NEW RELEASES: MAURICE BROWN – THE MOOD; ROBERT LUTHER SMITH - PSYSYCHEDELIA; DEZRON DOUGLAS – SOUL JAZZ

MAURICE BROWN – THE MOOD

Fantastic sounds from trumpeter Maurice Brown – a straight jazz player by training, but one who opens up here in a warmly soulful groove! The record bristles with loads of great keyboards from Kris Bowers – whose sound is as important to the album as Brown's trumpet – and the rhythms are played live, but have a nicely chunky quality that fits in well with the occasional vocal from Maurice – as well as guest vocal contributions from Talib Kweli, Chris Turner, and J Ivy! Most tracks also feature tenor from Chelsea Baratz – and the whole thing's got a nice groove that's maybe in the same electric territory as some of the more soul-drenched titles in recent years from Blue Note. Titles include "The Mood", "On My Way Home", "Stand Up","Moroccan Dancehall", "Shenanigans", "Capricorn Rising", and "Journey Exotique". ~ Dusty Groove

ROBERT LUTHER SMITH - PSYCHEDELIA

Robert Luther Smith is an R&B artist from the UK who has been at it since 1973. All these years later he's still got it as he's released his sixth album, Psychedelia.

Robert Luther Smith has been playing music since the early '70s and in between then and now has done his fair share of legwork. Now he's ready for the world to get their hands (and ears) on his latest release, Psychedelia. When Luther sits down to construct his music, he tackles every element. Writing, singing and producing. He puts his all into his work, and the result he says is more like a collection of short stories laid over R&B music. He called it "romantic fiction." A term not often used in music, but easily understood. Luther writes with his heart and his latest result is his album, Psychedelia. R&B with hints of pop, singles such as "Philly Girl" and "Mediocria Firma" have garnered attention from listeners via his site since being released. Starting in the early '70s at the legendary Regent Sound Studios in Denmark Street London, he started making his own records come 1978. A short while later he was signed to RCA in '82. From there he was on the road with Hot Chocolate that same year. Six records released to date, including Psychedelia, Luther has shown no signs of slowing down in his lengthy career. Although he doesn't gig as much as he used to, today he's focused more on people hearing his music via the record.

DEZRON DOUGLAS – SOUL JAZZ

Bassist Dezron Douglas is always a name we look for on a record – and although this set is one of the few he's ever given us as a leader, his playing and approach never let us down! For the set, Douglas revisits a number of older soul tracks, but in a way that's completely instrumental – much more complicated than the 60s soul jazz modes you might expect from title, with a wonderfully changing sense of rhythm and flow that's abetted by work from Donald Brown on piano and Willie Jones III on drums – both working at a level that matches their own great records as leaders. Saxophonist Jimmy Greene blows both tenor and soprano sax on the album – adding an important voice over the top – and titles include "Hey There Lonely Girl", "I Want You", "Tears Of A Clown", "Cupid", "Ooh Baby Baby", "Having A Party", and "So Amazing". ~ Dusty Groove

NEW RELEASES: MAYSA – LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD; ROZINA PATKAI - PARAÍSO NA TERRA; STANLEY CLARKE - THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION

MAYSA – LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD

"I definitely feel responsible for putting out music that helps people," shares the humble, stunning and down to earth Grammy nominated singer Maysa. "That is my calling in life and that is what God put me on this earth to do." Maysa has remained one of the most instantly identifiable voices in R&B and Jazz over the past 25 years by staying true to her musical vision. Stevie Wonder declares, "Maysa is WONDER-ful!" Maysa launched her musical career as a member of Stevie's Wonderlove and has enjoyed the spotlight as the long-time front vocalist with the explosive UK Jazz/Funk sensation Incognito.  The Soul Train Award winner has recorded 13 solo albums and her latest, Love Is A Battlefield (out May 26th), is arguably her best. Maysa explains, "Love Is A Battlefield is my political cry and hopefully many people will understand what I'm trying to say through the words of those writers." Love Is A Battlefield features ten tracks of mostly R&B gems, with two tracks delving into the Rock/Pop arena.  Drawing inspiration from such diverse artists as The Isley Brothers and Natalie Cole to Pat Benatar and Justin Bieber, Maysa's true artistry shines as she demonstrates her unique ability to transform virtually any song into her own unique work of art. As much as anything, Love Is A Battlefield is an oasis and a sonic journey capable of uplifting us all. It is also a testament to Maysa's resilient spirit. "I choose to be happy deep inside my soul no matter what goes on around me. Even when life kicks my ass I try to return to that center, my peaceful place." 

