Wednesday, November 11, 2015

NEW RELEASES: BRENNA WHITAKER; GERARDO FRISINA PRESENTS – LIVIANA FERRI AND CUBAFRO; KENNY BURRELL - THE ROAD TO LOVE

BRENNA WHITAKER

As a kid growing up in Kansas City, Brenna Whitaker fell in love with the music of jazz and blues singers from a long-ago era. "Ruth Brown, Peggy Lee, Cab Calloway, Etta James - those are my people," says the L.A.-based vocalist. "I don't even know how I ended up knowing so many of their songs and standards from back then. It's almost like they found their way to me, like I'm from another time." After landing her first professional theater gig at age 11, moving to New York City on her own to study with Broadway veterans at age 17, and spending her early 20s leading jazz bands back home in Missouri, Whitaker headed to L.A. and started setting up a series of residencies that eventually attracted fans like Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, and Michael Bublé and caught the attention of Verve Music Group chairman and 16-time Grammy Award-winner David Foster. The first new artist Foster has agreed to develop and produce since discovering Bublé, Whitaker is now set to release a debut album for Verve that finds her reviving a vast American jukebox of classic songs and revealing the full force of her stunning, soulful voice. ~ Verve

GERARDO FRISINA PRESENTS – LIVIANA FERRI AND CUBAFRO - YE MAYA E - CONFIANCE A LA MUSIQUE


Gerardo Frisina works here with a great female singer – the lovely Liviana Ferri, who brings in a much deeper vibe than usual to his music! Part of that quality also comes from the Cubafro group, who work with Ferri and bring in plenty of raw percussion – all directed by Frisina's songwriting and percussion, but in a way that's maybe more classically-styled Latin than some of his own music. The group's also got some wonderfully heavy acoustic bass on the leadoff cut – plus trumpet lines and a bit of flute too – on the titles "Ye Maya E", "Confiance A La Musique", and "Ye Maya E (Ye Maya)".  ~ Dusty Groove


KENNY BURRELL - THE ROAD TO LOVE

Few can claim the title of living legend. Kenny Burrell is just such a person. In fact he's more he's living history, past, present and future. His credentials are voluminous and accomplishments staggering, and he hasn't stopped. Today, he is active recording and performing, a respected educator, and an elder statesman of the music. His legacy is pervasive. His soulful sound and approach have influenced virtually everyone claiming a jazz pedigree but extends to many outside the genre, a la Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Steve Howe, Andy Summers, and Freddie King. Here Burrell is backed by some of his favorite West Cost colleagues in a varied program of standards and few originals by the leader himself, including one brand new composition. Also on hand is the exuberant voice of Barbara Morrison who brings her tremendous talent and personality to three tracks.~ Amazon


NEW RELEASES: THE DINING ROOMS – DO HIPSTERS LOVE SUN (RA)?; JOE FARNSWORTH – MY HEROES; ROMAN COPPOLA – MOLTO GROOVY CHRISTMAS

THE DINING ROOMS – DO HIPSTERS LOVE SUN (RA)?: A SOUNDTRACK OF COSMIC FUNK, ABSTRACT JAZZ & CINEMATIC AVANT GARDE

Maybe the hippest album we've ever heard from The Dining Rooms – something we probably could have guessed from their evocation of Sun Ra in the title! And while that title seems a bit obtuse – maybe even a joke – the music here is right on the money, and some of the most serious, most spiritual the group has ever given us – quite far from some of the easier dance-styled sounds we know from their early years. There's still a lot of samples and electronics in the mix, but they're used in extremely thoughtful ways – and often sourced with more interesting material, too – so that there's a core of 70s cosmic jazz and fusion that seems to drive the record, which also comes through in the group's own keyboards as well. The approach isn't entirely jazz, but not far off at times – and titles include "Interstellar", "Light Time Tales", "Marte"," Love Story", "Saturno", "Devil's Moon", "Once Were Warriors", and "Sergio Leone Asteroid".  Dusty Groove

JOE FARNSWORTH – MY HEROES

Drummer Joe Farnsworth pays tribute to the greats of the 50s and 60s – Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Art Blakey, Max Roach, and others – in a smoking set that features his longtime musical companions Eric Alexander on tenor, Harold Mabern on piano, and Nat Reeves on bass! There's a vibe here that's different than other recent dates from this well-matched team – as the players are definitely trying to skew their sounds differently with each number dedicated to a different drummer – especially Alexander and Mabern, who really match Farnsworth's energy as he changes things up. Titles include "Syeeda's Song Flute", "Two Bass Hit", "Reflection", "George's Dilemma", and "Cute". ~ Dusty Groove

ROMAN COPPOLA – MOLTO GROOVY CHRISTMAS

One of the coolest, grooviest Christmas records we've heard in years – a set that's the first-ever effort from Roman Coppola's Molto Groovy Productions – and which has a mod 60s vibe all the way through! The styles here are steeped in the best Italian soundtrack modes from years back – cool keyboards, fuzzy organ, funky basslines, and lots of offbeat instrumentation that really transforms the tunes – almost as if someone like Piero Umiliani or Ennio Morricone recorded a whole album of Christmas instrumentals! The sound is perfect – even better than you might suspect from the cover – and you can take it from us, as we're not easily fooled by "fake" retro projects – and really tip our hat to these guys for getting the instrumentation, arrangements, and production just right. Most titles are familiar songs, but done in very unusual styles – and tracks include "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Joy To The World", "Jingle Bells", "Sleigh Ride", "Feliz Navidad", "Little Drummer Boy", "Silver Bells", and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas".  ~ Dusty Groove



NEW RELEASES: WARDELL PIPER – SPELL; FABULOUS EBONYS – ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT; DEXTER STORY - WONDEM

WARDELL PIPER – SPELL

The first full album from Wardell Piper in many many years – but a set that feels like it came right on the heels of her late 70s disco classics! Wardell looks surprisingly youthful on the cover, and sounds the same on the set – working with a sweet groove that mixes mellow steppers with more upbeat club tracks – of the sort she recorded famously many years back! Butch Ingram arranged and produced, with lots of help from the larger Ingram Family – who keep the groove mighty cool – and titles include "Spell", "Locked In This Position", "Don't I Ever Cross Your Mind", "After All", "I'm In Love With You", "Make It Last", and "Look To The Children". ~ Dusty Groove


FABULOUS EBONYS – ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT

A reformed version of the legendary Ebonys – that 70s harmony group you may know from classic work on Philly International and Buddah Records – brought back here under the leadership of original founder David Beasley! All the other singers are younger – as you can see from the image on the cover – but the group definitely hits that classic Ebonys Philly soul approach – working perfectly in a mix of male and female voices in the harmonies, and with the kind of mellow and midtempo grooves that always made the Ebonys so great! This version of the group sound especially great on the mellow cuts – which have the voices drifting together in these shifting shades of sound that are mighty nice, and very classic in their construction – and titles include "Do You Get Enough Love", "It's Forever", "Anything That You Want", "You're The Reason Why", "Love Town", "Determination", "Loving You Is Mellow", and a great remake of "You Know How To Make Me Feel So Good".  ~ Dusty Groove

DEXTER STORY - WONDEM

Dexter Story is a very cool singer with a sound that's almost impossible to describe in words – this hip fusion of global elements and cosmic spirit – one that's echoed by the slight Ethiopian style of the font on the cover, and the album's placement on the Soundway label – and sent home even more by the production efforts of the great Carlos Nino! We first discovered Story a few years back, on a similar project with Nino – but this one is even more fully developed, and has this wonderful quality that seems to build a bridge from the contemporary LA underground, back to the hipper African sounds of the 70s – but all without coming across like any lame world fusion at all. Dexter's got some great guests on the record – including Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Mark De Clive Lowe, and Yared Teshale – and titles include "A New Day", "Be My Habesha", "Saba", "Yene Konjo", "Mowa", "Merkato Star", "Changamuka", and "Lalibela". ~ Dusty Groove



NEW RELEASES: ROBERTA GAMBARINI & THE HEATH BROTHERS – CONNECTING SPIRITS; KAZUHIRO SUNAGA - MIRROR; GERARDO FRISINA – OLYMPIA

ROBERTA GAMBARINI & THE HEATH BROTHERS – CONNECTING SPIRITS: ROBERTA GAMBARINI SINGS THE JIMMY HEATH SONGBOOK

Jimmy Heath is a hell of a saxophonist – one with a huge legacy of recordings from the early 60s onwards – and he's also a hell of a writer, too – an aspect of his career that's not always fully given its due! This set more than corrects that lack – and serves up a sublime mix of original Jimmy Heath compositions sung by vocalist Roberta Gambarini – who contributes lyrics to a few previously-instrumental tunes, and works with some of Jimmy's own lyrics on a few others! As you'd guess from the cover image, the set's done in close collaboration with Heath – and features Jimmy himself on both tenor and soprano sax, brother Albert Tootie Heath on drums, and instrumentation from the core Heath Brothers band plus some great additional guests. The spirit of the record is wonderful – warmly soulful, with this really fresh vibe that's so different than so many other vocal jazz albums – partly because of the compositions, and partly because of Roberta's very sensitive vocals. Titles include "Growing", "Voice Of The Saxophone", "Life In The City", "The Thumper", "Rio Dawn", "Harmonic Future", "Sassy Samba", "Mothers' Love", "Frank Foster", and "Ellington's Stray Horn".  ~ Dusty Groove

KAZUHIRO SUNAGA - MIRROR

A debut solo set from Kazuhiro Sunaga – an artist you might know better as the bassist in Japan's mighty Quasimode – but one who really stretches into new styles here on his own! The music still has that core sense of groove we love from Quasimode, but the performance is in a range of different instrumentation than the straight jazz styles of that combo – a blend of keyboards lines handled by the leader alongside his bass – including organ, Wurlitzer, mellotron, and acoustic piano – often mixed with this spare sort of instrumentation that's nicely playful, and which has a sound that's somewhere in the territory of post-jazz groups from the UK, and some of the more soulful experiments on Blue Note in the wake of Robert Glasper. A few tracks have vocals – sung by guests who include Maya Hatch and Sugar Me, and by Sunaga himself – and titles include "The Butterfly", "Spicy", "Coexistence", "Spring Wind", "Suzanne", "After The Storm", and "Help Me". (SHM-CD pressing!) ~ Dusty Groove

GERARDO FRISINA – OLYMPIA

A special vinyl-only release from Latin beatmeister Gerardo Frisina – a sweet little set that almost gets back to the basics of his early work on Schema Records! The set features five earthy groovers – all a blend of live percussion, vibes, piano, and even a bit of tenor, trumpet, and flute – all used in spare ways that are really focused on the rhythms, but never in a stiff sort of dancefloor style! Instead, Frisina keeps things in the warm territory we've always loved in his music – with lots of jazzy flourishes over the top of grooves inspired by classic Afro-Cuban modes, but updated with a 21st Century spirit. Titles include "Olympia", "Tin Tin Deo", "The Obsession", "East Breeze", and "Talking Sticks".  ~ Dusty Groove


Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Music Legend Sam Moore Celebrates Birthday With Benefit Event

Sam Moore comes home to Miami to celebrate his 80th birthday with some adoring superstar friends for benefit event “Salute the Soul Man” on Saturday, November 21 at 8:00pm at the Fillmore Jackie Gleason Theatre. Moore will be performing alongside Sting, Jon Bon Jovi, Michael McDonald, Randy Jackson, Don Henley and many others to raise money and awareness for the not-for-profit corporation Soul, Arts & Music Foundation, Inc. (The SAM).

The contributions of music legend Sam Moore are unmistakable; with his stand-out lead vocals in the GRAMMY winning soul duo “Sam & Dave,” and his critically acclaimed solo career that has lasted over 30 years, Sam has had a successful 60-year career in music. He has received many accolades and has been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Georgia Music Hall of Fame, The Memphis Music Museum Hall of Fame, the Florida Music Hall of Fame, and The Grammy Hall of Fame. He was presented with a British MOBO Lifetime Achievement Award and is one of a few artists who has performed for The Queen of England and all five of the living American Presidents of the United States of America more than once. Sam has collaborated with such icons over his illustrious career including Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Billy Gibbons, Vince Gill, Jon Bon Jovi, Wynonna Judd, Reba, Pink Floyd, Billy Preston, Kid Rock, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Justin Timberlake, Travis Tritt, Conway Twitty and Jackie Wilson, among many others.

"I never thought I'd be able to come home to Miami and be celebrated, but it's happening,” said Moore. “Most people think I was from Memphis but I grew up in Overtown. I got my break at The King of Hearts in Liberty City when Steve Alaimo insisted he wanted to record my partner-at-the-time Dave Prater and myself. That break is what started it all. Now I'm back and I'm so excited I can't stand myself. I'm so blessed with friends and my God-given talent, my good health and my wife who wouldn't ever let me quit.”

Close to his heart is the Soul, Arts & Music Foundation (The SAM), a not-for-profit organization founded with Sam’s vision of engaging, educating and inspiring the new generations to participate in the performing arts. Alongside this mission, the organization celebrates, recovers and secures rights for legacy American recording artists to payments and copyright protections, as well as preserving the histories and legacies of Sam’s peers through education curriculum, community engagement, and historic and memorial sites.
The SAM has recently formed a partnership with Florida International University (FIU), providing learning opportunities for students and communities, particularly at-risk and disadvantaged youth. This program will help students learn about some of the most impressive, important and influential genres and styles of American contemporary music and the artists whose souls are embodied within them.

“I get to work with FIU to build the curriculums and leave not only my legacy but those of so many of my dearly missed departed peers to teach and inspire future generations while I continue to assert my voice as loud as I can and get my peers the rights and payments they've deserved all these long, long years. I can't think of anything better I could do before I’m called to my final home," said Moore.


Friday, November 06, 2015

NEW RELEASES: ANGIE STONE - DREAM; LERON THOMAS – CLIQUISH; MOONCHILD – PLEASE REWIND

ANGIE STONE – DREAM

Angie Stone has enjoyed an amazing career thus far from making hits with the first female rap group to co writing/co producing much of D Angelo s Brown Sugar and Voodoo classics to scoring such major hits as Wish I Didn t Miss U, Brotha, and No More Rain In This Cloud. Along the way, Angie has sold over 5 million units worldwide while maintaining high visibility as an actress and media personality via films such as Pastor Brown and The Fighting Temptations, reality shows such as R&B Divas and Celebrity Fit Club, and theatrical productions such as Chicago. Dream, produced by Walter Millsap III (Alicia Keys, Brandy, Mindless Behavior) is a sparkling set of beautiful Angie Stone soul tracks set in a contemporary sound. Highlights include the first single, 2 Bad Habits, a duet with Dave Hollister, Begin Again, and the irresistibly catchy sound of Quits. ~ Amazon

LERON THOMAS – CLIQUISH

An excellent full length album from the up-and-coming Leron Thomas – an artist who both sings and plays trumpet, then adds in lots of compelling sounds to the mix alongside those two elements! The album may well be Leron's best work to date – and really focuses in on the best qualities that make him so unique – that partly-cosmic, partly-earthy approach that shifts easily throughout the record, often in the course of a single track – almost as if Thomas is stepping quickly in space to find a special sound that's all his own! Bass is pretty heavy at the bottom of most numbers – often distorted, and seeming to pull Leron's vocals into the mix – but the trumpet can soar out with these redemptive qualities that really give the record a lot of spirit, alongside a lot more bass, guitar, and keyboards. Titles include "Cliquish", "Extrospection", "Snicka Bar", "Mandy Jo", "Calm Down", "Stride", "Don't You Know", "Victorian Walk", and "Role Play".  ~ Dusty Groove

MOONCHILD – PLEASE REWIND

Really really wonderful work from Moonchild – even better than we remember from the first time around! The group have this perfect balance of vocals and jazzy instrumentation – played by a trio who handle all the instruments themselves, then produce the whole set – in support of vocalist Amber Navran, who also plays tenor on the record! Rhythms are spare and crackling – never overdone, and just the right sort of laidback funk for Navran's wonderful vocals – sliding out in this smooth, slinky way that has plenty of jazz undercurrents, and no sort of commercial styles at all. A decade ago, these guys might have been headed towards major label stardom – but it's the indie, underground nature of the record that's going to keep them strong for years – as you'll hear on cuts that include "The Truth", "Nobody", "More Than Ever", "Winter Breeze", "Just A Minute", "Moonlight", and "I'll Make It Easy". ~ Dusty Groove


Lalah Hathaway Releases New Live Album Lalah Hathaway Live, Recorded at the Troubabour in Los Angeles

Get transported to the signature live musical experience of two-time GRAMMY® Award winning songstress Lalah Hathaway with the release of her new album Lalah Hathaway Live, available in-stores and online everywhere now.  Marking her seventh album and celebrating her 25-year career as a recording artist, Lalah delivers a powerful showcase on her first live project – sparking an intimate live connection with listeners, weaving her lush soulful voice and acclaimed performance style together on the album's 14 tracks.

Following on the acclaimed singles "Angel," with Lalah's distinctive performance of Anita Baker's hit, and "Little Ghetto Boy," bringing her signature voice to her father Donny Hathaway's beloved classic, other highlights on the album include Lalah-penned tracks "Mirror," "Brand New," "This Is Your Life," "Whatever" and more.  Lalah Hathaway Live was recorded live from two sold-out shows at the historic Troubadour Theater in Los Angeles earlier this year (the same theater where Donny Hathaway Live was recorded).  A Best Buy exclusive version of Lalah Hathaway Live is available featuring two bonus tracks.  Check out Lalah Hathaway's "Little Ghetto Boy" music video and latest behind-the-scenes videos, at http://www.youtube.com/TVLalah.

Of the album's release, Lalah Hathaway says: "So many years of dreaming...and the moment has arrived. I am beyond excited!"

Lalah Hathaway Live, Track Listing
1. Little Ghetto Boy
2. Baby Don't Cry
3. I'm Coming Back
4. You Were Meant for Me
5. Angel
6. These Are the Things
7. Little Girl / Breathe
8. This Is Your Life
9. When Your Life Was Low
10. Forever, For Always, For Love
11. Lean On Me (feat. Robert Glasper)
12. Mirror
13. Brand New (Bonus Track)
14. Whatever (Bonus Track)


NEW RELEASES: CALIBRO 35 – SPACE; VOILAAA - ON TE L’AVAIT DIT; MATTHEW HALSALL – INTO FOREVER

CALIBRO 35 – SPACE

Wonderful work from Calibro 35 – a funky combo who just seem to get better and better with each new record! These guy started out in territory that was strongly influenced by older Italian soundtrack material – which they could copy with effortless ease – but this time around, they really seem to have found their own voice – kind of a cosmic approach to keyboard funk that's every bit as spacey as the cover! There's still plenty of 70s elements in the mix – and the rhythms have all the heavy grooves you'd love in a cop/crime soundtrack – but the instrumentation is often a lot more complex, and really reaching for new sounds too – using both keyboards and electronics along with acoustic elements on woodwinds and percussion – plus some other cool sounds that we can't figure out at all. Titles include "Across 111th Sun", "74 Days After Landing", "Bandits On Mars","Brain Trap", "Violent Venus", "Universe Of 10 Dimensions", "Serenade For A Satellite", and "A Future We Never Lived".  ~ Dusty Groove

VOILAAA - ON TE L’AVAIT DIT

Beautiful grooves from Bruno "Patchworks" Hovart – a set that mixes his classic-styled club sound with some sweet Afro-funk touches – all to create this wonderful hybrid of sounds that makes for one of his best records in years! The style here is more in the Afro-disco mode of the late 70s – particularly the groove that occurred when African acts would get a chance to record up in Paris, and create this wicked interplay of heavier roots and European grooves – often with results that were extra-funky in the process! Earthy percussion mixes with sweet keyboards, riffing guitar, and plenty of massive basslines – and vocals are by Sir Jean, Pat Kalla, Foule Badiaga, and Renaud Bilombo. Titles include "Niarela", "Spies Are Watching Me", "On Te L'Avait Dit", "Bark", "Le Disco Des Capitales", "Vampires", "Enlevez Moi Ca", and "Jungle Fire".  ~ Dusty Groove

MATTHEW HALSALL – INTO FOREVER

The music of Matthew Halsall really opens up here – still staying in the spiritual jazz style we love from earlier records, but with an even more expansive vision overall! The album brings in some added string players to a core group that includes flute, harp, and koto alongside the usual jazz instrumentation – but the overall feel is still quite intimate – as the group's still under the larger assemblage you might think from the "orchestra" on the cover! Instead, the strings act in this way to expand and shade in colors initiated by the various members of the group – at a level that makes the sound incredibly rich, and which gives the harp, piano, and koto even more focus. Halsall's trumpet lines are as wonderful as always – soulfully breathtaking – and the record also features vocals on a number of tracks, from righteous singers Josephine Oniyama and Bryony Jarman Pinto – both of whom hit a 70s current that takes us back to Jean Carn with Doug Carn on the Black Jazz label, or maybe some of the female vocals on the first few Oneness Of Juju albums. Titles include "Only As A Woman", "As I Walk", "Dawn Horizon", "The Land Of", "Jamais Vu", and "Daan Park".  ~ Dusty Groove





Wednesday, November 04, 2015

DUKES of Dixieland Celebrate New Orleans' Second Most Beloved Holiday with New Orleans Voodoo

In a city that whole-heartedly celebrates vibrant live music, embellished costumes, and a thriving nightlife scene, New Orleans is the proud home to a band that represents the great heritage of the city. Following up a newly released live recording from the 2015 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the DUKES of Dixieland are celebrating Halloween, a holiday second only to Mardi Gras in the crescent city.

The new EP, New Orleans Voodoo, features three tracks with specific focus to the haunted holiday. The opener, "Marie Laveau," pays tribute to the legendary Louisiana Creole practitioner. Papa Celestin wrote the song in the early '50s, nearly 75 years after the voodoo queen's reported death. The next track, "I Put a Spell on You," is a Halloween classic with bassist Alan Broome contributing his gravely voice for the track. Bobby Goldsboro's stirring "Voodoo Woman" rounds out the release with the tale of a seductive voodoo woman who needs to "stay away from me."

"Halloween rivals Mardi Gras in New Orleans with creative costuming and revelry. The most haunted city delivers the ultimate vibe for the largest Halloween party on the planet," explains trumpeter/bandleader Kevin Clark on the significance of this release in New Orleans at this time of year. "We decided to put these voodoo songs out during Halloween season to add to the cauldron of spooky tunes."

With a strong heritage of both music and Halloween festivities in New Orleans, this type of release is special for the DUKES of Dixieland in their hometown. "I think all of New Orleans music has a certain feel, a grittiness to it," says Clark. "It's dirt under your fingernails music." This is a defining quality that the band historically brings to their music, whether it's their traditional jazz leanings or a tribute to one of the city's finest holidays.

DUKES of Dixieland are a staple in the New Orleans music community with a history that traces back 41 years and seven-nights-a-week performances on their Mississippi River home base, the Steamboat NATCHEZ (a tradition for 20+ years and counting). The band performs on the boat 45 weeks a year and spends the rest of their time playing with orchestras and at festivals and performing arts centers both in the US and abroad.

Made up of well-studied musicians with hundreds of songs in their repertoire and countless performances under their belt, the DUKES make it a point to balance their virtuosity with that grit, never losing sight of the elements that make the Big Easy special. The modern DUKES of Dixieland trace their history back to when trumpeter and cornetist Connie Jones left Pete Fountain's band to reform the band. They opened their own nightclub later that year in the French Quarter and have been a New Orleans institution ever since, taking up residency on the Steamboat NATCHEZ in 1992. Clark, who had previously served a thirteen-year tenure in the band before leaving in 2002, returned to take the helm in 2010. 
He brought integral experience from playing at Disney World and booking shows for Toronto venues with him.



JACK COSTANZO'S MR. BONGO FEATURES 26 RED HOT SKIN SLAPPIN' BONGO BASHIN' LATIN JAZZ N' MAMBO BANGERS

The phrase 'living legend' is undoubtedly overused but there can be few people more deserving of such an accolade than Jack Costanzo. Born on the 24th September 1919, Costanzo is arguably the most significant percussionist of the modern era. Playing with many key orchestras, leading his own band, appearing in numerous TV shows and films and tutoring bongo playing to the stars, more than any other figure Jack Costanzo brought percussion, specifically Latin percussion and his trademark bongos, to widespread attention. But he wasn't merely a popularist, he was in turn revered by his peers and critics alike for his natural ability, invention, and perhaps most importantly his sheer versatility. He became known as 'Mr. Bongo' (first coined by jazz critic Leonard Feather), and the tag could hardly be more appropriate.

Latin music and its influence in general is often criminally overlooked in music history, but as a white Italian American who rose to prominence playing Latin music at the height of the mambo craze of the 1950s, Jack Costanzo has probably even more neglected. But hopefully not for too much longer as this 23 track retrospective seeks to redress the balance and give him the special treatment his spectacular career deserves. Showcasing many of the musical highlights of his mid-50s peak and featuring extensive liner notes based on new interviews with Costanzo himself, 'Mr. Bongo' serves as a perfect introduction to the many who may not yet be aware of Jack Costanzo, as well as providing those who are already fans with the ultimate collection of his work.

· All tracks digitally restored from original sources
· Deluxe double-gatefold 2LP vinyl WITH FREE 'HOW TO PLAY THE BONGOS' 20 PAGE BOOKLET INSIDE!
· CD with 16 page colour booklet
· Original cover art from Derek Yaniger
· Both formats contain pics & notes provided personally by Jack Costanzo himself

Tracklisting:
  1. Sax con ritmo (feat. Eddie Cano) - Jack Costanzo
  2. Caravan - Jack Costanzo & His Afro Cuban Band
  3. Cumbanchero (feat. Eddie Cano) - Jack Costanzo
  4. Quiere (Live) - Jack Costanzo
  5. El diablito - Jack Costanzo
  6. La La La - Jack Costanzo & His Afro Cuban Band
  7. Bongo Fever - Jack Costanzo
  8. Taboo (feat. Eddie Cano) - Jack Costanzo
  9. Bei mir bist du schoen - Jack Costanzo
  10. Malaguena (feat. Eddie Cano) - Jack Costanzo
  11. Peanut Vendor (feat. Eddie Cano) - Jack Costanzo
  12. Jarochito - Jack Costanzo
  13. Adjaye adjaye - Jack Costanzo
  14. Bongo festeris - Jack Costanzo & His Afro Cuban Band
  15. Tabu (feat. Jack Costanzo) -  Andre's Cuban All Stars
  16. Oye negra (feat. Eddie Cano) - Jack Costanzo
  17. Atu - Jack Costanzo
  18. Quiere - Jack Costanzo
  19. Goza negra - Jack Costanzo & His Afro Cuban Band
  20. Robins Mambo (feat. Tony Martinez & His Orchestra) - Eddie Cano & Jack Costanzo
  21. Rabo e Mula - Jack Costanzo
  22. Pharoah's Curse (feat. Tony Martinez & His Orchestra) - Eddie Cano & Jack Costanzo
  23. Latin Fever (feat. Eddie Cano) - Jack Costanzo
  24. Mira como los pollos - Jack Costanzo
  25. Abainaquito - Jack Costanzo & His Afro Cuban Band
  26. Besame mucho (feat. Tony Martinez & His Orchestra) - Eddie Cano & Jack Costanzo




Wes Montgomery: One Night In Indy features never-before-released recording of legendary guitarist playing with jazz pianist Eddie Higgins

Resonance Records is set to release the CD edition of Wes Montgomery One Night In Indy, an exclusive 1959 live recording of the jazz-guitar great playing with the legendary jazz pianist Eddie Higgins and his trio in Indianapolis, Indiana. Available on January 15, 2016, the CD edition follows the release of the 12" LP limited-edition pressing for Record Store Day’s Black Friday event on November 27, 2015 (originally scheduled for last April’s Record Store Day event, but was held up due to a production snafu). Early in 2015, Resonance Records released the acclaimed In the Beginning, newly discovered recordings of Montgomery from 1949-1958.

In 2013, producer Zev Feldman was approached by the late, great Indiana photojournalist Duncan Schiedt with an enticing musical proposition (the two had become friends while working on the Wes Montgomery Echoes of Indiana 2012 Resonance release). Schiedt asked if Resonance would be interested in a prized recording he had in his possession — a 7" tape reel featuring a January 18, 1959 performance by Montgomery and the Eddie Higgins Trio, the only known documentation of any date featuring the guitarist and the pianist.

According to producer Feldman, Duncan and few of his friends ran a jazz club in Indianapolis known as the Indianapolis Jazz Club (or the I.J.C. known to locals). As Feldman describes in his essay included in the release, “The club was described to me as a group of people who had a common interest in jazz and who gathered to listen to records and host concerts.” Members of this club recorded this one-night-only performance of Wes Montgomery playing with the Eddie Higgins Trio. Feldman notes that Duncan “explained that this tape had been passed down to him by other members of the club, though no one had actually listened to it. Duncan was one of the last original members and hoped this tape would, one day, be released in partnership with the artists’ families.” 

Resonance Records is pleased to honor this request and release One Night In Indy with the blessings of the Wes Montgomery Estate and Eddie Higgins’s widow, Meredith D’Ambrosio, whom Feldman found via Sunnyside Records president François Zalacain. This recording is a gift from Duncan Schiedt to Wes Montgomery fans, decades after the memorable performance. 

The specially priced CD features just over 40 minutes of music. Accompanying these notable headliners is Chicago drum legend Walter Perkins (a former drummer for Ahmad Jamal’s trio before Vernell Fournier) and an unidentified bassist (to identify this musician Resonance consulted Higgins alumni Bob Cranshaw and John Bany, along with fellow Chicago bass legends from that era, to no avail). 

Feldman notes, “I'm grateful to Duncan for his lasting friendship and for sharing this with the world to hear.  It is nothing short of incredible that after decades of no new Montgomery music, Resonance has brought to light new documents that will help Wes's legacy live on — In the Beginning (2015), Echoes of Indiana Avenue (2012), and, thanks to Duncan, One Night In Indy.” Since releasing Echoes of Indiana Ave, Resonance has located additional of unreleased 1950’s archival Montgomery recordings and plans to release more music in late 2016/2017. 

With his artistic sensibility of an Indianapolis cityscape view, Burton Yount designed the album cover. Mixing and sound restoration is by Fran Gala and executive producer George Klabin at the Resonance Records Studios.

Tracks:
1. Give Me the Simple Life (9:14)      
2. Prelude to a Kiss (5:52)
3. Stompin’ at the Savoy (7:12)
4. Li’l Darling (8:09)
5. Ruby, My Dear (8:35)
6. You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To (2:51)



Thursday, October 29, 2015

CELEBRATING BOB BELDEN: A Musical Evening In Memory of A Visionary Bandleader, Arranger, Saxophonist and GRAMMY® Award-Winning Producer

The unexpected silence left by the recent passing of Bob Belden—whose ceaseless stream of musical projects, production credits and boundless energy earned him the respect of an international circle of musicians and fans—will be filled with music, memories, and much more on Monday, November 2 at (le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, New York City. CELEBRATING BOB BELDEN is the title of this special memorial evening, which is free and open to the public. 

Doors open at 6:30pm, the event will begin at 7:30pm and run through the evening, with three different groups (The Treasure Island Band, Animation/Imagination, Animation), all originally formed by Belden performing music that he composed and featuring musicians he recruited, as well as special friends like Wallace Roney. Belden’s longtime confidante and collaborator, trumpeter Tim Hagans, will serve as the musical director of the evening. Friends and family members will speak and share stories, in person or by video, including Chick Corea, Tim Ries and Herbie Hancock. The event is lovingly produced by Belden’s sister Elizabeth Belden Harmstone, Tim Hagans, Julie Lokin and Danny Melnick under the auspices of Audiences for the Arts, Inc. 

Belden was a true rara avis: a student of music history who was committed to leaving his own mark on the musical timeline. He wrote music and led his own ensembles—including The Treasure Island Band, Imagination and most recently Animation—the group with which he recently toured Iran to sellout crowds, generating major headlines (“The first time an American musician had played in Iran since 1979,” jazz critic Ben Ratliff noted in The New York Times.). He earned six GRAMMY® Award nominations for his own recordings, and as a reissue producer and writer of especially insightful liner notes; of these, he won three. His most celebrated albums include the critically acclaimed orchestral jazz suite Black Dahlia (a Downbeat magazine “Masterpiece” in 2001), and his blending of world folk sources with the music of Miles Davis: Miles from India (2007) and Miles Español: New Sketches of Spain (2011).  (“As a bandleader and record maker, he often looked for ways to connect the jazz tradition to other energies,” Ratliff also wrote.) 

Born James Robert Belden in Evanston, Illinois in 1956 and raised in South Carolina, Belden began his career playing in the reed section of Woody Herman’s famed Third Herd big band. In 1983, he moved to New York City where his career grew wide and deep. In the 1980s, he served as a sideman with Donald Byrd and Mel Lewis, as staff arranger for ESPN, and scored films. In the ‘90s, he became an artists-and-repertoire (A&R) executive at Blue Note Records, and arranged and/or collaborated on albums with such jazz greats as Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Nicholas Payton, Paquito D’Rivera, Wallace Roney, James Moody, Tom Harrell, Renee Rosnes, and Benny Green. He created albums that found the jazz spirit in music by an unlikely array of giants: from Puccini, Prince, and the Beatles, to Miles and Sting. He spearheaded reissue programs that brought new life to timeless recordings by Miles, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and countless others.

Belden’s two most recent recordings continue to add to his legacy and garner critical acclaim. In an Ambient Way, released this past June by Chesky Records, reinterpreted Miles Davis’ classic In a Silent Way recording used modern recording technology and sonic textures to help shape the improvisations, and introduced Powerhouse, a group led by Belden and featuring Roney (trumpet), Oz Noy (guitar), Kevin Hays (Fender Rhodes), Daryl Johns (bass) and Lenny White (drums). The release was part of the Chesky’s Binaural + Series, recorded with a single microphone; Norman Chesky executive produced.

Released just this past week by RareNoise, Machine Language is the latest—and now last—project by Belden’s youthful Animation ensemble. The album is a rock-jazz meditation on man and artificial intelligence conceived and composed by Belden, narrated by Kurt Elling, and featuring the saxophonist along with special guest bassist Bill Laswell, plus Animation keyboardist Roberto Verastegui, trumpeter Pete Clagett and drummer Matt Young. 

Belden was unusually wide-ranging in his cinematic and literary tastes, and up-to-date on matters of music and technology. His memory for musical details—melodies, voicings and rhythms, as well as personnel and dates—was uncanny. He did not survive long as a staff producer. “He was a vocal critic of the state of the music industry, music education and other aspects of the world in which he traveled,” journalist Jeff Tamarkin pointed out in JazzTimes, “Yet he traveled easily within it because he understood it so well, and was loved and respected for his individuality and the sheer magnitude and breadth of his talent.” 

When Belden died from a heart attack on May 20 this year, obituaries appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, JazzTimes, and other national and international publications in the UK, Brazil and Venezuela. In Downbeat, John Ephland wrote: 

“The cat had lots of appetites… during his all-too-short lifetime, Bob Belden accomplished 10 times as much as the average person would in a lengthy one. Getting to know him, one couldn’t help but be stunned at the breadth of his many passions and projects—all driven by a generous spirit, a huge heart and boundless, soulful imagination.” 

Bob Belden will be missed, and his musical contributions will continue to be celebrated.

CELEBRATING BOB BELDEN is generously made possible by donations from Andrew and Elizabeth Belden Harmstone, David and Norman Chesky at Chesky Records, and Giacomo Bruzzo of RareNoise. We encourage attendees and the community to contribute to the Jazz Foundation of America, which provides emergency assistance to musicians in times of crisis, in Bob's name. Please send checks payable to Jazz Foundation of America (with memo: "In Memory of Bob Belden") to Jazz Foundation of America, 322 West 48th St., 6th Fl., New York, NY 10036 or visit visit www.jazzfoundation.org/memory_honor to make a donation online.









Kim Smith

public relations

718 858 2557 (w)

917 349 8090 (c)


ksmithpr@earthlink.net

ACCLAIMED JAZZ & BLUES DIVA SONYA HENSLEY GIVES US THE ESSENTIALS‏

Having regaled audiences in over 50 countries as featured headliner, principal performer or co-lead singer – including a 14 country tour of “Sophisticated Ladies” - Sonya Hensley is equally at ease singing jazz, R&B, Broadway, pop, Latin and blues – and has long been driven by her desire to keep expanding her horizons and bring a fresh twist to the world’s most beloved songs.

The Essential Sonya Hensley, the multi-talented performer’s long awaited, highly anticipated debut, finds the singer at a unique crossroads of past, present and future. In one sense, she pays homage to the Bessies, Billies and Ellas, who paved the way for her own success story, and all the legendary artists and musicians she has worked with over the years, including Les Paul, Lena Horne, Harry Belafonte, Gladys Knight, Jimmy Buffett and Ricky Martin. But the collection is more than a high-spirited, joyfully eclectic culmination of the many facets of her career.  

Featuring 11 dynamic new arrangements of the works of great composers Sonya admires and the fiery Latin barnburner “C’est La Baby,” penned by the singer and keyboardist Marc Gumberg, The Essential Sonya Hensley opens an exciting new frontier for her as a recording artist.


“I feel like the album is a way of paying homage to and carrying on the extraordinary gifts and legacies of those who have inspired my musical journey,” says Sonya. “Les is gone, Lena is gone, as are many jazz composers and legendary critic Leonard Feather, who gifted me with the incredible blues tunes I have recorded here, ‘Evil Gal Blues’ and ‘Born on a Friday’, and some of the musicians who originally helped me on these tracks. I feel as though I am conveying the fact that I have put the time in on what has evolved into a wonderful career, finding my way through a lane with historical people I am humbled and proud to have worked with. To me, this record completes a whole era for me and fulfills a promise, allowing me now to move on to recording more of the original material I have been writing over the years.”


NEW RELEASES: LIONEL LOUEKE - GAIA; A FUNKY TRIP – DETROIT FUNK FROM THE DAVE HAMILTON ARCHIVE; SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS – IT'S A HOLIDAY SOUL PARTY

LIONEL LOUEKE - GAIA

Maybe the most dynamic record we've heard from guitarist Lionel Loueke so far – even though it's only a trio set, with less musicians than some of Lionel's other albums! The approach here is pretty fierce – heavy drums at most times from Ferenc Nemeth, and brooding bass from Massimo Biolcati –both of whom really follow Loueke's lead sound, which is more brash and hairy than before – still filled with that sense of color we've always loved in his playing, but at a level that's more growling, and which demands attention in a far more direct way. The shift is a great one – and once again, Loueke's really keeping us on our toes – on titles that include "Gaia", "Even Teens", "Broken", "Sleepless Night", "Aziza Dance", "Wacko Loco", and "Procession". ~ Dusty Groove.

A FUNKY TRIP – DETROIT FUNK FROM THE DAVE HAMILTON ARCHIVE

A killer little set that's as heavy as it sounds from the title – a wealth of rare material pulled from the studio of Detroit producer Dave Hamilton – a good deal of it never issued at the time! Hearing this set is like finding a pile of rare 45s stuffed in the back corner of a long-lost record shop – because although much of the work was never issued, it crackles with the intensity of the best funky 45s – lots of funky drums, offbeat guitar, and raspy soul vocals – produced with a real edge to all the work, so that all of the hardest elements of the tunes really come through in the mix! The album features one track appearing here for the first time ever – "Remember" by Chico – plus other rare tracks that include "Marriage Is A State Of Mind" by James Carpenter, "Soul Suite" by Dave Hamilton, "You Fool You Fool" by Prophet & His Disciples, "The Deacons" by Dave Hamilton, "Funky Trip" by Johnny Walker, "A Drop In The Bucket" by The Deacons, "Brand New Girl" by Billy Garner, "The Devil Is Gonna Get You" by The Future Kind, "Party Time" by James Carpenter, and "Grown Folks Thing" by OC Tolbert. ~ Dusty Groove

SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS – IT'S A HOLIDAY SOUL PARTY

A wonderful Holiday set from Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – easily one of the coolest albums you'll ever hope to spin in December! The group really recreate the vibe of a classic Christmas soul album – like records from James Brown or Stevie Wonder – and do an excellent job of moving between funky numbers, deeper soul, and some righteous message cuts that remind us that the Holidays aren't always happy for everyone on the planet. And these guys also don't just hang out at Christmas – and instead touch on other December holidays too – in a sweet mix of cuts that features Sharon in the lead on many numbers, plus some great instrumentals from the Dap-Kings too. Titles include "8 Days", "Ain't No Christmas In The Projects", "Big Bulbs", "Funky Little Drummer Boy", "World Of Love", "Got Rest Ye Merry Gents", "Silent Night", "Just Another Christmas Song", and "Please Come Home For Christmas". ~ Dusty Groove




THE DAVID BENOIT TRIO FEATURING JANE MONHEIT AND THE ALL-AMERICAN BOYS CHORUS, BELIEVE

In January of 2015, the GRAMMY®-nominated pianist/composer/arranger David Benoit, a founding father of contemporary jazz, and Jane Monheit, the First-Runner-Up in the 1998 Thelonious Monk International Vocalist Competition who soars through and above the genres of jazz, Broadway, standards and pop, recorded 2 In Love. Released on June 16th, 2015 on Concord Records, this stunning, critically acclaimed collaboration paved the way for the duo’s follow-up.

Set for release on October 16th via Concord Records, Believe—their enduring and epoch recording of heart-warming holiday-themed favorites—is an equally vivacious, vivid and varied masterpiece. Featuring Benoit’s trio, with drummer Jamey Tate and bassist David Hughes, and The All-American Boys Chorus, a California-based ensemble, Believe is composed of trio, choral and orchestral renditions of the music of Richard Rodgers, Mel TormĂ©, Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, and the legendary Charlie Brown composer, Vince Guaraldi—along with an original composition from Benoit.

“I’ve done a couple of Christmas records,” Benoit says. “My first one, Christmas Time, came out on the AVI label in 1983. And I did another one called Remembering Christmas on GRP in 1996.  The challenge of this record was to search for songs that weren’t done as Christmas songs.”  It’s also a challenge Monheit welcomes as well. “We just wanted a classic, really warm-hearted sound. Something that felt sincere,” Monheit says. “Both Dave and I really love the material. And we enjoy playing together quite a bit.”

Fueled by Benoit’s fluid and formidable pianism, and Monheit’s finessed and formidable vocals, the material on the album’s nine tracks sing and swing in a variety of moods, grooves and meters that elaborate and expand upon the jazz Christmas canon. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” is a straight-ahead 4/4 number, graced with Monheit’s zesty scatting, and it also shows off her skills as an on-the-spot arranger. “It’s nice to do that in the studio, and figure out a way to play a tune,” Monheit says, “ and have a little more casual [approach] as a nice balance to the more heavily arranged pieces.”

Monheit also shows off her talents on the John Coltrane-associated, Richard Rogers classic “My Favorite Things,” which at first blush is a song identified more with The Sound of Music than with the holidays. “It’s not necessarily associated with Christmas. But it feels very ‘Christmas-y’ to me,” Benoit says. “And, of course, it has a jazz lineage too. So it’s kind of a cool thing at both ends. And it was perfect to put this on the album, especially with Jane’s really nice interpretation.” Monheit elaborates, “I’m a huge fan of the music of Richard Rogers. I always like to sing a lot of his tunes. And that’s one that I haven’t had the chance to do before. So it was great. And I really love a jazz waltz.”

To go where no jazz Christmas album has gone before, and to seek out new songs and include them in the Christmas canon, is what also drove Benoit to record the elegiac title track, with The All-American Boys Chorus, an ensemble he first worked with a decade ago at his Christmas concerts in southern California.  “It’s from the movie The Polar Express,” Benoit says. “I thought it would be a good idea to do something new. So I went through Concord Record’s Christmas catalog, and I came across “Believe,” and I said, ‘Wow, it’s beautiful.’ So we went in as a trio and freshened it with an orchestra, and then added the boys choir. And then I thought it would be a good title for the album.” The chorus’ angelic strains are also heard on the equally evocative renditions of two Charlie Brown yuletide songs: “My Little Drum,” pianist/composer Vince Guaraldi’s bossa nova-like arrangement of “The Little Drummer Boy;” and his eternal song “Christmas Time Is Here.”

“That song has now become very closely associated with me, because I recorded it on my Christmas Time album from 1983,” Benoit fondly recalls.  “And that’s how I got the attention of [the co-composer and lyricist] Lee Mendelson. He liked the way I played it. And that’s how I got to be connected to Charlie Brown, so that song is very important to me.”
“Who doesn’t like ‘Christmas Time Is Here?’,” Monheit asks. “It’s beautiful. It’s charming. It’s wonderful. And it brings back great seasonal memories to all of us. I was happy that it was a part of this recording.”

Anyone familiar with Benoit’s career knows the importance of pianist and Charlie Brown composer Vince Guaraldi to his musical evolution.  And the release of this recording coincides with the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas, as well as the November release of The Peanuts Movie, which features Benoit’s piano playing. Benoit and his trio pay tribute to the Peanuts composer with their version of the “Guaraldi Medley,” which Benoit performs as an opener for his live Christmas shows featuring “Air Music,” “Christmas Is Coming” “What Child Is This?” (by William Chatterton Dix, arranged by Guaraldi) and the traditional standard, “O Tannenbaum,” contrasted by Benoit’s  original ballad “Just like Me.”

“I was asked by Lee Mendelson to write a song about Charlie Brown picking the Christmas tree,” Benoit proudly recalls. “I came up with some ideas, and Lee came up with a lyric and we put it together. And it’s the only other lyric he’s written besides ‘Christmas Time Is Here.’”
The album concludes with an equally powerful rendition of the Mel TormĂ©/Nat King Cole ballad “The Christmas Song,” which for Benoit conjures up some powerful and poignant holiday memories. “I was driving home from a gig during the holidays, where I got paid next to nothing,” Benoit remembers. “I was depressed, and ‘The Christmas Song’ came on the radio, and I just started crying like a baby. It brought back everything about my childhood and my parents. So that song stayed with me.”

For David Benoit, the music of Charlie Brown and the holidays is an integral part of his compelling and wide-ranging musicianship. Born in August 18, 1953 in Bakersfield, California, he grew up in Los Angeles, and got interested in jazz after watching a Charlie Brown special in 1965. “I was already a fan of the comic strip,” he says. But when I heard the music … that jazz piano trio was the defining moment where I decided that I wanted to play like Vince Guaraldi.”

When he was thirteen, Benoit studied privately with pianists Marya Cressy Wright and later with Abraham Fraser, the pianist for conductor Arturo Toscanini. He also studied music theory, composition and orchestration with Donald Nelligan at El Camino Junior College, film scoring with Donald Ray at UCLA, and conducting with Hejichiro Ohyama, assistant conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic, Jan Robertson at UCLA and Jeffrey Schindler, UC Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra Music Director.

Benoit was singer Lainie Kazan’s musical director/conductor in 1976, and later began his career as a single artist, releasing records on the AVI label from 1977 to 1984.  He released several chart-topping recordings for GRP, including Freedom at Midnight (1987), Waiting for Spring (1989) and Shadows (1991), which both topped Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Charts at #5, #1 and #2, respectively. His other noteworthy recordings include Letter to Evan (1992), his tribute to another piano influence, Bill Evans, and Here’s to You, Charlie Brown: Fifty Great Years (2000). Benoit also recorded with Russ Freeman on The Benoit/Freeman Project (1994), and on their follow-up collaboration The Benoit/Freeman Project 2 (2004), released on the Concord-distributed Peak label. His other albums for the label include American Landscape (1997) and Orchestral Stories (2005), which featured his first piano concerto “The Centaur and the Sphinx,” and a symphonic work, “Kobe.” In 2012, he released Conversation on the Heads Up International imprint and in 2015 followed up with 2 in Love featuring Jane Monheit.

Benoit received three GRAMMY® nominations in the categories of Best Contemporary Jazz Performance for “Every Step of the Way” (1989), Best Large Ensemble Performance for GRP All-Star Big Band (1996) and Best Instrumental Composition for “Dad’s Room,” the latter from the album Professional Dreamer (2000). In 2010, Benoit received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Smooth Jazz Awards, and he’s worked with an impressive medley of musicians including the Rippingtons, Emily Remler, Alphonse Mouzon, Dave Koz, Faith Hill, David Sanborn, CeCe Winans and Brian McKnight.
Benoit’s film scores include The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995), produced by Clint Eastwood, and The Christmas Tree, produced by Sally Field, which was voted Best Score of 1996 by Film Score Monthly. He has served as conductor with a wide range of symphonies including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Asia America Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. A long-time guest educator with the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, he received that organization’s Excellence in Music Award in 2001. His musical selections have been featured on The Weather Channel, and his version of Vince Guaraldi’s “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” is included on the compilation The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz 11 (2008). Benoit also currently hosts a morning radio show on KKJZ 88.1 FM in Long Beach, CA.

Born in Long Island, NY, Jane Monheit heard a wide range of singers, from Ella Fitzgerald to Bonnie Raitt, and also listened to Broadway pop and classical vocalists. Monheit started her professional career while she was a student at Connetquot High School in Bohemia, NY, where she graduated in 1995. She studied at the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts and was awarded their distinguished Alumna Award. She was also a student at the Manhattan School of Music and studied under voice instructor Peter Eldridge. She graduated with honors in 1995 with a BA in Music and received the William H. Bolden Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Jazz.

Monheit burst on to the national scene as the first runner-up in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Institute’s Vocal Competition behind veteran singer Teri Thornton. In 2000, she released her first recordings as a leader on the N-Coded label, including Never Never Land, Come Dream with Me (2001), In the Sun (2002) and Live at the Rainbow Room (2003). She also recorded for Sony, Epic and EmArcy, and released two recordings on Concord, Surrender (2007) and The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me (2009), which featured the ballad “The Rainbow Connection.” Monheit has worked with Ramsey Lewis, Steve Tyrell, Tom Harrell, Terence Blanchard, Ivan Lins, Mark O’Connor and Freddy Cole, and appears on Memphis pianist Harold Mabern’s new album, Afro Blue, and with Brazilian bossa nova icon Wanda Sá on her latest release, Live in 2014. Monheit also garnered two GRAMMY® nominations for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for her rendition of the Judy Collins ballad “Since You’ve Asked” from the album Live at the Rainbow Room, and for “Dancing in the Dark” from Taking a Chance on Love (2005).

With an upcoming tour, Believe by David Benoit and Jane Monheit, this dynamic duo of the downbeat will rhythmically roast musical chestnuts on a jazzy, open fire for years to come.  “I’m a Christmas fanatic, so these songs have always been important to me,” Monheit says. “There are so many of them that are absolutely gorgeous, and right on par with the Great American Songbook. But you only get to sing them for a month out of the year. And, of course, getting to do them outside of that [time of the year] and record them is always welcome in my world.”

“With this album, I can get back to my straight-ahead roots, with a real, simple acoustic trio,” Benoit says. We crossed over a bit with songs like “Believe” that were pop-oriented. But basically, it’s a jazz album.”





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