Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace

Best New Artist is a pop category, and it usually goes to whoever stands at the front and sings. In 2011 it went to Esperanza Spalding, an upright bassist who sings while she plays, on the strength of Chamber Music Society (2010) — a record built around a string trio. She was the first jazz musician to win it.

Jason Moran's name sits beside André 3000's on Shabaka Hutchings' 2024 album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. The former OutKast rapper, now devoted to flute, turns up as a working sideman in a serious jazz session.

Drummer Tom Skinner shared the session on Shabaka Hutchings' Black to the Future (2021) with harpist Brandee Younger. Around the same time he was also behind the kit in The Smile, the rock trio built by two members of Radiohead — one drummer linking deep jazz to art-rock's biggest name.

Nasheet Waits made his name as the drummer on Jason Moran's piano-trio records Black Stars and Ten. On the 2024 album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, he shares the session with André 3000 — the rapper turned flutist — linking a defining New York jazz drummer to pop history.