SMOKEY ROBINSON TO RELEASE "SMOKEY & FRIENDS" DUET ALBUM DUE IN SEPT. ON VERVE LABEL

Legendary Motown icon and Grammy® award-winning singer-songwriter, Smokey Robinson is set to release his highly anticipated duets album, Smokey & Friends this September 2014 on Verve Records. Produced by American Idol star and record producer Randy Jackson, Robinson will be joined by an all-star roster of acclaimed artists including rock legends Elton John and James Taylor, with additional artists to be announced soon. 

Elton John and James Taylor will duet with Robinson on treasured singles originally released in 1965 and each having sold in the millions.  Elton John and Smokey Robinson will duet on "The Tracks of My Tears," one of the most celebrated songs of our time. The legendary track landed in Rolling Stone's Top 500 Songs of All Time and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame and into the Library of Congress.  "The Tracks of My Tears" ranked #5 among 10 Greatest Songs of All Time when voted on by a panel of songwriting experts which included Hal David, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson and Jerry Lieber. 

Elton John made a historic pronouncement about the song he sang on with Robinson, "I was lucky enough to pick 'Tracks Of My Tears' because I've always loved the song, probably one of the best lyrics of all time…just an amazing lyric. The greatest pop song ever written."

James Taylor and Smokey Robinson will duet on the Marvin Gaye classic "Ain't That Peculiar" which he composed and became one of Gaye's earliest signature hits. In fact it was Gaye's second consecutive Billboard #1 R&B Single and his second Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.

Robinson said, "What a great honor and pleasure it is for me to record with my really good friends Elton John and James Taylor. They are both awesome artists and we had a great time in the studio."

Smokey & Friends will feature Robinson alongside a celebrated roster of contemporary and classic artists who will sing the best loved songs from Robinson's unmatched catalog of hits including those he has written for his solo career, his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group, The Miracles, as well as hits he wrote for others, including Marvin Gaye and The Temptations.  Additional collaborations to be featured on the album will be announced soon.

Once pronounced by Bob Dylan as America's "greatest living poet," acclaimed singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson's career spans over four decades of hits. He has received numerous awards including two Grammy's, the Grammy Living Legend Award, NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award, Honorary Doctorate (Howard University), Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts Award from the President of the United States. He has also been inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Robinson founded The Miracles while still in high school. The group was Berry Gordy's first vocal group. Their single of Robinson's "Shop Around" became Motown's first #1 hit on the R&B singles chart. The Miracles dominated the R&B scene throughout the 1960's and early 70's. In addition to writing hits for The Miracles, Robinson wrote and produced hits for other Motown greats including The Temptations, Mary Wells, Brenda Holloway, Marvin Gaye and of course The Beatles.

During the course of his 50 plus year career in music, Robinson has accumulated more than 4,000 songs to his credit and continues to thrill sold-out audiences around the world with his high tenor voice, impeccable timing, and profound sense of lyric. Never resting on his laurels, Smokey Robinson remains a beloved icon in our musical heritage.

www.smokeyrobinson.com

https://www.facebook.com/thesmokeyrobinson

https://twitter.com/smokey_robinson

~ Verve Records

 

NEW RELEASES: ROY HAYNES / PHINEAS NEWBORN / PAUL CHAMBERS - WE THREE; DORE L.A. SOUL SIDES; KARL HECTOR & THE MALCOUNS - COOMASSI

ROY HAYNES / PHINEAS NEWBORN / PAUL CHAMBERS - WE THREE

A key outing from drummer Roy Haynes – a classic trio session that has a lot more energy than the usual set from the time – thanks to equal participation from Paul Chambers on bass and Phineas Newborn on piano! The unified approach hinted at in the title certainly comes through in the grooves – as Chambers bass works way more than rhythm here – and Haynes' drumming is lightly melodic on the best numbers, allowing Newborn to almost handle more of the pace of the tunes himself. Tracks are longish, and titles include "Reflection", "Sugar Ray", "Solitaire", "Our Delight", and "Sneakin Around". ~  Dusty Groove

DORE L.A. SOUL SIDES (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

A treasure trove of soul from the legendary LA indie label Dore Records – home to some of the finest 60s sides on the west coast – a top-shelf lineup that's never been represented this well! Dore had a few key groups at the time – a young Whispers, and the excellent Superbs – but also cut work by some other great artists too – all with a level of care and class to match the best soul sides coming from New York or Detroit at the time! The Dore approach manages to have a sparkle without losing any sort of edge – careful production and instrumentation, but a real respect for the voices in the lead, too. This style works especially well with groups – as you'll hear on the set – but also graces some great cuts by single singers, too – in a lineup that includes "Doctor Love" by The Whispers, "Where There's A Will There's A Way" by Eddie Kool, "Baby's Gone Away" by The Superbs, "Do It Right Now" by The Entertainers IV, "Your Ship Of Fools" by Ray Marchand, "My Lonely Feeling" by Milton James, "The Winds Kept Laughing" by Betty Turner & The Chevelles, "You Really Never Know Till It's Over" by The Vel-Vetts, "Gone With The Wind Is My Love" by Rita & The Tiaras, "Do The Skin" by Kenard Gardner, "Oh How I Love You" by Little Johnny Hamilton & The Creators, and "Hold Back The Dawn" by Frances Lark. ~ Dusty Groove

KARL HECTOR & THE MALCOUNS -COOMASSI EP

Funky African-inspired instrumentals from Karl Hector & The Malcouns – the third and purported final entry in their limited vinyl EP series – and they cover a pretty expansive range of madly percussive, heavily rhythmic territory! Each side has tracks that run the gamut from stripped down percussion, to horn-heavy jazz funk, to organ-drenched guitar psychedelia. They're such a tight, cohesive band, the material adheres brilliantly, even though each successive track bears the influences of different regions and recording eras. That shouldn't come as a surprise, given the players' histories in the diverse global funk underground of the past decade +, but it never ceases to blow our minds. Includes "Omebele (Reprise)", "The Cave", "Beyond Squares", "Chess Break", "Coomassi", "Irtijal", and "Medium Rare Pt 1". (Vinyl only release with hand silk screened cover by Anti Designs – limited to 1000 copies and Now Again promises it will not be repressed!!) ~ Dusty Groove

NEW RELEASES: THE JIMMY CASTOR BUNCH - IT'S JUST BEGUN / PHASE TWO; DJ ANDY SMITH'S JAM UPTWIST U.S.A.; RONNIE MATTHEWS WITH FREDDIE HUBBARD - DOIN' THE THANG!

