Jeff Goldblum is a lifelong jazz aficionado whose first love was the revered pianist and three-time GRAMMY nominee Erroll Garner, an untaught musician who sat on a phone book to reach his piano keys.

"There's nobody more ebullient in his playing than he is," Goldblum tells the Recording Academy. "Not too fancy. But so joyful in his music," he says about the pianist's 1961 album Erroll Garner Plays Misty, which his father gifted him.

The "Jurassic Park" star was enamored of jazz but pursued acting instead. His career choice paid off: The Academy Award-nominated actor, director and producer can today be found in his own Disney+ series, "The World According to Jeff Goldblum," in addition to regular Hollywood roles.

Still, he never lost the music bug. On Nov. 1, Goldblum released his latest jazz album, I Shouldn't Be Telling You This, featuring his longtime band, the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra.

On the album, Goldblum approaches what can be a stuffy art form with characteristic aplomb, proving that jazz isn’t just for the upper crust or for academics—it's for everyone. Featuring guest vocalists like Sharon Van Etten, Inara George and Fiona Apple on standards like "Let's Face The Music And Dance," "The Sidewinder" (in a medley with Sonny and Cher's "The Beat Goes On") and "Don't Worry 'Bout Me," I Shouldn't Be Telling You This makes jazz accessible.

The Recording Academy spoke with Goldblum about his musical upbringing, his love for Thelonious Monk and Lee Morgan and why playing jazz starts with simply touching an instrument.

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You've been playing jazz while also investigating everyday items like sneakers, ice cream and tattoos on your Disney+ show, "The World According to Jeff Goldblum." Are you trying to understand what makes Americans tick?

I tell you, jazz reminds me of larger issues, and if we do another season [of the TV show], maybe we’ll pick things that are particularly suited for larger ideas about the American story. I've been talking to this fellow named Kurt Anderson, who wrote a book that I like very, very much called "Fantasyland," which has everything to do with the American story.

Of course, jazz is very much part of the American story, and that always interests me. Yes.

Read: Jeff Goldblum's Long Road To His No. 1 Jazz Album, 'The Capitol Studio Sessions'

In what way is it part of the American story for you? What does it conjure in your mind about where we come from?

Well, it's very complicated and exciting, and sometimes it's a story that has many different colors in it, you know? I did this movie last year that Rick Alverson directed called "The Mountain" that reminded me of some of the movies that I liked very much. For instance, Paul Thomas Anderson has done "The Master" and "There Will Be Blood," and I’m a particular fan of Arthur Miller's play "Death Of A Salesman."

So, there are critiques of America that I find very interesting, but here I am in New York City right now, and I'm reminded of that documentary that I saw a couple of times all the way through—several hours—by Ken Burns' brother, Ric Burns, called "New York." It chronicles the American story through the particular lens of the New York story, and there are things that are very hopeful and inspiring and moving about it.

On your new album, you cover "The Sidewinder" by Lee Morgan, an undersung genius of jazz who died at a young age. Why that standard? 

Well, I've always loved that song. I know about Lee Morgan; I saw the documentary about him [2016's "I Called Him Morgan"]. That's a tragic story. But I love that song, I love "The Sidewinder," and we wanted to do something that would be a fresh kind of mash-up. The chords go with "The Beat Goes On," and Inara George sings the heck out of it. That song always drives me crazy with delight.

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Did you appreciate jazz as a kid?

Yeah! I’m from Pittsburgh, and my dad brought home the just-released Erroll Garner Plays Misty album. I was enthralled with it. I took lessons and I was starting to get a little better when the teacher gave me a piece of music arrangement—not yet improvised—but "Alley Cat" and syncopation just did something to me. "Deep Purple," I remember he gave me, and "Stairway To The Stars."

I really sat and practiced until I learned how to play them. And even though I had my heart set on an acting career, I started to call around to jazz clubs that were around Pittsburgh, and at 15, I got a couple of gigs where I was playing. I met a singer or two who would drive me to a couple of gigs. Then I kept it in my apartment in New York when I was 17 or 18 and I was studying with Sandy Meisner. I put it in a couple of movies and plays.

Then, about 30 years ago, I started to play out and about with professional musicians, and that’s how this whole thing evolved.

