Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 100 - November 27, 2023 #jazz

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Dedicated: R&B/jazz keyboardist Vassal Benford issues an offering of love and thanksgiving ahead of the holidaysv #jazz

                                         

 

The most added new single two weeks in a row, “Dedication Song,” offers a sneak peek into the forthcoming “Melody Man” album.

 

As Thanksgiving approaches, music and entertainment industry mogul Vassal Benford is feeling grateful. The R&B/jazz keyboardist wrote and produced a new single, “Dedication Song,” that captures his feelings of appreciation. The Benford Jazz Label release mixed by Billboard hitmaker Greg Manning is the most added new single on Billboard’s Mediabase chart two weeks running.

 

Benford has played a role in the creation of more than 58 platinum-selling records as a Grammy nominated producer, songwriter, musician and record executive in pop, R&B, hip hop, rock and dance music. He’s worked with a veritable who’s who list of superstars, yet jazz remains his humble muse and he’s determined to put his distinctive imprint on the genre. Playing piano to foster feelings of intimacy and emotional connection, “Dedication Song” plays like a danceable and sensual R&B groove. Steamy undertones provide contrast to the poetic notes emoted eloquently from Benford’s melodic and agile piano. At its essence, the single is an offering of love reflecting thankfulness.

 

In the accompanying “Dedication Song” video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxrBmkdkdWM) that already has nearly 700,000 views in four days, Benford dedicates the song in loving memory to one of his mentors, the “Godfather of Black Music” Clarence Avant, along with an extended list of family members, friends and several of his longtime clients.

 

“‘Dedication Song’ is a heartfelt song for all occasions, but this year we’re bringing it out for the holiday season. While composing and tracking it in the studio, it filled me with immense feelings of gratitude, especially for my family and my loved ones. We are in strange times and every moment of love counts. Every act of love counts. I now find myself noticing every smile and recognize that each moment of peace is a blessing. The world needs love, so I dedicate this song to everyone with love,” said Benford about the second single from his forthcoming album, “Melody Man,” which is due to arrive in April.

 

Benford is a prolific producer of music, film, television, concert events, revolutionary technology and sporting projects that have generated billions of dollars and billions of spins, streams, downloads and views. He got his start as a teenager in Detroit writing songs for jazz legends Ramsey Lewis, Stanley Clarke and Nancy Wilson. His discography now boasts collaborations with DJ Diplo, Toni Braxton, NAS, Flo Rida, Queen Latifah, Mariah Carey, Rick Ross, Deborah Cox, Sheryl Crow, U2, Jade, Bobby Brown, New Edition, Lil’ Kim, Patti LaBelle, Faith Evans, Chanté Moore, Oleta Adams, Lisa Stansfield, Tramaine Hawkins, and The Fine Young Cannibals among others.

 

The Benford Company manages boxing champ Manny Pacquiao and Benford serves as the chairman of The B.B. King Estate. He is executive producing a documentary film about King and is assembling the accompanying soundtrack that features rapper Quavo of Migos. In movies, Benford is partnered with former studio head and blockbuster producer Mark Canton (“300”) on the “After” film trilogy (“After,” “After We Collided” and “After We Fell”), which has generated over $300 million at the box office, and created the television series “Power.” They currently have two Marvel films in the pipeline.

 

While making Hollywood megadeals is an everyday occurrence for Benford, at his core, his passion remains jazz and instrumental R&B music. Last year, he tested the waters by releasing the title track to “Melody Man,” which sounds totally unique and unlike anything in the contemporary jazz space. “Dedication Song” provides a second glimpse into what’s to come from what bodes to be an innovative collection that features Benford collaborating with Grammy-winning guitarist Norman Brown, eight-time Grammy nominated saxophonist Gerald Albright, and singer-songwriters Aloe Blacc and Moore.

 

For more information, please visit https://benfordjazz.com.

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Jazz/R&B singer-songwriter Ashleigh Smith can’t help being herself #jazz

The new single, “I Can’t Help It,” previews her second album, “In The Rain.”

 

 

The title of singer-songwriter Ashleigh Smith’s new single, “I Can’t Help It,” aligns with her identity as an artist. Her recordings are unapologetic and unabashed amalgams of straight-ahead jazz cadences and soulful R&B grooves with sophisticated pop appeal that when knitted together, result in genre-defying tracks best labeled modern vocal jazz. Her newly released TopCat Records single is an act of defiance in itself because there’s no question that it’s a straight-ahead jazz cut yet that radio format doesn’t release singles. That little detail wasn’t going to prevent Smith from issuing her version of the tune penned by Stevie Wonder and Susaye Greene, which she produced and arranged with bassist Nigel Rivers.

