To bolster his effort to be heard above the
incessant din cluttering our world, keyboardist Patrick Bradley called upon a
few high-profile friends on his third album, “Can You Hear Me,” produced by
jazz fusion icon Jeff Lorber, which is slated for release September 23 on the
Patrick’s Music Factory label. Boil it down further and the desire to be heard
by our parents is inherent in all of us, which is the genesis of the title
track and first radio single, a plaintive piano lullaby graced with the serene
soprano sax presence of Dave Koz on the song inspired by Bradley’s late
mother.
Collaborating
on their second album together, Bradley and Lorber composed and arranged all
ten songs on “Can You Hear Me.” Bradley nimbly emotes graceful harmonies on
piano, adds depth and texture via gurgling Moog synthesizer embellishments and
uncorks feverish organ blasts with reckless abandon when the mood to
pontificate strikes. A variety of jazz visages – fusion, contemporary and
smooth - emerge from tracks rooted in R&B that reflect prisms of funk, soul
and blues with the deep-pocketed grooves stitched by bassist Jimmy Haslip and
drummer Gary Novak. David Mann’s fiery horns and crisp horn arrangements fatten
the sound on “Blue Skies,” “Daylight,” “For Her” and “Voyage” with hitman Rick
Braun captured blowing away on trumpet on a pair of cuts (“Blue Skies” and
“Voyage”) and Eric Marienthal chiming in some swinging sax on a few numbers
(“Blue Skies,” “Shoreline” and “Catalan”). Lorber’s keyboard and Dwight Sills’
guitar riff rhythmically throughout the session with Sills and guitarist
Michael Thompson dousing kerosene before slash and burn solos. Both Bradley and
Lorber solo on the blistering progressive rock thrill ride “North Of Evermore.”
“I’ve
been playing my whole life and I’m trying to be heard in this noisy world as a
musician. My mom passed before hearing my last album (“Under The Sun”)
including the song I wrote for my (late) father (“Tears From The Sky”). I
wonder if she can hear me and my music. I wrote ‘Can You Hear Me’ with her in
mind, but it is also a question I ask God as well,” said Bradley, a man of
faith who hails from Southern California. “The original album title was ‘All
In’ (the first song on the record) because I wanted to dig deeper than ever
before. The whole purpose of the album was to make sure that I got all of my
musical chops into it and I think we did it.”
Bradley’s
professional music career began as a member of a rock band (Joshua) signed to
Polydor Records. He released his solo debut, “Come Rain or Shine,” in 2006, the
title cut hitting the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Singles chart. “Under The
Sun” arrived in 2011 and a few tracks from the offering garnered radio play
while the album peaked at No. 6 on the Smooth Indie Chart. Over the years,
Bradley and Koz have cultivated a friendship with the multimedia sax
personality inviting Bradley to perform aboard the Dave Koz Cruise to Alaska
next month as well as to open for Koz, Mindi Abair, Gerald Albright and Richard
Elliot’s “Summer Horns” concert September 19 in Newport Beach, Calif. Balancing
dual careers, Bradley “sunlights” as president of the Southern Pacific region
for Whole Foods Market.
The
songs contained on “Can You Hear Me” are:
“All In”
“Blue
Skies”
“North
Of Evermore”
“Can You
Hear Me”
“Daylight”
“Shoreline”
“Catalan”
“For
Her”
“Sierra”
“Voyage”
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