I like that Erroll Garner was your gateway. His music is unbridled joy.

Oh, yeah. Totally. There's nobody more ebullient in his playing than he is. You know, he was self-taught. Didn’t read music. But what a genius. My dad always commented that he was so short that he sat on a telephone book. He was kind of a working-class type. Not too fancy. But so joyful, like you say, in his music.

My dad really wasn't a musician, he was a doctor. But he would point out the unique thing that [Garner] did: "Listen to how he lets spaces go in between some of his notes." He liked his octaves in what he was doing. He was a big inspiration early on.

Did acting derail your jazz career for a while? 

I wouldn’t say it was derailed. In fact, I think now, I don’t know that I'd be getting everyone into these live shows who weren’t otherwise sometimes interested in a movie or two that I’ve done. Even the craft of acting—and I consider myself a humble student of that, as I've sort of developed—has cross-trained well with my musical interests. Listening and improvisation, being present and finding your voice and all that manner of stuff.

But you're certainly right; I certainly wasn't able to play music all day, every day. I like the balance. I like the percentage of both of them.

Does acting teach you to nonverbally communicate with your band?

Yes, I think so! And likewise, I think it works the other way, too. The pure enjoyment I get out of playing music—the nonverbal, like you say, expressiveness—works in many ways in acting. The doors and portals into your heart and strings that are numberless that music can open up can inform acting, I think, too. Yeah.

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Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins played with a lot of anger and raucous humor. Do you see great jazz musicians as being like actors?

Oh, sure. I do. Thelonious Monk was not only unique but still kind of inclusive. His composition, "Ugly Beauty," is inclusive of every part of himself and brave and unique and unconventional. I just loved him. And stylish, you know? But I love that [1986] movie "Round Midnight," speaking of actors. Dexter Gordon played so beautifully, and even Herbie Hancock in that movie plays gorgeously, but acted very well, too.

I'm reading the Dexter Gordon biography, Sophisticated Giant. He was such a larger-than-life American figure: jazz's Paul Bunyan. I feel like they don't make them like that anymore.

That's funny that you mention Paul Bunyan. I was talking about him yesterday. One of the things I’m talking about with the NatGeo people [National Geographic developed his Disney+ series, "The World According to Jeff Goldblum"] for next season is maybe incredible figures like that. Yes, those giants of yesteryear, that particular era. Some of which we focus on in our album, '50s, '60s Blue Note kind of stuff. Just irreplaceable. 

Jazz is sometimes dragged into academia in 2019. Does it engage your brain, your heart or both?

I think both. I'm in a growth spurt now with these couple of records coming out. I’m trying to do my best. I play every chance I get when I’m on the road. The hotel I’m staying at in New York doesn’t have a piano, but I woke up the last couple of days and walked several blocks to this other hotel that let me play in their little showroom there. I do that very conscientiously every day.

And yeah, it does something to my heart that’s a real tonic. But also, I’m taking lessons and learning from the guys in the band. Joe Bagg is our organist and keyboard player, and I'm taking lessons from him. Alex Frank, who arranged some of these things on the last album, is coaching me in some of my playing and singing, too. I’m really enjoying trying to have some breakthroughs here and there.

Is there still a learning curve to the piano for you? 

Oh, yeah. There's so much to learn. No matter what special aspect of it you’re concentrating on, in mathematical ways, there seems to be an infinite amount of possibilities with harmony. It is a real brain exerciser. An exerciser for the whole system. But oh, there’s so much to learn for everybody.

I'm trying to pick up the trumpet lately. It’s slow-going. Any advice for someone who wants to play jazz?

Just do it. There’s a lifetime of listening you can do. I’ve never formally taught piano or any instrument. But when I see my kids—I've got a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old—I think some legitimate and valid early stages are just sitting with the instrument, near the instrument, holding the instrument, touching the instrument, getting a feel for it.

There are so many serious ways you can study. And I’ll bet there are people who want to participate. Start playing together with other people. That'd be fun, too.

Joni Mitchell's 'Mingus' At 40: A Look Back At A Seminal Jazz Collab

Henry Mancini had a gift for melodies of an ethereal, almost supernatural beauty.  

