Grammy Award-winning eighth blackbird scores new Grammy nods for Lonely Motel

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eighth blackbird enjoys a happy relationship with the Grammys, having won a nomination and two awards, including the one for “Best Chamber Music Performance,” in 2008. Now nominations for the 54th Grammys are in, revealing that the new-music sextet has drawn away from the pack once again with a full three nods – one for “Best Small Ensemble Performance” among them – for Lonely Motel: music from “Slide.”

Released in September by Cedille Records, Lonely Motel features music from Steve Mackey and Rinde Eckert’s Slide, the genre-defying new music-theater piece that eighth blackbird commissioned and premiered as the centerpiece of the 2009 Ojai Music Festival*. As Tim Munro, the sextet’s flutist, explains:

“This project has been a decade-long labor of love for eighth blackbird, and we are excited that the Grammy Academy members love Steve Mackey and Rinde Eckert’s crazy, fascinating, passionate work as much as we do. What an honor!”

The three nominations for the disc are in the following categories: “Best Small Ensemble Performance,” “Best Contemporary Classical Composition,” and “Best Engineered Album, Classical.” (David Frost also received a nomination as “Producer of the Year, Classical”, acknowledging his work on several projects including Lonely Motel.)

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