 

Clearly Smith is comfortable in her own skin. She studied classical music on a full scholarship in college, won the 2014 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, which demonstrates her remarkable skills as a jazz singer, and grew up in a musical household where she fell in love with classic R&B and pop as performed on “real instruments.” Each element adds to the distinctive alchemy that converges organically to form her own unique brand.

 

While “I Can’t Help It” is a song about romantic love, for Smith, the lyrics serve as affirmations, declarations empowering her individuality. Floating her emotive croon atop the brisk straight-ahead jazz rhythms constructed by Rivers’ elastic basslines and Mauricio Barroso’s staccato percussion beats, Smith’s single is illumined by the astute piano and Rhodes keyboards from Daniel Marandure and Pete Clagett’s probing trumpet. Adding melodic touches to the track are Max Townsley (guitar), Chelsea Danielle (vibes) and Jordache Grant (keyboards). Smith has been performing “I Can’t Help It” in her live set for years with many of the musicians on the recording.

 

“After years of performing it with my band, different sections and parts of the arrangements started to form organically. Honestly, it was only decided that it would be a single because of audience demand. After every show, fans ask where they could purchase that arrangement. So, I decided we would give the people what they wanted. One of the qualities that I’m most proud of when it comes to my music is that everything I do is always organic and natural. Even down to the musicians I choose to record with. The musicians on this record, and on all of my recordings, are musicians I play with regularly. They are people who have been a part of my musical journey from the beginning, so the synergy is a given. I love that everything I put out is made with love with people I genuinely love,” said the Dallas-based Smith who grew up in Augusta, Georgia.

 

“I Can’t Help It” previews Smith’s sophomore album, “In The Rain,” which is due to arrive next spring. Although this single is a reimagination, all the other songs on the collection are originals that Smith had a hand in writing. She debuted in 2016 with the “Sunkissed” album that was released by Concord Records, which offered a mix of originals and covers.

 

For more information, please visit https://www.theashleighsmith.com.

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A one-take Christmas miracle: R&B-Jazz saxophonist Shawn Raiford releases “Santa Baby” #jazz

 

The single produced by Grammy winner Derek “DOA” Allen began collecting playlist adds on Monday.

 

Mesmerized by Eartha Kitt’s tantalizing and teasing performance of “Santa Baby,” R&B-jazz saxophonist Shawn Raiford has been playing his version of the holiday classic in his set for over twenty years. It’s become a perennial fan favorite, inspiring the Sacramento-based saxman to record and release his rendition. Grammy winner Derek “DOA” Allen (Lionel Richie, Janet Jackson, Tyrese) produced the single that began collecting playlist adds on Monday (November 20).

 

Raiford is a high-energy, award-winning concert performer and his recording projects are a blend of R&B, jazz, funk and soul. Yet his take on “Santa Baby” exhibits an entirely different sound and style. The track Allen crafted is a slow, deliberate and seductive straight-ahead jazz cut. Whereas Kitt’s voice flirts and seduces playfully, Raiford’s tenor sax warms, charms and comforts. Along with some backing sax sounds from Eddie Minnifield (Prince, Sheila E., Aretha Franklin), Allen decorated the track with bells and strings that add whimsical nuances, enhancing the childlike feelings of wonder at Christmastime.

 

According to Raiford, some Christmas magic took place in Minnifield’s recording studio while the single was tracked.

 

“We did it in one take and it’s the only song I’ve ever recorded in one take. We did a second pass but stuck with everything from the first take. I fell in love with that song since Eartha Kitt sang it. The way she acted out the song, it was electric! When we get around the holidays and I start playing ‘Santa Baby’ at our shows, we get so many raves from fans,” said Raiford who leads The Shawn Raiford Experience, a popular band on the NorCal scene that has opened for or performed with Teddy Riley, Yolanda Adams, Freddie Jackson, Pete Escovedo, Eric Darius and Jeff Ryan, and has been playing dates this year with R&B singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Chuckii Booker.

 

Raiford has been ramping up all year for the release of his second album, “The Next Step,” which Allen is producing. Thus far, he’s issued three singles to preview the set slated to drop in April – “Forever,” “Leave The Door Open” and “Vallejo.”

 

In addition to spending time with his family during the holidays, Raiford is a thriving entrepreneur who is committed to serving and giving back to his local community, which spans from Sacramento to his hometown, Vallejo.