His prolific discography — albums of jazzy orchestral pop, dozens of film and television soundtracks — established him as a cultural icon and transformed the role that melody and song played in the art of movie narrative. Once you encounter a Henry Mancini tune, it’s almost impossible not to start humming it.

A composer, arranger, conductor and pianist of tireless discipline, Mancini won a staggering 20 GRAMMY Awards and was nominated 72 times. All of his wins — including the first-ever golden gramophone for Album Of The Year at the inaugural 1959 GRAMMYs — will be on display at the GRAMMY Museum to honor his centennial birthday, April 16. 

To mark what would be his centennial birthday, Mancini's children will travel to Abruzzo, Italy — where Mancini’s parents migrated from. And on June 23, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra will present a program of his music with a gallery of guest stars including singer Monica Mancini, the maestro’s daughter. Out June 21, The Henry Mancini 100th Sessions – Henry Has Company will feature a new recording of "Peter Gunn" conducted by Quincy Jones and featuring John Williams, Herbie Hancock and Arturo Sandoval.

Although Mancini died in 1994 at age 70, his compositions remain timeless and ever-relevant. Read on for 10 essential Henry Mancini compositions to cherish and rediscover.  

"Peter Gunn" (1958)

In 1958, Mancini was looking for work and used his old Universal studio pass to enter the lot and visit the barber shop. It was outside the store that he met writer/director Blake Edwards and got the chance to write the music for a new television show about private detective Peter Gunn. 

Seeped in West Coast Jazz, Mancini’s main theme sounds brash and exciting to this day – its propulsive beat and wailing brass section evoking an aura of cool suspense. The "Peter Gunn" assignment cemented his reputation as a cutting-edge composer, and the accompanying album (The Music From Peter Gunn) won GRAMMYs in the Album Of The Year and Best Arrangement categories.

"Mr. Lucky" (1959)

Half of the "Peter Gunn" fan mail was addressed to Mancini. As a result, CBS offered Blake Edwards a second television show, as long as the composer was part of the package. Edwards created "Mr. Lucky," a stylish series about the owner of a floating casino off the California coast. 

1959 was an exhausting year for Mancini, as he was scoring two shows at the same time on a weekly basis. Still, his music flowed with elegance and ease. The "Mr. Lucky" ambiance allowed him to explore Latin rhythms, and the strings on his wonderful main theme shimmer with a hint of yearning. It won GRAMMY Awards in 1960 for Best Arrangement and Best Performance by an Orchestra.

"Lujon" (1961)

As part of his contract with RCA Victor, Mancini was committed to recording a number of albums featuring original compositions in the same velvety jazz-pop idiom from his television work. "Lujon" is the standout track from Mr. Lucky Goes Latin, a collection of Latin-themed miniatures that luxuriate in a mood of plush languor.

 Inspired by the complex harmonics of French composer Maurice Ravel, "Lujon" steers safely away from lounge exotica thanks to the refined qualities of the melody and arrangement.

"Moon River" (1961)

Performed on a harmonica, the main melody of "Moon River" is nostalgic to the bone, but also life affirming. A majestic string section makes the music swoon, like gliding on air. And the harmonies in the vocal chorus add gravitas — a touch of humanity. 

It took Mancini half an hour to write "Moon River," but the Breakfast at Tiffany’s anthem made him a global superstar. Among the many artists who covered the song, pop crooner Andy Williams turned it into his personal anthem. Mancini won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and GRAMMY Awards for Record Of The Year, Song Record Of The Year and Best Arrangement. The album soundtrack earned two additional gramophones.

Theme from Hatari! (1962)

After two failed attempts with different composers, legendary director Howard Hawks invited Mancini to write the score for Hatari! — the wildly episodic but oddly endearing safari film he had shot in Tanganyika with John Wayne. Mancini jumped at the opportunity, and Hawks gave him a few boxes from the trip that contained African percussive instruments, a thumb piano and a tape of Masai tribal chants. Two chords from that chant, together with a slightly detuned upright piano formed the basis for the movie’s main theme. 

Mancini’s sparse arrangement and melancholy melody conspired to create one of the most gorgeous themes in the history of film.