THE JIMMY CASTOR BUNCH - IT'S JUST BEGUN /  PHASE TWO

A pair of classics from the Jimmy Castor Bunch – back to back on a single CD! It's Just Begun is wickedly fuzzy funk! Jimmy Castor recorded in a lot of different styles during the 70s – but the one he used on this album is still his best! The record's a non-stop guitar-heavy batch of classic funk tracks – and it features the storming break track "It's Just Begun", the funky goofy "Troglodyte", and plenty other nice moments like "Bad", "LTD", "I Promise To Remember", and "Psychee". Fuzzy guitar meets heavy drums meets some of the most insane lyrics ever on a mainstream funk album! One of our most requested records – and for good reason! Phase Two is probably Jimmy's second best album of the 70s – one with many of the same elements as his legendary It's Just Begun record! The band is grooving hard – with plenty of heavy conga, fuzzed out guitar, and trippy grooves that serve as a perfect foil for Jimmy's super-dope sense of humor. The record features a remake of Jimmy's earlier "Hey Leroy", still done with a Latiny groove, but also with many elements of "It's Just Begun" thrown into the funky mix. The album also features Jimmy's guitar-heavy "Tribute To Jim [Hendrix]", and "Luther The Anthropoid", which was a follow-up to "Troglodyte", with similar stoner caveman lyrics! Another tasty cut is "Party Life", a 7 minute Latin funk number with a very War-like groove! ~ Dusty Groove

DJ ANDY SMITH'S JAM UPTWIST U.S.A. FEATURING DEANO SOUNDS: R&B ROCKERS, ROCKABILLY, NORTHERN SOUL AND SLEAZY SHAKERS

A great US take on the Jam Up Twist sound of DJ Andy Smith – the groove he explored on a previous compilation in the UK – now served up here in a different lineup for the states! The music is a mad mix of R&B, jump blues, rockabilly, and other raw sounds from the tail end of the 50s – very much like the sort of territory that Keb Darge has explored on his excellent sets with Little Edith – and the kind of sounds that go way way beyond well-known hits from the period! Smith digs very deep in the crates, and gets some help with selections from Deano Sounds as well – on this smoking set that includes "Honey Child" by Johnny Williams, "What's My Chances" by Chuck Flamingo, "Thanks Mr Postman" by Bobby King, "Lonesome Shack" by Ernie Washington, "Doing All Right" by Eddie Cash, "Swingin & Surfin" by Les Brown Jr, "Ever Again" by Gene Woodbury, "High School Caesar" by Reggie Perkins, "Monkey's Uncle" by Ray Sharpe, and "Pack Shack & Stack" by Billy Nelson. ~ Dusty Groove

RONNIE MATTHEWS WITH FREDDIE HUBBARD - DOIN' THE THANG!

One of the only early albums as a leader from pianist Ronnie Mathews – a player who recorded more often in later years, but who really sounds incredible in this rare session for Prestige! Although a lyrical player at heart, Mathews also has a very hard edge here – more of a soul jazz groove than you'd hear on his later records, and a great example of the sound he was picking up from some of his key 60s work as a sideman. The group is great overall – with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and Charles Davis on baritone sax – both players who bring a Blue Note-like sense of imagination to their solos here. The rest of the group features Eddie Kahn on bass and Albert Heath on drums – and titles include the killers "The Thang", "Ichi Ban", and "The Orient" – plus "Let's Get Down", "1239A", and "Prelude To A Kiss". ~ Dusty Groove 

DIONNE WARWICK SET TO RELEASE DUETS ALBUM "FEELS SO GOOD" FEAT. MULTI-GENRE COLLABORATORS

On July 1, 2014, Dionne Warwick, GRAMMY® hall of fame & multi-platinum recording artist, will release a star-studded duets album titled “Feels So Good.” The 14-track album, being released via the newly formed Bright Music Records (BMR) label in partnership with Caroline, features an anthology of Warwick classics written by Hal David & Burt Bachrach, each reborn as a duet but still encapsulated by its timeless allure. Also featured are four original new duets with some of music’s brightest stars. Joining Warwick on this multi-genre musical venture are artists who, like many of us, have been influenced by Warwick’s body of work throughout the years. Collaborators include Jamie Foxx, CeeLo Green, Gladys Knight, Billy Ray Cyrus, Eric Paslay, Cyndi Lauper, Mya, Ruben Studdard, Phil Driscoll, and Ziggy Marley, as well as Warwick’s granddaughter, Cheyenne Elliott, and son, David Elliott. R&B crooner Ne-Yo, will appear on the first track releasing off the album as he and Warwick take on her nostalgic “A House Is Not A Home.”

“I'm thrilled to release a new project with some of today's great singers and songwriters”

"I'm thrilled to release a new project with some of today's great singers and songwriters," says Warwick. "Throughout my career, I've always enjoyed creating music through collaboration and this experience has been no different. The fresh energy with these artists, producers and my new label Bright Music Records/Caroline is truly inspiring. My album will benefit Unite4good, a not-for-profit coalition, whose mission is to unite us all in bringing more good into the world."

Still consistently touring over 200 days a year, Warwick is one of the most decorated and successful recording artists of all time ranking among the top 40 hit makers from 1955-2012 based on the Billboard Charts. “Feels So Good” will be Warwick’s twenty-eighth full length album, having fifty-six singles reach the Billboard Hot 100, five GRAMMY Awards, three songs inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame and worldwide international success with millions of records sold. It is no wonder why she is the 2nd Most Charted Female Vocalist of All Time.

http://dionnewarwick.us/

HENRY BUTLER - STEVEN BERNSTEIN AND THE HOT 9 - VIPER'S DRAG - SET FOR RELEASE ON THE NEW IMPULSE! LABEL

Universal Music Group is reactivating the legendary jazz label impulse! with the release of Viper’s Drag, a retro-modern opus from Henry Butler-Steven Bernstein and the Hot 9 that is due out July 15 in the U.S. The new impulse!, which was reported yesterday in The New York Times, is a division of Universal Music France headquartered in Paris that will be distributed by Blue Note Records in the U.S. The label will focus on new releases from artists including Randy Weston, Kenny Barron, Jacky Terrasson, Ran Blake, Rodney Kendrick, Sullivan Fortner, Jean-Luc Ponty/Stanley Clarke/Biréli Lagrène, Madeleine Peyroux, and a previously-unreleased live duo album from Charlie Haden and Jim Hall recorded at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in 1990.

