Sweet Honey In The Rock to Kick-Off 5-city West Coast Run of "Celebrating The Holidays" With Debut 4-day Engagement at Seattle's Jazz Alley Dec. 15-18th

Venerable Grammy Award-nominated a cappella ensemble SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK has announced a five-city West Coast run of their annual seasonal show “CELEBRATING THE HOLYDAYS,” which will be kicked-off with a debut four-day engagement at the legendary Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley night club in Seattle, WA, December 15-18th. Jazz Alley is the third longest running supper/jazz club of its kind in the nation. Show time for all four shows is set for 7:30 PM.

Other CELEBRATING THE HOLYDAYS dates on the run will include; 12/20, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz, CA, 12/21, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 12/22, Weil Hall, Ronhert Park, CA, and their final performance of the year will be on 12/23 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.

Sweet Honey developed their CELEBRATING THE HOLYDAYS theme show several years ago, and refine and add new material to the presentation every year. The show is a rare fusion of international holiday spiritual songs and hymns from other cultures and religions, ranging from Africa to Israel. It includes songs from their Nativity Suite collection, which the group wrote and produced for the American Bible Association video series, including “Jesus, What A Wonderful Child” and “Children Go Where I Send Thee.” It also features notable Sweet Honey classics such as, “We Are,” “Let There Be Peace,” and “Chinese Proverb.”

CELEBRATING THE HOLYDAYS will feature core vocal members Carol Maillard, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil, special guest vocalist Rochelle Rice and guest bassist Romeir Mendez (acoustic upright and electric bass) and American Sign Language interpreter, Barbara Hunt.

Prime seating options can purchased for their Seattle engagement by clicking here. For more information about show times and to purchase tickets for the other engagements, go to www.sweethoneyintherock.org, and click on the ensemble's touring schedule.

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK TOURDATES

December 15-18 / Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, Seattle, WA

December 20 / Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz, CA

December 21 / Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA

December 22 / Weil Hall, Ronhert Park, CA

December 23 / Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, CA

BOBBY PREVITE'S MASS Blends Early Music And Metal

As widely renowned for his unerring, intuitive grooves behind the kit as he is for his inventiveness as a composer and bandleader, Bobby Previte stretches into some totally new musical terrain on Mass, his RareNoise debut as a leader and followup to 2014's cooperative trio project The New Standard with bassist Steve Swallow and keyboardist Jamie Saft. A modernist re-imagining of the choral epic Missa Sancti Jacobi by 15th century composer Guillaume Dufay, Previte's Mass prominently features the imposing sound of cathedral pipe organ along with an acclaimed early music chamber vocal group, the 11-voice Rose Ensemble conducted by Jordan Sramek, and a slamming core group consisting of Previte on drums, Marco Benevento on pipe organ and Rheem organ, Don McGreevy, Stephen O'Malley, Mike Gamble and Jamie Saft on electric guitars and Reed Mathis on electric bass. A kind of heavy metal requiem mass, full of thrashing feedback guitars and grinding power chords, hellacious fuzz bass, thunderous beats and the glorious sound of a Medieval vocal choir, Mass is unlike anything Previte has done before in his extensive discography, which covers recordings by his bands Weather Clear Track Fast, Latin for Travelers, The Coalition of the Willing, Bump and the Beta Popes.

   

"I've been thinking about this idea for at least 12 or 13 years now," says thed rummer-composer. "In fact, I scored a version of it in the early 2000s that I toured Europe with. Then when when I got home, I decided it wasn't right and threw it all in the trash. It wasn't powerful enough. So I went back to the drawing board."

Previte first encountered composer Guillaume Dufay in his Early Music class in college. "You have to remember, when Dufay wrote his music it was performed at a time in which there were no loud man-made sounds -- no amplifiers, airplanes, bombs, etc. Performed in a hard-walled stone church, the sound racing around the walls and bouncing off the ceiling, it had to have been an overwhelming  experience. Now it feels quiet, meditative, but in the context of its time I believe it was a powerful, soul-shaking, transportive, otherworldly music. And I needed to match that power, so I had to go with Metal -- a reviled music that somehow still keeps coming."

   

Previte and his wife, the writer and choreographer Andrea Kleine, presented the piece in 2007 as a full-blown theater production at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. "She wrote the book and directed it," he explains. "It was then that I met the Rose Ensemble. They specialize in Early Music, which was essential to me. It's a very different discipline than other vocal music. And for them to have the courage and the openness to do a project like this, where I asked them to sing in a different tempo, key and time signature while the crushing metal band was playing -- that was truly inspiring."

   

The players involved in Mass are old cohorts of Previte. Organist Benevento and bassist Reed played in his The Coalition of the Willing. Saft played in Previte's Latin for Travelers band and is also a key member of 2014's The New Standard on RareNoise. Guitarist Gamble has been a longstanding collaborator and is also a member of Previte's current working quartet, Bobby Previte and the Visitors. Guitarists O'Malley and McGreevy are members of the Seattle-based drone and doom metal bands Sunn O))) and Earth, respectively. "O'Malley in particular used a gigantic wall of amps in the studio," says Previte. "If you want that sound, you can't use a little stomp box, you have to actually move all that air. It was exhilarating to watch."

   

Twelve years in the making, Mass is the culmination of a long road for Previte. "I am super happy with how it turned out, as it is extremely difficult music to perform," he says. "Each of the three pillars of the piece -- choir, metal trio, and pipe organ -- are operating within their own algorithms, their own keys, time and tempo. And the piece is written for them to be on parallel tracks but making a different fourth thing, dovetailing together on the cadences. Eventually we all began to be able to hear how it all worked, what notes the choir should be singing when you, as the guitarist, were on your third beat of your bar number 15, a 4/4 bar, at quarter note = 60, as they were in their 33rd bar of 6/8 in a completely different tempo. It sounds crazy. Well, it is crazy! But the design worked eventually, which is a testament to the musicians and their resilience."

Previte adds about his latest opus, "It has probably the greatest cover art I have ever had on any of my records. Astonishing work by, and all respect to, the artist, Hadi Nasiri."