  

“Every year, my company gives back. We give food and toys, and we do a lot for the community. We feed nearly two hundred people during Thanksgiving and Christmastime. I’ve always wanted to be able to give back and make sure that people have food and presents to unwrap,” said Raiford who plays at Yoshi’s in Oakland on December 18 and at The Palace Events in Dallas on January 13. 

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Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 100 - November 20, 2023 #jazz

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R&B/jazz singer Erin Stevenson lights up the season with “Christmas Time With You” #jazz

R&B/jazz singer Erin Stevenson has a joyous holiday treat for listeners filled with cinnamon kisses and time spent with loved ones. The Innervision Records artist wrote and produced the finger popping, swinging, bluesy, retro sleigh ride “Christmas Time With You,” a cheerful new single boding to become a seasonal standard. Now available from iTunes, Amazon and other major retailers, “Christmas Time With You” will begin collecting playlist adds on November 27.

 

All year round, Stevenson radiates the energy and excitement of Christmas morning thus composing and recording her own standard feels apropos. Inherent in her glee is a sense of gratitude, strong sentiments that permeate the single’s lyrics.

“‘Christmas Time With You’ offers a happy slice of real life packaged as a classic Christmas song guaranteed to make you smile and get you in the holiday spirit. It will make you feel a tad bit closer to the ones you love,” said Stevenson who recruited keyboardist Christopher Thomas, guitarist Kay-Ta Matsuno, bassist Keith Eaddy and drummer Arthur Thompson to decorate the festive track.

Stevenson has been working on her sophomore album, “CoverGirl Uncovered,” which is slated to drop next April. She jokes that “Justin is financing the album,” a reference to the breaks she takes from recording to perform with Justin Timberlake, one of the many A-listers she has toured and performed with, including Pharrell Williams, Duran Duran, Nicki Minaj, John Legend, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Ciara, Rihanna and Camila Cabello. Her solo recording career has been on an upward trajectory, having most recently peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard chart with the single “Smooth Soul.”    

 

“My career has been taking off and I believe it’s primarily due to my live performances. I don't take for granted that my band is a critical component to that, which is why I put them on my records and in music videos. I'm happy, Christmas makes me happy, and my band makes me happy. That’s exactly what you get on ‘Christmas Time With You,’” said Stevenson, a force of nature performer who will play with her band on Friday (November 10) at Spaghettini south of Los Angeles.

 

Hailing from Houston and now based in Southern California, Stevenson debuted as a solo artist in 2006 with the Billboard top 5 dance music single “Sweat.” She dropped her first album, “Naked,” in 2017, paced by the British top 10 single, “Hangin’.” A series of singles followed – “Make It Last Forever,” “You Gotta Be” and “Never Too Much” - the latter of which won Stevenson a People’s Choice Indie Soul Award in 2021.       

 

Although she’s effervescent and jolly, Stevenson knows this time of year can be challenging for others. Her sense of empathy and compassion is why her message in “Christmas Time With You” resonates.

 

“For some, the holiday season is dreadful because everyone else is so doggone happy. Whether it’s a lack of finances, loneliness, or family problems, some people lose sight of the gifts right in their midst. It’s true, the best gifts in life are free - like time and living in the moment. I'm a strong believer that if you want to be happy, only do things and surround yourself with people who make you happy,” Stevenson said.

 

Spiritually grounded, Stevenson keeps sight of the true meaning of Christmas by maintaining a humble outlook that reflects her feelings of appreciation.

 

“Jesus will always be my reason for the season, but that also comes with lots of good food, good wine, and, of course, my family. Anything more is simply a bonus.”

 

For more information, please visit https://www.erinstevensonmusic.com.

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Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 100 - November 6, 2023 #jazz

Smooth Jazz Chart 

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Trombonist/Composer Joe Fiedler and his New Quartet to release new recording Will Be Fire #jazz

Joe Fiedler/Trombone & Electronics Pete McCann/Guitar Marcus Rojas/Tuba Jeff Davis/Drums RELEASE DATE: November 17th, 2023