ROZINA PATKAI - PARAÍSO NA TERRA

On her second album, Rozina Pátkai - a Hungarian singer renowned for her highly unique renditions of Bossa Nova classics – is expanding her artistic repertoire to include a selection of new original songs which, although still rooted in authentic Brazilian music, will depart from the traditional form by infusing the genre with elements from jazz, pop and even progressive music. With instrumental improvisations and exhilaratingly naïve melodies replete in catchy hooks, the dynamics promise to be anything but predictable. Since the songs themselves are a multicultural celebration of the many unexplored possibilities latent within Bossa Nova and rely on the tradition as more of a launching pad into the contemporary than a nostalgic look into its past, the lyrics are a collection of Portuguese, Spanish and English poems respectively written by Zsófia Bàn, Jane Tyson Clement, Giovanni Pintaude, Ádám Szabó, Rory Winston and the legendary Garcia Lorca. Produced by Márton Fenyvesi @ TomTom Studio

STANLEY CLARKE - THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION

When it comes to the Bass guitar, the first name that comes to mind for most people is the Legend that is Stanley Clarke, so we here at Robinsongs are immensely proud to be issuing the Definitive Collection of Stanley's amazing career. . A Double CD of Stanley Clarke's work from 1975 through to 1990, which also covers the Clarke / Duke project, Fuse One and the Stanley Clarke Band eras. . This superb package features sleeve notes by Charles Waring, who interviewed Stanley specifically for this release, and you get a true insight into how some of the tracks were recorded and Stanley's thoughts about certain tracks and the friends that played with him. . This "Definitive Collection" features all the album versions, so you can enjoy the classics such as 'School Days', 'We Supply' (which was co-written with Louis Johnson) and 'Heaven Sent You' (featuring Shalamar's Howard Hewett on vocals) along with the jazzier side to Stanley's work like the amazing 'Concerto For Jazz' parts 1 & 2. . Stanley Clarke had a very successful period recording with his friend George Duke as the Clarke/Duke Project and this package features five tracks from those albums including the brilliant version of Parliament's 'Mothership Connection' and the smash 'Sweet Baby', a track that Stanley recalls was a real pivotal moment in their careers.

Saxophonist Quinsin Nachoff Discovers New Approaches to Melding Exploratory Jazz and Classical Music with his Ethereal Trio

Saxophonist and composer Quinsin Nachoff has become renowned for his unique and ingenious mergers of modern jazz and contemporary classic music. His music daringly ventures to the farthest edges of both idioms while dancing elegantly along the often uneasy borderline between them. While it shares the same roots, Nachoff's new Ethereal Trio takes a somewhat different approach - as the name implies, there's something looser, more elusive and free-ranging, about this trio as opposed to the more rigorous hybridization of some of Nachoff's other ensembles (Flux, the Horizons Ensemble, Magic Numbers).

In part, that's due to the musicians involved. 

The Ethereal Trio - whose self-titled debut will be released May 19, 2017 via Whirlwind Recordings - teams Nachoff with two of modern music's most forward-thinking artists: bassist Mark Helias and drummer Dan Weiss. Both are inveterate explorers well-versed in absorbing a variety of complex musical vocabularies and expressing them in personal and compelling fashion. But the singularly, well, ethereal feeling of this music can also be credited to Nachoff's astute compositions, which blend methodically composed material with free improvisation in a way that leaves enticing, inspirational space for all three to roam.

"As a contrast to some of my other recent projects," Nachoff says, "this ensemble allows me to explore as a saxophonist, visiting different pillars and languages within the jazz tradition but striving for a personal sound and narrative."

The Ethereal Trio was birthed directly from the composer's interest in merging jazz and classical influences. Nachoff was commissioned by the Penderecki String Quartet to compose "Stars and Constellations: Scorpio," a piece for string quartet and saxophone trio, which prompted the New York-based, Canadian-born saxophonist to further the idea of establishing a chordless trio as a distinct project away from his larger ensemble successes. A stand-alone concert with seasoned Helias and Weiss created the conceptual spark, and following the writing of new material early in 2016, a series of concerts in New York, Toronto and Montreal neatly led to this recording.

"I enjoy writing this way as it gives me two distinct voices that I can really work with," Nachoff says. "As a bassist, Mark Helias is such an experienced musician - I can compose harmonically or contrapuntally and he always expands it to such an extent that we're never missing harmony; if we play in more of an open setting, it leaves us more freedom. Dan Weiss is a master of dealing with anything rhythmically -so he can be very free within even something very structured. All three of us love to investigate different colors and extended techniques, so many different directions are possible. Once we've understood what the direction is for each composition, that's when the magic starts to happen."

Each piece on the album has its own plot and internal logic, yet the trio's predominant vibe is searching and otherworldly - hence the "ethereal" tag, which should not be understood as implying something delicate or dreamlike. This is fiery, passionate, relentlessly venturesome music that boldly seeks new discoveries in the far reaches of Nachoff's structures. The titles seem to juggle left and right brain notions in provocative ways, suggesting a mixture of art and science that finds equal stimulation in both the speculative and the cerebral.

