Have a proud and happy Juneteenth! #juneteenth

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond.

Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. It is a day, a week, and in some areas a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers, picnics and family gatherings. It is a time for reflection and rejoicing. It is a time for assessment, self-improvement and for planning the future. Its growing popularity signifies a level of maturity and dignity in America long over due. In cities across the country, people of all races, nationalities and religions are joining hands to truthfully acknowledge a period in our history that shaped and continues to influence our society today. Sensitized to the conditions and experiences of others, only then can we make significant and lasting improvements in our society.

From juneteenth.com - Read more at the juneteenth.com website by clicking here

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Guitarist Blake Aaron struts to No. 1 on four charts simultaneously #jazz

“Sunday Strut,” the energizing single featuring Najee, becomes the third Billboard No. 1 hit from the “Color and Passion” album

 

Guitarists Blake Aaron and Adam Hawley wrote “Sunday Strut” for Aaron’s “Color and Passion” album while in the throes of the coronavirus quarantine and now that things are reopening, the hard-charging, high-energy contemporary jazz instrumental tops four singles charts simultaneously. The horn-powered track featuring urban-jazz icon Najee and produced by Hawley is No. 1 on the Billboard, Mediabase, Smooth Jazz Network and SmoothJazz.com charts. It’s the third single to go No. 1 on the Billboard chart from the Innervision Records release that dropped last September, following “Groovers and Shakers” and “Fall For You.”   
 
Much of “Color and Passion” was written and recorded last year while Aaron was unable to tour due to COVID-19 restrictions, so he used the time productively to produce projects for other artists and to finish his sixth album, which continues to be a celebrated release. 
 
“2020 was a tough year, and incredibly tough for some of us. I know I greatly missed being able to get out and play music for my friends/fans. One silver lining for me was being able to spend more time in the studio to create and produce music, so I released ‘Color and Passion.’ I am so grateful to be blessed with three No. 1 Billboard singles from that CD,” said Aaron who will finally get the opportunity to perform music from the new album live when he resumes touring this summer, an itinerary that includes concerts at premier events such as Berks Jazz Festival (August 14-15) in Reading, Penna. and the Mallorca Smooth Jazz Festival (October 6-10) in Spain.  
 
Apropos of his entire catalogue as an artist, “Color and Passion” is a diverse collection, an inviting blend of colorful melodies and prodigious, impassioned guitarwork neatly encased in capsules of jazz, R&B, pop, Latin, Caribbean, funk, fusion and rock. Aaron mindfully infused the album with hope, positive energy, optimism and joy. In addition to the contributions made by a top-drawer cast of musicians, the set showcases Billboard hitmakers saxophonist Darren Rahn and flautist Kim Scott as guest soloists, with Rahn, who has produced more than 25 No. 1 singles and received multiple GRAMMY nominations, cowriting and coproducing “Groovers and Shakers” with Aaron.    
 
Aaron produced “Fall For You,” which became his first Billboard No. 1 single as a producer. He recently celebrated his second Billboard chart-topper as a producer when keyboardist Sean U’s “Magic Hour” went No. 1, a cut on which the guitarist is also a featured guest.
 
Fully aware of how difficult the last year has been for so many people, including his fanbase, Aaron remains humbly grounded and hopeful that his musical offerings can elevate spirits.
 
“If ‘Sunday Strut,’ or the previous two No. 1 singles, or any song from ‘Color and Passion’ that speaks to our friends/fans for that matter, can bring a little light or joy in what can otherwise be a challenging time, then I am successful,” said Aaron, who plans to drop his next single in August, “Feels Right,” which was produced by prolific producer-keyboardist Greg Manning.

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Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 100 - June 14, 2021 #jazz

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John Stein - "Serendipity" - Release on Whaling City Sound, June 18 - #jazz

Like many serious musicians, John Stein was trying to find a way to reach his audience following the Covid-19 breakout. He had just released Watershed, a career-defining recording to mark his planned retirement from Berklee College of Music, where he was an acclaimed educator. Of course, as with live music in general, the tour in support of Watershed was scrapped. Prior to the pandemic, Whaling City Sound’s Neal Weiss had asked Stein to bring a trio for an outdoor September show he had booked in New Bedford. But when hell broke loose, Neal moved the show inside, to the New Bedford Art Museum, and made plans to broadcast it virtually, as well as record the audio and video. “Thanks to Neal’s ability to see other possibilities,” recalls Stein, “it would be the only public concert I played the entire year.”

