Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 20 - October 28, 2019 #jazz


TW - LW - Artist - Album - (Label)
1 - 1 - Rick Braun - "Crossroads" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
2 - 2 - David Benoit - "David Benoit and Friends" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
3 - 4 - Eric Darius - "Breakin' Thru" - (SagiDarius Music)
4 - 3 - Dave Koz & Friends - "Summer Horns II: From A to Z" - (Concord)
5 - 5 - FOUR80EAST - "Four On The Floor" - (Boomtang)
6 - 21 - U-Nam - "The Love Vault (Future Love Part 2)" - (Skytown)
7 - 10 - Kim Scott - "Free To Be" - (Inntervision Records)
8 - 6 - Joyce Cooling - "Living Out Loud" - (Funky Kitchen)
9 - 9 - Nick Colionne - "Just Being Me" - (Trippin N' Rhythm)
10 - 7 - Adam Hawley - "Double Vision" - (Kalimba)
11 - 13 - Brendan Rothwell - "Sentiment" - (Independent)
12 - 12 - Nelson Rangell - "By Light" - (Independent)
13 - 8 - Nicholas Cole - "The Weekend" - (Trippin 'N' Rhythm)
14 - 11 - Althea Rene - "Flawsome" - (Althea Rene Productions)
15 - 16 - Blake Aaron - "Color And Passion" - (Innervision)
16 - 14 - Jazmin Ghent - "The Story Of Jaz" - (Jazmin Ghent Music)
17 - 23 - Lisa Addeo - "Listen To This" - (Little Black Dress)
18 - 18 - Butch & Rhonda Coleman - "Moment Of Your Time" - (Jeremee Records)
19 - 15 - Chris Standring - "Best Of Chris Standring Remixed" - (Ultimate Vibe)
20 - 38 - Paul Hardcastle - "Hardcastle VIII" - (Trippin 'N' Rhythm)


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Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Flash! Bam! Alakazam! Jazz vocalists Deborah Silver and Freddy Cole charm on a tribute to a King #jazz

Their duet single, “Orange Colored Sky,” dropped Monday as part of Nat King Cole’s centennial birthday commemorations. 

Billboard chart-topping jazz singer Deborah Silver and four-time Grammy nominated crooner-pianist Freddy Cole have been friends for two decades yet they had never sung a duet before they entered a Hollywood recording studio to record a loving tribute to commemorate Nat King Cole’s centennial birth year. Tapping Grammy winners Steve Tyrell and Alan Broadbent to respectively produce (with Jon Allen) and arrange the track, Silver and Freddy Cole’s enchanting “Orange Colored Sky” dropped Monday as a single.

Silver wanted to honor Freddy Cole’s late brother saying, “I think Nat King Cole was a huge influence on all music. His velvety voice and debonair delivery are iconic. Also, recognizing what an admirable role he played in the civil rights movement, he always showed grace and dignity. Nat King Cole was obviously a very special man and so is his brother, Freddy.”

Equipped with a fresh Broadbent arrangement of the tune Nat King Cole recorded at Capitol Studios in 1950, Silver and Freddy Cole recorded at the famed Sunset Sound Studios. As seen in this behind-the-scenes video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYvRJMJh69I), the chemistry spawned from their endearing friendship and sweet affection seeped onto the single. 

“Our recording happened quickly. Singing the song together and being in the same room right next to each other made it really special. We just clicked. We were able to respond to each other on the spot. It was like having a conversation...so much fun and truly magical. I’ve always thought Freddy Cole had the coolest voice and is the sweetest man. He has a style like no other. We have been friends for over 20 years and thought it was about time to do a duet together. It is nice when you work with people you are comfortable with. It just seemed so easy,” said Silver, who will perform with Freddy Cole at Blues Alley in Washington, DC on December 12-15 and at Birdland in New York City on December 23-28. 

“It (‘Orange Colored Sky’) was a great tune and we just thought it was appropriate to use on this occasion,” said Freddy Cole who turned 88 last week. “She’s (Deborah) a fine singer. She’s a good entertainer and she knows how to pick her material. Working with professional people, they know what they’re doing. Steve (Tyrell) brought his expertise to the table. It’s good to have another voice on the project that’s different from what yours is.”