   

'A Capitol Christmas' Celebrates 75 Years Of Capitol Records With A Collection Of Cherished Holiday Classics From Label's Legendary Artists

In honor of Capitol Records' 75th anniversary, A Capitol Christmas presents some of the most cherished holiday classics from Capitol's vast catalog and legendary artists. Available now digitally, on CD and as a double LP housed in a gatefold package, the 24-track album brings together beloved Christmas songs from Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Bing Crosby and many more. Liner notes by compilation producer Jay Landers tell the story of each song in beautiful detail.

The historic Capitol Records Tree will light up tonight at sundown for the 58th time, signifying the start of the holiday season in Hollywood. Designed by Ollsen Lighting and featuring more than 4,373 bulbs, the tree has been a part of the Hollywood skyline each December since 1958.

A timeless collection of some of the biggest songs and artists in the holiday canon, A Capitol Christmas is sure to get listeners in the mood for the holidays and serve as the perfect soundtrack to their yuletide festivities all season long. Fittingly, the album opens with Capitol's first homegrown superstar, Nat King Cole, and his stereophonic version of "The Christmas Song," arranged by Ralph Carmichael in 1961. It is bookended with a splendid rendition of Cole's ubiquitous seasonal standard featuring the 1999 virtual duet with his daughter, Natalie Cole. Cole's jazz combo the Nat King Cole Trio is included with the novelty tune "All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)." It's impossible to overstate the importance of Frank Sinatra to Capitol Records and he is showcased on the album with the exquisite "The Christmas Waltz" and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," considered the definitive version of the three he recorded. Both songs were originally released on his 1957 holiday album, A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra. Fellow Rat Packer Dean Martin delivers his trademark croon on evergreens "Winter Wonderland" and "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm." Having recorded a dozen holiday themed albums, Bing Crosby became synonymous with Christmas. His Christmas single for Capitol, "Do You Hear What I Hear," a call and response arrangement with the Ralph Carmichael Singers, became a worldwide hit.

Singer, songwriter and actress Peggy Lee spent an illustrious 30 years on Capitol and the selections of hers span her tenure at the label. The gentle "A Christmas Spell," arranged by her then-husband and frequent collaborator, guitarist Dave Barbour, was originally released as a single in 1949. "Like A Sleighride," Lee's jazzy adaptation of "Jingle Bells," is from her sumptuous 1960 holiday album, Christmas Carousel. No holiday collection would be complete without the seductive duet, "Baby, It's Cold Outside," of which continues to be recorded by scores of artists year after year. The version here features Capitol Records co-founder Johnny Mercer, the world-class songwriter and recording artist, along with Margaret Whiting. Mercer's swinging "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" from 1947 shows off his croon alongside the vocal stylings of the Pied Pipers. Whiting also makes another duet appearance, this time alongside singing cowboy star Jimmy Wakely on the sterling "Silver Bells."

In 1967, The First Lady Of Song Ella Fitzgerald recorded a collection of non-secular standards for Capitol, Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas, arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael. Her soaring versions of "The First Noel" and "Away In A Manger" are both included. A Capitol Christmas features many other delightful holiday tunes including Nancy Wilson's symphonic "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?," Lou Rawls' soulful "Merry Christmas, Baby," Jackie Gleason's orchestral instrumentals of "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" and "I'll Be Home For Christmas," and Bob Atcher's tropical-tinged "Christmas Island," among several others.

A CAPITOL CHRISTMAS CD/DIGITAL TRACK LISTING

1. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat King Cole

2. The Christmas Waltz - Frank Sinatra

3. Winter Wonderland - Dean Martin

4. I Like A Sleighride (Jingle Bells) - Peggy Lee

5. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer

6. Christmas Island - The Dinning Sisters with Bob Atcher

7. The First Noel - Ella Fitzgerald

8. White Christmas - Jo Stafford

9. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - Nancy Wilson

10. Merry Christmas, Baby - Lou Rawls

11. Silver Bells - Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely

12. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Jackie Gleason

13. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra

14. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm - Dean Martin

15. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Johnny Mercer

16. The Christmas Spell - Peggy Lee

17. (All I Want For Christmas Is) My Two Front Teeth - Nat King Cole and His Trio

18. (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag - Kay Starr

19. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Jackie Gleason

20. I'd Like You For Christmas - Julie London

21. The Merriest - June Christy

22. Away In A Manger - Ella Fitzgerald

23. Do You Hear What I Hear? - Bing Crosby

24. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole

A CAPITOL CHRISTMAS LP TRACK LISTING

SIDE A

1. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat King Cole

2. The Christmas Waltz - Frank Sinatra

3. Winter Wonderland - Dean Martin

4. I Like A Sleighride (Jingle Bells) - Peggy Lee

5. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer

6. Christmas Island - The Dinning Sisters with Bob Atcher

SIDE B

1. The First Noel - Ella Fitzgerald

2. White Christmas - Jo Stafford

3. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - Nancy Wilson

4. Merry Christmas, Baby - Lou Rawls

5. Silver Bells - Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely

6. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Jackie Gleason

SIDE C

1. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra

2. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm - Dean Martin

3. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Johnny Mercer

4. The Christmas Spell - Peggy Lee

5. (All I Want For Christmas Is) My Two Front Teeth - Nat King Cole and His Trio

6. (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag - Kay Starr

SIDE D

1. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Jackie Gleason

2. I'd Like You For Christmas - Julie London

3. The Merriest - June Christy

4. Away In A Manger - Ella Fitzgerald

5. Do You Hear What I Hear? - Bing Crosby

6. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole

The Three Sounds featuring Gene Harris Groovin' Hard: Live at The Penthouse 1964-1968

Groovin’ Hard is a collection of previously unreleased live recordings of the legendary jazz trio, The Three Sounds , led by groove-master Gene Harris . Captured live at Seattle's Penthouse Jazz Club from 1964-1968, featuring bassist Andrew Simpkins and drummers Bill Dowdy, Kalil Madi and Carl Burnett, this set contains soulful originals like “Blue Genes” and standards like "The Shadow Of Your Smile," which was never released on any other Three Sounds' albums. The group's song "Put On Train" was prominently sampled in the Beastie Boys song "What Comes Around" on the album Paul's Boutique. Deluxe package features rare photos and memorabilia — including the classic image on the cover of the trio performing at the club taken by photographer Egill Gustafson — plus essays by journalist Ted Panken, producer Zev Feldman, Seattle Jazz DJ Jim Wilke and others. The Three Sounds were one of the most popular artists on the iconic Blue Note label during the late 50s and early 60s, and you can hear why on these infectiously swinging recordings from The Penthouse.

Track Listing:

Side A:

1. Girl Talk (6:23)

2. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (5:49)

3. Blue Genes (3:10)

4. The Shadow Of Your Smile (6:55)

5. Rat Down Front (2:25)

Side B:

1. Yours Is My Heart Alone (7:50)

2. A.M. Blues (4:09)

3. Bluesette (6:48)

4. Caesar and Cleopatra (film theme) (4:57)

5. The Boogaloo (2:44)

Dennis Coffey - Hot Coffey in the D: Burnin' at Morey Baker's Showplace Lounge

Resonance Records is proud to announce the release of Dennis Coffey's Hot Coffey in the D: Burnin' At Morey Baker's Showplace Lounge, previously unreleased live recordings made during the legendary guitarist's residency at Morey Baker's Showplace Lounge in Detroit in 1968 featuring Motor City staples on the scene — organist Lyman Woodard and drummer Melvin Davis.

In the late '60s, Dennis Coffey was a fixture in the fertile Detroit soul recording studio scene, where he helped shape the sound of countless hits for Detroit's indie soul labels Golden World, Ric-Tic, Kelmac and Revilot, among others. Jack Montgomery’s "Dearly Beloved," The Reflections' "Just Like Romeo and Juliet" and Darrell Banks's "Open the Door to Your Heart" are just a few of the Northern Soul classics of that era that Coffey played on. At the same time, organist Lyman Woodard was the musical director for Martha Reeves and The Vandellas (“Heat Wave”) and Melvin Davis was busy cutting 45s of his own as a vocalist on the Groovesville, Fortune and Mala labels and landing a number regional hits including “This Love Was Meant To Be”/“Save It (Never Too Late).”

As Coffey's renown as a top funk studio guitarist grew among the movers and shakers of the Detroit music scene, on the recommendation of legendary Motown bass player James Jamerson, producer Norman Whitfield recruited Coffey to play on records he was producing for Motown. Thus Coffey became established as a “Funk Brother,” a member of one of the world's preeminent studio ensembles, which formed the backbone of countless Motown hit records and which was the subject of the celebrated GRAMMY® Award-winning feature-length documentary film, Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002), in which Coffey is featured.

On Norman Whitfield's productions for Motown, Coffey contributed to the evolving soul and funk sound coming out of Detroit by introducing guitar innovations like fuzz-tone distortion, Echoplex tape delay and wah-wah, previously the exclusive province of rock and roll players. This new style developed by Coffey can be heard on such mega-hits as the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)," Edwin Starr's "War," and the Supremes' "Someday We'll be Together," among many others. Coffey's sound was something new and different and lent a modern feel to all the records he played on. Eventually, the demand for Coffey's magic touch led to appearances on recordings by Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and many others.

In addition to the virtuosity he imparted on other artists' records, Coffey, along with his producing partner, Mike Theodore (co-producer with Coffey of the original recordings that make up this album), also produced recordings for a number of successful artists, as well as hit projects of their own. The iconic music executive Clarence Avant engaged Coffey and Theodore, through their production company Theo-Coff, to produce sessions, create arrangements and write songs for projects he released on his labels, Maverick/Venture and Sussex Records.

As producers, writers and talent scouts, Coffey and Theodore looked beyond soul and funk and ventured into new stylistic areas: rock, pop, folk and Latin. Coffey and Theodore discovered and produced albums by Sixto Rodriguez, the subject of the Oscar®-winning documentary, Searching for Sugar Man (2012). They had a million seller rock hit, "Nice to be With You" by the band Gallery and Coffey had his own million-seller instrumental funk hit "Scorpio," which Theodore produced.

Coffey may have been toiling in the studios making classic funk records during the daylight hours, but by night, he and fellow Detroit soul and studio funk masters organist Lyman Woodard and drummer Melvin Davis were doing their own thing holding forth in local Detroit clubs as a jazz/funk ensemble billed as the Lyman Woodard Trio, fronted by Coffey's distinctive guitar playing and arrangements. Their first gigs were in 1966 at a club called the Frolic Show Bar. In 1967, the trio left the Frolic and began an extended tenure at Morey Baker's Showplace Lounge, where this set was recorded.

Melvin Davis says about Woodard, “Lyman Woodard was probably one of the premier organists to come out of the east coast actually. He was a very accomplished musician; he was a person that had a very extensive following in the city of Detroit.”

At Morey Baker's, the trio played to a loyal following of discerning listeners who came every night just to listen to them play, rather than simply to dance. Therefore, it was important for the trio to maintain a distinct and compelling musical identity that evolved over time. They couldn't just revisit the same material over and over and expect to hold onto their audience. Coffey says, “We played there once a week and always packed the house. Much of our audience was middle to upper class folks who were judges, attorneys, businessmen and women who just loved listening to our brand of funk, jazz, rock and soul. I even hooked up a strobe light to the stage and would hit the switch that shut off the main lights. The strobe would go off while we'd jam on stage. It blew their minds!"

Coffey was always on the lookout for new and interesting repertoire and he would constantly bring in new music from different genres, having worked out all the musical arrangements in advance, as is evidenced by the repertoire on this album, which includes covers of soul classics such as "Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over)" that Coffey played on the original Ruby Andrews studio version of; pop hits of the day such as the rousing version of Jimmy Webb’s "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" treated in Coffey's signature style; a smoldering version of the Burt Bacharach classic “The Look of Love” made popular by Dusty Springfield in 1967; a faithful adaptation of the Herbie Hancock classic “Maiden Voyage;” as well as two Coffey originals — the opening distortion-laden funk opus "Fuzz” and the infectious and grooving “The Big D.”

The music on this album, Hot Coffey in the D: Burnin' At Morey Baker's Showplace Lounge, represents the trio in a raw and unfiltered display of their prodigious musical gifts. Indeed the recordings that make up this album served as the springboard for Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore to be picked up by Clarence Avant on his own Sussex Records label, effectively launching their producing career in earnest. Another springboard was the seminal soul-funk instrumental album, Hair and Thangs, which was released on the Maverick label (distributed by Venture Records) in 1969 under Dennis’s name featuring both Lyman Woodard and Melvin Davis, and included a psychedelic version of the Isley Brother’s hit “It’s Your Thing.”

The release of this unique album is the direct result of the long friendship between Resonance producer Zev Feldman and the respected music journalist Kevin Goins, recognized expert on the Detroit music scene. They have been colleagues and friends for years dating back to Goins's days in retail at the HMV store in New York in the '90s when Feldman was rising in the ranks of the PolyGram organization. In early 2016, Goins learned from Coffey that these performances at Morey Baker's had been recorded using studio quality gear and immediately called Feldman to alert him to the availability of this previously unheard session. Feldman recalls, “I was so excited when Kevin first told me about the existence of these tapes. Right off the bat I was intrigued and felt compelled to release these recordings and tell the story of Dennis Coffey, who is to me one of the unsung heroes of guitar.”

To Feldman, Dennis Coffey was a fascinating figure and an essential member of the guitar pantheon of popular music. Already aware of Coffey's stellar history, it impressed Feldman that Coffey's career as a guitarist/producer/arranger and artist spanned a myriad of styles and that he had a distinctive guitar sound that influenced so many guitarists of the day and many who followed. In 2011, the Fuel 2000 label released Absolutely The Best of Dennis Coffey, a collection of all of Dennis’s 1970s output on Sussex, and Feldman handled the marketing of the album. This experience solidified Feldman's conviction that this music deserved to be heard; that there was an audience for this music, indeed a loyal audience that would be thrilled that this previously unknown music would be available to them. “In my time working as the SVP of Sales and Marketing at Fuel 2000 Records, we released many of the masters from Clarence Avant’s catalog of albums. I became a big fan of Dennis and Mike Theodore during that time and knew the importance of their legacy and Dennis's artistry.”

Once again, consistent with its mission to honor the traditions of great American music in all its glory, Resonance Records has pulled out all the stops in creating this release. The deluxe CD & LP packages feature stunning original cover art by acclaimed cartoonist and Metro Detroit native Bill Morrison, who was one of the original illustrators on The Simpsons, art director of Futurama and one of the co-founders of Bongo Comics with Matt Groening. Feldman was searching for a particular vibe for this project that harkened back to the feeling he would get gazing at psychedelic 60s LP covers like Sgt. Pepper’s and reading Mad magazine. “We struck out trying to get Robert Crumb and Al Jaffee,” Feldman explains, “so our associate producer Zak Shelby-Szyszko suggested we look into artists that have Detroit roots. When he sent me Bill Morrison’s work, I knew right away he was the guy. And working with him was such a treat. We’d provide buzzwords about the characters, look and vibe we were going for and he delivered this masterpiece.”

The package also includes extensive liner notes with rare photos by acclaimed Detroit photographers such as Leni Sinclair, essays by Resonance producer Zev Feldman and veteran music journalist Kevin Goins, plus interviews with Dennis Coffey, Melvin Davis and Mike Theodore, along with music industry icon Clarence Avant and Detroit soul singer Bettye LaVette. The LP version, available as a Record Store Day exclusive for their Black Friday Event, is presented in a limited-edition, hand-numbered pressing on 180-gram black vinyl mastered by the legendary Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI).

Track Listing:

1. Fuzz (8:17)

2. By the Time I Get to Phoenix (7:09)

3. The Look of Love (11:45)

4. Maiden Voyage (7:06)

5. The Big D (4:13)

6. Casanova (Your Playing Days Are Over) (7:04)

NEA Jazz Master David Baker's big band legacy celebrated on Basically Baker 2, featuring special guests Randy Brecker, Rich Perry, and Dave Stryker with the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra

The music of the late NEA Jazz Master and world-lauded jazz educator David Baker is featured on Basically Baker 2, a new recording out September 23 on Patois Records.  The two-CD set showcases the renowned Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra in Baker's own big band arrangements of his music. Proceeds generated by sales of the recording will go to the David N. Baker Scholarship Fund to benefit students of the Jacobs School of Music Jazz Studies Program.

Basically Baker 2 employs former Baker students and proteges such as trombonist Brent Wallarab, saxophonist Tom Walsh, trumpeters Mark Buselli and Pat Harbison, and pianist Luke Gillespie in music previously heard almost exclusively at Indiana University concert performances.  Another IU alum, trumpeter and multi-Grammy winner Randy Brecker, provides a lovely cameo appearance for "Kirsten's First Song," as does IU jazz faculty guitarist Dave Stryker, whose easy, elegant swing evokes 21st-century echoes of Baker's good friend Wes Montgomery.  Saxophonist Rich Perry of Maria Schneider's award-winning orchestra checks in for solos as well playing on the lyrical "Soft Summer Rain," "Sweet Georgia Peach" (Baker's abstract take on "Sweet Georgia Brown"), and "Shima 13."  Trombonist and Patois Records label founder Wayne Wallace also steps up with a bold contribution to one of Baker's most significant compositions, "Honesty."

The Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra, with Baker's blessing, first ventured into the realm of his large ensemble compositions with 2007's Basically Baker.  That recording landed on DownBeat's top-100 list of jazz CDs for the 21st century, and is now being reissued by Patois Records in conjunction with Basically Baker 2.

The idea of Basically Baker 2 had been in the works for some time, but the project gained poignance and momentum after Baker passed away this March at the age of 84. "David and Lida approached me in 2005 to record the first volume, which was a great experience for everyone involved," says Wallarab.  "Since then, we talked a number of times about doing a second volume and especially in recent years, he mentioned it frequently. It was important to David that his music 'live on' as he would say and not languish away in the library at the music school. This project was a way we could all channel our grief into something productive that honored David's wishes to care for his music after he was gone."

The passion and skill of Baker's musical progeny was matched by their dedication and desire to be a part of Basically Baker 2.  "I was amazed by the overwhelming commitment and enthusiasm of everyone I asked," says Wallarab.  "Many musicians cancelled or rescheduled other commitments already on the books to participate."

Basically Baker 2 extends the far-reaching impact of Baker's life and accomplishments. When he was born David Nathaniel Baker in Indianapolis, Indiana on December 21, 1931, the United States was a racially segregated country, either by law or socially enforced custom, and jazz was a young and controversial form of music.  By the time of his departure on March 26, 2016, an African-American was serving as the country's president, and jazz education programs were thriving at various institutions across the land.  Jazz and America had gone through some changes, and Baker made a major contribution, as a jazz education pioneer, a master trombonist and cellist, a prolific composer, a builder of cultural bridges, and an innovator who used the past in service of the future.  George Russell, the jazz composer and theorist who helped shape David's late-1950s Indianapolis hardbop group into one of the most progressive ensembles of the early 1960s, coined an appropriate term for David's compositions, calling them "21st century soul music."

During Baker's formative years in the 1930s and 40s, he listened to the great big band orchestras of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and numerous others, as well as gospel, blues, pop, classical, and country music.  By the late 1940s the bebop revolution had taken hold, and Baker was an enthusiastic convert, sneaking into the clubs along Indianapolis' Indiana Avenue with his teenage friends to hear the exciting new sounds being propagated by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and other musical torchbearers of the times.

Throughout the 1950s Baker continued his studies, worked with orchestras of Fred Dale, Stan Kenton, and Maynard Ferguson, and taught in classrooms and privately.  By the end of the decade he was leading a hard-charging big band at Indiana University, touring with Quincy Jones' orchestra, and being praised in print by Gunther Schuller. In 1966 he took over Indiana University's fledgling jazz studies program and spent close to 50 years there, building the foundation of the modern jazz education movement and codifying the lingua franca of 20th-century jazz for generations to come through his teaching, writings, performances, and recordings.

Significantly, much of the material on Basically Baker 2 comes from Baker's first decade at Indiana University as head of jazz studies, stretching from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.  "I think he was a little more daring as a writer then," says Brent Wallarab. In addition to being a fascinating era for big band music, these were also the years when jazz made its first bold advances into the academy, and in Baker the music found one of its most effective ambassadors. The connections Baker forged in Indiana University's world-renowned classical music program, and his own extensive work in the field of classical composition, played a vital role in jazz's late-20th century cultural elevation, as did his leadership of the repertory-oriented Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.

Baker never ventured too far afield from the primary colors of his musical palette, though: blues, popular song, and bebop.  It's fitting that the sole non-Baker composition on this CD is Baker's arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie's "Bebop," suggested by Gillespie himself, who encouraged Baker to apply his own masterly touch to the composition's bright, frantic, swirl-and-dash contours. There are other salutes as well, to longtime friend Tillman Buggs ("Terrible T"), and grandchild Kirsten ("Kirsten's First Song," which ends with a celeste solo that Wallarab says "is like a little kiss on his granddaughter's forehead before he tucks her away for the night"). "Black Thursday" summons the sound and spirit of Baker's Indianapolis hardbop era in memory of the friends and loved ones who passed on that particular day of the week.  "Shima 13" invokes Baker's love of puns and wordplay in honor of his sister Shirley, and "25th and Martindale" namechecks the Indianapolis neighborhood where Baker spent much of his youth, attending church, working as a caddy at a nearby golf course, and honing his skills as a musician.  "Harlem Pipes," which began as a small group piece and morphed into a big band arrangement, is dedicated to Baker's friend and cohort, pianist Marian McPartland.

"David's legacy as educator, author, and classical composer is well documented through many publications, recordings, and through thousands of his academic progeny continuing his pedagogy in schools worldwide," says Wallarab.  "As a composer for jazz big band, David has an important and distinct voice that most of the jazz world does not yet know. It is truly an honor to be involved in presenting his music to the global jazz community."

Basically Baker 2 extends its predecessor's contribution to the modern jazz canon and furthers the mission and legacy of David Baker's life in music: to create, to swing, and to teach. At the same time, it offers a deeper portrait of an artist whose place in jazz history is destined to grow ever more significant with the passing of years, and whose music is filled with nuance, humor, melodicism, and the blues-at once earthy and sophisticated.  It is a celebration of a remarkable individual's vision of jazz, expanding that vision's recorded element, just as Baker himself, through his composing, performing, and educational efforts, expanded the consciousness of jazz around the countries and cultures of the world.

The Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra, founded by Mark Buselli and Brent Wallarab in 1994, includes many of the top jazz artists in the Midwest.  The group has given over 1,000 public performances, played every Tuesday night over a 12 year tenure at The Jazz Kitchen, recorded seven CDs, and given hundreds of jazz education presentations in dozens of schools.

Jazz fusion guitarist Tyler Reese's new album, “Reminiscence” debuts at No. 5 on the Billboard chart

Guitarist Tyler Reese has been releasing jazz-rock records since he was 15, but the now 23-year-year-old finally reached Billboard’s Top 5, which is where his newly-released “Reminiscence” debuted on the contemporary jazz albums chart. News of the No. 5 chart entry opened a memorable week for the guitar prodigy whose new collection, produced by Jeff Silverman (Rick Springfield, Hiroshima, The Allman Brothers Band, Tim Weisberg) and Reese, is up for two trophies at Thursday’s Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Reese will end the week back home on Sunday night in Fredericksburg, Virginia playing the first of two local concert dates to celebrate the release of the record comprised entirely of his original jazz fusion compositions and showcases his guitar artistry that once scored him an invite to play for and jam with Prince at Paisley Park.       

An abundance of national airplay for the first radio single from “Reminiscence,” the mood-elevating “Moving On,” helped pave the way for the high chart debut. The affable tune collected a nomination in the jazz category from the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Also earning a nod was the scorched earth electric guitar and horn section fire starter “2Funk,” a cut from the disc that competes in the production category.       

A busy first-call, Nashville-based session player and touring guitarist who once studied with 20-time Grammy-winning jazz guitar master Pat Metheny, Reese reignited his passion and imagination for “Reminiscence” by reconnecting with his roots in jazz fusion. The result is a collection swirling various hues of jazz, rock, funk and a hint of blues. On most tracks, the fretman uses an electric guitar to slash and burn through borderless fields of fusion. On gentler numbers, he wields an acoustic guitar to strum reflectively and pick poetically on melodic gypsy jazz wanderings and new age contemplations. Midwest Record was among the first to review the record writing, “He's an old soul that knows which end is up. A super solid tasty treat for anyone that needs a well-guided trip back to the day, fusion ears are sure to enjoy the chops and diversity that power this set. Hot stuff.”

After Reese’s homecoming show this Sunday (Nov. 20) at the Riverside Center, he will take the stage at The Tin Pan in nearby Richmond, Virginia on November 23. To get a taste of Reese’s music live, he lensed a video of the album’s “Emancipation,” which can be viewed at http://bit.ly/2fUCEK8.

www.TylerReeseMusic.com

THE 5TH DIMENSION: THE COMPLETE SOUL CITY/BELL SINGLES 1966-1975 (3-CD SET)

A 50th anniversary celebration calls for some champagne…champagne soul, that is! Back in 1966, Billy Davis, Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore, and Ron Townson first started making beautiful music together, and the world of pop music has never been the same. Now, in 2016, 50 years later, Real Gone Music is proud to present the most comprehensive 5th Dimension collection ever compiled, a 3-CD set containing their complete singles for the Soul City and Bell labels (plus their first single on the Bronco label as The Versatiles and their lone single release for Arista), 61 tracks of swinging, soulful harmonies, brilliant arrangements, groundbreaking production, and some of the best songwriting to come out of the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

This 3-CD set—which is housed inside a sumptuous, 8-panel digipak mini-album featuring rare photos—not only includes 30 Pop and 15 R&B hits, all in their hard-to-find, mono mixes (only the last four tracks on the set are in stereo), featuring such legendary recordings as “Up—Up and Away,” “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” “One Less Bell to Answer,” “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All,” and “If I Could Reach You,” but also some rare, non-LP single sides and single edits, nearly all making their CD debuts here! 

With production by the great Bones Howe, vocal arrangements by Bob Alcivar, and the instrumental accompaniment of the famed Wrecking Crew, the confluence of talent on these sides is simply staggering. And, of course, The 5th Dimension brought the songwriting genius of Laura Nyro and Jimmy Webb to the masses; their collaborations with Webb in particular remain among the pinnacles of ‘60s pop. Remastered by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios, and with notes by Paul Grein featuring quotes from all four living members (Billy Davis, Jr., Marilyn McCoo, Florence LaRue and Lamonte McLemore) that trace the historic arc of the group, The Complete Soul City/Bell Singles 1966-1975 isn’t just the definitive look at The 5th Dimension; it’s a collection that defines the whole sunshine pop genre.

Disc : 1

1. You're Good Enough for Me

2. Bye Bye Baby

3. I'll Be Lovin' You Forever

4. Train Keep On Movin'

5. Go Where You Wanna Go

6. Too Poor to Die

7. Another Day, Another Heartache

8. Rosecrans Blvd.

9. Up Up & Away

10. Which Way to Nowhere

11. Paper Cup

12. Poor Side of Town

13. Carpet Man

14. The Magic Garden

15. Stoned Soul Picnic

16. The Sailboat Song

17. Sweet Blindness

18. Bobbie's Blues (Who Do You Think Of?)

19. California Soul

20. It'll Never Be the Same Again

Disc : 2

1. Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In (The Flesh Failures)

2. Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' to Ya

3. Workin' on a Groovy Thing

4. Broken Wing Bird

5. Wedding Bell Blues

6. Lovin' Stew

7. Blowing Away

8. Skinny Man

9. The Declaration

10. A Change Is Gonna Come/People Gotta Be Free

11. The Girls' Song

12. Puppet Man

13. A Love Like Ours

14. Save the Country

15. Dimension 5ive

16. On the Beach (In the Summertime)

17. This Is Your Life

18. One Less Bell to Answer

19. Feelin' Alright?

20. Love's Lines Angles & Rhymes

21. The Singer

Disc : 3

1. Light Sings

2. Viva Tirado

3. Never My Love

4. Together Let's Find Love

5. I Just Wanta Be Your Friend

6. (Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All

7. The River Witch

8. If I Could Reach You

9. Tomorrow Belongs to the Children

10. Living Together Growing Together

11. What Do I Need to Be Me

12. Everything's Been Changed

13. There Never Was a Day

14. Ashes to Ashes

15. Flashback

16. Diggin' for a Livin'

17. Harlem

18. My Song

19. No Love in the Room

20. I Don't Know How to Look for Love

 

NEW RELEASE:AARON ABERNATHY - MONOLOGUE; BARBATUQUES - AYU; BURAK BEDIKYAN - AWAKENING

AARON ABERNATHY - MONOLOGUE

This album's hardly a monologue – given that Aaron Abernathy's got some great help on the whole thing – from artists who include Phonte, Zo, and Deborah Bond – each of whom add a special slice of their talents to a tune! Yet undeniably, Aaron's the main man on the whole thing – a fantastic funky drummer, a great singer with a nice sort of edge to his voice, and a top-level talent who composed, arranged, and produced the whole thing on his own! There's a chunky sort of electro funk groove on most tunes – a vibe where the keyboards and basslines are bumping the speakers nicely, as the lyrics crackle over the top with a very vibrant energy. We're almost tempted to call the whole thing a Zapp for the 21st Century – but there's a much earthier feel overall – and titles include "Son Of Larry", "Kiss Me Again", "Pretty Kind", "Bachelorette", "AB Is Gone Away", "I Need To Know", and "Play It Cool". ~ Dusty Groove

BARBATUQUES - AYU

Very cool sounds from this unique Brazilian group – an ensemble whose music mostly comes from their voices and percussive sounds made on their bodies! The approach is surprisingly great – and maybe not nearly as squishy as you'd expect – as there's a clean, clear sound to the music – one that almost feels sampled or electronic at times, without any of the hippie-dippy elements that could come from such a project. Instead, the percussive elements at the core really keep things bristling – and seem to infect the vocals too – creating a sharpness throughout, one that's only echoed and magnified when guests artists Nana Vasconcelos, Marcelo Pretto, or Hermeto Pascoal come into the mix. Titles include "Barra Do Dia", "Valsa Manca", "Skamenco", "Kerere", "Ta Na Roda", "Totem", "Eh Eh", "Tudo Fica", and "Samba Lele".  ~ Dusty Groove

