekiah Walker's Love

Fellowship Tabernacle Church Choir

Track from: Randy Jackson's Music Club, Volume One

[Concord Records/Dream Merchant 21 Ent.]

Take 6

Track from: The Standard

[Heads Up International]

Best Traditional Blues Album

• Pinetop Perkins & Friends

Pinetop Perkins & Friends

[Stoneagle Music/Telarc]

Best Contemporary Blues Album

• Maestro

Taj Mahal

[Heads Up International]

Best Traditional World Music Album

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

[Heads Up International]

Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media

John Williams, composer

[Concord Records]

Best Instrumental Composition

John Williams, composer (John Williams)

Track from: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull - Soundtrack

[Concord Records]

• Alegria

Chick Corea, composer (Chick Corea & Gary Burton)

Track from: The New Crystal Silence

[Concord Records]

• Claire's Closet

Russell Ferrante, composer (Yellowjackets Featuring Mike Stern)

Track from: Lifecycle

[Heads Up International]

Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)

Cedric Dent, arranger (Take 6)

Track from: The Standard

[Heads Up International]

Don Sebesky, arranger (John Pizzarelli)

Track from: With A Song In My Heart

[Telarc International]

Best Surround Sound Album

Michael Bishop, surround mix engineer; Michael Bishop, surround mastering

engineer; Robert Woods, surround producer (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony

Orchestra)

[Telarc]

Best Engineered Album, Classical

Michael Bishop, engineer (Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus)

[Telarc]

Producer Of The Year, Classical

• Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition, Night On Bald Mountain, Prelude To

Khovanshchina (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra)

• Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, Lieutenant Kijé Suite (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati

Symphony Orchestra)

• Puccini: La Bohème (Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus)

• Ravel: Boléro (Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra)

• Revolutionary (Cameron Carpenter)

Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra)

Gloria Cheng

[Telarc]

• Revolutionary

Cameron Carpenter

[Telarc]

Best Classical Contemporary Composition

Michael Gandolfi (Robert Spano)

[Telarc]

Best Long Form Music Video

(Various Artists)

Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville, video directors; Mark Crosby, Robert Gordon &

Morgan Neville, video producers

[Stax/Tremolo Productions/Concord Music Group]