Silver’s 2016 “The Gold Standards,” also produced by Tyrell and Allen and arranged by Broadbent, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz Albums and Heatseekers Albums chart and No. 2 on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. It went Top 10 on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart and hit Billboard’s Top 200. Silver is putting the finishing touches on a jazz-country hybrid collection of selections from the Great American Songbook that she recorded with Asleep at the Wheel that is slated to drop in the first quarter of 2020. The prolific singer hints at issuing a second album next year - a full album of duets with Freddy Cole.      

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


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Monday, October 21, 2019

Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 20 - October 21, 2019 #jazz


TW - LW - Artist - Album - (Label)
1 - 1 - Rick Braun - "Crossroads" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
2 - 2 - David Benoit - "David Benoit and Friends" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
3 - 3 - Dave Koz & Friends - "Summer Horns II: From A to Z" - (Concord)
4 - 6 - Eric Darius - "Breakin' Thru" - (SagiDarius Music)
5 - 4 - FOUR80EAST - "Four On The Floor" - (Boomtang)
6 - 7 - Joyce Cooling - "Living Out Loud" - (Funky Kitchen)
7 - 8 - Adam Hawley - "Double Vision" - (Kalimba)
8 - 11 - Nicholas Cole - "The Weekend" - (Trippin 'N' Rhythm)
9 - 12 - Nick Colionne - "Just Being Me" - (Trippin N' Rhythm)
10 - 13 - Kim Scott - "Free To Be" - (Inntervision Records)
11 - 9 - Althea Rene - "Flawsome" - (Althea Rene Productions)
12 - 10 - Nelson Rangell - "By Light" - (Independent)
13 - 5 - Brendan Rothwell - "Sentiment" - (Independent)
14 - 15 - Jazmin Ghent - "The Story Of Jaz" - (Jazmin Ghent Music)
15 - 18 - Chris Standring - "Best Of Chris Standring Remixed" - (Ultimate Vibe)
16 - 17 - Blake Aaron - "Color And Passion" - (Innervision)
17 - 14 - Ragan Whiteside - "Five Up Top" - (Randis Music)
18 - 21 - Butch & Rhonda Coleman - "Moment Of Your Time" - (Jeremee Records)
19 - 19 - Dr. Dave & The Housecall Band - "Midnight Daydream" - (Hatherill)
20 - 29 - Julian Vaughn - "Supreme" - (Trippin 'N' Rhythm)


Our thanks to smoothjazz.comVisit smoothjazz.com to view the latest complete top 50 chart. Visit smoothjazz.com to view the latest weekly chart recap.

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Thursday, October 17, 2019

Kirk Whalum - "Humanité" Released on Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Music Group - #jazz

Kirk Whalum Channels Ethos of Civil Rights and
Global Harmony on New Album Release, Humanité
Out Now on Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Music Group

“Music is the language that communicates across borders. Music can break and enter into a person’s soul. The difference is a musician is not there to take, he or she is there to give, to leave something.” Kirk Whalum



Grammy® Award Winner and Global Recording Artist 
Kirk Whalum just released his new album Humanité on Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Music Group. Humanité is unlike any album Kirk has ever made – the sonic synergistic result of encounters made and relationships formed onstage and off with top emerging artists and Top 5 recording artists from around the world.
The album was produced by Kirk and his longtime friend and producer, the British jazz trumpeter and session musician James McMillan. Over a period of three months in 2018, Kirk and James recorded the soul-drenched, emotional and highly melodic tracks in locations ranging from studios in Jakarta, Tokyo, Paris, Nairobi, Johannesburg, to hotel rooms, office buildings and even Kirk’s living room in his hometown, Memphis, Tenn.
Collaborators on the album include Japan's jazz pianist Keiko Matsui; the young bass phenomenon Barry Likumahuwa, gifted singer/songwriter Grace Sahertian and global pop star singer/actor Afgan, all hailing from Indonesia; soulful singer/jazz guitarist Andréa Lisa from New Zealand; superstar vocalist/guitarist Zahara from South Africa; Kasiva Mutwa of Nairobi; bassist supreme Marcus Miller, and Liane Carroll, long considered by cognoscenti to be the UK’s premier female jazz voice.
“I kept bumping into these amazing artists from all over the world and I wanted to make some crazy music with them and prove this point – that we are all one,” says Kirk. “That’s the DNA of it. Like we say in the artwork, ‘With one voice, sometimes with words, we speak.’ This is the essential reality of being a world musician.”

