Twenty years after the release of his debut album, “Long Night
Out,” award-winning contemporary jazz/R&B multi-instrumentalist Brian
Culbertson completely reimagined the collection as “Another Long Night Out,”
his 14th album and first on his BCM Entertainment label, which debuts at No. 1
on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. The set spotlighting a stellar
collective comprised of many of the contemporary jazz luminaries that
influenced and inspired Culbertson to make the first record is the musician’s
sixth album to debut at No. 1. Speeding up the Billboard Smooth Jazz Songs
chart to No. 2, the first single, “Fullerton Ave.” featuring guitarist Chuck
Loeb, is on the road to earning Culbertson his 27th No. 1 single as an artist,
producer and songwriter.
The day before the
February 25 album release, Culbertson took over Sirius XM’s Watercolors for 16
hours programming cuts from the new collection as well as from some of the
musicians featured on “Another Long Night Out” including Loeb, Lee Ritenour,
Eric Marienthal, Rick Braun, Steve Lukather, Russ Freeman, “Patches” Stewart,
Candy Dulfer and Jonathan Butler. Other noteworthy musicians appearing on the
remake are Paul Jackson Jr., Jimmy Haslip, Will Kennedy, Nathan East, the late
Ricky Lawson, Ray Parker Jr., Jeff Kashiwa, Larry Dunn and Ricky Peterson along
with a 33-piece orchestra playing arrangements by David Benoit and
Culbertson.
For the first time,
Culbertson has made the sheet music used during the “Another Long Night Out”
recording sessions available for free on his website. Musicians that want to
play along can purchase “Music Minus One” mixes for piano, bass, drums and
“band only” (no piano or other lead instruments) on Culbertson’s webstore.
Recorded in the
bedroom of his crowded college apartment above a Chicago costume shop while he
was a 20-year-old music student at DePaul University, the three demos that
formed the basis of “Long Night Out” landed Culbertson a 6-album record deal.
The notion to rebuild the album from scratch using fresh arrangements and
feature performances from contemporary jazz royalty has long-ruminated inside
Culbertson’s head and began with a wish list cast of musicians.
“The idea behind
the remake was to make the album the way I always wanted to do it. Over the
years, I’d randomly listen to that album. I liked the songs and arrangements,
but always heard things that I would have liked to have done differently,
mainly because of the limitations I had at the time. I had a very limited
budget and limited technology so I tried to make the instruments sound real
even though I had to use synth piano, a drum machine and synth bass. Now I can
use real piano and live players along with the experience I’ve had over the
past 20 years as a producer,” said Culbertson, who also had another purpose for
the new recording in mind. “I wanted to return to my roots and introduce newer
fans to another side of me as a musician and an artist. Contemporary jazz fans
will dig ‘Another Long Night Out.’ I hadn’t done a full instrumental album in
years. It is jazz fusion-y and I want to be known as a broader artist than just
the R&B/funk guy. A lot of people didn’t know the (music on the) first album,
which is out of print.”
Also a popular
concert draw known for high-energy performances and masterful musicianship,
Culbertson will begin rehearsals next week for an entirely new show that will
be unveiled at a dress rehearsal March 12 for invited guests and 94.7 The Wave
Los Angeles radio station contest winners with the first tour dates in support
of “Another Long Night Out” taking place March 20-23 at Seattle’s Jazz Alley.
Last week, Culbertson played a short set in Napa for Wine Country royalty as he
launched his own wine, “Culbertson” Pinot Noir by Reata Wines, a personal blend
he created in partnership with Jamieson Ranch Vineyards. Tickets for
Culbertson’s third annual Napa Valley Jazz Getaway, a star-studded wine and
jazz festival that will again lure thousands of enthusiasts from all over the
world to Napa June 11-15, 2014, are on sale now with the June 14 & 15 shows
taking place on the stunning Jamieson Ranch property.
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