Founded in 1960 by Creed Taylor who was succeeded by Bob Thiele, impulse! quickly became the home of “The New Wave In Jazz” with landmark recordings from John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Duke Ellington, Sonny Rollins, Pharoah Sanders, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, and many more. After falling inactive in the late 1970s the label was revived in the late 1980s for releases from McCoy Tyner and Michael Brecker, as well as Henry Butler’s first two albums—Fivin’ Around and The Village—and later on Diana Krall and Alice Coltrane.

Viper’s Drag is the happy collision of two perfectly matched musical sensibilities—that of the New Orleans singer/pianist Henry Butler and trumpeter/arranger Steven Bernstein--two students of early jazz with decidedly modern voices. “Their collaboration is both historically aware and fully prepared to cut loose,” remarked The New York Times in an enthusiastic review of their recent New Year’s Eve performance at the Jazz Standard.

Blind since birth, Butler tells stories through the rise, swing, and rumble of his fingers as they channel sounds as diverse as his Louisiana birthplace: jazz, Caribbean, classical, pop, blues and R&B, among others. A giant among giants, he is a member of a special brotherhood that also includes Professor Longhair, James Booker and Allen Toussaint. His technical ability and expansive repertoire are legendary.

A veteran of New York City's downtown scene and a GRAMMY-winning arranger, Bernstein juggles a forward-looking perspective with a rooted sense of what’s come before. Known for his work with The Lounge Lizards and Sexmob, he’s also the leader of the Millennial Territory Orchestra, a nine-piece ensemble that draws tunes and inspiration from the dance orchestras that toured the U.S. before World War II.

Though historical explorers they may be; neither Butler nor Bernstein can avoid incorporating the most modern and freer edge of today’s jazz expression into their music. Each has found ways of balancing past and future in their respective musical signatures. “Steve’s got this modern touch in his playing and his arrangements, avant-garde and beyond,” says Butler. Bernstein laughs and shakes his head: “I call Henry a space-traveler/historian.”

The two first worked together in 1998 in the Kansas City All Stars, a touring big band led by Bernstein that came out of the Robert Altman film Kansas City. They reunited in 2011 to perform a special, one-off concert at a blues festival in New York City and the material they chose to do that day—the classic blues of Bessie Smith, the first-generation jazz of Jelly Roll Morton, and other similar tunes—resonated in a way neither had expected. “We’ll do something like this again,” Bernstein remembers them promising each other.

Butler and Bernstein reassembled in 2012 for an engagement at the Jazz Standard. “We had to get tunes together since we’d be doing two sets a night,” explains Butler. “Steven came over to my place and he’d propose a tune, we’d play it and I’d feed ideas to him—he calls them ‘Henryisms.’ Then he’d work them out for the whole band, play them back to me and I’d have to come up with some new ideas all over again. That’s how most of the arrangements came about.”

“We knew we had something special on the first set of the run,” recalls Bernstein. Veteran producer Joshua Feigenbaum was in the audience that night. He returned for most of their shows that week, convinced the group had to record. Both Butler and Bernstein refer to him as the third partner that made this album a reality. “This music is really the result of three perspectives,” says Bernstein. “The song choices came from Henry and myself and I did the arrangements, plus we used most of MTO’s frontline players. But the push to get this music recorded—and the idea for using an expert rhythm section like Reginald Veal and Herlin Riley—that’s Josh. He heard the value in this music and made this album happen.”

The music that Butler, Bernstein, and the Hot 9 have created together is filled with modern flavors, agile arrangements and a vitality that never allows the historical focus to limit itself to mere recreation. “We’re not trying to replicate New Orleans music or old-time blues,” says Bernstein. “We’re all musicians who have come out of other experiences, many of us in New York like working with Don Cherry and Wynton Marsalis and Lou Reed and Levon Helm. We’re taking that and then using the framework of Jelly Roll Morton and Fats Waller.”

“They were an ideal pairing,” concluded The New York Times in their review. “Mr. Bernstein and the Hot 9’s New York City erudition and gusto worked to compound Mr. Butler’s encyclopedic New Orleans flair. They are partway through recording an album together: a promising project, indeed.”

The tracklisting for Viper’s Drag is as follows:

1. Viper’s Drag (Fats Waller)

2. Dixie Walker (Henry Butler)

3. Buddy Bolden’s Blues (Jelly Roll Morton)

4. Henry’s Boogie (Butler)

5. Gimmie A Pigfoot (Wesley Wilson)

6. Wolverine Blues (Morton)

7. King Porter Stomp (Morton)

8. I Left My Baby (Andy Gibson)

9. Some Iko (Butler)

Henry Butler-Steven Bernstein and the Hot 9 – Summer 2014 Tour Dates:

June 11-12 – Yoshi's – San Francisco, CA

June 14 – Playboy Jazz Festival – Los Angeles, CA

June 26 – BAM R&B Festival at MetroTech – Brooklyn, NY

July 10 – Nice Jazz Festival – Nice, France

July 13 – North Sea Jazz Festival – Rotterdam, Netherlands

July 18 – New Mexico Jazz Festival – Santa Fe, NM

D’ANGELO:LIVE AT THE JAZZ CAFÉ, LONDON - THE COMPLETE SHOW

The first-ever full length presentation of a legendary live set from D'Angelo – recorded early in his career, and working through a host of classic tunes that really add in a nice layer to his own great music! D'Angelo's caught here in the legendary temple of groove – London's Jazz Cafe, home to some of the best funk and soul shows in Europe over the past few decades – and a perfect setting for the singer to really break past his more hitbound material, and relaxed in an old school format with a tight funky combo on the stage. Recording sessions for the album took place live at the Jazz Café in London, England, on September 14, 1995. Due to the folding of D'Angelo record label in 1998, Live at the Jazz Cafe had limited distribution and eventually remained out of print. The crowd is extremely enthusiastic, and the whole thing falls together beautifully – with a hard raw soul vibe that's similar to, but edgier than, D'Angelo's studio albums – much funkier overall, and more in a 70s soul mode. Instrumentation is very heavy on Fender Rhodes – and titles include "Sh*t, Damn, Motherf*cker", "Me & Those Dreamin Eyes Of Mine", "Brown Sugar", and "Cruisin" – plus great covers of 70s soul hits "Fencewalk", "Can't Hide Love" and "Sweet Sticky Thing". CD also features titles never issued before – including a 9 minute long take on "Lady", plus “Jonz In My Bones”, “I’m Glad You’re Mine. ~ Dusty Groove