Kirk was just nine years old when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis just blocks away from the Whalum family home. That shattering event shaped young Kirk’s worldview. But rather than turn him cynical, as he grew older his spiritual upbringing led him to embrace Dr. King’s vision of “The Beloved Community.” This message is the ethos of Humanité – the greater good inherent in all of global humanity will lead to a society based on justice, civil rights and love of one’s fellow humans, and an insatiable curiosity about the exquisitely unique musical offerings from each and every corner of our global common-unity.

Source: https://www.jazzcorner.com/

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Wednesday, October 16, 2019

A timely album by Rainforest Band with a timeless message - #jazz

Marking the 30th anniversary of the visionary album that Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia and keyboardist Merl Saunders recorded to call attention to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest was planned long before “the lungs of the planet” caught fire this past summer. Saunders’ son, bassist Tony Saunders, who toured for a year with his father and Garcia to perform music from “Blues From The Rainforest – A Musical Suite,” continues the vital mission by helming Rainforest Band (https://rainforestband.net), which will release “Peace To The Planet” on October 25. Continuing partnerships that began with the original album, a portion of the proceeds from “Peace To The Planet” album sales will go to The Jerry Garcia Foundation and Rainforest Action Network.  


While Garcia and Merl Saunders branded “Blues From The Rainforest – A Musical Suite” as “environmental earth music,” “Peace To The Planet,” featuring Tony Saunders, guitarist Vernon “Ice” Black and keyboardist Sylvester Burks, is rooted in contemporary jazz, R&B and gospel music. Joining the trio on the album to spread the message of preservation in the face of the global climate crisis are Billboard chart-topping saxophonist Jeff Ryan, noted keyboardist Gail Jhonson, drummer Austin White and percussionist Maquinto Brasil. Black produced the collection comprised of a dozen songs written by the three band members who are based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The celebrate the record release and to raise funds for the two nonprofit partners, Rainforest Band will perform at Terrapin Crossroads Grate Room in San Rafael on November 1 with special guests Grammy winner Narada Michael Walden, percussionist Juan Escoveda and saxophonist Angelo Luster along with Johnson and Brasil. Garcia’s wife and daughter, Manasha and Keelin Garcia, who manage The Jerry Garcia Foundation and have collaborated with Tony Saunders on multiple projects over the years, will be present to lend their support.


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Monday, October 14, 2019

Spyro Gyra “warps” the songs from their youth on “Vinyl Tap,” out now #jazz


Seminal contemporary jazz band Spyro Gyra decided to do something completely different for their first new album in six years. The New York institution that began 45 years ago curated a collection of songs they listened to on vinyl during their formative youth and then put them through a process they call “warping.” They dared to take apart classic rock and jazz hits and imaginatively rebuild them into something entirely new, changing tempos and textures, rhythms and tones, and adding extensions and solos in the process that refreshed the nine songs, often making them hardly recognizable from their original form. Spyro Gyra produced and brazenly arranged “Vinyl Tap,” which dropped last Friday on the Amherst Records label.



Over the last few weeks, the disc’s first single, a wistful reading of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” that steps soulfully to an Americana cadence, has been garnering airplay and playlist adds.

As the album arrives that Jazziz magazine named one of the “10 Albums You Need to Know: October 2019,” Spyro Gyra prepares to roll out on a monthlong concert trek in support of “Vinyl Tap” beginning at the Cancun Jazz Festival in Mexico on October 23. The global whirlwind will visit Ireland, England, Netherlands, Bahrain, Italy, Germany and Israel before playing a string of U.S. dates.

Free from the pressure of having to write great music, Spyro Gyra had fun in the studio making “Vinyl Tap,” which is available as a limited edition, 180-gram clear vinyl disc with a full-color printed inner sleeve in a full-color printed jacket. The band members – saxophonist Jay Beckenstein,  keyboardist Tom Schuman, guitarist Julio Fernandez, bassist Scott Ambush and drummer Lionel Cordew –  have a wide range of ages, which accounts for the wide variety of songs selected to “warp.” Stylistically, the quintet mines jazz of every primary hue – straight-ahead, contemporary and fusion – along with R&B, pop, rock, Latin and country music.

