TELARC AND HEADS UP RECEIVE 7 GRAMMY^® NOMINATIONS

Esperanza Spalding nominated for Best New Artist

Cleveland, OH – Telarc International and Heads Up International, divisions of Concord Music Group, received 7 GRAMMY^® nominations, as announced by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) on December 1, 2010. The nominations were in an array of categories including Best New Artist, pop, jazz, blues and classical. All nominations were for albums released from September 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010. Winners will be announced at the 53^rd Annual GRAMMY^® Awards on Sunday, February 13, 2011 (8:00-11:30 PM, ET/PT), at Staples Center in Los Angeles, airing live on the CBS Television Network.

The Telarc and Heads Up nominations are:

Best New Artist

ESPERANZA SPALDING

Bassist, singer and composer Esperanza Spalding combines the imaginative flights of a serious improviser with the musical accessibility of a pop star and within two years of her solo debut has beguiled success at nearly unimaginable heights. Esperanza, her 2008 release, spent over 70 weeks on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart and was the most successful internationally selling debut that year.

Spalding’s most recent release, Chamber Music Society, is a brilliant marriage of string and jazz trio, and a showcase for her eclectic sensibilities along with her vocal and compositional talents. Other career highlights include two televised performances at the White House, a Banana Republic ad campaign, features in Oprah Magazine and The New Yorker, numerous awards and high profile tour dates, capped by an invitation to perform at the 2010 Nobel Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

Spalding was nominated for Best New Artist along with Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & the Machine, and Mumford and Sons. Her inclusion in this mainstream category signifies her considerable appeal to a broad audience.

NO MYSTERY

Stanley Clarke

Track from: The Stanley Clarke Band

[Heads Up International]

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE

Gerald Albright

[Heads Up International]

Best Contemporary Jazz Album

THE STANLEY CLARKE BAND

The Stanley Clarke Band

[Heads Up International]

NOW IS THE TIME

Jeff Lorber Fusion

[Heads Up International]

Best Traditional Blues Album

JOINED AT THE HIP

Pinetop Perkins & Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith

[Telarc]

Best Engineered Album, Classical

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN...?

Robert Friedrich, engineer (Turtle Island Quartet, Stefon

Harris & Mike Marshall)

[Telarc

Since 1980, Telarc International, a division of Concord Music Group, has won 58 GRAMMY^® Awards for performance, production and engineering. Other important awards include the French Grand Prix du Disque and Diapason d’Or; Japan’s Record of the Year; Germany’s Audiophile CD of the Year; and Gramophone Magazine’s 2004 Label of the Year. Although it began as a classical-only label, Telarc now boasts a catalog of more than 1000 recordings, ranging from classical and classical-crossover to jazz, contemporary jazz, Americana, pop and blues.