NEW RELEASES - STACEY KENT, RANDY BRECKER, KATHY SANBORN

STACEY KENT - THE CHANGING LIGHTS

A multi-award winner (2001 British Jazz Award, 2002 BBC Jazz Award Best Vocalist, etc) and Grammy nominee, Stacey has built a huge fanbase for her cool, classy interpretations of the Great American Songbook, all recorded with husband, arranger, producer and now songwriter Jim Tomlinson (himself a winner of the 2006 Album of the Year British Jazz Award). Her new album, The Changing Lights is a musical journey through jazz, bossa nova and chanson, including a mixture of Bossa Nova classics from Tom Jobim, Marcos Valle, and also Roberto Menescal, who appears as a featured guest on the album. There are also new songs written especially for Stacey by Jim Tomlinson. The title track, 'The Changing Lights', is written by Jim Tomlinson and novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, the songwriting team that have been writing for her since her first album for EMI, the Grammy-nominated Breakfast On The Morning Tram. Stacey tours constantly, and as well as the Ronnie Scott's dates in late September / early October, she will play a significant number of dates in the UK this year (see the left of this presenter). We will be focusing our promotion and marketing push then as a preview to the forthcoming residency at Ronnie Scotts from Sep 30th to October 4th. We will also target such obvious music shows as Later With Jools and the full range of daytime and arts TV shows - including Richard & Judy, Breakfast shows, Loose Women, The Culture Show, Newsnight, etc. Stacey is a staple for all jazz radio in the UK. We will be focussing on 'One Note Samba' and 'The Changing Lights'. She will be doing interviews and sessions on everything across the BBC and jazz radio stations. We will also be going for Album of the Week, as well as plays right across the spread of jazz radio and more adult-oriented stations and shows. ~ cduniverse

RANDY BRECKER - THE BRECKER BROTHERS BAND REUNION

Though saxophonist Michael Brecker passed away in 2007, his brother, trumpeter Randy Brecker, keeps the jazz-funk fusion of the Brecker Brothers alive with the Brecker Brothers Reunion Band. While not a strict reunion of the original ensemble, the band does feature many of the players who have performed with the Brecker Brothers over the years, such as guitarist Mike Stern, drummer Dave Weckl, and keyboardist George Whitty, as well as new members including Italian saxophonist Ada Rovatti (Brecker's wife), and keyboardist Oli Rockberger. The band played several shows beginning in 2011, and in 2013 released this album, which also featured such former Brecker Brothers' associates as guitarists Dean Brown, Adam Rogers, and Mitch Stein, drummer Rodney Holmes, bassist Chris Minh Doky, and saxophonist David Sanborn. ~ Matt Collar

KATHY SANBORN - SULTRY NIGHT

Sultry Night is the steamy new release by American jazz singer and composer Kathy Sanborn. Sanborn's sizzling album has a film noir inspiration, where passion and sensuality rule the day.Sultry Night opens with the smoky and seductive title track, evocative of the age of film noir detectives Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. The album continues with songs honoring movie icon Cary Grant and jazz vocal legend Anita O'Day, both performers reaching their heyday in the age of film noir, the 1940s and '50s. The album features both ballads and upbeat songs, performed in Sanborn's inimitable smooth and sultry style. The singer composed all of the album's nine songs. In a reverential turn, Sanborn penned the song, "Angels Cry," in honor of the children who lost their lives in the Sandy Hook school tragedy. Based in northern California, the velvet-voiced jazz songstress and composer is of Nicaraguan descent. Bilingual and cosmopolitan, the exotic Sanborn combines sultry vocals with artistic originality. Besides composing, arranging, and producing the Sultry Night album, Sanborn provides the vocal and piano artistry. Trumpeter Wayne Ricci complements the album with full-bodied, film noir performances.