“Vinyl Tap” opens with a hipster’s mashup of “Secret Agent Man” and “Alfie’s Theme.” The “warping” continues with a Latin big band revision of Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love.” Listeners are caressed during a yearning exploration into the soulful depths of The Doobie Brothers’ “What A Fool Believes.” The beats are layered on the percussion-heavy revisit of War’s “The Cisco Kid.” The Beatles’ “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” becomes a sweet soprano sax serenade while Squeeze’s “Tempted” is recreated as a bluesy, power rock ballad. Complex rhythms highlight an incendiary fusion presentation of Oliver Nelson’s jazz standard “Stolen Moments.” Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Carry On” brings the session to a climactic conclusion with gusto.    
   
Catch Spyro Gyra on tour on the following dates:

October 23                  Cancun Jazz Festival                          Puerto Aventuras, Mexico
October 26                  Guinness Cork Jazz Festival             Cork, Ireland
October 27                  Pizza Express Live                             London, England
October 28                  Concertgebouw                                   Amsterdam, Netherlands
October 29                  Paard Club                                          The Hague, Netherlands
November 1                Bahrain JazzFest                                 Al Mazrowiah, Bahrain
November 5 & 6         Blue Note Milano                               Milan, Italy
November 8                Anfiteatro Comunale di Mogoro        Mogoro, Italy
November 9                Ingolstadt Jazztage                             Ingolstadt, Germany
November 10              Quasimodo                                          Berlin, Germany
November 12              Hangar 11                                           Tel Aviv, Israel
November 15              New Jersey Performing Arts Center   Newark, NJ
November 16              Tupelo Music Hall                              Derry, NH
November 20              Infinity Music Hall                             Norfolk, CT      
November 21              Spire Center for the Performing Arts Plymouth, MA
November 22              Ludlow Garage                                   Cincinnati, OH
November 23              Saugatuck Center for the Arts             Saugatuck, MI
November 24              Dakota                                                Minneapolis, MN



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Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 20 - October 14, 2019 #jazz


TW - LW - Artist - Album - (Label)
1 - 1 - Rick Braun - "Crossroads" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
2 - 2 - David Benoit - "David Benoit and Friends" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
3 - 4 - Dave Koz & Friends - "Summer Horns II: From A to Z" - (Concord)
4 - 3 - FOUR80EAST - "Four On The Floor" - (Boomtang)
5 - 5 - Brendan Rothwell - "Sentiment" - (Independent)
6 - 9 - Eric Darius - "Breakin' Thru" - (SagiDarius Music)
7 - 16 - Joyce Cooling - "Living Out Loud" - (Funky Kitchen)
8 - 6 - Adam Hawley - "Double Vision" - (Kalimba)
9 - 11 - Althea Rene - "Flawsome" - (Althea Rene Productions)
10 - 13 - Nelson Rangell - "By Light" - (Independent)
11 - 7 - Nicholas Cole - "The Weekend" - (Trippin 'N' Rhythm)
12 - 15 - Nick Colionne - "Just Being Me" - (Trippin N' Rhythm)
13 - 14 - Kim Scott - "Free To Be" - (Inntervision Records)
14 - 8 - Ragan Whiteside - "Five Up Top" - (Randis Music)
15 - 10 - Jazmin Ghent - "The Story Of Jaz" - (Jazmin Ghent Music)
16 - 12 - Pieces Of A Dream - "On Another Note" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
17 - 20 - Blake Aaron - "Color And Passion" - (Innervision)
18 - 18 - Chris Standring - "Best Of Chris Standring Remixed" - (Ultimate Vibe)
19 - 21 - Dr. Dave & The Housecall Band - "Midnight Daydream" - (Hatherill)
20 - 26 - Cindy Bradley - "I'm All Ears" - (Trippin 'N' Rhythm)


Our thanks to smoothjazz.comVisit smoothjazz.com to view the latest complete top 50 chart. Visit smoothjazz.com to view the latest weekly chart recap.

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Saturday, October 12, 2019

Jim Robitaille Group - "A View From Within" - Release on Whaling City Sound, October 18th - #jazz

It’s been a while since guitarist Jim Robitaille convened for a Jim Robitaille Group recording session. But the wait has been worth it. The award-winning guitarist—who has shared the stage/bill with Karl Berger, Bob Moses, Joe Beck, Gerry Gibbs, Santi Debriano, Julian Lage, Esperanza Spalding, Oscar Stagnaro, Kate McGarry, the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars, among others—is finally back together with his simpatico musical brethren saxophonist Dave Liebman, along with Tony Marino and Alex Ritz on the profound and emotionally rendered A View from Within.


