He’s a Nashville mainstay, a seminal Americana music pioneer
with Grammy-winning credentials as a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist,
producer and arranger yet his unexplored desire was his passion for jazz. Phil
Madeira finally indulged his long-beckoning muse when
he recently dropped his first instrumental album, “Crickets,” a collection of
ten original compositions set in the context of a quintet anchored by astute
jazz piano rendered in a production palette redolent of 1950s-60s
straight-ahead jazz.
Known for being a lyrical writer, Madeira titled “Crickets,”
his eighth solo disc, as a playful reference to his first album without words.
His piano romps of swinging acoustic jazz take structure from the rhythmic
support of drums and upright bass and are enriched with bluesy guitar and
saxophone harmonies. Stylistically, “Crickets” possesses cool vintage appeal
along with earthy, organic elements. Initially, Madeira thought he was creating
music for use as film scores. When he realized the material had become quite
personal in nature, he, with encouragement from the album’s co-producer, Sirkka
Svanoe Wood, he expanded the pieces into full-length songs.
Madeira did hit the Billboard Jazz Albums chart last year
with his first jazz record, “Providence,” which contained vocal
selections.
Normally heard in the company of Garth Brooks, Emmylou
Harris, The Civil Wars, Elvis Costello, Alison Krauss, Toby Keith, Amy Grant,
Mavis Staples, Keb Mo’, Bruce Hornsby and Vanessa Williams, Madeira’s honors
include Grammy, Dove, ASCAP and Nashville Music Awards. In April, he was
inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame, his home state. He will be
leading his Mercyland Songwriting Workshop in Hot Springs, NC later this month,
which is an intensive retreat for songwriters.
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