Grammy Awards sued over Latin jazz category cut

Grammy Awards organisers have been sued following the decision to cut certain categories from next year's ceremony.

The Recording Academy announced in April that the number of categories at the awards show would be reduced to 78 next year.

The cuts mean that some categories such as 'Best Latin Jazz Album' will be removed, with entrants to those categories now competing in a broader range of categories, however all fields will remain intact.

Latin musicians Bobby Sanabria, Mark Levine, Ben Lapidus and Eugene Marlow have now filed a lawsuit at New York's Supreme Court urging the Academy to reconsider the cuts and reinstate the 'Best Latin Jazz Album' prize, says The AP.

Lawyer Roger Maldonado said that the cuts could "devalue the category of music and the work these musicians do" and "make it much harder for them to gain recognition". He also said there was value in just being nominated for a category.

He added: "The concern is by lumping several categories together, it makes it much easier for larger record labels and those artists who have already gained recognition to dominate."

However, the Academy has described the lawsuit as "frivolous" and "without merit" and says that it "fully expects to prevail".

The lawsuit comes following protests from Carlos Santana and Paul Simon, who have both written to Grammys CEO Neil Portnow to voice their opposition to the cuts.

Santana and Simon both claimed the cuts could adversely affect ethnic music, although Portnow responded by telling The AP that the cuts had been made across the board and even mainstream categories had been reduced.

The cuts were made following a detailed examination of the current system and music community that began in 2009.