At the 68th Grammy Awards ceremony, American jazz drummer Nate Smith won the Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Arrangement, Instruments, And Vocals Award for his album Live Action, released on naïve.
Described as one of “the most engaging and creative drummers in the world of jazz and its adjacent sound” by The Boston Globe, the multi-instrumentalist, master drummer, producer and composer Nate Smith won the two Grammy Awards he was nominated for this year.
Nate Smith first took the stage to receive the award for the Best Alternative Jazz Album for his album Live Action, released in August 2025 by Believe’s label naïve.
A jazz album with a hazy atmosphere, venturing into neo-soul, funk, and even Afrobeats, Live Action was conceived as a producer’s record—in the style of Quincy theJones—and as an album of serendipitous encounters.
Nate Smith invited numerous musicians and singers he has encountered over the past few years to perform on Live Action. Among them are rapper JSWISS, guitarists Charlie Hunter and Lionel Loueke, singer Lalah Hataway or vocal quartet säje.
And it was with säje that Nate Smith took to the Grammy stage for the second time to receive the Best Arrangement, Instruments, And Vocals Award for their collaborative song “Big Fish”.
Nate Smith was previously nominated in 2010, then in 2017 for the Best Instrumental or A Cappella Arrangement Award and Best Instrumental Composition Award for the track “Home Free (For Peter Joe)” from his album Kinfolk, Postcards from Everywhere.
Third time was the charm for the new Grammy Award Winner who recently published a deluxe version of Live Action, including previously unreleased tracks and instrumental versions.
Believe congratulates Nate Smith again for this fantastic victory. And wished the artist good luck, as Live Action is also nominated in the “Outstanding Jazz Album” category at the 57th NAACP Image Awards!