BURAK BEDIKYAN - AWAKENING

A rock-solid set from pianist Burak Bedikyan – a player who seems to grow tremendously in the space between each new album! This set features all original material by Burak – songs that can be dark one minute, quietly sensitive the next – with a beauty that's not just captured by Bedikyan's work on piano, but also by the sinewy alto sax of Loren Stillman – who's deft enough to move in all the right ways along the melodies, then open up for his own interpretations on the solos. The rest of the group features the great Donald Edwards on drums and Ugonna Okegwo on bass – and titles include "Ad Infinitum", "Do Not Fear", "Unfair Blues", "All Alone", "Idee Fixe", and "Mother Earth". ~ Dusty Groove

NEW RELEASES: KENYA – SKIN DEEP: THE COLLECTION; NATE LAPINE – QUARTET: VORTICES; JARI HAAPALAINEN TRIO – FUSION MACHINE

KENYA – SKIN DEEP: THE COLLECTION

A sweet collection of work from Kenya – one of the freshest voices on the neo soul scene in recent years – presented here in a set of remixes that only further expand her groove! The album's a great companion to Kenya's studio records – and often has her wonderful vocals stepping up strongly over some more club-oriented grooves – work that's never in a cheap dance music mode, nor just a simple house-ified approach to her songs – and which instead provides some very thoughtful reworkings of her tunes. Titles include "Take Me Away (Tom Glide rmx)", "My Heart (Mark De Clive-Lowe rmx)", "Brown Soul (Edgewood Agents acoustic rmx)", "Makusmile (Tom Glide rework)", "Let Me (Sean McCabe classic soul rmx)", "Never Giving Up (Edgewood Agents rework)", and "Wednesday Girl (Opolopo rmx)". ~ Dusty Groove

NATE LAPINE – QUARTET: VORTICES

A really wonderful album from the hard-burning contemporary Chicago scene – a set that may not get the global attention as some other records on bigger labels, but one that's equally well-deserving of recognition! Tenorist Nate Lepine is at the head of the group, but the whole quartet is a very cohesive ensemble – working with this equally spaces sense of composition and freedom – very much in the spirit of the Chicago scene of players like Mike Reed or Josh Berman, but also with some of the newer, more personal energy we've really been feeling in recent years too! Nick Mazzarella plays alto sax in the group, and the pairing of horns is wonderful – interlocked at all the right moments, but bursting out with individual voices when needed – and given strong support by the subtle bass work of Clark Sommers, and the well-timed drums of Quin Kirchner. Titles include "Ice Shirt", "Youngblood", "Eve Yeti's Ready For Spring", "Aye Lads", "Hennies", and "The Grass Is Rizz". ~Dusty Groove

JARI HAAPALAINEN TRIO – FUSION MACHINE

No fusion here – at least not in the traditional sense – but the album is a really made fusion of drums, electric bass, and tenor saxophone – the last of which is played by the great Per Texas Johansson, with a force that's more than strong enough to match the other two instruments! The electric bass really rumbles with a lot of power here – modes that are much more dynamic than in traditional jazz, but not really rock or familiar fusion, either – and there's an elasticity from the instrument, as played by Daniel Bingert, that really seems to communicated back and forth between the other two points of the triangle. Jari Haapalainen is on drums – driving the whole thing onward – and titles include "Ingrid 20", "Risk For Halka", "Begynnelsen", "Morka Rummet", and "Ich Bin Ein Berliner". (Limited to 300 copies!) ~ Dusty Groove

Jazz Fusion Orchestra BANDZILLA Feat. Guest Appearances By Randy Brecker & Leo Sayer To Release Long-Awaited Second Album “BANDZILLA RISES!”

What happens when a group of top studio musicians get together in their free time? A unique mixture of sophisticated composition, passionate improvisation, scathing social commentary and biting humor, BANDZILLA play furious funk, sleazy soul, punk jazz and heartfelt ballads. Led by acclaimed composer/arranger/guitarist Richard Niles, the 25-piece jazz-fusion orchestra was originally formed in the studio to play on the seminal Grace Jones track ‘Slave To The Rhythm’. Since then, Niles & BANDZILLA have performed and recorded with Paul McCartney, Ray Charles, James Brown, Kylie Minogue, Mariah Carey, Pet Shop Boys, Michael McDonald, Cher and Tina Turner.

Says Richard, “When I formed BANDZILLA, I used the hottest young studio players in London, a band of ‘monsters’: BANDZILLA. We were featured as the house band on a British TV series and released our first album, “Blue Movies” to great critical acclaim. As well as being the ‘go to’ band for some of the biggest artists in the world, we toured with our own music, but eventually it became too impractical to take such a big unit on the road. However, a couple of years ago my friend John Thirkell (who had played trumpet in Bandzilla) called and suggested we do another album. And so, here we are. Bandzilla rises!!!”

Multi-Grammy winner Pat Metheny has called Richard Niles “one of the best composer/arrangers around and a truly exciting musical force.” For his jazz work with Metheny, Bob James, John Patitucci, Martin Taylor, Billy Cobham, Jane Monheit and Bob Mintzer, and his work on over 40 pop hits, Sound on Sound called Niles “the most versatile man in modern music.”

The new album, “BANDZILLA RISES!!!” is an unparalleled musical event - music that defies definition performed by artists beyond category.

Co-producer/trumpet player John Thirkell played with the Buddy Rich and Gil Evans Orchestras as well as on 23 UK & US No.1 records with Artists such as Jamiroquai, Level 42, Tina Turner, Phil Collins and Bruno Mars. Other sublime soloists include Nigel Hitchcock (Tom Jones, Incognito, Mark Knopfler), Mark Nightingale (Clark Terry, John Dankworth) and Steve Hamilton (Billy Cobham, Tommy Smith). Drummer Ian Palmer is the nephew of Carl Palmer (ELP) and has performed with Michael Brecker and Don Grolnick.

Says Richard, “I have worked in many styles - from pop with McCartney, to jazz with Metheny, rock with Michael McDonald and funk with James Brown - and the album reflects this. My songs are driven from the lyrics which might be social commentary, romantic reflections or fantasy stories, using humor to express serious ideas. This is not a traditional jazz record. My artistic imperative is to express myself freely, helped by some of the most brilliant musicians and singers on earth.”

