I got this e-mail from my friend at Joyous Shout and my jaw dropped when I saw that not only has Chico Hamilton never won a Grammy, he's never even been nominated. That just can not stand. I don't know anyone on the voting committe, but if any of you do, I encourage you to pass this around. 4 ridiculously good albums released in his 85th year on this green Earth. Let's get the legend his props.

Hope all is well, I wanted to reach out and touch base with you regarding the upcoming Grammy voting...as many of you already know, back in the 50's Chico his original quintet performed per the request of Legendary Producer George Avakian at one of the first organizing meetings which resulted in the formation of NARAS, the group behind the Grammys. Yet over the course of his career, 60 some odd albums as a leader, Chico has never been recoginized with either a Grammy or even a nomination.

Throughout the course of 2006, in releasing 4 albums in celebration of
Chico's 85th Birthday, Joyous Shout! has aggressively promoted these
releases thru non-traditional jazz avenues, especially online with the
help of the fine folks from Giant Step, Gamelan, and JamBase.com, as
well as thru a series of amazing events on Chico's MySpace page
(www.myspace.com/chicohamilton ) with collaborations between Chico and AMAZING artists such as Fertile Ground, Emeson, Marlon Saunders,
amongst others. With the Grammys fast approaching, it's time to aim
our reach beyond the underground, and work as aggressively as we can to secure a Grammy nomination for Chico in his 85th year!!

We urge you to spread the word amongst your friends and professional
associates to vote for Chico, and following is the list of entries for Chico's
albums:

General Field, Category 1 (Record of the Year)
230. LOVE ME A LONG, LONG TME
Chico Hamilton Featuring Fontella Bass

Field 1 (Pop), Category 8 (Best Pop Collaborations with Vocals)
056. YOU'VE REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME
Chico Hamilton Featuring Brenna Bavis
057. DON'T BE THAT WAY
Chico Hamilton Featuring Bill Henderson
058. LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME
Chico Hamilton Featuring Marya Lawrence
059. WHAT'S YOUR STORY MONRING GLORY
Chico Hamilton Featuring Arthur Lee

Field 10 (Jazz), Category 47 (Best Jazz Instrumental Solo)
013. BONES, NO MEAT
George Bohanon, soloist (Chico Hamilton)
048. MULLIGAN STEW
Geoffrey Countryman. soloist (Chico Hamilton)
056. WITHOUT LOVE (NOTHING MATTERS)
Cary DeNigris, soloist (Chico Hamilton)
072. TAKE THE A TRAIN
Jon Faddis, soloist (Chico Hamilton)
184. STROLLIN' WITH BONE
Shuggie Otis, soloist (Chico Hamilton)
196. CHRISTINA
Paul Ramsey, soloist (Chico Hamilton)
212. MR. HAMILTON
Evan Schwam, soloist (Chico Hamilton)

Field 10 (Jazz) , Category 48 (Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group)
077. BELIEVE
Chico Hamilton
078. HERITAGE
Chico Hamilton
079. JUNIFLIP
Chico Hamilton
080. 6TH AVENUE ROMP
Chico Hamilton

Field 23 (Composing/Arranging), Category 83 (Best Instrumental Composition)
026. BONES, NO MEAT
Chico Hamilton, composer (Chico Hamilton)

Field 23 (Composing/Arranging), Category 84 (Best Instrumental Arrangement)
001. ALIVE
Cary DeNigris, arranger (Chico Hamilton)

Apologies are in order to Jaimoe, I did make entries for the tracks in which this GREAT
artist participated, but for some reason it was deleted from the entry list by NARAS.

We also have submitted two "Crafts Entries":

Category 86 (Recording Package)
HERITAGE
David Kohler, art director (Chico Hamilton)

Category 90 (Engineer)
HERITAGE
Chris Fasulo, engineer (Chico Hamilton)

These "Crafts Entries" cannot be voted on by the general membership,
however maybe you know someone on the individual craft committees,
and if so you are encouraged to LOBBY for their VOTES!!

Grammy Ballot due date is Wednesday November 8, 2006.

Spread the word, forward this email to your entire address book, lobby everyone you
know who might be a NARAS member, and let's make his 85th year a Grammy year
for Foreststorn "Chico" Hamilton!!