New Christmas CD: JASON PAUL CURTIS “Lovers Holiday”

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Jason Paul Curtis, Jazz Promo Services, John Dahlman, Male Vocals, Ray Mabalot, Woody Hume

Jason Paul Curtis, Lovers Holiday

VAN MORRISON RETURNS TO BLUE NOTE RECORDS

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Blue Note Records, Male Vocals, Producer, Songwriter, Van Morrison

Van Morrison

June 26, 2012, New York – Van Morrison returns to Blue Note Records for a new studio album Born To Sing: No Plan B to be released on October 2. Morrison previously released the Grammy-nominated What’s Wrong With This Picture? on Blue Note in 2003.

Van says: “With most record companies being so corporate I am happy to be working with Don Was and the team at Blue Note. To have such a creative music person as the head of my recording label assures me that all the effort taken to write and record this new album will be rewarded with a music-based focus and marketing approach. I look forward to many recording projects with Don and Blue Note.”

Guitarist & Vocalist Lionel Loueke Returns on August 28 with ‘Heritage’

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Guitar, LIONEL LOUEKE, Male Vocals

Lionel Louke

On August 28, the acclaimed West African jazz guitarist/vocalist Lionel Loueke will release Heritage, his dynamic third Blue Note album, which was co-produced by label mate Robert Glasper. Heritage finds Loueke—who was hailed by The New York Times as “a gentle virtuoso”—exploring a more electric sound with a new trio featuring Derrick Hodge on electric bass and Mark Guiliana on drums. The album presents seven new compositions by Loueke, two by Glasper, and one co-written by the two. Glasper also contributes piano and keyboards to six tracks, while singer Gretchen Parlato provides background vocals on two tracks.

Ola Onabule and the release of his seventh album SEVEN SHADES DARKER

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Male Vocals, Ola Onabule

Ola Onabule, Seven Shades Darker

OLA ONABULE – The name represents true soul. OLA’S voice – unmistakably gentle and wistful, haunting and heartbreaking, very special and unique reminiscent of the great Soul and Jazz artists of the 1960s and 70s, whose music was able to change the course of history because it changed perceptions and opened minds.

OLA ONABULE is an inspired artist for the 21st Century who has written, recorded and produced 7 albums on his label Rugged Ram Records. Ola’s music has been performed on the largest festival stages worldwide including the main stage of the Montreal Jazz Festival, Vancouver International Jazz Festival and many others. In Germany, Ola has collaborated with The WDR Big Band in Cologne Philharmonie, The Babelsberg Film Orchestra in Nikolaisaal Potsdam and most recently with The SWR Big Band at the Jazzfest Aalen with arrangements of his beautifully crafted songs.

Gino Vannelli and The Metropole Orchestra -][- The North Sea Jazz Festival 2002 [MiG, 2011]

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Gino Vannelli, Male Vocals, The Metropole Orchestra

Gino Vannelli And The Metropole Orchestra, The North Sea Jazz Festival 2002

Gino Vannelli and The Metropole Orchestra -][- The North Sea Jazz Festival 2002 –MP3– [MiG, 2011]

It must be daunting to perform your music with a large orchestra and new arrangements. Let’s face it, a lot of rock and R&B music from the past wouldn’t pass this test and would be revealed for what it is: marginal music that doesn’t hold up well over time because it was pretty thin and one dimensional in the first place. Despite this, music of this nature can become quite popular despite its shortcomings. Not so with Gino Vanelli’s work. This album clearly shows the depth of Gino’s work. Much of his music seems made for a large orchestra and its complexity and technical flawlessness is clearly on display here.

Kirk Whalum -]|[- Romance Language [Rendezvous Music, 2012]

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African American, Jazz, Kevin Whalum, Kirk Whalum, Male Vocals, Saxophone

The multi-talented Grammy Winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum is back, this time he collaborates with warm and inviting baritone of his brother Kevin Whalum unite collectively to unveil their highly anticipated release “Romance Language.” As you can imagine, the title speaks explicitly to the romantics [Maybe the some of us non-romantics can listen and get some pointers?]. The Whalum’s capture this moment by joining their voices to serve up a delicious dish of ten plush yet soulful nuances just in time for Valentine’s Day. —Rob Young | The Urban Flux

Kirk Whalum, ROMANCE LANGUAGE

Kirk Whalum -]|[- Romance Language -(MP3)- [Rendezvous Music, 2012]

The 1963 Impulse! Records LP John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman helped to redefine the renowned jazz saxophonist by pairing him with a singer on a collection of standards, showing that Coltrane wasn’t (or wasn’t only) an avant-gardist bent on playing free jazz. Nearly 50 years later, Kirk Whalum’s Romance Language isn’t going to have the same impact on his career, even though he has recorded the same half-dozen tunes with his brother Kevin Whalum taking the vocals. Kirk doesn’t have Coltrane’s reputation for one thing, and for another, he and Kevin are not trying to re-create the Coltrane/Hartman sound on Romance Language; they just happen to be performing the same songs.

