For your GRAMMY® consideration

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Best Jazz Performance (Double Rainbow)

Crazy World album cover: Al and Stacey Schulman in black and white, the title in red
Stacey Schulman, vocalist: We started creating this album at a time when everything we thought we knew became a question.
Al Schulman, guitarist: And the lines began to blur between what is real and what is manufactured.
Keanna Faircloth, liner notes: The album unfolds like a meditation on what it means to remain human in a moment when technology, politics, and the planet itself feel increasingly unstable beneath our feet.

Crazy World by As Is

As IsAl & Stacey Schulman

Crazy World was made for this moment when the ground beneath daily life feels increasingly unstable. Its songs hold fast to the most human parts of life, love, loss, joy and struggle, and to our responsibility to be a fair and just society, and trustees of our planet. Produced by the versatile James McKinney and recorded with the talents of Corcoran Holt (bass) and Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums), and the exceptional contributions of Kokayi (freestyle), Dante Pope (vocalese), Christylez Bacon (beat box) and Gil Goldstein (accordion).

Entered for member voting

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

Crazy World

The full album, 11 tracks · 51 min

Best Jazz Performance

Double Rainbow

Antonio Carlos Jobim, Eugene John Lees · 5:46

Also entered in Craft / Committee Categories

Best Album Cover Al Schulman, art director · Deneka Peniston, photography Best Recording Package Stacey Schulman, art director · Jennifer Tornopsky, collage artist Best Album Notes Keanna Faircloth · read the notes ↗ Best Song for Social Change From This Very Moment On

Which of these feels most crazy to you lately?

Step inside our musical exploration of this Crazy World.

A new jazz-tinged pop masterpiece…

Gerry Geddes, Bistro Awards
★★★★

Ultimately, this is an album that speaks to its moment, our moment.

Thierry De Clemensat, Paris-Move

The record grapples with themes including cultural and technological fragmentation, the tension between AI and human authenticity, and the resilience it takes to hold onto love and connection in a noisy, disorienting moment.

Nicky Schrire, UK Jazz News

…this is a Crazy World, but Stacey and Al make it intimately sane…

Dan Ouellette, Jazz & Beyond Intel, longtime DownBeat contributor

Yes. This is the track that blew me away this week.

Katchie Cartwright, Caminhos do Jazz, KRTU

Kaleidoscopic arrangements of songs we’ve heard before… pureed with rich flavors.

George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

“Tain” supports an ensemble as well as any, and he can cut loose better than most, and this recording includes both.

Modern Drummer

…splendid bass lines by Corcoran Holt and Al’s embracing guitar presence.

Dan Ouellette, Jazz & Beyond Intel

Al Schulman’s guitar solo is warm and honey sweet.

Dee Dee McNeil, Making a Scene

What emerges from the partnership between these two artists is something quietly magnetic.

Thierry De Clemensat, Paris-Move

…a sophisticated endeavour to bridge traditional high-calibre jazz with modern digital experimentation.

Bob Osborne, Different Noises

Stacey’s vocals are passionate, emotionally naked, and deeply moving with a welcome echo of Bernadette Peters for good measure.

Gerry Geddes, Bistro Awards

Crazy World

In album order

    Credits

    As Is
    Al Schulman, guitarStacey Schulman, vocals
    Rhythm section
    Corcoran Holt, bassJeff "Tain" Watts, drums
    Guests
    Kokayi, freestyleDante Pope, vocalese and background vocalsChristylez Bacon, beatboxGil Goldstein, accordion
    Strings on "Crazy World"
    Mary Loftus, violinBlake Epsy, violinDavid Yang, violaDr. Shannon Merlino, violaBranson Yeast, celloEzgi Yargici, celloJames McKinney, string arrangement
    Production
    James McKinney, producerBonnie Carter, executive producerAdam Lavelle, executive producerJim Learned, executive producerMarston Allen, executive producerBrian McElroy, executive producer
    Engineering
    Cyrille Taillandier, recording engineerScott Jacoby, mixing, at Eusonia Studios, NYCRyan Accardi, assistant mix engineerRobb Robinson, masteringRyan Moys, string session engineerBrendan Monohan, string session assistant
    Cover art
    Al Schulman, art directorDeneka Peniston, photography
    Limited edition box set
    Stacey Schulman, art directorJennifer Tornopsky, collage artist
    Recorded at
    Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, Drexel University, Philadelphia
    Liner notes
    Keanna Faircloth, Jazz Writer and Broadcaster, WBGO / WPFW / NPR

    Thank you for listening and for your thoughtful consideration.

    Al & Stacey Schulman

    Academy members! Send us your music

    We're voting members too, and we spend this season listening as widely as we can. If you have a project in contention, send us the links. We'd love to give it a careful listen.

    Double Rainbow · As Is

    0:00 / 5:46