About Will Be Fire: How to decipher Will Be Fire, the title of this exploratory, raw, practically booty-shaking release by master trombonist Joe Fiedler and his New Quartet? The phrase is broken English, from the mouth of an athlete discussing the need to step it up, to bring one’s A-game. That’s more easily done when your partners are electric guitar slinger Pete McCann, veteran tuba virtuoso Marcus Rojas and responsive, beat-conjuring drummer Jeff Davis. Using this instrumentation — with tuba in what is typically the bass role — Fiedler seeks to capture a spirit present in the late Arthur Blythe’s Columbia releases of the late ’70s and early ’80s: Lenox Avenue Breakdown, Illusions and Blythe Spirit. “What really inspired me was the incredible elasticity of the group interplay,” Fiedler says. “But most of all it’s the orchestration, with drums, tuba and electric guitar as the foundation — amazing!” Heightening the spice and bite of Will Be Fire, for the first time in Fiedler’s recorded output, is a Line 6 effects unit on the trombone, giving melodic themes and solo lines an abiding sonic nastiness. The choice isn’t out of the blue — it’s a logical step for Fiedler in a long process of experimentation with timbre, mainly through varied use of mutes and multiphonic extended techniques. “On ‘Squirrel Hill’ I’m using multiphonics and effects and I love that, so to be continued,” Fiedler says. “I felt it was time to push forward in finding avenues for sonic diversity. I’ve been struck recently by how codified the modern jazz trombone has become. I wanted something new, both for the trombone and the ensemble, something that didn’t really sound like anything else. Along with the electronics, I also consciously tried to incorporate techniques and textures I’ve been using for years in more open settings, such as ‘against the grain’ playing pioneered by Roswell Rudd, into a more mainstream setting.” Marcus Rojas holds the tuba seat in Fiedler’s unique low brass quartet Big Sackbut, heard on Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut, Sackbut Stomp and Live in Graz. “What really makes Marcus special,” Fiedler contends, “is his ability to groove, comp and solo, all with a warm and absolutely gorgeous tone.” Rojas in this regard is a direct heir of Bob Stewart, who played tuba on those Arthur Blythe records and many others. Rojas also subbed for Stewart in Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy. Henry Threadgill, who employed Rojas in Very Very Circus, characterizes the tuba as follows in his memoir Easily Slip into Another World: A Life in Music: “… an instrument capable of darting around among the sections and thereby linking the parts of the ensemble. The tuba has what I’d describe as a quicker response time than the bass: it can jump right into a new section and fit. It can move in and out among the other instruments like a ghost. But it can take center stage, too.” That’s uncannily apt as a description of what Rojas achieves with Fiedler on Will Be Fire. Bouncing off Rojas’ multifaceted presence is Pete McCann, a close colleague of Fiedler’s for some 30 years. He’s cut from a different cloth than James “Blood” Ulmer, Arthur Blythe’s guitarist of choice, and a hugely compelling if underrated player in his own right. Driving rhythm guitar, stylistic flourishes in the right places, the mix of wet and dry sounds, clean and dirty sounds — one can understand Fiedler declaring: “Pete is the best, period. Seriously, he should be a superstar. I don’t think there’s another guitarist who can cover as much musical territory. Straightahead, funk, rock, avant-garde, you name it, he is such a master soloist and accompanist in all situations. Marcus had never played with Pete before, and the day after the sessions he called to say how completely blown away he was by ‘how deep Pete was in it!’” For many years, Jeff Davis has been the first-call drum sub for Fiedler’s Open Sesame band and for the longstanding trio with John Hébert and Michael Sarin. “I’ve been wanting to use Jeff as the primary guy on one of my projects,” Fiedler says. “He has a great pocket but with an open sensibility, and as I was composing this music it just screamed, ‘Hire Jeff!’ He’s very present but never overplays, which is critical with someone like Marcus, who needs enough space to have multiple avenues into the groove. Jeff is the perfect complement to that.” Into this sonic pool jumps Fiedler with his Line 6 Pod Go unit, creating a variety of expressive overdriven tones, consistently pushing the envelope on his horn — though in a manner completely different from his 2022 solo trombone tour de force The Howland Sessions. He makes use of four different effects patches: distortion with a touch of wah for “Squirrel Hill,” “Graffiti’s,” “Crooked” and the title track; fuzz with reverb/delay and rolled-off treble for “Merger” and “How’s Skippy”; phase shifter with delay on the two moodier pieces, “Song for Coop” and “W 21st St.”; and distortion with modulation and reverb on “Peek Power Box.” The effects patches are a work in progress, and Fiedler readily admits being a novice in the arena. It goes to show that musical growth is constant — even for a seasoned big band section man, associate musical director of Sesame Street, orchestrator for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s movie In the Heights, veteran of the salsa circuit with Celia Cruz and Eddie Palmieri and many others, pop session ace with the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Wyclef Jean, and the list goes on. Fiedler’s eagerness to stretch beyond the familiar is evident throughout his catalogue, and certainly on Will Be Fire. At the heart of it all is fun — searching, deeply musical fun, not to mention straight-up funk. The two are closely interlinked. Here’s to more of it.

