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Batiste, who leads the band on "The Late Show
with Stephen Colbert," landed five awards overall, including the
night's biggest prize for "We Are," a jazz album inspired by the
Black Lives Matter movement.
"I believe this to my core - there is no best musician, best
artist, best dancer, best actor. The creative arts are
subjective," Batiste said. "I just put my head down and I work
on the craft every day."
Batiste's other wins included best music video for "Freedom," a
vibrantly colored tribute to New Orleans, and an award for
composing and arranging of songs for animated Pixar movie
"Soul."
Silk Sonic, featuring Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, claimed the
song and record of the year awards for their 1970s inspired hit
"Leave the Door Open." The pair rose from their seats and danced
slowly before making their way to the stage.
"We are really trying our hardest to remain humble at this
point," joked Paak as the pair accepted the second honor.
Olivia Rodrigo, the 19-year-old singer of heartbreak ballad
"drivers license" on her album "Sour," scored three awards,
including best new artist.
"This is my biggest dream come true. Thank you so much!" Rodrigo
said as she held her trophy.
Midway through the ceremony, host Trevor Noah introduced a video
message from Zelenskiy, who contrasted the joy found through
music to the devastation caused by Russia's invasion of his
country more than a month ago.
"What is more opposite to music? The silence of ruined cities
and killed people," Zelenskiy, wearing a green t-shirt, said in
a hoarse voice.
"Fill the silence with your music," he added. "Support us in any
way you can. Any, but not silence." [L2N2W10HZ]
The remarks preceded a John Legend performance that featured two
Ukrainian musicians and a Ukrainian poet.
The highest honors in music were postponed from January during a
spike in COVID-19 cases and moved from Los Angeles to the MGM
Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Stars walked a red carpet and
thousands of spectators packed the venue, a contrast to last
year's scaled-down outdoor event.
Noah urged the audience to think of the evening as "a concert
where we are handing out awards."
"We are going to be keeping people's names out of our mouths,"
Noah added, a jab about actor Will Smith, who a week ago slapped
comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars and told him not to mention
his wife's name.
Korean pop band BTS, a global phenomenon that has never won a
Grammy, left empty-handed again. But the group delivered a
high-octane performance of their hit "Butter," dodging laser
beams in what looked like a scene out of a heist movie.
Rock band Foo Fighters, whose drummer Taylor Hawkins died a
little over a week ago, won three awards, including best rock
album for "Medicine at Midnight." No one from the band appeared
to accept the trophies.
Winners were chosen by some 11,000 voting members of the
Recording Academy.
In comedy categories, comedian Louis C.K. won best album for
"Sincerely Louis C.K.," his first comedy special since he
admitted to sexual misconduct in 2017.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Las Vegas; Additional reporting
by Maria Caspani in New York; Editing by Diane Craft, Stephen
Coates and Bradley Perrett)
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