Thornton receives 27 nominations for 68th Grammy Awards

On Nov. 11, alumni, faculty and Creative Vanguard Artists from the USC Thornton School of Music received 27 nominations for the 68th Grammy Awards. Our list of honorees includes veterans scoring a repeat trip to the awards, rising talent and first-time nominees.

The album Fasten Up by jazz super group Yellowjackets was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, which features former Jazz Studies faculty members Bob Mintzer (sax) and Russell Ferrante (piano), along with Will Kennedy, assistant professor of practice in Popular Music and Jazz Studies, on drums.

Ludwig Göransson (GCRT ‘08) was nominated for multiple categories: Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, Best Instrumental Composition and two songs for Best Song Written for Visual Media, being joined by USC Thornton Creative Vanguard Artist Raphael Saadiq for the latter on “I Lied to You.” All nominations were from one of the year’s biggest films, Sinners, directed by USC School of Cinematic Arts alum Ryan Coogler.

Two nominations for Record of the Year also feature Thronton alumni; Aron Forbes (BM ‘07) as a mixing engineer on Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower” and Juan Razuri (BS ‘24) as immersive mixing engineer on Doechii’s “Anxiety.”

For a more comprehensive list of Thornton nominees, read here.

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Taylor Eigsti, winner of the award for best contemporary instrumental album for “Plot Armor” poses in the press room during the 67th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)