"Clairvoyant Jest" opens the album with Nachoff's saxophone dancing across rhythmically twisted swing, characterized by double-stopped, open-stringed bass and harmonics which highlight the harmonic motion. "Gravitas" follows, focusing on freer response and reflection as its questioning saxophone motifs are interpreted by arco bass. Suggesting a change in our imaginative picture of the world, "Imagination Reconstruction" pairs sax and Helias' bass harmonics magnificently, and the ten-minute progression of "Portrait in Sepia Tones" ramps up into a superbly percussive maelstrom. "Push-Pull Topology" possesses an underlying walking bass thread, stretching and pulling different rhythms - fives over fours over threes - while the bristling landscapes of "Subliminal Circularity" summon the leader's equally raw and rippling saxophonic tones.

Quinsin Nachoff relishes the freedom and the opportunities this trio offers: "I'm regularly involved in projects which include a lot of composing, arranging and organizational effort to make them happen. This Ethereal Trio album became much more about simply playing the saxophone, which was extremely fun and rewarding - and these musicians are such a pleasure to play with. That's the world I like to live in."

www.quinsin.com

Pianist Pete Malinverni asks, "Heaven - is this it, right here?"

With Heaven Pete Malinverni adds to the long list of varied and moving projects he's given us over time, including in the trio, quartet, quintet, solo piano, big band and choir formats. Always searching in spirit but engaging in nature, Pete's music asks the larger questions in a way that is both challenging and approachable.

Heaven is no different, except that it was born of a remarkable set of circumstances. First, Pete's wife, singer Jody Sandhaus, died in 2012, causing him to look to many places, including deep inside, to find a way forward in life. He had to - he loves life and he has a son. Through that search, Pete found a new appreciation for the quotidian things one encounters on a daily basis and that speak of something larger - something, call it what you will, that is worth notice and appreciation.

Then, just over a year ago, Pete himself had a health scare - unfounded, but yielding that existential fear some of us know all too well. During a fraught week, Pete resolved that, should he have time for just one more recording, it would deal with spiritual things. With the eventual 100% clean bill of health came relief - but also a new determination that the difficult week had served the purpose of giving his art a new focus.

Heaven is the result of that clarity. Featuring Pete in trio with Ben Allison and Akira Tana, the album features songs that speak in varied ways of spirituality, from Curtis Mayfield's People, Get Ready to Hungarian Jewish martyr Hannah Senesh's Eili, Eili, to the American Spiritual, A City Called Heaven to the title track, Duke Ellington's Heaven.

Also featured on the date for one selection each are Karrin Allyson (Jody Sandhaus' favorite singer, by the way), saxophonist Steve Wilson and trumpeter Jon Faddis, each guest offering a unique and stirring meditation in his/her own unique voice.

The question of Heaven is an old one. Does it exist - and, if so, how can it be better than this? Well, Pete Malinverni has learned for sure what he always suspected: if the beauty of every moment - every personal encounter, every lick from a dog, every breeze - is tasted as it should be, then isn't Heaven right here, right now?

Indeed, in his liner notes, Malinverni says, "We all want to look up - we hope, maybe we even trust, that somewhere there is unalloyed truth and beauty. Much art memorializes tristesse, encouraging us to abide, to await Relief, Rest or Joy. Other art suggests that Joy can be experienced right now, if only we choose it. For lack of a better term, let's call that thing for which we wait, or which we savor presently, Heaven.

"This recording is meant to reconcile those two perspectives, presenting music of various traditions with one thing in common - the notion that even this vale of tears is tinged with the essence of the transcendent, of the beautiful and the true".

The album opens with a jaunty reading of the title track, Malinverni taking a hint from the first two chords of the harmony, modulating up every chorus. Following immediately behind is Psalm 23, Pete's dynamic new commissioned choral composition, offered here in the trio format. The American folk song, Down in the River to Pray is next, played in a "5" meter, calling to mind the scene at the shore early one Sunday.

Next, the ever-soulful Karrin Allyson joins Pete at the water with Shenandoah, followed by the trio's rendering of Eili, Eili, by the young Jewish martyr Hannah Senesh, who parachuted with the RAF into her native Hungary to help lead Jews out of their then-dangerous home. Instead, she was caught, tortured and killed by the Nazis and this poem, an appreciation of the simple and profound beauty of nature, is her legacy.

Then, the swinging version of the soul hit, People, Get Ready precedes a beautifully intimate Come Sunday by Jon Faddis and the trio, followed by a Ben Allison feature on A City Called Heaven. Steve Wilson burns down the house on Wade in the Water and the recital closes with Ashokan Farewell, a new song of loss and what's left behind, featured prominently in Ken Burns' Civil War series.

All in all, Heaven is a worthy addition to Pete Malinverni's oeuvre, and not to be missed.

petemalinverni.com

STING: THE COMPLETE STUDIO COLLECTION - FULL SOLO CAREER-SPANNING VINYL BOX SET

A&M, Interscope Records and Deutsche Grammophon have announced the release of The Complete Studio Collection on June 9th. Encompassing the entirety of Sting's illustrious solo studio album catalogue on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl – from his 1985 debut album The Dream Of The Blue Turtles through to the latest 57th & 9th – The Complete Studio Collection is the first ever complete anthology of Sting's unparalleled solo career.