BLUE NOTE RECORDS MARKS 75th ANNIVERSARY WITH GLOBAL LAUNCH OF DEDICATED BLUE NOTE DESTINATION ON iTUNES

In celebration of the 75th Anniversary of Blue Note Records, today sees the global launch of iTunes.com/BlueNote, an iTunes destination dedicated to serving as the premiere source for Blue Note music with exclusive offerings and the goal of making every Blue Note title available in one place. Over 100 Blue Note albums will be Mastered for iTunes, ensuring delivery of the music to listeners with increased audio fidelity, more closely replicating what the artists, recording engineers, and producers intended. iTunes Radio will also feature one of the first label branded radio stations with Blue Note Radio (iTunesRadio.com/BlueNote), a station that streams tracks spanning 75 years of The Finest In Jazz.

The Blue Note destination will highlight current and classic releases, including a monthly Artist Spotlight that begins today with a look at the landmark Blue Note recordings of the legendary keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock, whose Blue Note catalog includes his debut album Takin’ Off which was recorded 1962, and comprises numerous classics such as My Point Of View, Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage, and Speak Like A Child.

Now Hear This: Blue Note Records, a monthly podcast from Don Was, will present the unique perspective of Blue Note’s President. “We are incredibly grateful to iTunes for the unique commitment they have made to the artists and music of Blue Note,” said Was. “The potential of a destination like of iTunes.com/BlueNote is profound and we expect this to have a global impact on the way fans discover, acquire and dig our music.”

New catalog releases featured today at iTunes.com/BlueNote include a 75-track anniversary collection titled Blue Note 75 that spans the label’s entire history as well as six exclusive introductory 10-track Blue Note 101 compilations. A series of Blue Note Select collections will also be featured beginning with Miles Davis’ Take Off: The Complete Blue Note Albums on May 19, and Clifford Brown’s Brownie Speaks: The Complete Blue Note Recordings, which will be released June 10.

Blue Note Radio—one of the first label branded stations on iTunes Radio—will stream tracks covering all 75 years of Blue Note Jazz from Thelonious Monk to Robert Glasper. The station will continually grow as new music is released, including recent albums from Ambrose Akinmusire (the imagined savior is far easier to paint), Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band (Landmarks), and Takuya Kuroda (Rising Son), as well as upcoming releases from Bobby Hutcherson/David Sanborn/Joey DeFrancesco, Joe Lovano/Dave Douglas, Jason Moran, Wayne Shorter, and more.

Blue Note Records was founded when a German immigrant named Alfred Lion produced his first recording session with two boogie woogie pianists on January 6, 1939 in New York City. Blue Note has gone on to represent The Finest In Jazz, tracing the entire history of the music from Boogie Woogie, Hot Jazz and Swing, through Bebop, Hard Bop, Post Bop, Soul Jazz, Avant-Garde, and Fusion, and into Jazz’s numerous modern day incarnations.

It took the joining of many natural forces to create and define one of the greatest Jazz labels there has ever been: Jazz-loving German immigrants on the run from Nazism (Lion & Francis Wolff), a New Jersey optometrist moonlighting as a recording engineer (Rudy Van Gelder), a classical music-loving commercial designer (Reid Miles), and slews of the most incredible musicians that have ever walked the earth. The elements that each brought to the table—impeccable A&R instincts, elegant and insightful photography, sterling sound quality, strikingly original cover artwork, and consistently transcendent music—were all essential to the label's early success. Together they created a vivid Blue Note identity. The whole could not have existed without each of the parts.

Blue Note’s legendary catalog includes a true Who’s Who of Jazz history: Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith, Dexter Gordon, Grant Green, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Donald Byrd, Andrew Hill, Ornette Coleman, and many more.

After a brief dormancy from 1981-1984 during which producer/historian Michael Cuscuna kept the label’s legacy alive with a series of reissues on EMI, Blue Note returned reinvigorated by the leadership of Bruce Lundvall and has since established itself as the most respected Jazz label in the world. Blue Note is still home to some of the most prominent stars and cutting-edge innovators in Jazz today, and at the same time has broadened its horizons to include quality music in many genres.

Under Lundvall’s stewardship, Blue Note had its share of commercial successes from Bobby McFerrin, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Us3, Medeski Martin & Wood, Norah Jones, Al Green, Anita Baker, Amos Lee, Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis. The label also remained a haven for the most creative voices in Jazz including Ambrose Akinmusire, Patricia Barber, Brian Blade, Terence Blanchard, Don Byron, Kurt Elling, Robert Glasper, Stefon Harris, Charlie Hunter, Lionel Loueke, Joe Lovano, Jason Moran, Greg Osby, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, John Scofield, Jacky Terrasson, Chucho Valdes, and many more.

In 2011, veteran record producer and musician Don Was joined Blue Note as Chief Creative Officer and soon became President of the label with Lundvall continuing to provide guidance as Chairman Emeritus. With Was at the helm, Blue Note has renewed its dedication to Lion’s original vision that “any particular style of playing which represents an authentic way of musical feeling is genuine expression.” In the 21st century Lion’s words still ring true and provide a blueprint that includes Robert Glasper Experiment’s and José James’ visionary melding of Jazz, R&B, and Hip-Hop and Elvis Costello’s funky collaboration with The Roots, as well as bringing both the legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson back to the label where they made their early classic albums, and continuing to sign singular voices in Jazz such as saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and vocalist Gregory Porter. Blue Note Records is one of the flagship labels of the Capitol Music Group. 

~ Blue Note

GRACE JONES / NIGHTCLUBBING - REMASTERED AND RE-RELEASED

Nightclubbing, Grace Jones’ fifth studio album, was released in May 1981 and with its nine tracks including club and chart smash "Pull Up To The Bumper", it was an immediate hit, with positive reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. Grace's seminal album is to be re-released by USM and Island (internationally) on April 28, in a wide variety of formats.

