Renowned
R&B, Jazz and Broadway chanteuse Jennifer Holliday, who created and defined
the role of Effie “Melody” White in the smash hit musical Dreamgirls, is set to
release her first studio effort in 23 years!
Over the years, Holliday has made waves as a singer and actress, as well
as scoring Tony and Grammy Awards, performing at the White House multiple times
and collaborating with a plethora of greats such as Barbra Streisand, Paul
Simon, Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross and more. Now, Holliday is set to
unveil her master work, The Song Is You, on January 21, 2014 on Shanachie
Entertainment. The album, titled after
Holliday’s rendering of a Jazz Standard made famous by Frank Sinatra, is the
consummate example of passion, class, and musical excellence. Featuring Jennifer’s soaring, emotive vocals
cascading over lush horns and strings, The Song Is You navigates through a
tasteful selection of Jazz, Broadway and R&B standards, as well as some lesser-known
but equally beautiful numbers. Having
won legions of fans throughout her illustrious career, Jennifer Holliday is
poised to make her indelible mark on the music world once more.
Since
Jef Gilson's passing in 2012, Jazzman Records have surveyed the substantial
personal archive of his acetates, test pressings and reel to reel tapes with
the kind permission of his widow, Geneviève. The task has not been easy, it's
taken numerous trips to France and the generous assistance of a small army of
translators, advisors, musicologists, amateur enthusiasts and record
collectors, as well as the surviving members of Gilson's musical entourage, for
Jazzman to gather together the information required to make this album. In it
you will find music Jazzman have chosen from having listened to literally
hundreds of hours of alternate takes, rehearsals, live recordings, unissued
sessions and personal recordings made from the '50s to the '70s; none of which
has been officially released before. Despite the limitations afforded by
mastering some of these recordings from anonymous reels of twisted, buckled
tape and scratched, dusty old acetate discs, Jazzman hope that the music
contained herein affords a fascinating and otherwise impenetrable insight into
the workings of one of the great unsung creative forces of European jazz. The
record contains early experiments in Oriental and Ethnic Jazz with Lloyd
Miller, unissued alternate takes of Gilson's classic repertoire, long-lost live
performances from 1960s European jazz festivals and rehearsals and jam sessions
that developed into a lifelong creative obsession.
ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT - PORTER CHOPS GLASPER
Great
music, a great package, and a cool little record that really makes it worth
owning a vinyl version of this great little track! Jill Scott's vocals are
wonderful on the main version of "Calls" – remixed here by Mr Porter
with added Pharoah Monche rhymes. The remix has these cool spacey touches –
almost like someone's cutting the keyboards live – and these shine even more on
the instrumental. The flipside has "Porter Chops Glasper" – a totally
great 12 minute mix by Porter of grooves from Robert Glasper – keyboards,
beats, and lots of sweet little touches all swirled together. And hey, the
whole thing's on red vinyl too! ~ Dusty Groove
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