Grammy winner Skip Martin of Kool & the Gang and the Dazz Band releases his debut jazz CD Miles High. Are You Ready, the debut single with Skip on trumpet and vocals, features Wayman Tisdale on bass guitar and 6-time Grammy winner Ricky Lawson on drums. The 13-track CD also features sax man Ronnie Laws, 5-time Grammy winner Al McKay of Earth Wind & Fire and Bruce Conti of Tower of Power. Miles High will be in stores on Tuesday, August 8, 2006.
The idea of Skip Martin's debut jazz project was pure and simple - "it was just time". With over 26 album releases as lead vocalist with the Dazz Band, Kool & the Gang and his own solo projects, Skip wanted to record a project where he did his 'singing' through his trumpet. "I've recorded with both groups in the horn section but never as a solo artist," stated Skip. The result is Miles High filled with hip, cool, funky, smooth jazz grooves. "You'll definitely come away ... with ... a sense of what Miles might be doing musically if he were still with us." (Scott O'Brien for smoothjazz.com).
Are You Ready is "...a laid back blend of classic styles. If Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd were in the same band they would open their set with this tune..." (Gene Harris, Jr., MBA and Cat Lee for GrooveDoctorsRadio.com). Ronnie Laws appears on the Smooth Sailing track in a beautiful trumpet and sax duet - ranging from sultry grooves to profound narratives.
Miles High, the title cut, a tribute to Miles Davis written the night Miles died, clearly shows an insightful range of diverse influences from the modern jazz era known as the Miles Years.
Al McKay comes through on guitar with the track Old School Rules and Bruce Conti also on guitar is featured on Careless Whisper. The album includes the first recordings of spoken word poet Bronze Paragon on the tracks Are You Ready (Spoken Word) and Apropos (Spoken Word) - which just make you sit up and listen. "I'm very excited about this project" admits Skip Martin. "It took 2 years in the making with a few starts and stops but the journey was well worth the time." The album is beautifully mastered by multiple Grammy winner Bernie Grundman.
Positive and passionate about life, is the best way of describing Grammy Award winner Skip Martin - lead vocalist, trumpeter, songwriter and producer. Originally from the Bay Area, California and now based in Las Vegas, Skip has a string of impressive professional achievements and performances to his name. To date Skip has entertained millions of people around the world as lead vocalist for both The Dazz Band (which won them a Grammy Award for the song Let It Whip) and Kool & the Gang - and continues to perform with both bands concurrently.
Other achievements include Platinum & Gold Records recipient with these two major recording groups, a total of twenty-seven albums (including seven with Kool & the Gang and fourteen with The Dazz Band), MOBO Awards recipient, R&B Song of the Year recipient, six consecutive Top 100 albums, two Top 100 singles, music publisher and producer of pop, R&B and jazz albums to name a few.
His tenor voice has a warm eclectic style developed through the years under the guise of maestro Stevie Wonder. Skip lists Miles Davis, Sammy Davis and Donny Hathaway as major influences on his musical development. Besides his work with the Dazz Band and Kool & the Gang, Skip is also involved in an all star band called United We Funk. This show stopping act uses the identifiable voices of the biggest selling bands of the funk era performing as one band. Groups include - Dazz Band, ConFunkShun, BarKays, SOS Band, Midnight Star and more. Skip's debut jazz CD titled Miles High featuring Ronnie Laws, Wayman Tisdale, Ricky Lawson, Bruce Conti and Al McKay is in stores August 8, 2006.
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