The album is re-mastered for the very first time available on 1 CD, 2 CD Deluxe Edition, 2 LP 180g Deluxe Edition, Blu Ray audio and Digital formats. The 1CD will feature the original album, the 2CD will be original album, plus 12” mixes, B-sides, and two unreleased tracks. One of which is a cover of an early Gary Numan and Tubeway Army track “Me! I Disconnect From You.”

The double LP will come in a beautiful gatefold package with the first featuring the original album and a second with a selection of key 12” mixes. The 1 and 2CD editions will also be available in digital form.

The iconic sleeve for Nightclubbing became one of popular music’s most striking and was painted from a photograph taken by Jean Paul Goude. Pop had been used to men looking like women for a decade, but was less used to seeing women dressing like men.

The body of work that Grace Jones made her own at Island Records in the early 80s is among the most startling in popular music. Beginning with Warm Leatherette and concluding with Living My Life, the three albums Jones recorded between 1980 and 1982 at Compass Point Studios in Nassau in the Bahamas and produced by Alex Sadkin and Chris Blackwell became benchmarks. Nestling in the middle of these records, the very best of the very best, is Nightclubbing, the album on which her musical legacy rests.

Nightclubbing remains the high water mark of Grace Jones’ time at Compass Point, the album on which her musical legacy rests, a sophisticated mêlée of sound, astute A&R’ing, a perfect example of artist and musicians working in complete accord. And here it is again. It is simply one of the irresistible highlights of the early 80s.

THE EXTRAORDINARY NAT KING COLE FEATURES RARE UNRELEASED TRACKS AND A PAIR OF DUETS WITH DEAN MARTIN

Decades since his heyday, Nat King Cole remains one of popular music's most beloved and influential voices, as well as an iconic pop-culture presence whose smooth, confident persona continues to endear him to new generations of fans.

“Sadly the missing session tapes are still missing, but finding these completely unreleased tracks and alternate takes in the vaults was a big win.”

The swinging side of Cole's massive musical legacy takes the spotlight on The Extraordinary Nat King Cole, a compelling new collection that demonstrates the legendary artist's confident musical mastery with such icons as "L-O-V-E," "Almost Like Being In Love," as well as several soon to be classic unreleased tracks, “The Magic Window,” “Little Fingers,” and the alternate take of “Sleeping Beauty.” These tracks were found in amazing condition and unearthed recently for this release. The set also features a pair of historic duets with Nat's Capitol labelmate and fellow icon of cool Dean Martin, along with the previously unreleased number "You're Wrong All Wrong."

Originally lost and unissued, the rare tracks were finally rediscovered by Alex Luke, former EVP of A&R at Capitol Records. Luke, a big Nat King Cole fan, spent two years working tirelessly in the Capitol vaults attempting to physically locate missing master tapes, searching every variation of Nat Cole's name, combing through photos, union records, paperwork and tapes. It began as an effort to solve the mystery of a specific week-long lost Cole session from Chicago. That search uncovered the tracks here. “We deduced the session we wanted was lost in late 1955,” Luke says, “almost certainly as the result of the tapes coming to L.A. from an unusual location (Chicago) at a time when Capitol was moving operations into the brand new Capitol Tower. Nat even re-recorded a few of the tracks in late 1955 and 1956, which was a strong indication they were lost at that time." Luke adds, "Sadly the missing session tapes are still missing, but finding these completely unreleased tracks and alternate takes in the vaults was a big win."

Available on CD and digital download, The Extraordinary Nat King Cole will be released in two distinct versions. The standard single-disc edition contains 22 classic Cole performances, while the two-CD Deluxe edition adds 14 rare and/or previously unreleased tracks, including four never-before-heard vintage songs and previously unissued alternate takes of the Cole standards "Straighten Up And Fly Right," "Unforgettable," "Mona Lisa," "The Christmas Song," and "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" taken from the Nat King Cole Story sessions. Also featured are "Ain't She Sweet" and "What to Do," recorded in 1954, both of which find Cole trading vocals with his daughters Carole and Natalie (whose cross-generational 1991 duet version of "Unforgettable" helped to introduce her father to a new generation of listeners).

Although he was loved by millions as a singer of lush romantic ballads through the '40s, '50s and '60s, Nat King Cole never strayed far from his early roots in jazz and R&B. Even after he disbanded his celebrated jazz-oriented King Cole Trio in order to pursue a solo career, Cole retained an effortless sense of swing and a fluid rhythmic sensibility that consistently elevated his music above mere middle-of-the-road pop.

As James Ritz writes in his The Extraordinary Nat King Cole's liner notes, Cole "was one of the preeminent swingers in the peak era of prominent swingers, an era that included that esteemed group that swung hard and was spearheaded by Messrs. Sinatra, Martin and Davis. If Nat was not an immediate member of that prestigious aggregation per se, he was a de facto charter inductee. Their career paths crossed many times and he was held in the highest regard by all concerned. In essence, Nat was Rat Pack before there was a Rat Pack."

High praise and heady company indeed, but The Extraordinary Nat King Cole demonstrates exactly why Nat King Cole remains one of the greatest performers of his—and our—time.

TRACKLIST:

DISC 1 (STANDARD AND DELUXE)

1.     L-O-V-E 

2.   Walkin' 

3.   (I Would Do) Anything For You 

4.   The Song Is Ended (But The Melody Lingers On) 

5.   Unforgettable 

6.   Walkin' My Baby Back Home 

7.   I'm Gonna Sit Right Down (And Write Myself A Letter) 

8.   Midnight Flyer 

9.   Send For Me 

10.   Open Up The Doghouse (Two Cats Are Coming In - with Dean Martin)

11.   (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 

12.   Love 

13.   Papa Loves Mambo 

14.   You've Got The Indian Sign On Me 

15.   Mona Lisa 

16.   Let's Face The Music And Dance 

17.   Almost Like Being In Love 

18.   Don't Get Around Much Anymore 

19.   Orange Colored Sky 

20.   Long, Long Ago (with Dean Martin) 

21.   Breezin' Along With The Breeze 

22.   You're Wrong All Wrong (Previously Unreleased) 

  

DISC 2 (DELUXE VERSION ONLY)