About Joe Fiedler: The New York Times has pinpointed a “feeling for a rugged but jaunty experimentalism” in the music of trombone veteran Joe Fiedler, a figure as esteemed in New York jazz circles as he is in the Afro-Caribbean and pop scenes. He’s an adventurous improviser and bandleader whose recordings range from solo trombone (The Howland Sessions) to quintet (Like, Strange) to trombone/tuba quartet (Big Sackbut, Sackbut Stomp, Live in Graz — “the intersection of gutbucket blues and avant-garde audacity,” JazzTimes) to chordless trio (The Crab, Sacred Chrome Orb, I’m In, Joe Fiedler Plays the Music of Albert Mangelsdorff).   Fiedler’s two Sesame Street-themed albums to date, Open Sesame and Fuzzy and Blue, pay homage to the beloved children’s show where Fiedler has worked as a music director for nearly 15 years. With bold and inventive arrangements of timeless music by Joe Raposo, Jeffrey Moss and more, Fiedler grapples with the legacy of the storied show of which he’s become an integral part. Fuzzy and Blue, opined London Jazz News, is “unnervingly satisfying — hitting a note between scripted nostalgia and improvised jazz that [is] both exciting and comforting at the same time.”   Owing to his long experience in pit bands, salsa groups and countless other professional settings, Fiedler had the opportunity to play trombone for the earliest onstage incarnation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights (not long before Hamilton’s runaway success). Tony Award-winning orchestrator Bill Sherman was on the gig and took to Fiedler, bringing him on board the newly revived children’s show Electric Company. After three seasons, Sherman and Fiedler made the transition in 2009 to Sesame Street. From playing 350 gigs a year on the freelance circuit, Fiedler officially became a Sesame Street music director, working on what would become hundreds of song arrangements and thousands of underscoring cues (and still climbing).   A Pittsburgh native and a New Yorker since 1993, Fiedler studied at Allegheny College and the University of Pittsburgh before launching into work as an in-demand sideman. He’s become one of the first-call trombonists in the world, featured on more than 100 recordings. He’s had extensive experience in the heart of the flowering big band scene, playing with Maria Schneider, Chico O’Farrill, the Mingus Big Band, Andrew Hill, Jason Lindner, Dafnis Prieto, Kenny Wheeler, Satoko Fujii, Miguel Zenón and many more. In smaller units he’s played with Lee Konitz, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Myra Melford, Bobby Previte, David Weiss’s Endangered Species and a host of others. Fiedler also paid years of dues on the salsa and Latin circuit with Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colon, Ralph Irizarry and other major acts. His pop credits include Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Wyclef Jean, The Four Tops, Melba Moore and Lesley Gore, to name a few.   Without doubt this mass of musical experience filters into the trombonist’s mindset, the way he looks at craft, audience, band dynamics and perhaps most of all fun. Coming up in the ’80s, he recalls his favorite bands as the Jazz Passengers, Carla Bley, Ray Anderson — “bands and musicians that had this sense of humor, this sense of burlesque,” he says. Recalling the last great gasps of the downtown scene and his brushes with the early Knitting Factory bands, Fiedler knows that while many of those touchstones have disappeared, they live on still in today’s sensibilities and methods, for Fiedler as for many likeminded peers.   Fiedler’s work has always involved effortlessly hopping the boundary between charged free improvisation and music of more established tonal and formal parameters — “out” vs. “in,” as jazz musicians sometimes call it. He’s apt to draw out long and lustrous melodic tones while also manipulating his trombone sound with multiphonics and other extended techniques (playing one note and singing a higher note, sometimes producing an overtone to complete a chord). The deep sense of blues, tailgate and other earlier jazz approaches to the horn come through, as do the sonic innovations of Albert Mangelsdorff, or the hard-bop aesthetics of Slide Hampton and J.J. Johnson. As Jazz Podium wrote of his formidable solo trombone recital The Howland Sessions: “Fiedler manages to trump the master (Mangelsdorff): his chords are even broader, more colorful and more opulent.” Binding myriad influences into a signature voice, Fiedler continues to amass a reputation as a musical thinker with limitless imagination.

Please visit the Joe Fiedler website: www.joefiedler.com

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