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Felipe Salles, professor of jazz and African American music studies, has received his first Latin Grammy nomination for “A Devira (Adrift)” from his latest album “Camera Obscura,” on Tapestry Records.

The 2026 Latin Grammy Awards ceremony will air live from Las Vegas on Thursday, Nov. 12, on Univision. Salles is nominated alongside four other artists in the Best Arrangement category.

“I asked my kid to come and read it for me, so I knew I wasn’t hallucinating,” Salles recalled when he saw his name on the nominee list, which was released last month. 

The nomination recognizes an arrangement that holds personal meaning for Salles. “A Devira (Adrift)” is the first song he has written to accompany lyrics. The melody is based on a poem written by his sister about her experience with depression, and Salles designed the arrangement to reflect the imagery and emotion of the poem.

“I was so inspired by the poem that I wrote the piece in just a few hours,” Salles said. “Lots of elements in the orchestration and the way I programmed the melody and harmony illustrate elements in the lyrics.” 

The nomination marks another milestone in Salles’ more than 30-year career as a performer, composer, arranger and recording artist.
 

Salles is a 2018 Guggenheim Foundation Composition Fellow and has received many grants and fellowships supporting his work as a composer and musician. At UMass Amherst where he has taught since 2010, Salles was selected for the university’s 2021 Distinguished Professor Lecture Series.

A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Salles has also worked and recorded with prominent jazz artists including Randy Brecker, Paquito D’Rivera, David Liebman, Melissa Aldana and Yosvany Terry. He has toured extensively in Europe, North and South America, India and Australia.

His compositions and arrangements have been performed by global, national and regional ensembles, including The Metropole Orchestra, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra and the New England Conservatory Jazz Orchestra. 

“I hope this nomination will help people get to know who I am,” Salles said. “It would mean a lot of recognition for the work of learning my craft, and that the people that you work with in the industry recognize this. It doesn’t get much better than that.”