"Days of Wine and Roses" (1962)

Throughout the decades, Mancini provided musical accompaniment to Blake Edwards’ filmography, which switched from slapstick comedy to stark melodrama. There is a perverse beauty to the theme of Days of Wine and Roses — a movie about a couple of lifelong alcoholics — as the lush choral arrangement seems to glorify the innocence of better times. 

It won an Academy Award for Best Original Song — Mancini’s second Oscar in a row — and three GRAMMYs: Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Background Arrangement.

"The Pink Panther Theme" (1963)

Directed by Edwards and starring Peter Sellers as part of an ensemble cast, the original Pink Panther was a frothy caper comedy that had none of the manic touches of comedic genius that Sellers would exhibit in subsequent entries of the franchise. It was Mancini’s ineffable main theme that carried the movie through.

Jazzy and mischievous, Mancini wrote the melody with the light-as-a-feather playing of tenor saxophonist Plas Johnson in mind. It won GRAMMYs in three categories: Best Instrumental Arrangement, Best Instrumental Compositions (Other Than Jazz), and Best Instrumental Performance – Non-Jazz.

Charade (1963)

Mancini’s gift for cosmopolitan tunes and jazzy arrangements found the perfect vehicle in the score for Stanley Donen’s Charade — a droll Hitchcockian thriller shot in Paris and starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. 

The main theme is a waltz in A minor, and opens with pulsating percussion. When the central melody appears, it evokes a melancholy reflection and a certain thirst for the kind of globetrotting adventure that the film delivers in spades. It was Johnny Mercer’s favorite Mancini melody, and he wrote exquisite lyrics for it. 

The best version probably belongs to jazz singer Johnny Hartman, who released it as the opening track of his 1964 album I Just Dropped By To Say Hello.

Two For The Road (1967)

Friends and family remember Mancini as a humble craftsman who ignored the trappings of fame and focused on the discipline of work. In 1967, after Audrey Hepburn cabled to ask him about writing the music for the Stanley Donen film Two For The Road, Mancini agreed, but was taken aback when the director rejected his initial theme. Leaving his ego aside, he returned to the drawing board and delivered a lovely new melody – and a spiraling piano pattern seeped in old fashioned tenderness.

"Theme from The Molly Maguires" (1970)

Even though Mancini enjoyed most accolades during the ‘60s, his protean level of inspiration never wavered. In 1970, he was brought in to rescue the soundtrack of Martin Ritt’s gritty secret societies drama The Molly Maguires, about Irish-American miners rebelling against their mistreatment in 19th century Pennsylvania. 

The main theme makes time stand still: a sparse arrangement that begins with a solitary harp, until a recorder ushers in a haunting, Irish-inspired melody. The score reflected a more restrained Mancini, but was still intensely emotional.

Jeff Goldblum's Musical Influences: How Frank Sinatra, "Moon River" & More Jazz Greats Inspired The Actor-Turned-Musician

What, exactly, is "alternative jazz"? After that new category was announced ahead of the 2024 GRAMMYs nominations, inquiring minds wanted to know. The "alternative" descriptor is usually tied to rock, pop or dance — not typically jazz, which gets qualifiers like "out" or "avant-garde."

However, the introduction of the Best Alternative Jazz Album category does shoehorn anything into the lexicon. Rather, it commensurately clarifies and expands the boundaries of this global artform.

According to the Recording Academy, alternative jazz "may be defined as a genre-blending, envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz (improvisation, interaction, harmony, rhythm, arrangements, composition, and style) with other genres… it may also include the contemporary production techniques/instrumentation associated with other genres."

And the 2024 GRAMMY nominees for Best Alternative Jazz Album live up to this dictum: Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily's Love in Exile; Louis Cole's Quality Over Opinion; Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter and SuperBlue's SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree; Cory Henry's Live at the Piano; and Meshell Ndegeocello's The Omnichord Real Book.

Sure, these were the standard bearers of alternative jazz over the past year and change — as far as Recording Academy Membership is concerned. But these are only five albums; they amount to a cross section. With that in mind, read on for 10 additional albums from 2023 that fall under the umbrella of alternative jazz.

