Multiple faculty members and alumni from the Frost School of Music were honored with nominations for the 2026 GRAMMY Awards today.
For the first time, a Frost School group is nominated for best large jazz ensemble album, for “Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores,” by the Frost Jazz Orchestra (FJO), the jazz program’s leading ensemble, and the Royal Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra. The album, credited to the Kenny Wheeler Project, was created by John Daversa, the Frost School’s Chair of Studio Music and Jazz, with Nick Smart, leader of the jazz program at London’s Royal Academy, to record lost scores by British-Canadian jazz icon Kenny Wheeler, adding a vital missing piece to jazz history. The project brought FJO members to London in the summer of 2024 to record with their Royal Academy counterparts at the famed Abbey Road Studios. The album, which received a host of rave reviews, features solos by Daversa and Dean Shelton G. Berg, as well as Frost School faculty members Etienne Charles, Brian Lynch, and Maria Quintanilla.
(Daversa has a strong track record with this award: his album “American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom,” with an independent group, won the GRAMMY for best large jazz ensemble in 2019.)
Miami Latin music icon Gloria Estefan, who has an honorary doctorate from the Frost School and has become a strong supporter and frequent collaborator, was nominated for best tropical Latin album for “Raíces,” a heartfelt commemoration of her Cuban musical roots, her family, and her 50 years in music. Gloria’s husband Emilio Estefan, the celebrated producer who also has an honorary doctorate from the Frost School and is on the Dean’s Advisory Board, produced “Raices” and wrote most of its songs.
Iconic multi-hyphenate Pharrell Williams, the famous composer, producer, and artist, is also a Frost School alumnus, earning a 2023 master’s degree in Music Industry through online study. This year, Williams, who has done multiple collaborations with the Frost School, has several chances to add to his 13 GRAMMY awards, with nominations for album of the year for “Let God Sort Em Out,” best rap song for “The Birds Don’t Sing,” and best music film for “Piece by Piece.”
There are more nods for Frost School jazz artists. Singer and composer Danielle Wertz, who earned her bachelor's in jazz vocals from the Frost School in 2016, shares in the nominations for best instrumental composition and best arrangement (instrumental or a cappella) for the Nordkraft Big Band's album "Silent Course." Wertz is the vocalist and composed four tracks on the album.
Famed bassist, composer, and bandleader Christian McBride is the artistic director of the JAS Academy, the summer jazz program in Aspen, Colorado, run by the Frost School and Jazz Aspen Snowmass. He’s nominated twice for albums with Chick Corea and Brian Blade, for best jazz performance for “Windows – Live,” and best jazz instrumental Album for “Trilogy 3 (Live).”
Faculty member Gonzalo Rubalcaba, the virtuoso Cuban jazz pianist, is nominated for best Latin jazz album for “A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Cole," with Yainer Horta and Joey Calveiro.
The acclaimed young jazz vocalist Samara Joy, whose much-praised new album "Portrait" was nominated for best jazz vocal album and best jazz vocal performance, did not attend the Frost School. But "Portrait" owes much of its sound to Frost School artists. Professor, saxophonist and composer Brian Lynch co-produced the album with Joy, and three of her musicians are Frost School alumni: pianist Connor Rohrer, M.M. ’24; saxophonist David Mason, M.M. ’24; and trumpet player Jason Charos, M.M. ’23.
Two graduates who've found major success in Latin music were honored. Federico Vindver, B.M. ’08, is a producer for “PAPOTA,” the hit album by electronic/alternative artists CA7RIEL and Paco Amoroso, which was nominated for best Latin rock or alternative album. (Vindver also received eight Latin GRAMMY nominations this year, including for producer of the year.)
Also arranging and producing for "Papota" was music industry alumnus Danny Flores, M.A. '22, as one half of production duo Coastcity; the pair were also producers and engineers for J Balvin's "Mixtiep," nominated for best urban music album. ("Papota" received multiple Latin GRAMMY nominations, including for album of the year.)
The 2026 GRAMMY Awards take place on Feb. 1, 2026, and will be broadcast live on CBS and stream live and on demand on Paramount +.
