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Pianist/Composer Ted Rosenthal to release "High Standards,"
the first of four distinct new albums over the next year,
"Trio in 4 Acts"
(TMR Music)
Ted Rosenthal - Piano
Martin Wind / Noriko Ueda - Bass
Tim Horner / Quincy Davis - Drums
Release Date: March 21st, 2025
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FATHER & SON / NATHAN AND NOAH EAST
Internationally Renowned Legendary Bassist & Rising Star Pianist Son Release Stunning Debut Recording
With special friends Eric Clapton, Hubert Laws. Merry Clayton, Seiko Matsuda, Billy Valentine, Jack Lee, Greg Phillinganes and more
Set to Perform April 29 at San Diego Music Awards/Nathan East to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
(March 25, 2025) With inspiring originals and beautifully re-imagined classics, FATHER & SON, the forthcoming debut collaboration by legendary bassist Nathan East and his wunderkind 24 year old pianist/organist son Noah is set for release April 18, 2025. The album which captures the intimacy of the jazz duo and trio format, infused with the powerful spirit of rhythm & blues was recorded at the legendary EastWest Studios in Los Angeles by GRAMMY®-winning engineer and producer Moogie Canazio. Guest artists appearing with Nathan and Noah are some of their famous friends and collaborators including Eric Clapton (with whom Nathan has toured for over four decades), famed flautist Hubert Laws, vocalists Merry Clayton and Billy Valentine and many more.
With the release of FATHER & SON, Nathan and Noah showcase their rich interplay and chemistry and join an illustrious group of many famous musician fathers and their sons across all genres of music, including Ringo and Jake Starkey, Bob and Jakob Dylan, Joshua and Dewey Redmond, the Marsalis family, and Bob & Ziggy Marley, among many others. Nathan brings his signature grooves, fluid runs and deep musicality to the project. For Noah, this is a powerful introduction to the jazz world, highlighting his soulful touch on piano and masterful command of the Hammond B3. Together they create a sound that is heartfelt and electrifying.
Nathan East stated: “As a father, you try to lead by example. Noah showed extraordinary talent from an early age and it’s been a joy to watch him grow into a sought-after artist in his own right. I couldn’t be more proud of the musician and person he has become, and this album is truly a dream come true.”
Noah East stated: ““Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to witness my dad’s career up close. Growing up around so many different amazing musicians has provided me with a rich musical background, which has immensely shaped my playing. Recording this album together is an experience I will cherish forever.”
East West Media
“Hold On, I’m Coming,” the latest single from the project, is moving up the charts.
Billboard chart-topping saxophonist Walter Beasley was driving across the country after one of his concerts when an idea popped into his head that caused him to delay his trip. He reached out to his recording band who were only a few hours away from his next gig in Cincinnati and booked them to record “Tribute to Soul,” a five-song EP of R&B classics out now on Affable Records.
The songs Beasley reimagines on “Tribute to Soul” is the music from his formative years growing up.
“I went home to these songs because I was going through a lot of stuff at the time. This music helped shape my musicianship. I learned and was well schooled in classical music, and I remember asking, ‘What’s next?’ For me, that was going back to the beginning - go back to blues, go home to soul, go back to the music that I know and that moves me. There’s no point in me saying a whole bunch of stuff musically that doesn’t matter. What matters is the song, the music, the message. That’s what I’ve always tried to do in my career and that’s what this record is about,” said Beasley, who played soprano and alto sax and sang on the EP.
Beasley gathered his “cats” – guitarist Michael O’Hara, bassist Derek Doc Johnson, keyboardist Robert Johnson, percussionist Chase Williams, and drummer Ben Powers – in the studio and they played through the setlist. What you hear on the EP are first takes.
“The idea was to make some timeless music with the cats you know give you nothing but funk, soul, and the real, and that’s what happened. The energy is there; the mistakes are there. If the groove is there and people are bopping, leave it alone,” said Beasley, who added that the seed for the EP was planted while watching a documentary film on the seminal Stax Records label.
“Motown was sophisticated soul. Stax was something different. It had that edge, that stank on it. That is what I gravitated towards as a musician,” said the El Centro, California native who has been based in Boston since attending Berklee College of Music where he has served as a professor for more than thirty years.
“Tribute to Soul” opens with “Hold On, I’m Coming,” the latest single presently climbing the charts that is an instrumental remake of the storming Sam & Dave hit from 1966.
Beasley’s faithful version of “Green Onions” retains all the groovy cool of the Booker T. & the M.G.’s 1962 original.
“It’s got a soulful Delta blues vibe and a shuffling kind of thing going on. You’d better be in the pocket because if you’re not, we’re gonna leave you behind. ‘Green Onions’ is the epitome of that. By the time the organ comes in, it’s over,” said Beasley defiantly.
Vocalist Destiny Whited joins the fray on “Ballero,” a reboot of War’s 1974 joint mixing Latin rhythms and R&B grooves.
“The song is a cross between Latin music and R&B. That Brown and Black music was just together. ‘Ballero’ is like going home and saying thank you, not just to the Black community, but to the Brown community that helped raise me. It’s pure feeling. When people put their heads together in diverse cultures and just share out of love, you get a song like ‘Ballero,’” Beasley said.
Beasley reminds us that he is an expressive crooner on “Come Live With Me,” which was the first single released last fall to tease the EP’s release. It is his interpretation of the romantic ballad recorded by Isaac Hayes in 1975.
“His (Hayes) version is absolutely perfect. I didn’t know the full meaning of the song until I got older. This is probably my favorite vocal performance from me because of the way I feel about Isaac Hayes. I wanted to do justice to the song, but I also wanted to do justice as it relates to the lyrics, which are very personal. I wanted to deliver it in the best possible way,” said Beasley, who also plays a sultry saxophone solo mid-tune that conveys longing.
“While recording, I had better saxophone solos for the song, but they took my mind away from the piece, so I did a solo that was reflective of what the song was speaking to me, and I dipped it back into the message. I love the song and I’m incredibly grateful for my presentation.”
The set closes with a revamp of Herbie Mann’s 1969 “Memphis Underground,” a backyard party jam that Beasley describes as being about watching your uncle and aunt getting up and dancing at a fun family barbecue.
“This song is our tribute to the musicians of that era,” Beasley concluded.
Over the last three decades, Beasley has been a fixture on the Billboard top 20 contemporary jazz charts and landed three number one singles. Debuting in 1987 with a self-titled album, Beasley is a two-time Boston Music Awards winner, having been named Outstanding Jazz Artist and winning the Jazz Album of the Year for his 2003 release, “Go with the Flow.” Beasley’s present focus is honoring the music, the artists, and the epoch celebrated on “Tribute to Soul.”
“This EP reflects community, things we were going through as a people. It feels good and this is the best feeling project I’ve ever done.”
Beasley’s “Tribute to Soul” EP contains the following songs:
“Hold On, I’m Coming”
“Green Onions”
“Ballero”
“Come Live With Me”
“Memphis Underground”
For more information, visit https://www.walterbeasley.com.
Herbie Hancock is an all-time jazz great, so it is reassuring to hear that he suffers from the same modern day procrastination problems as the rest of us mere mortals.
"I fall into rabbit holes on YouTube. A lot of them. New music writing software, things about health, tech things."
That is his explanation as to why he has not made an album for 15 years.
"I get victimised by it, so to speak, but that's life," he chuckles.
Speaking from his house in west Hollywood, the ridiculously sprightly 84-year-old pianist has never been afraid to embrace technology, but normally he is the one doing the mastering, not vice versa.
