Like unique genre-blending artists Sade and Michael Franks,
mutli-million selling world-jazz-pop singer Basia has won a devoted following
due to her distinctive style and inviting persona. Basia's music sounds like no
other artist and like both Sade and Franks, she often lets several years go by
between album releases, making every album a true event for her passionate and
devoted fan base. On May 18, 2018, Shanachie Entertainment will release
Butterflies, which delivers the effervescent and beguiling Basia sound.
Co-produced and co-written by Basia and her long-time musical partner Danny
White, who also contributes sparkling piano playing throughout, Butterflies
sounds timeless yet as contemporary as any of Basia's landmark recordings. It
is quintessential Basia.
"Butterflies is about love - for life, for music and
for people. This album is full of passion and courage but also pure fun;
purists will struggle to categorize it because we happily mix jazz, Latin, soul
and pop," shares Basia. "Our songs were created with a lot of freedom
and for the simple pleasure of writing and recording them; that is why it is
probably the most diverse of our records. Danny and I finally grew up (!) and
our experiences in music and in life make this album hopefully richer and more
honest."
Butterflies spans the spectrum of breezy Brazilian
excursions to passionate pop balladry and up-tempo jazz. "Matteo," the first single,
exhibits the irresistible Brazilian feeling of Basia's classic work with
Spanish guitar and flowing percussion. "Liang and Zhu," on the other
hand is a deeply felt, simply gorgeous ballad, which refers to the Chinese
folk-legend of the two lovers named in the title. In some ways, Butterflies is
Basia's jazziest album to date, as evidenced by the ebullient swing-jazz of
"B.Pop," led by Basia's effortlessly virtuosic vocal. The CD features a crack band that showcases
Danny White on piano, Peter White and Giorgio Serci on guitars, drummer Marc
Parnell, bassist Andres Lafone, saxophonist Paul Booth and trumpeter Kevin
Robinson. The ensemble is simply scintillating throughout. Vocalist Mark
Reilly, who was a founding member of hit-making group Matt Bianco, reunites
with his fellow Matt Bianco members Danny White and Basia for a mini-Matt
Bianco reunion on "Showtime."
"We've been recording Butterflies for a few years,
without any hurry, making sure that we were always true to ourselves,"
says Basia. "Although we are aware of what is successful in the music
scene at the moment - we avoid copying and we try not to be influenced by it.
It's obvious that what we are doing musically differs from the current
fashionable style but we believe that there are listeners who will find
something interesting in our productions; maybe exactly because they are
different. We've been very lucky so far to find a receptive and loyal audience
who still seem to wait for more from us and we very much appreciate their
patience."
Basia was born Basia Trzetrzelewska in Poland where she
began her musical career as part of the popular female vocal group Alibabki and
then the rock band Perfect. Relocating to London in 1981, she met Mark Reilly
and his collaborator Danny White (brother of jazz guitarist Peter White).
Forming a jazz-pop group called Bronze, they soon changed their name to Matt
Bianco and released their debut album, Whose Side Are You On in 1984. The album
became a huge European hit, selling 1.5 million units and spawning hit singles "Get Out of Your
Lazy Bed" and "Half A Minute." In 1985, Basia and Danny left Matt Bianco in order to launch
Basia's solo career, with her debut solo album, Time And Tide, selling more
than two million copies worldwide in 1987; the "Time and Tide" single
from the album hit the Top Thirty of the Billboard Hot 100, with further hits
"Prime Time TV" and "New Day For You" following. Her second
album, London Warsaw New York, sold equally well, yielding another Top Thirty
Hit with "Cruising For a Bruising" and "Baby Your Mine."
Both albums hit #1on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart. Basia was hugely
popular in Europe and Asia so it was no surprise that her third album, The
Sweetest Illusion, sold more than a million copies worldwide in 1994, going
gold in the U.S. and hitting #1 on the Billboard Dance Chart with the single
"Drunk On Love." A successful live album, Basia on Broadway, followed
in 1995 and then she went on an extended hiatus from 1998 to 2004, devoting
herself to family and other projects in Poland. In 2004, Danny White and Mark
Reilly persuaded Basia to join them in a reunited Matt Bianco, resulting in the
critically-acclaimed Matt's Mood album and extensive touring. That reunion
stimulated work on Basia's fourth solo album, It's That Girl Again, which hit
the Top 10 of the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart in 2009. Her only other
release since then was a second live album, From Newport To London: Greatest
Hits Live,in 2011. Now, nine years in the making, Butterflies will be only the
fifth solo album in Basia's 34 year solo career. Like its all-too-rare
predecessors, it is pure musical bliss.
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