It was midnight, and Christie Dashiell had just finished her show in Philadelphia. She found her mentor, Terri Lyne Carrington, and abruptly let her know she had to rush home.
Carrington laughed surprisedly when Dashiell told her she was taking a 5 a.m. train back to Washington, D.C. Carrington didn’t hear the voice in Dashiell’s head telling her that she needed to be home with her partner when she found out the news.
Dashiell touched down in D.C. just as the sun rose. She rushed home to sit on her couch and turn on her television with her husband beside her. When she saw her name pop up on the screen, she said she felt an indescribable feeling. She had just been nominated for a Grammy.
At the 2025 Grammy Awards, Black artists made history as they broke records and had the first Black winner for best country album. Among them was Howard alumna and professor Dashiell, who received her first Grammy nomination for best jazz vocal album.
Dashiell launched her second album, “Journey in Black,” in late 2023, making it a last-minute contender for the category. The artist began writing the album in 2020 when the pandemic began, keeping her home with her partner and dog.
“COVID is really depressing, and I wanted to uplift people with my music. And then it snowballed into something so much bigger,” she said. “When I put the collection of nine songs together and sat down and listened to them in the order that I wanted, I was like, ‘Oh, wow. We created something really, really special.’”
While the trophy for best jazz vocal album went to Samara Joy’s 2023 album, “A Joyful Holiday,” Dashiell joins a class of accredited Howard alumni, such as Donny Hathaway, Jessye Norman, Roberta Flack and The Blackbyrds, formed by former faculty member Donald Byrd, who have been nominated for an award on music’s biggest night.
Still, Dashiell did not set out with the intention of winning a Grammy or even being nominated.
“I just knew that I wanted to put some music together that spoke about what we were living through,” she said. “And, because I produced it independently, I didn’t really have a road map. I was just doing what the spirit was leading me to do.”
Dashiell’s legacy began with her father, Carroll Dashiell Jr., a bassist and chairman of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts Department of Music. He was recognized as a jazz pioneer for performing on tours with Ray Charles and his distinguished album, “Heir to the Throne.” She said he played a significant role in shaping her passion for music.
“I was just around music my whole life, and I feel like I didn’t necessarily seek the music out. It kinda sought me out. Music chose me for sure because it was just always in my orbit. And I knew really, really early that it was what I wanted to do,” Dashiell said.
Dashiell said she struggled to find her identity through her father’s successful legacy. For graduate school, she attended the Manhattan School of Music she said to study in a place that didn’t know her family history. In New York City, she learned how to collaborate with people from different racial backgrounds while standing firm in her Blackness.
The Grammy-nominated artist said she returned to Howard with the desire to give back to students what she experienced at the university– a nurturing space with educators who are invested in students’ success.
“When I think about my students, I’m working with some of the next generation of best singers, and I want them to walk in the world with this confidence, unshakable that they are some of the greatest,” Dashiell said. “I hope that them seeing my journey has inspired them to know that anything is possible when you really invest in yourself.”
Up-and-coming artists also had their time to shine during the award ceremony. Five of some of the most prominent new artists had an opportunity to showcase how far they’d come in their journeys. The best new artist nominees performed a combined set with back-to-back performances of their hit songs. Shaboozey, Doechii, Benson Boone, Teddy Swims and RAYE made their way through the audience and to the stage, delivering dynamic productions.
The evening featured a lineup of performances, including Doechii’s rendition of her top songs and The Weeknd’s surprise performance featuring Playboi Carti, ending the pop singer’s conflict with the Recording Academy that began in 2021.
Will Smith led the award ceremony’s tribute to the late Quincy Jones. Smith introduced performances featuring an array of Jones’ produced songs, including Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” which Cynthia Erivo sang with pianist Herbie Hancock. The climax of the tribute featured Stevie Wonder joining Hancock to sing “We Are the World,” and concluded with Janelle Monáe’s performance of “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”
The show also paid homage to the firefighters and victims of the Los Angeles wildfires. By raising $9 million, according to Billboard Magazine, organizations like the California Community Foundation, Direct Relief and the Pasadena Community Foundation were able to provide relief and recovery to the community members.
According to Billboard Magazine, this year marked the second time in four years that Black artists have won both album and record of the year simultaneously. Beyoncé extended her title as the most-awarded artist at the Grammys, earning her first album of the year trophy and best country album for “Cowboy Carter.” Doechii became the third woman ever to win best rap album for “Alligator Bites Never Heal” and Kendrick Lamar swept all five categories in which his single, “Not Like Us” was nominated.
Before attending, Dashiell expressed her excitement about seeing Beyoncé at the ceremony. Through “Journey in Black,” the jazz artist emphasized her desire to humanize the Black experience, and she believed Beyoncé did that through her music.
“I really respect so many of these nominees. I respect them as people, and I respect their art so much that I definitely consider myself a fan of many of these people. So I’m excited to be in the room of artists whose gifts I’m just so touched and moved by,” Dashiell said.
Copy edited by Camiryn Stepteau