Stein’s trio for the date, Ed Lucie on bass and Mike Connors on drums, played as they normally would in front of a packed house. The session was live. There were no second takes, no overdubs, no corrections. They simply played each tune and then moved on. It succeeded as a video, of course, because of the trio’s remarkable chemistry. The set was stellar. But that wasn’t all. “Weeks after the show,” Stein recalls, “I had some tasks to do around the house and I let the video run in the background. For the first time, I experienced the soundtrack as pure music without the distraction of the visuals.” Stein heard subtle but extraordinary details that he hadn’t noticed before. “I became aware of the superb musicianship. At that moment, I realized that the audio itself was worthy of release.”

Serendipity is that release. It is the document of that gig, played for an audience of one, John Farrell, who taped and edited the video. Farrell, as it turns out, is also a professional sound engineer. He captured the audio and skillfully did the mixing. It’s obvious that the session, originally assembled as a way to let the music play, was an enormous creative success. From the opener, a take on Sonny Rollins’ “Alfie’s Theme,” to the closing, upbeat “Happy Hour,” a Stein original, the recording is a pure celebration of bristling energy and subtle, intuitive performances.

While the pandemic may have stifled our collective musical voice, it also yielded beautiful and unexpected moments from musicians that simply wouldn’t be denied. Count the aptly titled Serendipity as one of those moments. When hope for live music had temporarily faded, one trio decided they simply had to do what great musicians were compelled to do. Serendipity is the sound of happiness unleashed, as captured by musicians destined to play.

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Ledisi celebrates the songs of the legendary Nina Simone #jazz

LEDISI SINGS NINA IS SECOND RELEASE ON LISTEN BACK, FOLLOWING A TRIUMPHANT YEAR OF ACCOMPLISHMENT AND OVERCOMING LOCKDOWN

Ledisi, the New Orleans-born and Oakland-raised singer, pays tribute to the legendary Nina Simone with the album Ledisi Sings Nina. Featuring seven songs of social and personal import drawn from Simone’s celebrated songbook, Ledisi Sings Nina is a finely crafted, arrangement-driven collection recorded in Holland, Los Angeles, London, and New Orleans—before and after the pandemic began. It balances upbeat, big-band energy with atmospheric balladry, and an attention to historic detail that succeeds in updating the music for a modern hip-hop/R&B era. With the prowess of Ledisi’s voice, the messages of Simone’s music—of personal empowerment and collective protest—retain a relevancy for a BLM generation facing the same harsh challenges and bitter struggles of the 1960s.   The performances on Ledisi Sings Nina find the singer benefitting from top-tier support in a variety of contexts: the majority of tracks feature the world-renowned Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley with arrangements by Jochen Neufer, and others. “I’m Going Back Home” features the all-star New Orleans Jazz Orchestra directed by Adonis Rose. “Four Women” is powered by Ledisi in the company of three vocalists of equal authority: Lisa Fisher, Lizz Wright, and Alice Smith. “Wild Is The Wind”—with Spanish guitar, piano and drums—is the album’s sole live recording, taken from the 2020 PBS special broadcast Ledisi Live: A Tribute to Nina Simone.   Ledisi Sings Nina—the singer’s tenth album—caps more than a year of impressive achievement that includes (in reverse order): Garnering a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance with the single “Anything For You” in March 2021 (her first after twelve nominations!) Starring in her first PBS TV special, Ledisi Live: A Tribute to Nina Simone in December 2020. Performing as part of an all-star cast of artists and activists on HBO’s Between the World and Me, a poetic adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ groundbreaking book, in November, 2020. Releasing the album Wild Card, the debut recording on her own label Listen Back in August 2020. Publishing her second book, Don’t Ever Lose Your Walk: How To Embrace Your Journey, on her Chinwe’ya Publishing imprint, in January, 2020.   Ledisi Sings Nina also serves as an inevitable career move for a singer who feels as fated to be a singer, as she was to focus on and celebrate the music of Nina Simone. She remembers being woken by her mother singing the lyric to a Simone protest song. “We lived in a shotgun house in New Orleans and my mom would wake us up by singing ‘…and everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam!’   "Later I learned that was Nina. But when I heard her for real I was still very young—in Oakland in my 20s. I was depressed, my life was a mess, and I heard her on the radio singing ‘Trouble in Mind.’ I heard the life in there. It woke me up. I was feeling discouraged for being different, for being the oddball that liked every style—blues and jazz and Broadway and hip-hop. I had sung every club in the Bay Area, done every gig. Nina’s voice said to me I was not alone. Her voice saved my life and woke me up and taught me to be fearless. I had two pieces of luggage and moved to New York City after that."   Ledisi Sings Nina is the culmination of a series of projects revealing the depth of Ledisi’s continuing sense of gratitude and debt to the woman born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, whom Ledisi calls her “shero.” In the past eight years, Ledisi has produced and toured popular tribute shows to Simone, and performed concerts on television, in major concert halls and at music festivals, featuring her interpreting Simone’s songs and explaining her importance and history. In 2019, she wrote and starred in the autobiographical theatrical production The Legend of Little Girl Blue that ran for three weeks. “What I’m doing now with my version of her music is honoring it with my own experience,” says Ledisi, “which means touching and agreeing and moving into a newer version.”   Paying tribute to, as well as embodying great black vocalists of historic stature, has become a Ledisi specialty. In 2014, she portrayed Mahalia Jackson in the film Selma, and in 2020, she was Patti Labelle in BET’s dramatic series American Soul. She admits playing a legend is far different that paying tribute. “When you’re acting you have to be the character, it’s not about you at all. It’s the hardest thing to do because people love when I do covers but I want them to know I’m always Ledisi while honoring them.”   But her relationship with one special singer is unlike any other.   "I’ve played Mahalia, but I go to another level if I have to do something that involves Nina. It’s crazy. For me, I’ve done Broadway and films and my own music, but no matter what it’s like she’s been here the whole time. There’ve been times I’ve avoided Nina, trying to go around her music.  Every time I do my own thing her energy comes up."   Ledisi Sings Nina began as an idea and developed over the years into a collection of digital files waiting for their moment. As it contains music of self-determination and strength, the very story of its release stands as a testament to the power of musical inspiration.   "I was going to do this years ago but we hadn’t finished it yet—Collecting recordings from sessions and live performances. Then so much stuff started to happen with my career, then the pandemic, and then we couldn’t find a home for it. It was a real time of uncertainty and although some labels wanted it, they either didn’t fully believe or know what to do with it.  So this year, after everything else had happened, I said, 'Fine, I’ll finish it myself and just put it out on my own label.  I can’t let this music sit in the computer for another year.' It just felt right."   Ledisi’s path forward promises to be as varied stylistically and format-wise as ever— more original music as well as tributes, more films and TV: her appearance on FX’s hit show Pose; her role in Jussie Smollet’s upcoming feature B Boy Blues. In many ways, Ledisi feels like the wave she’s riding is less of her own design, and more a result of a life philosophy that finds value and direction in life itself.   "I don’t care what genre you’re singing, when you’ve lived and add life in between the notes, that’s soul. It takes a while to get there and some of us get it quicker from living, from not limiting myself. Most people have no idea of the range of stuff I study. Where I am now feels like it’s just part of my journey—I didn’t choose this, it chose me." By Ashley Kahn   Order link for Ledisi Sings Nina: https://ledisimusic.lnk.to/LedisiSingsNina LEDISI TOUR DATES: 7/24/21            Los Angeles    CA       The Hollywood Bowl 7/31/21            Newport         RI        Newport Jazz Festival at Adams State Park 8/17/21            San Diego       CA       The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park 1/14/22            Miami             FL       Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of                                                             Miami- Dade County (Knight Concert Hall) 3/26/22            Chandler         AZ      Chandler Center for the Arts TRACK LIST: 1 Feeling Good 2 My Baby Just Cares For Me 3 Ne Me Quitte Pas 4 Wild Is The Wind (live) 5 Work Song 6 Four Women 7 I'm Going Back Home   LEDISI ON THE WEB: Website: https://www.ledisi.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ledisi/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ledisi Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ledisi/

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Brian Simpson - "All That Matters" Release on Shanachie June 25th #jazz

CHART-TOPPING PIANIST, COMPOSER AND PRODUCER BRIAN SIMPSON RELFECTS ON LESSONS FROM THE PAST YEAR ON
new album ALL THAT MATTERS

 
 Simpson’s Milestone Album Marks His 10^th Recording As A Leader & 
Features Label mates Najee And Steve Oliver Among Others
 

“The title of my new recording was purely inspired by the events of the past year and half,” reflects acclaimed pianist, composer and producer Brian Simpson. “My family and loved ones became more important than ever and all that matters became more apparent after witnessing the tragic loss of others.” On June 25, 2021, Shanachie Entertainment will release a milestone recording from Simpson, who will commemorate his tenth recording as a leader. Revered for his ability to sculpt timeless love songs, soulful party anthems and breath-taking melodies that stay on your mind, Simpson delivers all this and more on his new recording All That Matters. From penning the #1 pop hit “The First Time” for R&B group Surface to touring and or recording with Janet Jackson, Stanley Clarke and Dave Koz, Simpson’s golden touch, has long made him one of the go-to guys in the industry.
 
All That Matters is the perfect amalgamation of influences that are close to Brain Simpson’s heart: Jazz, R&B, Funk, Soul.  It’s a joyous celebration of life and a shining demonstration of Simpson’s ongoing quest for the ultimate sound. “I will forever be in search of the perfect song, with the perfect melody that is performed perfectly,” confesses the pianist, who is the Musical Director of the wildly popular Smooth Jazz Cruise. The recording process for All That Matters was dramatically different for the pianist who tours relentlessly. The absence of touring during the pandemic afforded Simpson the opportunity to focus solely on recording. He eagerly jumped into the project and surrounded himself by friends to help with the compositional process; guitarist and labelmate Steve Oliver and keyboardists Nicholas Cole and Oliver Wendell. The collective commenced remotely and later were able to collaborate in person.  As the album progressed Simpson also enlisted saxophonists Najee (and flutist) and Steve Alanis, trumpeter Ron King, drummers Michael White and Tony Moore, bassist Dwayne “Smitty” Smith and Roberto Vally, percussionist Brain Kilgore and guitarists Ray Fuller and Yarone Levy.

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Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 100 - June 7, 2021 #jazz

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Flugelhornist Gabriel Mark Hasselbach tongues contemporary jazz grooves on new album #jazz

Award-winning musician to mark his 30^th anniversary as a recording artist with the release of “Tongue & Groove” on June 4.

 

He’s spent more weeks on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart than any other Canadian recording artist and with his 15^th album, “Tongue & Groove,” set to drop June 4, trumpeter/flugelhornist/flautist Gabriel Mark Hasselbach looks to land his eleventh Billboard hit. The Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings release is preceded by “Chill@Will,” the current radio single that Hasselbach wrote and produced with urban-jazz keyboardist Bob Baldwin.      

 

The release of “Tongue & Groove” coincides with the 30^th anniversary of Hasselbach’s debut disc, “Solar Winds,” which launched an award-winning catalogue consisting of contemporary and straight-ahead jazz recordings.

 

“‘Tongue & Groove’ is definitely my most in-depth and exciting album to date. I love improvised jazzy music in a framework, that is lyrical and succinct, not overly extrapolated or excessive. I come from a Chet Baker/Blue Mitchell frame of reference, laid over contemporary grooves and original concepts. I always aim for strong and concise content in whatever I play. It is all just jazz to me, the essence which should be a rich yet highly listenable sound for the head, heart and feet,” said the Vancouver-based Hasselbach, a Juno Award winner (Canada’s GRAMMY equivalent).

 

Hasselbach wrote and recorded “Tongue & Groove” last year while in quarantine, an experience reflected in the first two cuts: “Presence of Mind” and Chill@Will. 

 

“The first two tunes had a bit of a theme. We can - and had to – keep the mind present and calm during the pandemic. When Bob Baldwin and I started working on ‘Chill@Will,’ we built it from the vibe up, and the music just fell into place. It started out as a sketch from Bob, which I did a little work on to move it forward. The tune sat around for a while but kept scratching at the door because it was so catchy. I took up the cause again and pressed the ever-busy Mr. Baldwin into service so we could help it see the light of day. Many of my top charting tracks, as well as some of Bob's, are collaborations between us,” said Hasselbach.

 

“Tongue & Groove” also features collaborations with other noteworthy musicians such as two-time GRAMMY winner Paul Brown and Billboard chart-topper Chris Standring on guitar. Another guitarist showcased on the disc is Grant Geissman, who played and recorded with contemporary jazz legend Chuck Mangione. Geissman guests on Hasselbach’s vibrant revision of the classic “Feels So Good.”  

 

“I wanted to honor Chuck Mangione and thus be known as ‘the flugelhornist of today’ as was Chuck back in the day. Mesa/Bluemoon label head George Nauful knows Grant Geissman, the guitarist on the original. When George hooked us up, it seemed like kismet. Grant even played the exact 1968 Gibson guitar he used on that session with Mangione, and I play the same model and vintage flugelhorn, too, coincidentally,” said Hasselbach, who also spotlights saxophonist and co-songwriter Daniel Seguin, guitarist Brian Hughes and pianist/organist Miles Black on “Tongue & Groove.”  

 

As for the album title, Hasselbach said, “The title is at minimum a double entendre. In woodworking, tongue and groove refers to interlocking, smooth and seamless assembly or construction, and trumpeters tongue their notes, and in my case, also nail the groove.”

 

Hasselbach wrote or co-wrote eight funky jazz grooves for “Tongue & Groove” and produced or co-produced the tracks. Generously clocking in at over an hour and containing two remixes, “Chill@Will (Raincoast Mix)” and “Feels So Good (Extended Mix),” “Tongue & Groove” is a soul-powered R&B and instrumental pop session piloted by Hasselbach’s flugelhorn, flute, alto flute and trumpet. His animated horns astutely maneuver through percussive rhythms, textured beats and lush harmonies, blowing expressive communications, impassioned poetics and playful banter.         

 

Hasselbach was born in Denver but migrated to Canada after high school and holds dual citizenship. His 2011 “Told Ya So” was named Album of the Year and won him the Artist of the Year honors at the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. A best of-type compilation, 2019’s “Radio Gold,” broke Spotify streaming records. Hasselbach produced pop-jazz singer Michael Bublé’s “Dream” album and played on three of the global superstar’s albums. Earning gold and platinum records, among the other artists he has recorded with are GRAMMY winner Jeff Lorber, Darren Rahn, Greg Manning, Marc Antoine, Bob Mintzer, Tom Schuman, Rob Tardik, Brian Bromberg, and the late Chuck Loeb and John Denver. For more information, please visit http://gabrieljazz.com.

 

“Tongue & Groove” contains the following songs:

 

“Presence of Mind” featuring Daniel Séguin

“Chill@Will” featuring Bob Baldwin

“Heading North” featuring Paul Brown

“Hang On To Your Love”

“Feels So Good” featuring Grant Geissman

“Show Me Another Way”

“Litmus Test” featuring Daniel Séguin

“Daahoud” featuring Chris Standring

“Slipstream Turbulence” featuring Brian Hughes

“Vanishing Summer”

“You Will Always Be The One”

“Chill@Will (Raincoast Mix)” featuring Bob Baldwin

“Feels So Good (Extended Mix)” featuring Miles Black & Grant Geissman

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Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 100 - May 31, 2021 #jazz

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A Memorial Day Worth Remembering

Andy Rooney On How Memorial Day Should Be Celebrated

The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News Correspondent Andy Rooney.

"There is more bravery at war than in peace, and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity - war. The goal of war is to cause death to other people."



Tomorrow is Memorial Day, the day we have set aside to honor by remembering all the Americans who have died fighting for the thing we like the most about our America: the freedom we have to live as we please.

No official day to remember is adequate for something like that. It's too formal. It gets to be just another day on the calendar. No one would know from Memorial Day that Richie M., who was shot through the forehead coming onto Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, wore different color socks on each foot because he thought it brought him good luck.

No one would remember on Memorial Day that Eddie G. had promised to marry Julie W. the day after he got home from the war, but didn’t marry Julie because he never came home from the war. Eddie was shot dead on an un-American desert island, Iwo Jima.

For too many Americans, Memorial Day has become just another day off. There's only so much time any of us can spend remembering those we loved who have died, but the men, boys really, who died in our wars deserve at least a few moments of reflection during which we consider what they did for us.

They died.

We use the phrase "gave their lives," but they didn’t give their lives. Their lives were taken from them.

There is more bravery at war than in peace, and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity - war. The goal of war is to cause death to other people.

Because I was in the Army during World War II, I have more to remember on Memorial Day than most of you. I had good friends who were killed.

Charley Wood wrote poetry in high school. He was killed when his Piper Cub was shot down while he was flying as a spotter for the artillery.

Bob O'Connor went down in flames in his B17.

Obie Slingerland and I were best friends and co-captains of our high school football team. Obie was killed on the deck of the Saratoga when a bomb that hadn’t dropped exploded as he landed.

I won’t think of them anymore tomorrow, Memorial Day than I think of them any other day of my life.

Remembering doesn’t do the remembered any good, of course. It's for ourselves, the living. I wish we could dedicate Memorial Day, not to the memory of those who have died at war, but to the idea of saving the lives of the young people who are going to die in the future if we don’t find some new way - some new religion maybe - that takes war out of our lives.

That would be a Memorial Day worth celebrating.

Written By Andy Rooney © MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This segment was originally broadcast on May 29, 2005.

Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 100 - May 24, 2021 #jazz

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Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 100 - May 17, 2021 #jazz

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African-jazz saxophonist Isaiah Katumwa is ready to “Dance Again” #jazz

The joyous album featuring collaborations with contemporary jazz hitmakers Darren Rahn, Adam Hawley and Dave Koz drops July 9; the title track goes for playlist adds on Monday.

 

As COVID-19 raged last summer and tension soared in the wake of the civil unrest that erupted after the death of George Floyd that occurred miles from his home, saxophonist Isaiah Katumwa was at work on his first major US release that he envisioned lifting spirits by uniting the world in dance. The Ugandan-born artist felt that to confront global issues - a pandemic and systemic racism – it would take a global response. Katumwa assembled a collective of African, American and Latin musicians to help craft “Dance Again,” the global jazz album dropping July 9 from Beyond Music. The festive African beat title track led by Katumwa’s agile soprano sax goes for playlist adds as a single on Monday.

 

Katumwa wrote or co-wrote all ten songs on “Dance Again,” each of which is brimful of joyous light and sunny optimism. Fellow saxophonist Darren Rahn, a multiple GRAMMY nominee who has produced more than 25 No. 1 singles, produced six tracks for the set, and Billboard chart-topping guitarist Adam Hawley produced three. Rwandan producer Marc Kibamba helmed “The Sun Will Shine Again,” a jubilant African rhythmic groove illumined by a vocal chorus.   

          

 

“During the scary times of the pandemic and when people took to the streets in anger to protest, I often wondered whether we’ll ever dance again in unity. It had become a very strange thought. ‘Dance Again’ is an answer to share positivity and contribute to the healing process that we all need right now. It’s music with the purpose to help us as we recover, which I believe is one of the purposes of music,” said Katumwa.

 

The seeds for “Dance Again” were first planted a couple years ago when Katumwa wrote and recorded “Home Away” with Rahn, a sweetly melodic composition that referred to Katumwa’s quest to find an artistic balance between making commercial instrumental music in America while remaining true to his African roots. Last year, Katumwa and Rahn collaborated on the radiant “Smile On,” which was issued as a single last May. 

 

“When we dropped ‘Smile On,’ it was to add positivity, to use music to bring light to the world in our dark times. It’s a reminder that no matter what challenges life brings, we can always use our ability to smile as a resource to uplift and encourage,” said Katumwa of the single that earned most added status at Billboard for three consecutive weeks.

 

Coronavirus restrictions forced Katumwa and his collaborators to write and record remotely. But that didn’t dampen his excitement about recording with sax superstar Dave Koz.

 

“The format and nature of the recording process was very interesting, working remotely throughout the entire process. The highlight for me through the many special moments of working with Darren and Adam in the process was my longtime idol, Dave Koz, agreeing to be featured on the album. His alto sax work on the Afropop fusion track ‘Nsiima’ was magical. Nsiima means grateful and for me, that sums up my musical journey thus far along with being grateful for the opportunity to record with my idol. Looking at the bigger picture, I’m grateful to be making it through the pandemic alive,” said Katumwa.

 

Katumwa released numerous gospel-flavored recordings in Africa in the early 2000s. His 2006 release, “Sinza,” was his first as a mixologist serving a blend of African and contemporary jazz. The saxman’s 2016 disc, “This Is Me,” received international airplay and included a mix by Rahn on the cut “Pamojja,” which was the first time they teamed up. “Dance Again” is Katumwa’s first collection recorded specifically with the US market in mind.      

 

“Dance Again” contains the following songs:

 

“Dance Again”

“Smile On”

“Nsiima” featuring Dave Koz

“Swahili Breeze”

“Home Away”

“My Joy”

“Nkwagala”

“What Is Love”

“The Sun Will Rise Again”

“My Prayer”

 

 

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

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Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 100 - May 10, 2021 #jazz

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Contemporary jazz saxophonist Matt Willard discovers a tropical sound in an unlikely locale: Nashville #jazz

Contemporary jazz saxophonist Matt Willard discovers a tropical sound in an unlikely locale: Nashville

 

His debut single, “Por la Orrilla del Mar,” offers an enticing taste of what’s to come.

 

While Nashville is primarily known as a launch pad for country music careers, Music City also has a burgeoning jazz scene. Trekking south from his Virginia home, saxophonist Matt Willard entered a Nashville recording studio with some of the city’s finest contemporary jazz musicians to record his debut single, “Por la Orrilla del Mar.” Willard wrote the single that just dropped on the Creative Soul Jazz imprint and produced it with the label’s Eric Copeland and Sunset Blvd. Studio’s Steve Dady. The exotic track showcasing the tenor saxman’s impassioned play is the first in a series of singles and accompanying videos that will precede Willard’s first album that is expected to drop by the end of the year.

 

A staccato Latin rhythm constructed by drummer Steve Brewster and bassist Jacob Lowery is the pedestal for the lush melodies of “Por la Orrilla del Mar.” Guitarist Dave Cleveland adds to the harmony while keyboardist Jason Webb shines when trading solos with Willard, who’s deft saxplay runs the gamut of emotion: from intense, raw and emotional to restrained, poised and harnessed. A horn section underscores and illumines Willard’s saxophone excursions.

 

Willard struggled to come up with a title for the single that has Caribbean nuances and conjures up soothing beach scenes. He felt it needed a Spanish title, but since he doesn’t speak the language, he turned to family members for help.

 

“After spending many hours trying to come up with the perfect song title, the idea to ask my uncle popped into my head. He speaks fluent Spanish along with many other languages. I sent him the track, and he and my aunt picked up on the Latin feel to the song, and ultimately, they came up with ‘Por la Orrilla Del Mar.’ It means ‘by the sea shore.’”    

 

Willard’s soulful and inspired sound meshes perfectly with the ethos of Copeland’s label. Creative Soul Jazz is a purveyor of improvisational jazz that they describe as “different and has spiritual roots.”

 

“As a label and production company, our mission is to use our God-given talents to show the beauty, the intensity, the passion and the spiritual effect of jazz. Our souls are rooted firmly in the freedom and pure art form of jazz,” said Copeland.    

                            

Willard began playing baritone sax in sixth grade and switched to tenor after graduating high school. Having played in jazz ensembles as well as his school’s marching band, he landed professional gigs playing at restaurants, special events and weddings. Willard tested the waters by issuing several recording projects locally, but teaming up with Dady, Copeland and Creative Soul Jazz is about taking his craft to the national level. “Por la Orrilla del Mar” offers a promising glimpse of what’s to come from this artist.   

 

Willard said, “I had a blast recording in Nashville and cannot wait to see everyone’s reaction to the music as we release it. I hope that these songs touch as many lives as possible like they did mine when writing them. I am truly blessed to have a great team working with me to write and produce this record. Collaborating with Nashville session players is an amazing experience. The entire production team has knocked it out of the park. The album is going to be great!”

 

For more information, please visit www.mattwillardsax.com. 

Best selling smooth jazz at amazon.com 

Jazz from Amazon.com