Following the release of the now sold out The Studio Collection box set via A&M and Interscope Records, The Complete Studio Collection includes all of the A&M / Interscope Records catalogue plus his Deutsche Grammophon discography – Songs From The Labyrinth (2006), If On A Winter's Night... (2009) and Symphonicities (2010) – in addition to his new album 57th & 9th; bringing together all 12 solo studio albums for the very first time.

For fans who purchased the original The Studio Collection box set, a separate bundle has been specially created entitled The Studio Collection: Volume II that contains the 4 newly added albums – Songs From The Labyrinth, If On A Winter's Night..., Symphonicities and 57th & 9th – with space within the set for all of the remaining albums to create The Complete Studio Collection.

All of the included catalogue LPs are presented in meticulous reproductions of their original artwork with new vinyl masters cut at the world-renowned Abbey Road Studios to ensure the highest possible audio quality throughout.

The Complete Studio Collection highlights the incredible full range of Sting's seminal songwriting, inimitable storytelling, and awe-inspiring arrangements through a myriad of musical styles. From the jazz-infused politically-charged The Dream Of The Blue Turtles to the deft pop songcraft of …Nothing Like The Sun, the globetrotting Brand New Day to the evocative electronica of Sacred Love, through to the exploration of complex classical forms in Songs From The Labyrinth, expanding in magnitude and concept on  If On A Winter's Night…, and further developing into the genre-melding orchestral expanse Symphonicities, before finally culminating in the triumphant return to pop/rock on 57th & 9th; The Complete Studio Collection showcases all facets of the ever-evolving and truly inspirational artistry of Sting.

  

Sting's 57th & 9th World Tour, with special guests The Last Bandoleros and Joe Sumner, is taking the world by storm with stunningly rave reviews from fans and critics alike. The guitar-driven rock tour, featuring a 4-piece band, has seen sold out performances throughout North America and Europe. Sting is currently performing across South and Central America, before venturing to Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Osaka. Sting then returns to Europe for a string of summer festival and concert dates throughout Europe. Visit www.sting.com for complete tour and ticket details.

Sting will also be awarded the 2017 Polar Music Prize, which celebrates the power and importance of music and is given to individuals, groups or institutions for international recognition of excellence in the world of music. The Polar Music Prize ceremony is on June 15th in Stockholm, Sweden in the presence of the Swedish Royal Family.

THE COMPLETE STUDIO COLLECTION – TRACKLISTING:

THE DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLES (Original Release: 1985)

Side A:

1.     If You Love Somebody Set Them Free

2.     Love Is The Seventh Wave

3.     Russians

4.     Children's Crusade             

5.     Shadows In The Rain             

Side B:

6.     We Work The Black Seam

7.     Consider Me Gone

8.     The Dream Of The Blue Turtles

9.     Moon Over Bourbon Street

10.  Fortress Around Your Heart

…NOTHING LIKE THE SUN (Original Release: 1987)

Side A:

1.     The Lazarus Heart

2.     Be Still My Beating Heart

3.     Englishman In New York

Side B:

4.     History Will Teach Us Nothing

5.     They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo)

6.     Fragile

Side C:

7.     We'll Be Together

8.     Straight To My Heart

9.     Rock Steady

Side D:

10.  Sister Moon

11.  Little Wing

12.  The Secret Marriage

THE SOUL CAGES (Original Release: 1991)

Side A: 

1.     Island Of Souls

2.     All This Time

3.     Mad About You

4.     Jeremiah Blues (Part 1)

5.     Why Should I Cry For You?

Side B: 

6.     Saint Agnes And The Burning Train             

7.     The Wild Wild Sea

8.     The Soul Cages             

9.     When The Angels Fall

TEN SUMMONER'S TALES (Original Release: 1993)

Side A:

1.     If I Ever Lose My Faith In You

2.     Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)

3.     Fields Of Gold

4.     Heavy Cloud No Rain

5.     She's Too Good For Me

6.     Seven Days

Side B:

7.     Saint Augustine In Hell

8.     It's Probably Me

9.     Shape Of My Heart

10.  Something The Boy Said

11.  Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me)

MERCURY FALLING (Original Release: 1996)

Side A:

1.     The Hounds Of Winter

2.     I Hung My Head

3.     Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot             

4.     I Was Brought To My Senses

5.     You Still Touch Me

Side B:

6.     I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying

7.     All Four Seasons

8.     Twenty Five To Midnight

9.     La Belle Dame Sans Regrets

10.  Valparaiso

11.  Lithium Sunset

BRAND NEW DAY (Original Release: 1999)

Side A: 

1.     A Thousand Years

2.     Desert Rose (feat. Cheb Mami)

3.     Big Lie Small World

Side B:

4.     After The Rain Has Fallen

5.     Perfect Love...Gone Wrong

Side C:

6.     Tomorrow We'll See

7.     Prelude To The End Of The Game

8.     Fill Her Up

Side D:

9.     Ghost Story                    

10.  Brand New Day

SACRED LOVE (Original Release: 2003)

Side A:

1.     Inside            

2.     Send Your Love (feat. Vicente Amigo)

3.     Whenever I Say Your Name (feat. Mary J. Blige)

Side B:

4.     Dead Man's Rope

5.     Never Coming Home

6.     Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing)

Side C:

7.     Forget About The Future

8.     This War

9.     The Book Of My Life (feat. Anoushka Shankar)

Side D:

10.  Sacred Love

11.  Send Your Love (Dave Audé Remix)

SONGS FROM THE LABYRINTH (Original Release: 2006)

Side A:

1.     Walsingham

2.     Can She Excuse My Wrongs? [First Booke of Songes, 1597 - Arr. E.H.Fellowes]

3.     "Ryght Honorable: As I Have Bin Most Bounde Unto Your Honor..."

4.     Flow My Tears

5.     Have You Seen The Bright Lily Grow

6.     "...Then In Time Passing One Mr. Johnson Died..."

7.     The Most High And Mighty Christianus The Fourth, King Of Denmark, His Galliard

8.     The Lowest Trees Have Tops

9.     "...And Accordinge As I Desired Ther Cam A Letter To Me Out Of Germany..."

10.  Fine Knacks For Ladies            

11.  "...From Thence I Went To The Landgrave Of Hessen..." 

12.  Fantasy

Side B:

13.  Come Heavy Sleep

14.  Forlorn Hope Fancy

15.  "...And From Thence I Had Great Desire To See Italy..."

16.  Come Again

17.  Wilt Thou Unkind Thus Reave Me

18.  "...After My Departure I Caled To Mynde Our Conference..."

19.  Weep You No More, Sad Fountains

20.  My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home  

21.  Clear Or Cloudy

22.  "...Men Say That The Kinge Of Spain Is Making Gret Preparation..."

23.  In Darkness Let Me Dwell

IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT… (Original Release: 2009)

Side A:

1.     Gabriel's Message        

2.     Soul Cake

3.     There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue

4.     The Snow It Melts The Soonest

5.     Christmas At Sea

6.     Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming

7.     Cold Song

Side B:

8.     The Burning Babe

9.     Now Winter Comes Slowly

10.  The Hounds Of Winter

11.  Balulalow

12.  Cherry Tree Carol

13.  Lullaby For An Anxious Child

14.  Hurdy Gurdy Man

15.  You Only Cross My Mind In Winter

SYMPHONICITIES (Original Release: 2010)

Side A:

1.     Next To You

2.     Englishman In New York

3.     Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

Side B:

4.     I Hung My Head

5.     You Will Be My Ain True Love

6.     Roxanne

Side C:

7.     When We Dance

8.     The End Of The Game

9.     I Burn For You  

Side D:

10.  We Work The Black Seam

11.  She's Too Good For Me

12.  The Pirate's Bride

13.  Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (Bronx Street Fair Mix)

THE LAST SHIP (Original Release: 2013)

Side A:

1.     The Last Ship

2.     Dead Man's Boots

3.     And Yet

4.     August Winds

5.     Language Of Birds

6.     Practical Arrangement             

Side B:

7.     The Night The Pugilist Learned How To Dance

8.     Ballad Of The Great Eastern

9.     What Have We Got? (feat. Jimmy Nail)

10.  I Love Her But She Loves Someone Else

11.  So To Speak (feat. Becky Unthank)

12.  The Last Ship (Reprise)

57TH & 9TH (Original Release: 2016)

Side A:

1.     I Can't Stop Thinking About You

2.     50,000

3.     Down, Down, Down

4.     One Fine Day

5.     Pretty Young Soldier

Side B:

6.     Petrol Head

7.     Heading South On The Great North Road

8.     If You Can't Love Me

9.     Inshallah

10.  The Empty Chair

57th & 9th Tour Itinerary – with special guests: The Last Bandoleros and Joe Sumner

Wed. May 17, 2017 / Mexico City, MX National Auditorium

Thu. May 18, 2017 / Mexico City, MX National Auditorium

Sat. May 20, 2017 / Monterrey, MX Auditorio Banamex

Sun. May 21, 2017 / Guadalajara, MX Auditorio Telmex

Sun. May 28, 2017 / Singapore, SG Singapore Indoor Stadium

Wed. May 31, 2017 / Seoul, KR Understage By Hyundai Card

Sat. June 03, 2017 / Hong Kong, HK Convention & Exhibition Centre

Tue. Jun 06, 2017 /Tokyo, JP Budokan

Wed. June 07, 2017 / Tokyo, JP Budokan

Thu. June 08, 2017 / Tokyo, JP Budokan

Sat. June 10, 2017 / Osaka, JP Chuo Gymnasium

Summer Festival Performances

During the months of June and July, Sting will perform throughout Europe at a series of festivals and special concert events including shows in Sweden, Norway, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal and Italy.

Composer, singer-songwriter, actor, author, and activist Sting was born in Newcastle, England before moving to London in 1977 to form The Police with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. The band released five studio albums, earned six Grammy Awards and two Brits, and was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

As one of the world's most distinctive solo artists, Sting has received an additional 10 Grammy Awards, two Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, four Oscar nominations (most recently for "The Empty Chair" from JIM: The James Foley Story), a TONY nomination, Billboard Magazine's Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year. Also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, in December 2014 he received the Kennedy Center Honors, and most recently was given The American Music Award of Merit. Throughout his enduring career, he has sold close to 100 million albums from his combined work with The Police and as a solo artist.

Sting's support for human rights organizations such as the Rainforest Fund, Amnesty International and Live Aid mirrors his art in its universal outreach. Along with wife Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Fund in 1989 to protect both the world's rainforests and the indigenous people living there. Together they have held 18 benefit concerts to raise funds and awareness for our planet's endangered resources. Since its inception, the Rainforest Fund has expanded to a network of interconnected organizations working in more than 20 countries over three continents.

NEW RELEASES: THELONIOUS MONK / JOHN COLTRANE – THE COMPLETE 1957 RIVERSIDE RECORDINGS; HAMPSHIRE AND FOAT – GALAXIES LIKE GRAINS OF SAND; JORN SWART - MALNOIA

THELONIOUS MONK / JOHN COLTRANE – THE COMPLETE 1957 RIVERSIDE RECORDINGS

For an all-too-brief, magical time in 1957, two of the greatest musicians in history-Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane-made their only studio recordings together, which are compiled in this deluxe 3-LP box set, due out June 9th. Launching the newly-minted imprint Craft Recordings, this collection features remastered audio from the original analog recordings, a unique "file folder" packaging, rare photos, and 180-gram vinyl pressed at RTI. Includes notes by the late Orrin Keepnews, who, as producer of the original sessions, was present at the creation of every note.

HAMPSHIRE AND FOAT – GALAXIES LIKE GRAINS OF SAND

UK Jazz pianist Greg Foat has teamed up with Mercury Award nominated The Bees member and multi instrumentalist Warren Hampshire to collaborate on a new LP drawing on their diverse musical influences. Ranging from classic British library music, ‘60s Italian soundtracks to Americana combined with touches of modern classical, minimalism, Jazz and Folk, Galaxies Like Grains Of Sand is an incredibly rich and diverse work, a deeply cinematic and evocative experience. Featuring many members of Greg and Warren's previous bands and one of the UK’s finest jazz drummers, Clark Tracy, the LP also features an orchestra and handpicked soloists, all scored by Foat and Hampshire. Recorded all analogue onto 2" multi-track in Edinburgh, mixed down by Mattias Glavå at his studio in Gothenburg, Sweden, then mastered and cut in Helsinki, Finland, the LP is truly a European affair flying in the face of the brexit nightmare.

JORN SWART - MALNOIA

Jorn Swart is a spirited up-and-coming jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, currently living and performing in NYC. The Dutch pianist's refined playing and emotive compositions have garnered him much recognition, here and abroad. In November, 2013 he toured Europe to present his debut CD, A Day in the Life of Boriz, featuring some of NYC's most thrilling and fearless jazz musicians. Swart now proudly announces the release of his compelling new sophomore album, Malnoia, available on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records on May 26, 2017. Malnoia is timeless and sophisticated, and reshapes the concept of the traditional jazz piano trio. In replacing double bass and drums with bass clarinet and viola, the project elegantly and creatively expands the limits of what is possible within a "piano trio". On Malnoia, Swart drew inspiration from classical composers such as Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartok and Paul Hindemith, and combined them with elements of jazz, creating an atypical sound that can be both lyrical and nostalgic, and abstract and unpredictable. His melancholic themes suddenly turn into unruly improvisations or sparkling romanticism. The Malnoia trio, featuring Swart with Benni von Gutzeit (of the Turtle Island Quartet) on viola, and Lucas Pino (whose "No Net Nonet" has had a residency at Smalls Jazz Club for over three years) on bass clarinet, possesses the ability to sweep the listener up in a moving musical experience that has been described as "hallucinogenic chamber music".

 

Keely Smith: Little Girl Blue, Little Girl New (Expanded Edition) CD

You can’t get any more popular in American entertainment than Keely Smith was in the early ‘60s. Having blown the doors out in Las Vegas, winning a Grammy, having hit after hit and lighting up television screens playing straight “man” to husband Louis Prima, she’d navigated the tricky waters of a professional and personal divorce, striking out on her own and starting her own record label, Keely Records, in partnership with close friend and mentor Frank Sinatra, under the auspices of his Reprise label. 

A groundbreaking businesswoman, as well as recording artist, Keely recorded 5 classic albums for Reprise. Because she’d seen enough show business shenanigans to last a lifetime, a generation before it became standard practice to do so, she retained the rights to her masters. Those albums have NEVER come out legitimately on CD anywhere in the world. 

Now, Real Gone Music, in concert with Keely & her family, is very proud to announce that the label is going to answer the pleas of pop fans worldwide and release ALL of Keely’s Reprise albums on CD for the first time in deluxe packages featuring bonus tracks, rare photos, and new liner notes. Little Girl Blue, Little Girl New was Keely’s first release for her new label Reprise, and she celebrated her newfound freedom in grand style by putting out a concept album jointly supervised by Keely with Frank Sinatra. Reassembling the topnotch, high flying creative team of their Capitol years, the entire package was fashioned as two distinct records, from the song choices to the album artwork itself. It featured two different front covers, one lachrymose, one cheery. 

The first side, “Little Girl Blue,” offered such lovelorn fare as “Here’s That Rainy Day,” “Willow Weep for Me, and the title tune, while the second side, “Little Girl New,” was epitomized by the spirit of its closing track, “Blue Skies.” Taken as a whole, Little Girl Blue, Little Girl New is a uniquely powerful listening experience and stands as one of the first concept albums ever recorded by a female artist. We’ve added Keely’s first Reprise single (produced by Don Costa), “When You Cry” and “Going Through the Motions,” (mixed to stereo for the first time ever!) to the original stereo album for this Expanded Edition, which is remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision from original tape sources and also features fresh liner notes and rare photos. Oh, and one more thing…the whole thing is arranged and conducted by the great Nelson Riddle!

1. Little Girl Blue

2. Here's That Rainy Day

3. Gone with the Wind

4. Willow Weep for Me

5. It'll Never Be the Same

6. Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry

7. I'm Gonna Live Till I Die

8. It's Good to Be Alive

9. A Lot of Livin' to Do

10. Once in a Lifetime

11. New Sun in the Sky

12. Blue Skies

13. When You Cry

14. Going Through the Motions

Laura Nyro: A Little Magic, A Little Kindness—The Complete Mono Albums Collection (2-CD Set)

Can you surry?  Can you picnic?  Laura Nyro, to use her own fanciful word, surried onto the scene 50 years ago with the release of her debut album More Than a New Discovery.  Its title was certainly apt. Throughout the course of her life, Nyro wrote and introduced some of the most beloved popular songs of all time with her singular fusion of pop, jazz, R&B, soul, Broadway, and folk sounds.  

Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records are proud to celebrate the golden anniversary of Laura Nyro’s debut with a landmark 2-CD collection.  A Little Magic, A Little Kindness: The Complete Mono Albums Collection features, for the very first time on CD, both of Nyro’s original mono albums newly-remastered by Vic Anesini at Sony’s Battery Studios from the original master tapes.  

More Than a New Discovery, originally released on Verve Folkways in 1967, premiered the songs that Barbra Streisand, Blood Sweat and Tears, and The 5th Dimension would all take up the charts, including “Stoney End,” “And When I Die,” “Blowin’ Away,” and perhaps the most famous song Nyro ever wrote, “Wedding Bell Blues.”  This special edition restores the original album sequence and mono mix from the very first version of the album.  In 1968, Nyro moved to Columbia Records for her most acclaimed album, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.  

Its songs were once again adopted by other artists such as Three Dog Night, Frankie Valli, and of course, The 5th Dimension.  Featuring “Eli’s Comin’,” “Emmie,” “Sweet Blindness,” and the era-defining “Stoned Soul Picnic,” this ultra-rare album – thought by many Nyro connoisseurs to be superior to the familiar stereo version – also makes its maiden appearance on CD.  A handful of bonus tracks round out this special package, including the Bones Howe-produced “pop” version of “Save the Country,” and the CD debuts of the Verve “censored” single version of “Stoney End” and the single mix of “Eli’s Comin’.”  

The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese provides new liner notes; the crystal-clear remastering is by Vic Anesini at Battery Studios in New York.  A Little Magic, A Little Kindness: The Complete Mono Albums Collection pays tribute to one of pop’s most enduring iconoclasts.  It’s a soul picnic you won’t want to miss.

Available July 7 from Real Gone Music.

Disc : 1

1. Goodbye Joe

2. Billy's Blues

3. And When I Die

4. Stoney End

5. Lazy Susan

6. Hands off the Man (Flim Flam Man)

7. Wedding Bell Blues

8. Buy and Sell

9. He's a Runner

10. Blowin' Away

11. I Never Meant to Hurt You

12. California Shoeshine Boys

13. Stoney End

Disc : 2

1. Luckie

2. Lu

3. Sweet Blindness

4. Poverty Train

5. Lonely Woman

6. Eli's Coming

7. Timer

8. Stoned Soul Picnic

9. Emmie

10. Woman's Blues

11. Once It Was Alright (Farmer Joe)

12. December's Boudoir

13. The Confession

14. Eli's Coming

15. Save the Country

Dusty Springfield:The Complete Philadelphia Sessions – A Brand New Me (Expanded Edition) CD

