'New' Ray Charles album from the 1970s poses Grammy problems

LOS ANGELES - Can a voice from the grave earn a Grammy?

That question is swirling around music circles this week as nomination ballots for the upcoming Grammy Awards -- the industry's version of the Oscars -- were mailed to about 11,000 voting members of the Recording Academy.

One example is the new Ray Sings, Basie Swing album, which combines recently unearthed archival vocals by the late soul titan Ray Charles with newly recorded tracks by the big band still carrying Count Basie's name.

The CD, released by Concord Records and Starbucks debuted atop the Billboard Jazz charts, but because Ray's vocals date back to the 1970s and the instrumentation is new, the CD has fallen into a sort of Grammy black hole due to a rule, considered outdated by some.

Under academy rules, since Charles' vocals on the album date back to the 1970s, they are considered ineligible for the new vocal categories.

"If you have a recording that's basically an old recording but with lots of new production, then suddenly you have a recording that falls into limbo because it's not eligible for historical consideration and it's not eligible for newer performance categories," said Diane Theriot, senior vice president of awards for the Recording Academy.

"You can't say it's old and you can't say it's all new. It's a topic we'll return to and continue to research as newer production techniques continue to combine the old and the new," she said.

Starting in June, record labels and artists submit an estimated 15,000 works for Grammy consideration, which are then categorized and put onto ballots. On the initial ballots, there might be as many as 600 albums in a category like Album of the Year. Voters then narrow the field to five in each category. The nominees are announced in December, about two months ahead of the Grammys Awards in February.

Concord and Starbucks could submit the CD for producer, engineering, arrangements and even album of the year because these categories are not vocal specific.

But the vocal tracks, considered among Charles' best and a would-be strong Grammy contender, were deemed off limits for categories like best jazz vocals, best rhythm and blues vocals, according to Gregg Field, who produced the album.

"I think it's an important record in Ray's career and I'm disappointed that this time around, the vocals can't be considered for a Grammy," said Field.

While there is no arguing that technology has drastically changed the way fans hear, buy and store music, various critics are now saying the Grammy organization needs to revisit the way it honoius music to reflect advances in production.

"Without technology, you would never have heard this album. It's an original vocal that has never been released. It's like finding a lost Picasso," said Phil Ramone, chairman emeritus of the Recording Academy, who served in the late 1990s.

"But when the people set up the original Grammy rules, nobody ever thought this would be possible," he said.

Charles, who died in 2004, is not a stranger to posthumous honours. He won five awards in February 2005, including the coveted album of the year prize for his Genius Loves Company album, also released by Concord and Starbucks.

It marked the first time Charles ever received the album prize, and the first time the award had gone to a deceased artist since John Lennon (and widow Yoko Ono) won the prize in 1982 for Double Fantasy.

Posthumous collaborations are not entirely new such as in the case of singer Natalie Cole's Unforgettable, which teamed her with her late father Nat King Cole on one track, selling more than five million copies and garnering various Grammys.

Theriot said that since the elder Cole's vocals only featured on one song, they were not a Grammy factor. "She was the only person that won a Grammy award. It was her album," said Theriot.

Former Beatles Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr also collaborated in the 1990s to embellish a couple of John Lennon demos from the 1970s with overdubs to create Free as a Bird.

- REUTERS