1.   You Weren't There 

2.   How (Do I Go About It?) 

3.   Sweet William (And Lily At The Valley - Previously Unreleased)

4.   Sleeping Beauty (Previously Unreleased Version) 

5.   When I'm Alone 

6.   The Magic Window (Previously Unreleased) 

7.   Little Fingers (Previously Unreleased) 

8.   Ain't She Sweet (with Carole and Natalie Cole) 

9.   What to Do (with Carole and Natalie Cole - Previously Unreleased)

10.   Straighten Up And Fly Right (Unreleased Alternate Take) 

11.   (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons (Unreleased Alternate Take) 

12.   Unforgettable (Unreleased Alternate Take) 

13.   Mona Lisa (Unreleased Alternate Take) 

14.   The Christmas Song (Unreleased Alternate Take) 

BOB MARLEY'S "LEGEND" 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION GETS SURROUND SOUND TREATMENT; FEATURES UNRELEASED STUDIO TRACKS

Originally released on May 8, 1984, Bob Marley’s Legend illustrates the remarkable life and recording career of one of reggae music’s most important figures. This iconic collection not only serves as the perfect introduction to the music of Bob Marley, it has become an essential part in every Marley collection. It remains the world’s best-selling reggae album and continues to be one of the best-selling catalog albums, exceeding 15 million RIAA®-certified copies in the U.S. alone and over 27 million worldwide.

On July 1, 2014, Universal Music Enterprises celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Legend with the release of the CD/Blu-ray Pure Audio Disc™ combo set Legend 30th Anniversary Edition (Island Records/Tuff Gong/UMe). Coupled with the original release of Legend, this deluxe version features this iconic collection entirely mixed in 5.1 by the GRAMMY® Award winning producer Bob Clearmountain on Blu-ray Pure Audio Disc™ and now includes the original, early studio version of “No Woman No Cry,” in lieu of the previous live version. Also featured are two, previously unheard alternate takes of “Easy Skanking” and “Punky Reggae Party” recently discovered in the Marley vault. Classic Marley anthems include “Three Little Birds,” “Get Up Stand Up,” “One Love/People Get Ready,” “No Woman No Cry” and “I Shot The Sheriff,” which was later a No. 1 hit for Eric Clapton, as well as “Jamming,” “Exodus,” “Redemption Song” and “Is This Love.”

Both the CD and Blu-ray Pure Audio Disc™ are housed in a 28-page, casebound book featuring extended liner notes, unseen photos and forewards written by Sir Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and liner notes by author of the book Marley, Christopher Farley. Legend 30th Anniversary Edition will also be made available on tri-color vinyl (yellow, green and red) and pressed as a double gatefold LP allowing for a higher fidelity sound quality that is closer to the original source.

More than 30 years after its release, Legend continues to top the Billboard charts hitting No. 1 on the Top Reggae Albums in 2002, No. 1 on the Top Pop Catalog charts in 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014, No. 26 on The Billboard 200 in 2009, Top 10 on the Top Digital Albums chart in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014, and Top 20 on The Billboard 200 in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Legend holds the distinction of being the longest-charting album in the history of Billboard magazine’s Catalog Albums chart, 1110 weeks (and counting). It’s been on the Billboard 200 or Catalog chart since 1988.

Bob Marley remains one of the 20th century’s most important and influential entertainment icons. Marley’s lifestyle and music continue to inspire new generations as his legacy lives on through his music. In the digital era, he has the second-highest social media following of any posthumous celebrity, with the official Bob Marley Facebook page drawing more than 60 million fans, ranking it among the Top 25 of all Facebook pages and Top 10 among celebrity pages. Marley’s music catalog has sold millions albums worldwide and his accolades include inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1994) and ASCAP Songwriters Hall of Fame (2010), a GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award (2001), multiple entries in the GRAMMY® Hall Of Fame, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2001). Legend 30th Anniversary Edition now expands on an album that has become a rite of passage and an essential for every generation.

www.bobmarley.com

www.facebook.com/BobMarley

Blu-ray Pure Audio Disc™ TRACK LISTING:

1. IS THIS LOVE

2. NO WOMAN NO CRY (studio version)

3. COULD YOU BE LOVED

4. THREE LITTLE BIRDS

5. BUFFALO SOLDIER

6. GET UP STAND UP

7. STIR IT UP

8. EASY SKANKING (alternate version/additional track)

9. ONE LOVE / PEOPLE GET READY

10. I SHOT THE SHERIFF

11. WAITING IN VAIN

12. REDEMPTION SONG

13. SATISFY MY SOUL

14. EXODUS

15. JAMMING

16. PUNKY REGGAE PARTY (alternate version/additional track)

PIANIST SATOKO FUJII AND TRUMPETER NATSUKI TAMURA BREAK NEW GROUND WITH OLD FRIENDS

New CDs from Fujii's Orchestra New York and Tamura's Gato Libre offer fresh, compelling music from longtime working bands, to be released May 27, 2014 on Libra Records.

Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura, the most boundlessly creative husband-wife team in new jazz, are each renowned for the depth and variety of their music. Between them, they have recorded with more than 25 different ensembles to encompass the full range of their creativity. But for their latest releases, they both return to longstanding groups. Fujii's Shiki is the ninth release with her New York Orchestra to appear over the last 18 years. Tamura convenes a slightly reconfigured Gato Libre, his working quartet since 2005, for DuDu, their fifth release. The surroundings may be familiar but the music launches fearlessly into the unknown.

Shiki is dominated by the 40-minute title piece, a vast, eventful composition on which Fujii reaches for "something beyond," she says. "I wanted to paint a picture that extends beyond its canvas. I composed for life, which has many stages and changes and dramas." The title, which means "four seasons," suggests the changeability of the composition, one of the most monumental musical architectures Fujii has ever constructed. Written and improvised parts occur in a wide range of combinations-from unaccompanied solos to collective improvisations, from completely written passages to integration of one or more soloist and composition. 

Soloists include some of the foremost new jazz innovators in New York, including saxophonists Tony Malaby and Ellery Eskelin, trumpeters Herb Robertson and Steven Bernstein, and trombonist Curtis Hasselbring and Joe Fielder. Two other pieces, Fujii's prayerful "Gen Himmel," a tribute to the late bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu, and Tamura's comically antic, "Bi Ga Do Da," round out one of the most varied and adventurous CDs in the orchestra's storied career.

"This New York orchestra is like a miracle for me," Satoko says. "These great musicians give me such inspiration to compose and they contribute their own creativity as well. When I compose, I think about the band's sound and it brings out so much of my own creativity. I grow as an artist each time I work with them."

