2nd Grammy Awards

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The second Grammy Awards were held on November 29, 1959. They recognized musical accomplishments by performers for that particular year. Duke Ellington won three awards.^[1][2]

Award winners

• Record of the Year
  • Bobby Darin for "Mack the Knife"

• Album of the Year
  • Frank Sinatra for Come Dance with Me!

• Song of the Year
  • Jimmy Driftwood for "The Battle of New Orleans"

• Best New Artist
  • Bobby Darin

Children's

• Best Recording for Children
  • Peter Ustinov for Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf performed by Peter Ustinov & the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan

Classical

• Best Classical Performance - Orchestra
  • Charles Münch (conductor) & the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Debussy: Images for Orchestra
• Best Classical Performance - Vocal Soloist (with or without orchestra)
  • Jussi Björling for Bjoerling in Opera
• Best Classical Performance - Opera Cast or Choral
  • Erich Leinsdorf (conductor), Lisa Della Casa, Rosalind Elias, George London, Roberta Peters, Giorgio Tozzi & the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
• Best Classical Performance - Concerto or Instrumental Soloist (with full orchestral accompaniment)
  • Kiril Kondrashin (conductor), Van Cliburn & the Symphony of the Air Orchestra for Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
• Best Classical Performance - Concerto or Instrumental Soloist (other than full orchestral accompaniment)
  • Arthur Rubinstein for Beethoven: Sonatas No. 21 in C (Waldstein) and No. 18 in E Flat
• Best Classical Performance - Chamber Music (including chamber orchestra)
  • Arthur Rubinstein for Beethoven: Sonatas No. 21 in C (Waldstein) and No. 18 in E Flat

Comedy

• Best Comedy Performance - Spoken
  • Shelley Berman for Inside Shelley Berman
• Best Comedy Performance - Musical
  • Homer and Jethro for The Battle of Kookamonga

Composing and arranging

• Best Musical Composition First Recorded and Released in 1959 (more than 5 minutes duration)
  • Duke Ellington for Anatomy of a Murder Soundtrack
• Best Sound Track Album - Background Score from a Motion Picture or Television
  • Duke Ellington (composer) for Anatomy of a Murder
• Best Arrangement
  • Billy May (arranger) for "Come Dance with Me" performed by Frank Sinatra

Country

• Best Country & Western Performance
  • Johnny Horton for "The Battle of New Orleans"

Folk

• Best Performance - Folk
  • The Kingston Trio for The Kingston Trio at Large

Jazz

• Best Jazz Performance - Soloist
  • Ella Fitzgerald for Ella Swings Lightly
• Best Jazz Performance - Group
  • Jonah Jones for I Dig Chicks

Musical show

• Best Broadway Show Album
  • Ethel Merman & the original cast for Gypsy
  • The original cast with Gwen Verdon, Richard Kiley, Leonard Stone, Doris Rich, Cynthia Latham, Joy Nichols, Bob Dixon & Pat Ferrier for Redhead
• Best Sound Track Album, Original Cast - Motion Picture or Television
  • André Previn, Ken Darby & the original cast for Porgy and Bess

Packaging and notes

• Best Album Cover
  • Robert M. Jones (art director) for Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 conducted by Howard Mitchell

Pop

• Best Vocal Performance, Female
  • Ella Fitzgerald for "But Not for Me"
• Best Vocal Performance, Male
  • Frank Sinatra for Come Dance with Me!
• Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus
  • Richard Condie (choir director) for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir directed by Richard Condie
• Best Performance by a Dance Band
  • Duke Ellington for Anatomy of a Murder
• Best Performance by an Orchestra
  • André Previn & David Rose for Like Young performed by Dave Rose and his Orchestra with André Previn
• Best Performance by a "Top 40" Artist
  • Nat "King" Cole for "Midnight Flyer"

Production and engineering

• Best Engineering Contribution - Other Than Classical or Novelty
  • Robert Simpson (engineer) for Belafonte at Carnegie Hall performed by Harry Belafonte
• Best Engineering Contribution - Classical Recording
  • Lewis W. Layton (engineer), Robert Russell Bennett (conductor) & the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra for Victory at Sea, Vol. I
• Best Engineering Contribution - Novelty Recording
  • Ted Keep (engineer) for "Alvin's Harmonica" performed by David Seville

R&B

• Best Rhythm & Blues Performance
  • Dinah Washington for "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes"

Spoken

• Best Performance - Documentary or Spoken Word (other than comedy)
  • Carl Sandburg for A Lincoln Portrait

References