The Grammys: Hancock surprises, Winehouse wins big

Past met present at the 50th annual Grammy Awards, said Jeff Leeds in The New York Times. The 67-year-old Herbie Hancock upstaged his younger, pop-star peers Kanye West and Amy Winehouse to win Album of the Year for River: The Joni Letters. A reimagining of Joni Mitchell songs, the album pairs the veteran jazzman with such fresh faces as Norah Jones and Corinne Bailey Rae. A jazz album hadn’t won this honor since 1965: Quincy Jones, who presented Hancock with the Grammy, actually threw up his hands after reading the name and yelled, “That’s unbelievable!” But Hancock’s “unexpected victory” also brought forth a familiar criticism from certain quarters: that Grammy voters are “out of step with pop music’s cutting edge.”

One person who clearly believed that was West, said Erik Pedersen in The Hollywood Reporter. When the outspoken rap star accepted his award for Best Rap Album, he told the “Recording Academy and everyone else that he deserved the big prize.” West did let some humanity show when he eventually mentioned his mother, who died late last year. But not before he reacted to the “wrap-it-up music” by stopping his speech and demanding more time, saying, “It would be in good taste to stop the music now.”

West’s sore-loser spirit didn’t spoil the intergenerational tone of the evening, said Geoff Boucher and Chris Lee in the Los Angeles Times. The Grammy celebrated its golden anniversary by “pairing stars from the present with voices from the past.” The show began with Alicia Keys singing a spectral duet of “Learnin’ the Blues” with Frank Sinatra. Tina Turner and Beyoncé put on a leggy rendition of “Proud Mary.” But the artist who truly set the show’s tone was Amy Winehouse.

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The 24-year-old Brit won five of the six categories in which she was nominated, including Best New Artist, said Ryan Pearson in the Associated Press. Winehouse appeared via satellite from London, where she played hooky from rehab in order to perform her hit single “Rehab.” Looking sad but grateful during her acceptance speech, she thanked her hometown, her parents, and her incarcerated husband. With her signature beehive and 1950s sound, Winehouse only accentuated the “resoundingly retro” feel of the year’s awards.