Tamura was unsure of the fate of Gato Libre after the unexpected death of its bassist Koreyasu, a founding member of the quartet and an important voice in the group's sound. After deciding to keep the band going, Tamura auditioned several new musicians in concert, looking for the right person to help the band continue. "When Yasuko Kaneko performed with the band it felt right," he says, "Her trombone timbre matched the band well and she has a sweet and wonderful personality." Gato Libre was reborn.

DuDu (Libra), the new configuration's first recording, shows not only how well Kaneko has fit into the group, but also how much her presence has allowed Tamura to take the band in new directions. Tamura's compositions and the quartet's performance display the same careful attention to group sound and balance as before, but there are different sounds and new rhythmic possibilities opened up by the trombonist's mellow, subtly textured approach. 

Tamura's arrangements of the title track, "Scramble," and "Rainy Day" keep the group wheeling through different instrumental combinations for slow, kaleidoscopic shifts in timbre. "Gato" showcases many sides of Kaneko's playing, from the melodically inventive unaccompanied solo that opens the track to the nuanced sounds that complement Tamura in a duet section. 

Tamura's solo on "Nanook" keeps firmly within the spirit of the composition while looking for new ways to express that spirit, blending calm lyricism with stormy sound abstractions. On "Cirencester," guitarist Kazuhiko Tsumura etches his taut lines on silence, backed by discrete ensemble chords and in duet with Fujii's accordion. Fujii is often a self-effacing presence in the ensemble, yet she perfectly captures the essence of each piece, from her introspective, dissonant musings on "Rainy Day," to her whimsical and frenetic playing on "Mouse." Once again, Tamura's compositions effortlessly incorporate references to folk traditions including Eastern Europe and flamenco, as well as jazz for a rich, slightly surreal, and unpredictable music. 

Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She's "a virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a band-leader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John Fordham in The Guardian.  In concert and on nearly 60 albums as a leader or co-leader, the Japanese native (now based in Berlin) synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock and Japanese folk music into an innovative music instantly recognizable as hers alone. Her most recent group, the Satoko Fujii New Trio with bassist Todd Nicholson and drummer Takashi Itani, released their debut recording, Spring Storm in 2013. "It is tempting to say the very focused, often gorgeous and always thought-provoking Spring Storm Š is her best work to date," wrote Dan McClenaghan in All About Jazz. 

Over the years, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music, including the ma-do quartet, the Min-Yoh Ensemble, and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. She has also established herself as one of the world's leading composers for large jazz ensembles. Since 1996, she has released a steady stream of acclaimed releases for large ensemble and in 2006 she simultaneously released four big band albums: one from her New York ensemble, and one each by three different Japanese bands. Her ultimate goal: "I would love to make music that no one has heard before."

Natsuki Tamura is internationally recognized for a unique vocabulary that blends extended techniques with jazz lyricism. "As unconventional as he may be, Natsuki Tamura is unquestionably one of the most adventurous trumpet players on the scene today," notes Marc Chenard in Coda magazine. Throughout his career, this unpredictable virtuoso has led bands with radically different approaches. Most recently, he has led First Meeting, a quartet featuring pianist Fujii that explores extremes of sound abstraction and formal fragmentation. Since 2005, Tamura has focused on the intersection of European folk music and jazz with Gato Libre. The quartet's poetic, quietly surreal performances have been praised for their "surprisingly soft and lyrical beauty that at times borders on flat-out impressionism," says Rick Anderson in CD Hotlist.

In contrast, the Natsuki Tamura Quartet, an earlier band led by the constantly exploring trumpeter, was a high-energy noise rock-jazz fusion group of overwhelming power. Since 1997, his ongoing duet with Fujii has recorded five CDs and won accolades from critics and audiences alike. In addition to the intimate duo performances, Tamura collaborates on many of Fujii's projects. He and Fujii are also members of Kaze, a collaborative quartet with French musicians trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins.

Whether in new bands or in well established ones, Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura always push themselves and their music to new heights. Their two latest CDs are no exceptions.

http://satokofujii.com/

http://natsukitamura.com/

GUITARIST TOM CHANG RELEASES "TONGUE & GROOVE" AN EXPLOSIVE MIX OF JAZZ, SOUTH INDIAN CARNATIC AND CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL

It's said that new ideas enter the collective zeitgeist, be they musical, visual or even political, only when people are ready to accept the concept of change. Artistically speaking, another axiom states that good artists borrow, but great artists steal. Something of both of these modes of thought is captured in guitarist/composer Tom Chang's debut release, Tongue & Groove.

Chang has taken what he willingly calls "the longer way" in bringing his novel ideas to New York City's music scene. Chang's Tongue & Groove, to be released June 3, 2014 on Raw Toast Records, brings fresh fuel to jazz improvisation, stretching its familiar framework with oft-referenced contemporary classical and rarer Southern Indian classical influences; his compositions free his musicians yet challenge them to dig deeper. Chang's unusual melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic sensibilities result in engrossing music on Tongue & Groove.

"I am trying to present music that I like hearing and that I think people will like too," Chang says. "I want a really strong melody, and really interesting rhythmic ideas: the same things I want to hear as a listener. It's basically tone, timbre, and all the other things that follow. I don't expect the listener to realize we're going from 4/4 to 7/4 and modulating on the dotted quarter note. I just want them to realize something different is happening."

Tongue & Groove is the result of years of conventional performance and study, as well as tutelage from master South Indian Carnatic percussionist and vocalist T.H. Subash Chandran (who guests on the CD). In his formative years, Chang studied jazz harmony at Berklee School of Music, then contemporary classical composers when he arrived in New York, opening yet another door to his musical evolution. Tongue & Groove exists in that otherworldly zone where divergent musical styles meet the fission of improvisation.

Tongue & Groove's title track begins with a vocal percussion solo, the konnakol, performed by T.H. Subash Chandran, followed by Greg Ward's alto and Chang's guitar swirling over Cleaver's quasi tango snare drum figures, leading to heady improvisations abetted by Askshay Anantapadmanabhan's pulsing kanjira, the South Indian frame drum (Askshay also plays mridangam on the record). Cleaver's steady clave pulse locks he groove.