Theo Bleckmann releases Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush

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Male Vocals, Theo Bleckmann

Out March 13 via Winter & Winter –

Featuring HENRY HEY (piano, minimoog synthesizer, fender rhodes piano, prepared harpsichord, voice), SKÚLI SVERRISON (electric bass, voice), CALEB BURHANS (electric five string violin, electric guitar, voice), JOHN HOLLENBECK (drums, percussion, crotales, voice)

Theo Bleckmann, Hello Earth

After tackling American maverick composer Charles Ives and receiving a Grammy nomination for it, vocalist Theo Bleckmann now takes on the mysterious songbook of British pop recluse Kate Bush. This project goes beyond merely re-creating Kate’s Bush music, taking it into other realms of sound and interpretation. Bush’s œuvre is indeed mysterious and often enigmatic in nature: unusual song forms, oracular lyrics amd unpredictable meter- and harmony-changes are an anomaly in pop music, making it the perfect vehicle for Bleckmann’s distinctive, interpretive spirit and interest in the unusual. Even though Bush still remains a household name, it is fair to say that her music is not your usual run-of the mill boy-meets-girl/boy-loses-girl fare. Her use of British and Irish myths, her references to psychology, literature and film, her meticulously multi-layered productions and her unusually high voice make her idiosyncratic body of work challenging for other artists to interpret.

Giacomo Gates -[|]- Revolution Will Be Jazz: The Songs of Gil Scott-Heron [Savant]

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Giacomo Gates, Jazz, Male Vocals

Giacomo Gates - REVOLUTION WILL BE JAZZ

Giacomo Gates -[|]- REVOLUTION WILL BE JAZZ: The Songs of Gil Scott-Heron – [Savant, 2011]

Giacomo Gates is an extraordinary vocal stylist. He’s often credited as a contemporary Eddie Jefferson, but with his full-bodied baritone and blazing inventiveness he sounds like a cross between Billy Eckstine and Kurt Elling. As bracing an innovator as he is an interpreter, Gates transforms his latest recording into a cornucopia of delicacies that extends from the smooth and mellow to the razor-sharp. For his Savant Records’ debut, Gates has chosen to perform a stimulating selection of songs by the influential and controversial Gil Scott-Heron.

Scott-Heron made music that reflected the turbulence, uncertainty and increasing pessimism of the early 70s, merging the soul and jazz and drawing on an oral poetry tradition that reached back to the blues and forward to hip-hop. This material is tailor-made for Gates, who without question is the best-suited performer to deliver the satirical and insightful lyrics of a true American original, Gil Scott-Heron.

..:: SOURCE: Amazon.com ::..

PDX Jazz @ Tony Starlight’s Presents Vocalist Sachal Vasandani’s Portland Debut on June 18

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Jazz, Male Vocals, Sachal Vasandani

Performance In Support Of Forthcoming Album, Hi-Fly

Sachal Vasandani's Portland Debut

“What makes a jazz singer has more to do with a set of tools and instincts, and by that measure Sachal qualifies as one of the stronger new arrivals in the field…The flexibility of Mr. Vasandani’s phrasing would mark him as a jazz singer whether or not he ventured any scat choruses…he’s a jazz singer with good ideas, including some about what a jazz singer can be.” – New York Times

Listen to exclusive streaming tracks from Hi-Fly

Vocalist Sachal Vasandani is set to make his Portland debut at Tony Starlight’s Supper Club-Lounge on June 18 at 8pm. The performance will feature his longstanding New York-based working ensemble, consisting of pianist Jeb Patton, bassist David Wong and drummer Kendrick Scott.

With two albums on Mack Avenue Records, Vasandani – a 2010 DownBeat “Rising Star” poll winner – established himself as one of the most promising voices in modern jazz, with a distinctive blend of jazz and pop.

GRAMMY-nominated Gregory Porter’s Tour Dates: NYC, West Coast, Europe with Jamie Cullum

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African American, Gregory Porter, Jamie Cullum, Jazz, Male Vocals

Motema recording artist Gregory Porter’s album “Water” is GRAMMY-nominated in the Best Vocal Jazz Album category. To celebrate, he’s embarking on a tour, starting on Monday with a celebration performance at NYC’s Drom.

From there he will visit the West Coast before leaving for Europe. On March 2nd he will visit BBC Radio’s live studio with Jamie Cullum, who declared “Water” to be one of his albums of the year for 2010:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jamiecullum/2010/12/albums-of-the-year.shtml

02-07-2011 Drom New York, NY – We are currently running a Facebook ticket giveaway for this – details at: