Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores has been nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album at the 68th GRAMMY® Awards
Kenny Wheeler Legacy, comprising the Royal Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra and University of Miami’s Frost Jazz Orchestra, is celebrating a GRAMMY® nomination for Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category. Released on January 31, 2025 via Greenleaf Music, Some Days Are Better is a wide-ranging, expansive project celebrating the legacy of one of the great, original voices in contemporary jazz, Kenny Wheeler.
Some Days Are Better explores an undiscovered treasure of rarely-heard works by the iconic composer from a crucial and largely unknown period in his musical emergence – curated from within the Kenny Wheeler Archive at the Royal Academy of Music. The project was spearheaded by Wheeler biographer and Academy head of jazz Nick Smart, and the Frost School of Music director of jazz, John Daversa, A truly international and intergenerational project, this endeavour brought together future stars from the younger generation and established legends playing alongside one another – reflecting precisely the inclusive spirit Wheeler himself had intended for this music. Alongside the combined Jazz Orchestras of the UK’s Royal Academy of Music and the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, the ensemble is augmented by a host of Wheeler’s past colleagues, devotees and fans, such as Shelly Berg, Etienne Charles, James Copus, John Daversa, Ingrid Jensen, Brian Lynch, Evan Parker, Chris Potter, Nick Smart and Norma Winstone.
“It was truly a dream when we received news of this Grammy recognition,” reflects Smart. “It was so wonderful to see the acknowledgment of all the passion and commitment that was invested by every single person involved, and most of all, to see Kenny Wheeler finally getting the plaudits for his large ensemble writing that he so richly deserves and should have had in his lifetime.”
John Daversa adds: “We are thrilled for all involved – the musicians, The Royal Academy of Music, The Frost School of Music, the incredible guest soloists…but most importantly, for the legacy of a true musical artist and pioneer, Kenny Wheeler!”
Kenny Wheeler is considered one of the most influential figures in contemporary jazz. Born in Toronto in 1930 but based in the UK from 1952, by the 1960s Wheeler had become highly regarded in the London scene, known as a post-bop trumpeter and flugelhorn player inspired by Booker Little and Freddie Hubbard, but also as a pioneering free player moving into unexplored territory alongside improvisers such as John Stevens, Evan Parker, Dave Holland and Derek Bailey. He died in 2014 at the age of 84, leaving behind an impactful legacy as both composer and instrumentalist that remains a towering influence upon the contemporary jazz world.
Although widely recognized for his unique voice as a player, to many it was his big band writing that was so seminal. This GRAMMY® nomination represents the first occasion his large ensemble writing has been acknowledged for the significant contribution he made to the jazz orchestra landscape. Fittingly, the nominated material comes from a period in which he felt an uncommon sense of confidence. Reflecting on that era, Kenny remarked: “I loved the general effect. I thought it was great, much different from anything I’d heard from anybody else anywhere… I think [it] is a very exciting and unique big band, nothing else I’ve heard is like it… I never thought ‘well, I’m doing something new here’, but I guess it was new.”
Released to coincide with the publication of Song for Someone: The Musical Life of Kenny Wheeler (Brian Shaw and Nick Smart, Equinox Publishing), Some Days Are Better came to light directly following what would have been Wheeler’s 95th birthday earlier this year. The recording is executive produced for Greenleaf by Dave Douglas, himself a fan and friend of Kenny’s and with whom he oversaw Wheeler’s lifetime contribution acknowledged in 2011’s Festival of New Trumpet Music residency. This is Greenleaf Music’s fourth GRAMMY® nomination.
Kenny Wheeler Legacy joins an esteemed list of nominees in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category for the 68th GRAMMY® Awards. The 68th GRAMMY® Awards will take place on February 1, 2026.