Monday, December 09, 2013

NEW RELEASES - JENNIFER HOLLIDAY, JEF GILSON, ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT

JENNIFER HOLLIDAY - THE SONG IS YOU

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.  


JEF GILSON - THE ARCHIVES

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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