"The konnakol is based on what the South Indian musicians call a korvai, a rhythmic etude/cell," Chang explains. "When you put a melody to a korvai it's like an instant composition. It doesn't contain any pitches or chords but as soon as you assign notes to a korvai and follow the structure of the rhythmic cell, you have an instant composition. I juxtaposed that with some Latin rhythms I've been studying. It's all rhythm. I love the richness of these rhythmic grooves that come from these different cultures."

Opening track "Spinal Tap/Goes to 11" explores metric-modulation between saxophone and guitar, Rigby's soft, luminous tenor tone making Chang's wirey guitar sound all the more elastic and interstellar. "Bar Codes" skitters and shakes over Cleaver's humid pulse and Lightcap's leisurely walking bass line, supporting the dual howl of Rigby and Chang as they shoot a blues cry through the night. Chang's sunspot-streaked solo is a highlight. Is this Ornette inspired or something else?

"That is a really screwy blues, with a few metric modulations," Chang laughs. "The juxtaposition of those rhythms together with the layering of one meter on top of another."

Chang references Webern's "Variation Opus 27" in the spiraling "Webern/Sleepwalker," which tilts between an exotic dual melody line and winding rhythms that bend like houses against a nuclear blast. The nearly Noirish ballad, "The Logos," is charming yet eerie. Lightcap's stately bass solo signals the coda, and the song's all too brief existence. "Entangoed Heart" follows a melodically more quizzical and upbeat vein, Chang's darting guitar figures leading to Rigby's generous, urgent solo over an airy Cleaver groove. Tongue & Groove closes with "Spinal Tap #2," recapping the rock guitar strafing of the opening track and its crisscrossing horn lines, resonant drums and spiraling hiccup of a melody. Gleeful, practically hungry solos abound on Tongue & Groove, as does the quickening pace of cross-rhythms and contrasting melodies flowing together nearly as one.

A native of Toronto, Canada, Tom Chang was inspired to play guitar after hearing Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page. The initial flush of rock guitar wonder was followed by equally heavy doses of the blues, before jazz hit him squarely between the eyes. In the mid 80s, Chang enrolled at Los Angeles' Guitar Institute of Technology where he majored in jazz performance. He studied privately with Scott Henderson, Joe Diorio, and the late Ted Greene. Chang's quick advancement led to regular professional gigs with everyone from comedian (then cabaret performer) Sandra Bernhard and crooner Luther Vandross to Sade.

While still at GIT, Chang hopped a red eye to New York to catch guitarists Bill Frisell and Jim Hall with bassist Steve LaSpina and drummer Joey Baron at the Village Vanguard. Inspired by their performance, Chang decided to move to Manhattan, first moving to Boston where he studied jazz composition at Berklee College of Music and took private lessons with Mick Goodrick.

Chang made the jump to New York City in 1989, and began playing almost immediately. Dave Binney, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Ben Monder, Rez Abbasi, Ron McClure, Tom Rainey, Joey Calderazzo and Brad Shepik all christened the newcomer into New York City's musical deep end.

"I wasn't ready, but the scene was amazing," Chang recalls. "Right away you could jump in and start playing. That exposed me to a lot of great players."

Regarding the album's Southern Indian Carnatic influence, Chang was initially, like many musicians, fascinated only by the music's rhythmic complexity.

"When I actually started taking the rhythms apart is when I began to love the music," Chang says. "The way the music is crafted is amazing. It's very complex yet when played properly it can sound very simple and beautiful. The more I studied Southern Carnatic music the more I became interested in the actual melodies moreso than purely its rhythms. So many people are caught up in the intellectual aspects of Indian music but it has such richness of melody and texture."

Tongue & Groove's unusual compositional colors and intense solos force the question: Is Tom Chang a composer whose tool happens to be the guitar or a guitarist intent on expressing something new?

"The composing and guitar playing feed each other equally," Chang offers. "A lot of the newer harmonic material I am working on will crystallize in the form of a composition. Or I'll be working on a certain concept and it will give me ideas that work well on guitar. Lately I've been studying counterpoint which is basically compositional in nature. All of it opens up different ways of approaching how I play the guitar."

www.myspace.com/tomchangmusic

SPENCER DAY - DAYBREAK

Acclaimed singer/songwriter Spencer Day returns to his musical roots with his fifth full-length album Daybreak, and his first independent album in seven years. His past two albums were released on the legendary Concord/Jazz label. With Daybreak, Spencer has created an album of signature interpretations of well-loved songs from the 1960’s along with five brand-new compositions written in homage of these classic American tunes.

There was a time, a sound, a feel, and a sensibility that defined the California mid-century experience. Spencer calls Daybreak his “top-down Chevy convertible on the Pacific Coast Highway” album, evoking the breezy feel of a sunny Southern California afternoon. Classics including Groovin, A World Without Love, and Never My Love have been re-imagined and interpreted in Spencer’s trademark honey baritone voice.

Spencer Day is widely regarded for his original songs that blend compelling melodies, smart lyrics and lush arrangements. For Daybreak, Spencer has crafted five new works that blend seamlessly with the cover tunes to create a moving tribute to that special time and place that gave rise to so many musical gems. Audiences around the world have enthusiastically supported Spencer for over ten years at venues as diverse as Birdland in New York, the Hollywood Bowl, Jazz Alley in Seattle, the Pacific Rim Jazz Festival in Manila, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Feinstein’s in San Francisco, Tanglewood, the Craig Ferguson Show and at music venues and festivals across the U.S. and worldwide. Spencer has a widely diverse and enthusiastic fan base in the U.S., Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Missing Tonight is the first single from Daybreak to be released to radio, and it reflects Spencer’s roots in the Great American Songbook, with a contemporary, upbeat twist that has become Spencer’s signature sound. Written with legendary composers Bill DeMain and Larry Goldings, Missing, with its jazzy feel and persuasive lyrics, evokes the excitement of a new relationship and the universal allure of limitless possibilities.

Spencer will tour extensively with his band on his Daybreak CD Release tour beginning May 10th in Georgia and continuing in San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Orange County, Europe, Mexico (2015) and other venues and festivals in the U.S. and abroad.

The album’s first single Missing Tonight debuted tied for # 3 most added on Billboard Magazine’s Smooth Jazz chart the week of its release. Daybreak will be released “Direct to Fans” via Spencer’s website on Friday May 16th, 2014 and Digitally and Physically, worldwide on June 10th, 2014.

www.spencerday.com