This is great news for fans of Robitaille and jazz guitar in general. Not only is Robitaille a tactile talent, with notes that emerge like feelings, and chords that resonate with passion and sensitivity. His band is dazzling and accomplished. Bassist Marino, an ace bandleader in his own right, and drummer Ritz, comprise a perfectly suited backdrop for Robitaille’s explorations, while Liebman serves as an extraordinary partner, foil and focal point. Their work together on, for example, “Slow Tuesday” and “Point of Origin,” is mesmerizing and enchanting, reflecting the hours, days, and gigs playing together. The performances here burn and boogie, lilt quietly and unfold unexpectedly. A View from Within is a dramatic and welcome return from Robitaille, whose recorded presence has been long overdue.
The Jim Robitaille Group's debut recording, To Music, received international awards and accolades, winning three international composition awards for three original compositions from the recording. The CD was number five in the top ten list of 2004 by the Daily Ipirotikos Agon and the Apopsy in Greece and was the publishers pick for All About Jazz and the Boston Herald. The recording received international airplay and was #1 chart-bound on the Jazz Week Jazz chart. A View from Within, his Whaling City Sound debut, several years removed from JRG’s debut, builds on the foundation created by that very successful session and moves Robitaille into more distinguished company.



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Tuesday, October 08, 2019

A GRAMMY® nomination would remain forever in the heart of jazz chanteuse Kinga Heming #jazz

Tucked away in the dimly lit vocal booth of producer Gabriel Mark Hasselbach’s recording studio in Vancouver, jazz vocalist Kinga Heming tapped into the powerful emotions that fill her newly released third album, “Forever in My Heart.” While tracking “The Very Thought of You” from the Great American Songbook, something clicked as she crooned the lyrics “Forever in my heart, the very thought of you.” Hasselbach knew instantly that he had uncovered the soul of the singer, the magic ingredient that makes her record special.

“That is the title of your album,” Hasselbach said to Heming about the first-round GRAMMY ballot contender for Jazz Vocal Album, “Forever in My Heart.”

Heming identifies herself as a singer and a storyteller. While the eight tunes she recorded for “Forever in My Heart” are standards, she selected each song because of her personal connection to each one.


These were songs that were introduced to me at a very young age. Gabriel suggested that I choose songs that I feel reflect on my life. So, I chose the ones that I felt really connected to because, to be honest, when I sing a song, it’s not just singing a song. It’s not just reciting the lyrics to make it sound pretty. It’s me telling a story. And every single song on the record is me telling a story,” said the Polish-born Heming, who moved to Ottawa, Ontario in Canada when she was five and now resides in the small British Columbian town of Kelowna. 

“When I sing songs, I never make myself emotional to the point of getting moved by a song. However, one of the songs on the album that does hold a soft spot in my heart is ‘Here’s to Life.’ When I sing it, I kind of felt like Johnny Mandel wrote that song for me. Lyrically, every single part of that song, it’s just me.”

Garnering airplay on Canadian radio from coast to coast, “Forever in My Heart” is an acoustic jazz vocal album. Heming’s elegant and graceful voice is embellished by Miles Black’s dramatic piano melodies and supple basslines, Joel Fountain’s genteel drumming and Hasselbach’s astute trumpet expositions. On “Nature Boy,” Heming’s exquisite voice rides the rhythmic groove etched by guitarist Loni Moger and upright bassist Bernie Addington with evocative shadowing emoted from Hasselbach’s muted trumpet.           

Heming celebrated the album release last week by performing the material live at the Rotary Center for the Arts at the Mary Irwin Theatre in Kelowna where she shared the stage with Hasselbach, Black, Moger, Addington and drummer Tony Ferrero. Bonding with her audience as she tells her intimate stories through song is important to the singer.

“It’s me telling a story to everybody in the audience and for me to move an audience with my songs is even better,” Heming said before returning the focus to “Forever in My Heart.”  

“At the end of the day, I know for myself, and from my own perspective, that I recorded this (album) from the bottom of my heart. That’s why I came up with ‘Forever in My Heart’; because every single part of that story is held forever in my heart.” 
   
For more information, please visit https://www.kinga-jazz.com.


