SAVOY LABEL GROUP’S ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER & GROOVE COLLECTIVE NOMINATED FOR 2006 GRAMMY AWARDS

The Savoy Label Group (SLG) is proud to announce that artists Andreas Vollenweider and Groove Collective have been honored with Grammy nominations. Andreas Vollenweider's The Magical Journeys Of Andreas Vollenweider (Kin Kou/SLG) has been nominated for Best New Age Album (category 44) and Groove Collective's People, People, Music, Music (Savoy Jazz Worldwide) has been nominated for Best Contemporary Jazz Album (category 45). The 49th annual Grammy Award winners will be announced February 11, 2007.

The Magical Journeys Of Andreas Vollenweider is a musical travelogue recorded around the world featuring the Grammy-winning artist as well as renowned guest artists including Carly Simon, Milton Nascimento, David Lindley and many others. The CD consists of music recorded in concert in exotic locales throughout Europe, America and Asia including Andreas' breakthrough performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Performances at the Rockpalast-Festival in Berlin, Tokyo's NHK Hall and the town square of Zurich Switzerland where Andreas performed as part of the 70th birthday celebration for the Dali Lama are also showcased.

Vollenweider has long been lauded for his distinctively inventive musicianship. He took up the harp as his instrument of choice and in the early 1970s invented the first electro-acoustic harp. Since the release of his debut album, Eine Art Suite XIII Teilen in 1979, the acclaimed harpist has sold over 20 million records worldwide and earned 5 multi-platinum awards in the US alone. He had two chart topping releases in 2005, his greatest hits retrospective Magic Harp and his all new Dualdisc release Vox.

For more than a decade, Groove Collective has been transcending categories with one goal in mind: to move listeners' minds and feet. This crew of New York City-based Jazz-Funk-Afrocuban-Electronic stylistic adventurers have been laying down grooves that buzz and always have the crowd on its feet and dancing. It is appropriate that they are newly signed to the Savoy Jazz Worldwide imprint as People, People, Music, Music takes the listener on a musical journey around the globe beginning with the Afro-pop sound of Forgotten Travelers, and continues into the Cuban jam Tito (a tribute to the legendary Tito Puente) and onwards to the smoky NYC jazz lounge vibe of Herbie Hancock's Speak Like A Child and the club beats of What If and Set Up.

Groove Collective are: Jay Rodriquez (saxophones, flutes, bass clarinet), Genji Siraisi (drums, programming, vocals), Fabio Morgera (trumpet, flugelhorn, effects), Chris "Ifatoye" Theberge (congas, bata drums, percussion), Barney McAll (Fender Rhodes, synthesizers, piano), and Jonathan Maron (bass). Special guests on the album include producer DJ Spinna, funk legend Fred Wesley, vocalists Eddie Bobé and DeLouie Avant, Jr., percussionist Tony Rodriguez, trombonist Reut Regev, guitarist Liberty Ellman and keyboardist Victor Axelrod.

Kin Kou and Savoy Jazz Worldwide are units of The Savoy Label Group (SLG). SLG is the North American unit of CME (Columbia Music Entertainment), the oldest music company in Japan. The Savoy Label Group is lead by Steve Vining. CME is headed by Chairman Strauss Zelnick, founder of Zelnick Media and former CEO of BMG Entertainment. Zelnick Media owns interests in and manages an array of media companies including music-related holdings such as CME, Savoy Label Group and Time Life.