Grammy Award cuts: Latin jazz artists protest in Beverly Hills (Video)

More than a dozen Latin jazz artists and their supporters formed a musical picket line in Beverly Hills today to oppose the recording academy’s plan to eliminate their category and 30 others from the annual Grammy Award competition.

Musicians played trumpets, drums and small instruments as they paraded near the Beverly Hilton where they said members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences were meeting. Demonstrators showed off picket signs to motorists and passers-by that read “Re-instate Separate Categories” and “NARA Kills Music.”

Veteran jazz percussionist and producer Bobby Matos said he and others will press the academy to reinstate the categories.

“We’re about diversity. This country is about diversity. We are not all one race. We are not all from England. We’re from every part of the world. And yes, a lot of this music was created by immigrants but we’re all the children of immigrants and diversity is what’s important here and should be reflected," he said.

Other categories taking a hit include R&B, gospel and blues. Recording academy execs have said they need to streamline the annual Grammy telecast to win viewers back, even though many of the genres on the list don’t show up on the primetime program. Academy representatives say that artists in eliminated categories would still be eligible to compete in others.