Saxman Steve
Cole is celebrating the release of his eighth album, “Turn It Up,” while on the
precipice of adding another No. 1 Billboard single to his burgeoning catalogue
of hits. The Artistry Music release produced by long-time Cole collaborator
David Mann arrives Friday as the first single, the riveting aural oeuvre
“Mirage,” holds the second spot ready to claim the peak position from Cole’s Sax
Pack colleague Marcus Anderson.
“Mirage”
casts a transcendent spell with a futuristic foray that projects Cole’s
improvisational jazz horn onto a screen of ambient tones and throbbing club
beats. The single, along with the exuberant Chicago house music salute
“Workhouse,” is a divergent excursion from the ten-track collection brimful of
frothy pop melodies and voluminous horns over soul-powered R&B
undercurrents. Recorded in three booming metropolises - New York City, Chicago
and Minneapolis – that helped shape the eight compositions authored or
co-authored by Cole, “Turn It Up” includes contributions from Nicholas Cole
(“Turn It Up!”), Pieces of a Dream’s James Lloyd (“Bright Side”) and Ricky
Peterson (“Workhouse”). Of note is a vintage take of Bobby Womack’s seductive
“Woman’s Gotta Have It.”
Known for
consistently cranking out chart-topping singles that deploy big vibrant pop
hooks, contemporary jazz saxophonist Steve Cole conjures a sonic escapade with
the hypnotic “Mirage,” the first single from his eighth album,
“Turn It Up,” which was released July 15 by Artistry Music. Radio
programmers were instantly spellbound, making the track from the David
Mann-produced set of R&B grooves and soul-powered sojourns the No. 1
most added single on the Billboard BDS chart.
The
entrancing single on which electronic beats bombard the senses before chill
tenor and soprano sax leads and a soothing trumpet undercurrent take command of
the illusion is one of nine new songs on the session, eight of which were
composed or co-composed by Cole. The tune reflects his hometown roots and ardor
for Chicago’s dance music scene. It’s one of three major cities that helped
shape the collection.
“I embarked
on ‘Turn It Up’ with the goal of making music with great musicians and great
friends in great cities. This time around I wrote much of the music with Dave
Mann in New York City. We recorded
horns, guitars and vocals there as well. The energy in that great city was
truly inspiring and it really is reflected in the music. Next stop was
Minneapolis, where I worked with the great keyboardist and producer Ricky
Peterson. Ricky and I wrote the song ‘Workhouse’ together, a track influenced
by our love of Chicago house music. Dave joined us later in Minneapolis to
record Ricky on the Hammond B3 organ as well as to record my Chicago pals,
bassist Lamar Jones and drummer Khari Parker. I decided to track all of the
saxophone parts in Minneapolis as well,” explained Cole, who has a slate of
festival and club dates running into mid-October to help support the album
release.
Cole and
Mann have been collaborating ever since Cole’s sophomore record, “Between Us”
(2000). In addition to helming the production on “Turn It Up,”
multi-instrumentalist Mann often shadows Cole on alto and soprano sax to add
depth, thickness, volume and intensity to the layers upon layers of horns –
alto, tenor and soprano saxophones, trumpet, trombone and flute. Aside from the
back-to-back dance music workouts that close the album, Cole’s energizing pop
melodies and hooky harmonies on the disc are presented as soulful R&B
joints. The saxman dusted off Bobby Womack’s “Woman’s Gotta Have It,” teamed up
with fresh-faced keyboardist Nicholas Cole on “Turn It Up!” and yielded the
spotlight on “Bright Side” to Pieces of a Dream’s James Lloyd, the author of
the sunny mid-tempo smile, who solos on piano.
“In the end,
I really accomplished what I set out to do,” Cole surmised. “The music reflects
all of the diverse backgrounds and personalities that brought it to life. There
was a lot of laughter and good times throughout this journey. I think that's
why I've got such a big smile on my face on the album cover. After all, it's
supposed to be fun...and it sure was!”
Cole’s 1998
award-winning arrival onto the contemporary jazz scene was the Brian Culbertson-produced
“Stay Awhile” that spawned a pair of No. 1 singles. Solo tours and prominent
sideman gigs with Culbertson, Boz Scaggs, Rick Braun, Peter White, Jeff Lorber
and Larry Carlton served to rapidly multiply his fervent fan base exponentially
while successive albums and singles repeatedly took Cole to the top of the
charts, establishing him as a radio playlist favorite. In addition to his own
recordings, Cole records and performs regularly as a member of Sax Pack, an
all-star sax combo consisting of rotating members Jeff Kashiwa, Kim Waters,
Jackiem Joyner and Marcus Anderson. For more information, please visit
www.SteveCole.net.
“Turn It Up”
tracklisting::
"Sidechain”
“Turn It
Up!”
“Reverence”
“She’s The
One”
“Bright
Side”
“Woman’s
Gotta Have It”
“Laws Of
Attraction”
"Life
Is A Groove"
“Workhouse”
“Mirage”
Catch Cole
in concert on the following dates:
August 14 -
Long Beach, CA @ Long Beach Jazz Festival
August 17 -
Dearborn, MI @ Jazz on the Ave
August 18 -
Philadelphia, PA @ South Jazz Club
August 20 -
San Antonio, TX @ Big Bib Too
September 3
- Pensacola, FL @ Gulf Coast Summerfest
September 16
- Denver, CO @ Soiled Dove Underground
October 15-16 - Rehoboth Beach, DE @ Rehoboth Beach Jazz Fest
October 15-16 - Rehoboth Beach, DE @ Rehoboth Beach Jazz Fest
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