A stellar line up of singers includes Leo Sayer (16 top 10 hits), jazz icon Randy Brecker (The Brecker Brothers), Lamont Dozier Jr. (son of the Motown hit-maker), Daisy Chute (from million-selling vocal group All Angels), Kim Chandler (ace studio singer and vocal coach), Brazilian jazz star Clarice Assad and Polish chanteuse Julia Suzanna Sokolowska. Niles also sings some of his own surprising lyrics.

CURTIS STIGERS CHANNELS THE HIP, SWINGING CHEMISTRY OF FRANK SINATRA AND THE COUNT BASIE ORCHESTRA ON "ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD"

The genre-hopping singer, songwriter, and saxophonist celebrates the 50th anniversary of Sinatra at the Sands with the Danish Radio Big Band on new live recording One More for the Road

50 years ago, magic was made on the stage of the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, when the timeless cool of Frank Sinatra met the robust swing of the Count Basie Orchestra. Sinatra at the Sands has remained a beloved classic ever since, the perfect marriage of old-school pop and big band jazz.

Singer, songwriter and saxophonist Curtis Stigers has been bringing those worlds together in his own music for the last three decades (along with touches of nearly every other genre one could call to mind), which makes him an ideal candidate to reinterpret Ol’ Blue Eyes’ cherished repertoire for modern ears. On his twelfth album and ninth release for Concord Records, One More for the Road, Stigers captures the rare alchemy of hipness, elegance, playfulness and feeling that made Sinatra’s renditions of these songs immortal while adding his own unique twist.

On One More for the Road, due out January 20, 2017 via Concord Jazz, Stigers finds his own version of that elusive Sinatra-Basie chemistry with the virtuosic and ebulliently swinging musicians of the Danish Radio Big Band. Recorded in the band’s headquarters, the acoustic marvel that is the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, the bristling live recording features the DRBB playing vibrant takes based on the original Nelson Riddle and Billy May arrangements, which can’t help but spark inspired vocal performances from Stigers.

Singing in front of a great band executing flawless reinvigorations of those arrangements “is just extraordinary,” Stigers says. “It’s like sex. I don’t think there’s a more swinging band in the history of music than the Count Basie Orchestra, and then you get these classically trained Danish musicians who have really studied this stuff and played together so much, it makes it easy to fit into that and sing these amazing songs. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had, and I think it shows on the record.”

One More for the Road isn’t meant to be a recreation of Sinatra at the Sands, but uses that classic album as a launching pad for a full-blooded set of Sinatra’s best-loved tunes. Eight of the new album’s ten songs, recorded during Stigers’ now-annual January concerts in Copenhagen, come from that 1966 concert in the Sands’ Copa Room, but the setlist is also supplemented by Stigers’ takes on “Summer Wind” and “They Can't Take That Away From Me.”

Just as the album’s track listing isn’t a carbon copy of its inspiration, Stigers was careful to avoid being a slavish imitation of Sinatra, making each song its own while retaining the essence of the Chairman’s unforgettable interpretations. “Singing these songs live is a lot of fun,” Stigers says, “but going into the recording I had to figure out how to make this not be just the most fun karaoke that you can possibly do with an incredible band. I seldom sing a song the same way twice, so I made the songs my own as much as I could. I try not to sing like Sinatra, but there’s no way that some Sinatra doesn't get in there. There are certain phrasings that he used that work so well with the arrangements that I couldn’t not use them. It’s a fine line to walk, but as a jazz singer and as a recording artist, I’ve always tried to do everything different every time.”

That’s an apt summation of Stigers’ wildly diverse career, which has never stopped taking interesting turns ever since he released his self-titled 1991 debut on Clive Davis’ Arista Records, spawning the hit singles “I Wonder Why,” “You’re All That Matters to Me” and “Never Saw a Miracle.” He also contributed a cover of Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” to the soundtrack of The Bodyguard, which went on to sell more than 40 million copies. During the next decade he released two more genre-blurring albums on Arista and Columbia while touring extensively, always letting his jazz roots bleed over into his pop, soul, blues and Americana endeavors.

As the millennium turned, however, Stigers decided he wanted to more deeply explore those roots. He signed to Concord Records, where his mentor, soul-jazz piano great Gene Harris, also recorded. Beginning with Baby Plays Around in 2001, Stigers has released a series of albums on Concord that explore the full range of his musical interests, often giving a classic jazz spin to rock, pop and country songs by everyone from Sting and Paul Simon to Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson.

His restless imagination has also led him into a variety of unusual opportunities, including recording a version of Cole Porter’s “Well, Did You Evah!” with Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy and American Dad, who then invited Stigers to make a cameo in his movie Ted and perform a song in Ted 2. Stigers also co-wrote and sang the theme song for the acclaimed TV show Sons of Anarchy, which earned him an Emmy nomination, and made multiple appearances on The Tonight Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and The Today Show, among other television programs worldwide.

Stigers has been a voracious listener ever since he bought his first record, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, when he was just a second grader in Boise, Idaho. While he didn’t come around to Frank Sinatra’s music until later, he remembers the iconic singer always being a presence in the popular culture of his youth. “Sinatra was everywhere,” Stigers recalls.

“Even in the ’70s when he wasn't ‘cool’ anymore for a while, he was still always a part of my world. He didn't really mean anything to me, though, until I got into college and I discovered this record called Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely that just knocked me out. Suddenly it hit me that the way he told a story was better than anybody ever in popular music. His ability to take the lyrics that somebody else wrote and make them a part of his life, as if they were written about him—that’s what kills me. He becomes that song when he sings it.”

Stigers absorbed those lessons in his own music, always focusing on telling the story of the song, touching and communicating with an audience, rather than showing off his (admittedly prodigious) vocal chops. “The older I get the more I think of myself not as a singer who can do cool things with his voice,” he says. “When I was a kid all I wanted to do was scat sing and prove that I was a great. Now I just want to tell a story. Now I want to have the people in the audience or the people listening to my records feel the same way about these songs that I do, that they’re these amazing little three- or four-minute short stories.”