Allison Miller - Rivers in Our Veins

The supple and innovative drummer and composer Allison Miller often works in highly cerebral, conceptual spaces. After all, her last suite, Rivers in Our Veins, involves a jazz band, three dancers and video projections.

Therein, Miller chose one of the most universal themes out there: how rivers shape our lives and communities, and how we must act as their stewards. Featuring violinist Jenny Scheinman, trumpeter Jason Palmer, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, keyboardist and accordionist Carmen Staff, and upright bassist Todd Sickafoose — Rivers in Our Veins homes in on the James, Delaware, Potomac, Hudson, and Susquehanna.

And just as these eastern U.S. waterways serve all walks of life, Rivers in Our Veins defies category. And it also blurs two crucial aspects of Miller's life and career.

"I get to marry my environmentalism and my activism with music," she told District Fray. "And it's still growing!

M.E.B. - That You Not Dare To Forget

The Prince of Darkness may have slipped away 32 years ago, but he's felt eerily omnipresent in the evolution of this music ever since.

In M.E.B. or "Miles Electric Band," an ensemble of Davis alumni and disciples underscore his unyielding spirit with That You Not Dare to Forget. The lineup is staggering: bassists Ron Carter, Marcus Miller, and Stanley Clarke; saxophonist Donald Harrison, guitarist John Scofield, a host of others.

How does That You Not Dare To Forget satisfy the definition of alternative jazz? Because like Davis' abstracted masterpieces, like Bitches Brew, On the Corner and the like, the music is amoebic, resistant to pigeonholing.

Indeed, tunes like "Hail to the Real Chief" and "Bitches are Back" function as scratchy funk or psychedelic soul as much as they do the J-word, which Davis hated vociferously.

And above all, they're idiosyncratic to the bone — just as the big guy was, every second of his life and career.

Art Ensemble of Chicago - Sixth Decade - from Paris to Paris

The nuances and multiplicities of the Art Ensemble of Chicago cannot be summed up in a blurb: that's where books like Message to Our Folks and A Power Stronger Than Itself — about the AACM — come in.

But if you want an entryway into this bastion of creative improvisational music — that, unlike The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Associated Ensembles boxed set, isn't 18-plus hours long — Sixth Decade - from Paris to Paris will do in a pinch.

Recorded just a month before the pandemic struck, The Sixth Decade is a captivating looking-glass into this collective as it stands, with fearless co-founder Roscoe Mitchell flanked by younger leading lights, like Nicole Mitchell and Moor Mother.

Potent and urgent, engaging the heart as much as the cerebrum, this music sees the Art Ensemble still charting their course into the outer reaches. Here's to their next six decades.

Theo Croker - By The Way

By The Way may not be an album proper, but it's still an exemplar of alternative jazz.

The five-track EP finds outstanding trumpeter, vocalist, producer, and composer Croker revisiting tunes from across his discography, with UK singer/songwriter Ego Ella May weaving the proceedings with her supple, enveloping vocals.

Compositions like "Slowly" and "If I Could I Would" seem to hang just outside the reaches of jazz; it pulls on strings of neo soul and silky, progressive R&B.

Even the music video for "Slowly" is quietly innovative: in AI's breakthrough year, machine learning made beautifully, cosmically odd visuals for that percolating highlight.

Michael Blake - Dance of the Mystic Bliss

Even a cursory examination of Dance of the Mystic Bliss reveals it to be Pandora's box.

First off: revered tenor and soprano saxophonist Michael Blake's CV runs deep, from his lasting impression in New York's downtown scene to his legacy in John Lurie's Lounge Lizards.

And his new album is steeped in the long and storied history of jazz and strings, as well as Brazilian music and the sting of grief — Blake's mother's 2018 passing looms heavy in tunes like "Merle the Pearl." 

"Sure, for me, it's all about my mom, and there will be some things that were triggered. But when you're listening to it, you're going to have a completely different experience," Blake told LondonJazz in 2023.

"That's what I love about instrumental music," he continued. "That's what's so great about how jazz can transcend to this unbelievable spiritual level." Indeed, Dance of the Mystic Bliss can be communed with, with or without context, going in familiar or cold.

And that tends to be the instrumental music that truly lasts — the kind that gives you a cornucopia of references and sensations, either way.

