Brian Culbertson -][- DREAMS – [Verve Records, 2012] –

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Alex Al, Brian Culbertson, Composer, John Jubu Smith, Keyboadist, Noel Gourdin, Rex Rideout, Rob Bacon, Stokley Williams, Verve Records, Vivian Green

Brian Culbertson, DREAMS

Brian Culbertson -][- DREAMS – [Verve Records, 2012] –

In the gentle lull of sleep, we re often enraptured in a vivid sequence of thoughts, images, and sensations. A lifelike realm where radiant colors, sounds, and illusions intersect, creating the most vibrant experience. This spring, prolific R&B/Jazz musician Brian Culbertson invites you to close your eyes, open your ears, and fall deep into a lush world of musical fantasy with his breathtaking thirteenth album Dreams. With the help of lauded guest vocalists Noel Gourdin, Vivian Green, and Stokley Williams of Mint Condition, Dreams masterfully melds jazz sensibility with an R&B flair in a wondrous mélange of enchanting grooves.

Last summer, I just started having these really vivid dreams, Culbertson says. I started waking up inspired to get into the studio and write songs. Songs that made me feel like those dreams. It s really strange for me, because I ve never written songs about being inspired by dreams. That s why this record is quite different.

BFM Jazz Presents Steve Smith and Vital Information “Live! One Great Night” – Available Now

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Baron Browne, BFM Jazz, Composer, Drummer, Steve Smith, Tom Coster, Vinny Valentino

Steve Smith & Vital Information LIVE! ONE GREAT NIGHT -(CD+DVD)-30th Anniversary Tour (May 31-June 27)

Steve Smith and Vital Information, LIVE! One Great Night

LIVE! One Great Night – a CD + DVD set to be released May 29, 2012 on the BFM Jazz label – captures Vital Information in their natural habitat: A packed club with an audience of music lovers and the band in high gear, pulling out all the stops for the entire set. The all-star lineup of keyboardist Tom Coster (Santana/Gabor Szabo), bassist Baron Browne (Jean-Luc Ponty/Billy Cobham), guitarist Vinny Valentino (Bill Evans/Jimmy McGriff) and drummer Steve Smith (Journey/Hiromi /Steps Ahead) serve up a veritable banquet of sounds, from slamming funk and syncopated second-line grooves to seriously swinging, up-tempo B-3 burners, South Indian inspired jams and sizzling fuzoid romps. Steve Smith has this to say about Vital Information’s philosophy, “Our music allows for individual expression and re-invention. We thrive on swing, groove, and creativity. We want to surprise each other every night on the bandstand with new ideas and in the process keep our audience ‘in the moment’ with us.”

Chris Parrello + Things I Wonder Release Sophomore E.P. Concrete Cradle The Follow-Up to their 2010 Self-Titled Debut

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Chris Parrello, Composer, Fully Altered MEDIA, Guitarist, Popopomo Music

Out June 19, 2012 on Popopomo Music

Chris Parrello, THINGS I WONDER

New York City has long been the proving ground for jazz musicians, but for all its opportunities it can be a harsh, unforgiving metropolis. Guitarist/composer Chris Parrello has been confronted with all of those same challenges, but with one advantage: as a native New Yorker, he’s always been able to count on a strong support system – what he refers to, in the title of his new EP, as a Concrete Cradle.

“It’s hard here in the city,” Parrello admits, “and it’s hard trying to be an artist generally. When people who aren’t from here go through difficult times, they’re on their own. I’m thankful for the fact that when things got tough, my city and my family and friends were here.”

Shana Tucker -][- SHINE – [Shana Tucker, 2011] –

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African American, Cellist, Female Vocalist, Shana Tucker

Shana Tucker, SHINE

Shana Tucker -][- SHINE –Mp3– [Shana Tucker, 2011] –

Transcending genre distinctions, SHANA TUCKER is a “ChamberSoul” cellist and singer/songwriter from New York who’s set on blazing a trail for herself down in North Carolina. Her music is a sultry pastiche of acoustic pop and soulful, jazz-influenced contemporary folk. “It’s different, yet comfortably familiar…I love 80’s music and I’m a sucker for jazz. Many of the grooves have a bossa-nova/latin heartbeat, translated through percussive vocal phrasing. I can’t deny the classical training; it inspires my cello sensibilities…but I like the thump of walking blues & old-timey bass lines. It’s like a delicious coffee blend: bold and robust, with subtle undertones of bittersweet…and something you can’t quite place, but it’s still good!” she says with a smile.