The Emilio Solla Tango Jazz Orchestra is the winner of this year’s Latin Grammy for best jazz album.
The largest ensemble recorded to date by pianist Emilio Solla, the 17-piece orchestra plays a modern take on the tango for their winning album, Puertos: Music From International Waters.
The songs are dedicated to several ports of the world, celebrating the places that have historically facilitated the movement of people across the globe, and how those people and their diverse cultures have mixed and co-mingled.
The 21st annual Latin Grammy Awards were handed out Thursday in a virtual ceremony that was filmed in Miami.
Born in Argentina and now based in New York, Emilio Solla is a two-time Grammy nominee who has recorded about a dozen albums as a bandleader and more than 40 as an arranger and producer. He’s regarded by peers and critics as one of the most outstanding composers in the field of tango-jazz, a musical style that blends Argentine tango and folk with jazz and other contemporary music.
Here’s the full list of jazz nominees:
- Afro-Peruvian Jazz Orchestra – Tradiciones
- Chick Corea & The Spanish Heart Band – Antidote
- David Sánchez – Carib
- Emilio Solla Tango Jazz Orchestra – Puertos: Music From International Waters
- Miguel Zenón – Sonero: The Music of Ismael Rivera
In the category of best arrangement, Lorenzo Ferrero of the Afro-Peruvian Jazz Orchestra won for the group’s tune La Flor De La Canela. Also nominated were John Beasley and Maria Mendes for Asas Fechadas, a song featuring Metropole Orkest from Mendes’s album Close to Me.