Dinner Party - Enigmatic Society

Dinner Party's self-titled debut EP, from 2020 — and its attendant remix that year, Dinner Party: Dessert — introduced a mightily enticing supergroup to the world: Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and 9th Wonder.

While the magnitude of talent there is unquestionable, the quartet were still finding their footing; when mixing potent Black American genres in a stew, sometimes the strong flavors can cancel each other out.

Enigmatic Society, their debut album, is a relaxed and concise triumph; each man has figured out how he can act as a quadrant for the whole.

And just as guests like Herbie Hancock and Snoop Dogg elevated Dinner Party: Dessert, colleagues like Phoelix and Ant Clemons ride this wave without disturbing its flow.

Wadada Leo Smith & Orange Wave Electric - Fire Illuminations

The octogenarian tumpeter, multi-instrumentalist and composer Wadada Leo Smith is a standard-bearer of the subset of jazz we call "creative music." And by the weighty, teeming sound of Fire Illuminations, it's clear he's not through surprising us.

Therein, Smith debuts his nine-piece Orange Wave Electric ensemble, which features three guitarists (Nels Cline, Brandon Ross, Lamar Smith) and two electric bassists (Bill Laswell and Melvin Gibbs).

In characteristically sagelike fashion, Smith described Fire Illuminations as "a ceremonial space where one's hearts and conscious can embrace for a brief period of unconditioned love where the artist and their music with the active observer becomes united."

And if you zoom in from that beatific view, you get a majestic slab of psychedelic hard rock — with dancing rhythms, guitar fireworks and Smith zigzagging across the canvas like Miles. 

Henry Threadgill - The Other One

Saxophonist, flutist and composer Henry Threadgill composed The Other One for the late, great Milfred Graves, the percussionist with a 360 degree vantage of the pulse of his instrument and how it related to heart, breath and hands.

If that sounds like a mouthful, this is a cerebral, sprawling and multifarious space: The Other One itself consists of one three-movement piece (titled Of Valence) and is part of a larger multimedia work.

To risk oversimplification, though, The Other One is a terrific example of where "jazz" and "classical" melt as helpful descriptors, and flow into each other like molten gold.

If you're skeptical of the limits and constraints of these hegemonic worlds, let Threadgill and his creative-music cohorts throughout history bulldoze them before your ears.

Linda May Han Oh - The Glass Hours

Jazz has an ocean of history with spoken word, but this fusion must be executed judiciously: again, these bold flavors can overwhelm each other. Except when they're in the hands of an artist as keen as Linda May Han Oh.

"I didn't want it to be an album with a lot of spoken word," the Malaysian Australian bassist and composer told LondonJazz, explaining that "Antiquity" is the only track on The Glass Hours to feature a recitation from the great vocalist Sara Serpa. "I just felt it was necessary for that particular piece, to explain a bit of the narrative more."

Elsewhere, Serpa's crystalline, wordless vocals are but one color swirling with the rest: tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Fabian Almazan, and drummer and electronicist Obed Calvaire.

Themed after "the fragility of time and life; exploring paradoxes seeded within our individual and societal values," The Glass Hours is Oh's most satisfying and well-rounded offering to date, ensconced in an iridescent atmosphere.

Charles Lloyd - Trios: Sacred Thread

You can't get too deep into jazz without bumping into the art of the trio — and the primacy of it. 

At 85, saxophonist and composer Charles Lloyd is currently smoking every younger iteration of himself on the horn; his exploratory fires are undimmed. So, for his latest project, he opted not just to just release a trio album, but a trio of trios.

Trios: Chapel features guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan; Trios: Ocean is augmented by guitarist Anthony Wilson and pianist Gerald Clayton; the final, Trios: Sacred Thread, contains guitarists Julian Lage and percussionist Zakir Hussain.

These are wildly different contexts for Lloyd, but they all meet at a meditative nexus. Drink it in as the curtains close on 2023, as you consider where all these virtuosic, forward-thinking musicians will venture to next — "alternative" or not.

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily On New Album 'Love In Exile,' Improvisation Versus Co-Construction And The Primacy Of The Pulse

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Jeff Goldblum has enjoyed a prolific (and massive) career as one of Hollywood's most beloved actors. But long before making it as a film and television star, he enjoyed an entirely different passion: American standards and jazz.