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Monday, October 07, 2019

Smooth Jazz Chart - Weekly Top 20 - October 7, 2019 #jazz


TW - LW - Artist - Album - (Label)
1 - 1 - Rick Braun - "Crossroads" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
2 - 2 - David Benoit - "David Benoit and Friends" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
3 - 3 - FOUR80EAST - "Four On The Floor" - (Boomtang)
4 - 4 - Dave Koz & Friends - "Summer Horns II: From A to Z" - (Concord)
5 - 6 - Brendan Rothwell - "Sentiment" - (Independent)
6 - 10 - Adam Hawley - "Double Vision" - (Kalimba)
7 - 8 - Nicholas Cole - "The Weekend" - (Trippin 'N' Rhythm)
8 - 7 - Ragan Whiteside - "Five Up Top" - (Randis Music)
9 - 11 - Eric Darius - "Breakin' Thru" - (SagiDarius Music)
10 - 12 - Jazmin Ghent - "The Story Of Jaz" - (Jazmin Ghent Music)
11 - 5 - Althea Rene - "Flawsome" - (Althea Rene Productions)
12 - 9 - Pieces Of A Dream - "On Another Note" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
13 - 14 - Nelson Rangell - "By Light" - (Independent)
14 - 15 - Kim Scott - "Free To Be" - (Inntervision Records)
15 - 13 - Nick Colionne - "Just Being Me" - (Trippin N' Rhythm)
16 - 22 - Joyce Cooling - "Living Out Loud" - (Funky Kitchen)
17 - 19 - Keiko Matsui - "Echo" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
18 - 16 - Chris Standring - "Best Of Chris Standring Remixed" - (Ultimate Vibe)
19 - 23 - Norman Brown - "The Highest Act Of Love" - (Shanachie Entertainment)
20 - 31 - Blake Aaron - "Color And Passion" - (Innervision)


Our thanks to smoothjazz.comVisit smoothjazz.com to view the latest complete top 50 chart. Visit smoothjazz.com to view the latest weekly chart recap.

Best selling smooth jazz at amazon.com Jazz from Amazon.com
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Sunday, October 06, 2019

Soul-Jazz flutist Kim Scott emerges in the GRAMMY® race #jazz

Music from her “Free to Be” album makes the first-round ballot in two categories

It was a hot July for soul-jazz flutist Kim Scott, who rocketed like fireworks to the top of the Billboard chart with her first No. 1 single, which has inserted the emerging artist into the GRAMMY conversation. Scott’s solo on “Emerge” (http://bit.ly/354BX9Y) made the first-round ballot for Best Improvised Jazz Solo while the album on which the track appears, “Free to Be,” is garnering consideration in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category.   



Scott wrote “Emerge” with keyboardist Jonathan Fritzen, a hitmaker who is featured delivering his own shimmering solo. However, it is the flautist’s fanciful flourishes that are meriting consideration from the voting members of The Recording Academy for the 62nd GRAMMY Awards that take place on January 26, 2020.

After setting the stage to perfection with a Billboard chart-topping single that also went No. 1 on the Groove Jazz Music chart, Innervision Records dropped “Free to Be,” Scott’s fourth album, in mid-July. She had a hand in writing five of the album’s nine songs, which offer an alluring blend of instrumental pop appeal, jazz spontaneity and funky R&B grooves. Scott’s classically trained flute melodies share the spotlight equitably on a few numbers with prominent guest soloists Fritzen, saxophonist Jazmin Ghent and Pieces of A Dream keyboardist James Lloyd. Guitarist Eric Essix, drummer/percussionist James “PJ” Spraggins and bassist Sean Michael Ray anchor the rhythm section with compelling textures and vibrant harmonies crafted by keyboardist/programmer/producer Kelvin Wooten, keyboardists West Byrd and Jaden Scott, alto saxophonist Cameron Ross and instrument programmer Dimitri Turner. The disc’s second single, the bumping “Take It To The Rink,” is presently skating laps around playlists after earning Most Added honors in its debut week at radio.        

In addition to her recording career, Scott hosts the nationally syndicated “Block Party Radio Show,” which added to its growing list of stations with the recent pickup on Alabama Public Radio, an NPR affiliate. The artist infuses her energy and enthusiasm into the weekly broadcast featuring the latest  contemporary jazz, urban and Latin jazz releases.  

The Birmingham, Alabama-based Scott debuted in 2011 with “Crossing Over.” Her records have consistently produced Billboard Top 20 singles. On the concert stage, she’s performed at clubs and marquee festivals, including Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival and Seabreeze Jazz Festival. Scott is also a member of the all-female supergroup Jazz in Pink with whom she has played shows across the US. For more information, please visit http://kimscottmusic.com.


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