Having issued collections of her lost 1971 Jeff Barry-produced sessions (Faithful) and her entire 1970-1971 U.K. sessions (Come for a Dream), we have made chronicling the hallowed early ‘70s period of Dusty Springfield’s career something of a mission here at Real Gone Music. And we have saved what just might be the best for last—this collection brings together, for the first time ever, all of the historic recordings made by Dusty at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia with Gamble-Huff Productions for Atlantic Records. The 17 selections cover the ten 1969 recordings issued on Springfield's 1970 album A Brand New Me— including the hit title song—plus 7 additional tracks from 1970 including the single "I Wanna Be a Free Girl," outtakes not issued until the 1990s on various compilations, and a previously unreleased track, “Sweet Charlie .” Additionally, because former iterations of this material have not been sonically quite up to snuff, each track is newly-remixed from the original multi-track masters by noted Sigma Sound veteran Tom Moulton under the supervision of legendary Gamble-Huff producer-writer Thom Bell, who worked on the original Brand New Me album and follow-up sessions with Dusty!  Liner notes by Joe Marchese and rare images from Dusty’s own collection complete this invaluable look at the seductive Ms. Springfield’s foray into the Philly Soul sound. Put this together with our other Real Gone Dusty retrospectives and you have the full picture of Dusty’s recordings from 1969-1971 that immediately followed her Dusty In Memphis pinnacle!

Available July 27, 2017 from Real Gone Music.

Tracklisting: 

1. Brand New Me

2. Never Love Again

3. Bad Case of the Blues

4. The Star of My Show

5. Let's Talk It Over

6. Lost

7. Silly, Silly Fool

8. Let Me in Your Way

9. Joe

10. Let's Get Together Soon

11. I Wanna Be a Free Girl

12. Something for Nothing

13. Summer Love

14. Cherished

15. The Richest Girl Alive

16. Goodbye

17. Sweet Charlie

Sabrina Malheiros announces new album Clareia

Having made her mark on Brazil’s rich musical legacy with three best-selling albums to date, Rio’s original nu-bossa queen returns with a tour de force of golden-era Brazilian soul music. From the spiritual swing of the early pioneers of modern Samba, to the dizzying hedonism of Brazil’s eighties disco/boogie craze, Clareia is a life-affirming journey through the rich and varied sounds Sabrina Malheiros has been immersed in since she can remember. For her most up-lifting and danceable album to date, Sabrina has (as always) enlisted her father Alex Malheiros - bassist of samba jazz-funk legends Azymuth – and visionary London based producer Daniel Maunick (aka Dokta Venom), son of Incognito’s Jean-Paul 'Bluey' Maunick.

Sabrina Malheiros’ career has often been characterised by her place in the succession of those special Brazilian women who, with unmistakable talent and effortless grace, have encapsulated the magical energy of Brazil with their voices. “Elis Regina, Astrud Gilberto, and Joyce all had it, and Sabrina Malheiros has it in spades.”(MOJO) With her debut album Equilibria in 2005, Sabrina arrived on a wave of instant acclaim, carving out her place as the pioneering voice of a new brand of Brazilian soul music, rooted in the traditions of samba and bossa, but with an edge of contemporary electronic sophistication. Sabrina’s innovative nu-bossa sound would continue with the 2006 remix album Vibrasons followed by sophomore New Morning – declared the “best album of summer 2008”(Evening Standard), before 2011’s best-seller Dreaming.

Six years on, Sabrina returns with Clareia. “It means to clear, light, brighten or illuminate, which, after seeing Brazil and the rest of the world go through some very difficult times, is exactly what the writing of this album brought to my life.” All tracks are written by either Sabrina, or in collaboration with her father Alex Malheiros and producer Daniel Maunick. Written and recorded in Niteroi, Brazil, overlooking Gunabara Bay and Rio’s beaches, mountains and forests, the music basks in its surroundings and sings of ecological beauty, peace and sanctuary. Echoing Sabrina’s emphasis on clarity, Alex notes that “the album’s title represents an appeal to the minds of our civilization today, to clear our thoughts for good and for peace.”

This pursuit of clarity continued into the studio: “It took a little longer than usual” notes Sabrina, “which was good in way, as all my previous albums were recorded in rush and we usually had a week for pre-production and another week in the studio, which always gave me the feeling that I could do better. With this album it was different… we took our time.”

Set for release at the height of summer this year, Clareia is an inter-generational masterclass of Brazil's soulful spectrum, led by a pioneering voice of today’s scene on the very top of her game. The up-lifting compositions, which take inspiration from the stunning natural beauty amongst which the album was made, and the call for the clarity of mind needed to preserve it, are enriched by this special team of some of Brazil’s most established musicians. Like the sun breaking through tropical storm-clouds, Clareia is a vessel of joy, as Sabrina puts it simply, “I hope Clareia brightens the soul of whoever listens to it. That's the spirit of this album.”