Now, as Goldblum says, he's "a humble student" of the genres. Four years after releasing his first jazz album with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra (2018's The Capitol Studios Sessions), the actor-turned-musician unveiled his third project, Plays Well With Others, on March 24. 

Across the EP's six tracks, Goldblum and the orchestra deliver inventive renditions of songs like the Frank Sinatra standard "In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning" and Irving Berlin's "Don't Fence Me In." Though he's already proven that he plays well with others — his previous two releases have featured the likes of Miley Cyrus, Fiona Apple and Hailey Reinhart — Goldblum recruited a disparate list of guest stars including pop star Kelly Clarkson and Brazilian singer/songwriter Rodrigo Amarante for his latest set.

In celebration of the EP's release, Goldbum took GRAMMY.com inside the songs, artists and albums that made the biggest impact on him — and ultimately lead to a whole new career. 

Erroll Garner

My dad was a fan of his, and he's one of the first pianists I heard. He used to sit on a telephone book to play piano. What a genius he is. I've been listening to his recording of "Eldorado" from his 1972 album Gemini. Ooh, how about that one?

Henry Mancini's "Moon River"

That was one of the first songs my first piano teacher, Tommy Emmel, gave me the sheet music for. I really sat and worked on that, and I started to get better at playing by playing that song.

When it comes to Henry Mancini, I saw the first run of The Pink Panther with my sister and it made a big impact on me. [*Sings* The Pink Panther theme]. That killed me. 

Frank Sinatra

I have always loved Frank Sinatra. It was in his swimming pool at his former home in Palm Springs where we shot a photograph for the cover of my second album. We put a piano in the middle of his pool!

He's such a good actor, and the gift of his voice. He acts all of these songs so deeply, originally and spontaneously.

Sinatra at the Sands

I've been listening to Sinatra at the Sands a lot lately. What an album. He's with the Count Basie Orchestra, conducted by a very young Quincy Jones. It has all sorts of amazing moments: "Shadow of Your Smile," which he introduces by saying 'Here's a brand new song,' which is amazing. "One for My Baby" is another one, the way he does it on that record is unbelievable with his spoken introduction kills me.

This version of "You Make Me Feel So Young" is one I've listened to several times while I was filming the upcoming Wicked movie with Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Michele Yeoh. I was listening to a lot of music to stimulate me even more, and this album and that song was one of them. 

Jennifer Warnes' "It Goes Like It Goes"

It's originally from the movie Norma Rae from 1979 that Sally Field won the Oscar for. The title song is sung by Jennifer Warnes. It knocks me out. I get weepy, rich tears of delicious joy and sorrow.

Thelonis Monk

Right around the time I was taking piano lessons, Thelonis Monk was on the cover of TIME magazine. I checked him out, and developed a lifelong love of what he did and what a genius he is. 

Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald's "Wheels of a Dream"

This is from the musical Ragtime, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. When I hear this song lately, it reminds me of the time I worked with Brian Stokes Mitchell [on Fox's hit TV series "Glee"]. We actually played a married couple who was raising our child, played by Lea Michele. As a matter of fact, the week we did that show, we went to the Capitol Records building to record a duet of "You're the Top."

Peggy Lee's "Is That all There Is?"

That song kills me. I first heard it in 1969 when it first came out. Randy Newman actually did the orchestral arrangement.

Glenn Gould

My bandmate and coach, Alex Frank, who plays the bass in our band, turned me on to Glenn Gould, who is from Toronto where my wife is actually from. I've been watching some documentaries on him that I've been eating up. What a great guy he was; a masterful, interesting and original artist. 

Alex's dad was involved in music prominently, so when he was a kid, he once went to a rehearsal of Glenn Gould's because his father had some relationship with the orchestra leader. It was a rehearsal and in the middle of it Glenn Gould said, "Stop, stop, I can't continue. I need a paper bag." 

So Alex, who was 10 at the time, went around the corner to get a paper bag. When he came back with it, Glenn Gould took off his shoes and socks and put his bare feet in this paper bag and said, "Now I'm ready" and continued his rehearsal. Why did he do that? I don't know. 

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