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Highlights!
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Showcase CD |
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Nevertheless, that all changed in 2004 with Just Come On In, his 4th
release that allowed Colionne to crack the contemporary scene as a major
player while scoring one of the biggest hits for the year with High
Flyin'. I'm pleased to say, we here at Café Jazz were among the first
to jump on that one in a big way and hopefully we played some small
part in its great success. |
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 Courtesy of Nick's Site |
To begin, we have an easy tune called This Is The Song. Colionne's
fluid guitar lines are front & centre on this one as they caress the
melody. Nick's current hit single, the smooth as silk Always Thinking
of You, nicely kicks off our second hour while Can You Feel It is reserved
for our closer. On the latter selection, solid bass runs from Richard
Patterson and in the pocket percussion by Lenny Castro help make this
track a standout! You know, given a bit more time to come to a fuller
appreciation of quality of the music & the calibre of musicianship,
this album may well represent Nick's finest over all effort to date!!
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This
Masquerade - George Benson :
George
Benson is an expert improviser and vibrant entertainer who is appreciated
both as a musician and as performer. As a kid growing up in Pittsburgh,
Benson honed his skills and talents, by singing, dancing, and playing
ukulele while performing in nightclubs. As his career unfolded, he enjoyed
the opportunity to play with "some of the baddest jazz cats on the planet'
as he puts it, but his desire to entertain never changed and that is
what George Benson says he's really all about. |
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Eleuthera
- Max Groove: Hailing
from Kansas City with a career that dates back to 1981, Max Groove can
genuinely be considered a pioneer in contemporary jazz. Noted for combining
the passion and focus of a classically trained artist with the sensitivity
of a great songwriter, Groove does it all within an innovative jazz
framework. The result is an irresistible blend of melody and emotion
that transcends much of today's more mundane fair. Groove enjoyed a
series of well-received releases through the late 80s and 90s but with
the ever-changing climate in commercial radio, he's been conspicuously
silent for some time. Nevertheless, we have a simply fantastic track
from what remains as his most recent release. From It's A Beautiful
day from 2001, we have Max Groove and Eleuthera, a track named for an
island in the Bahamas and one of Groove's finest !! |
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| Back Trax: Part Two | ||
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Night
Walk - Rick Braun: It
was 1977, when Braun left home to attend the Eastman School of Music
in Rochester, New York. However, he never completed his term since the
band he was with, was offered a record deal; so later that same year
Rick ended up driving across the US to LA. He recorded a recorded a
pair of projects with Auracle and did a variety of sideman gigs before
connecting with the group War in the mid-80s. He toured with them, wrote
the pop hit Here With Me for REO Speedwagon, his first big success in
music, and then enjoyed an eighteen month stint as a member of Rod Stewart's
band. He released his solo debut in 1993, but it was shortly thereafter
that he got a gig as the trumpeter for Sade on her "Love Deluxe" tour.
That proved to a pivotal point in his career as his subsequent album
saw a huge change in the style & substance of his music; some have described
it as an instrumental version of Sade. In any event, we're heading back
to that release, Night Walk from 1994 and it's fantastic title track
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Tell
Me All Your Secrets - Warren Hill:
The
Toronto-born sax player began playing guitar at the age of eight and
by his teens, he was fronting his own rock group as well as handling
vocals. Initially, Hill picked up the sax in order to play in his high
school band. Following a summer program at the Eastman School of Music,
he became hooked on jazz and the instrument soon became his focus. While
studying physics at the University of Toronto, Hill played a variety
of weekend gigs at some of the local clubs. Eventually, he chose to
drop out of his course of studies in order to pursue music on a full
time basis. |
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Urban
Island - Daryl Stuermer:
Daryl Stuermer was self-taught on guitar and as a teen he was drawn
to the complexities & challenges of jazz guitar; fusion artists such
as Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin became major influences. In 1975,
George Duke recommended Stuermer to Jean-Luc Ponty who was on the look
out for a guitarist. Daryl won the audition and at age 22, he accompanied
Ponty on a world tour. He ended up recording four albums with the acclaimed
jazz violinist before connecting with Mike Rutherford of Genesis in
1977. This began a 20-year association with Genesis that in turn led
to Daryl's selection for Phil Collins' band in 1982. |
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| After Hours ~ Exclusive to our Web Site : | |
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For only the second time, we're presenting a Then & Now double bill. We tried this a few weeks back and it seemed to work out well. Some established performers have been around for years and have created substantial volumes of music. However, our mantra has always been to support artists who may not be as well known, so that's what we're doing!! First up is Michael O'Neill with three selections, one from each of his releases and that's immediately followed by an Allon Sams feature. Once again, we have a series of tracks representing each of Allon's three albums. Fresh sounds take over after that, as the remaining selections are new never-before-been-played-on-our-show tracks, seven in all. Our line-up includes Bob Baldwin, Ron Boustead, Gene Cannon and Gene Dunlap. We have Pieces of a Dream, Jill Jensen's on the show, and there's something from Keep on Talkin', Steve Briody's very impressive sophomore release !! |
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Then & Now
Spotlight Artist: Michael O'Neill
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Michael O'Neill: Over the course of a lengthy career, Michael O'Neill has secured a reputation as one of the best sidemen in the business and in the process; he's travelled the world many times over. His first ever tour was with The Crusaders and Randi Crawford back in 1979. He performed as a member of Stevie Wonder's band back in the early 80s and then since about 1982 right until the present, O'Neill has toured almost nonstop with George Benson. In recent years, he also had the chance to play for Natalie Cole and play with a host of top Smooth Jazz artists, everyone from Boney James and Rick Braun, to Gerald Albright and Michael Lington.
Site: Michael O'Neill Artist Page: Michael O'Neill 
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| Then & Now Spotlight Artist: Allon Sams | ||||||
Allon Sams: Although he may not have as of yet received wide airplay in the US, Allon Sams has long been a Café Jazz favourite and in my humble opinion, he is a tremendous talent who definitely deserves much broader recognition. I first heard Allon's music a few years back in about 1999. Around that time, Dusk to Dawn from Sams' solo debut received a fair degree of airplay on WSJT in Tampa FL. That exposure gained Sams many new & enthusiastic followers including yours truly; lucky me, I was vacationing in the area at the time. Through the marvel of the internet, we were able to connect a couple of years later, when Sams developed his site; I've been an avid fan, eagerly tracking developments in Allon's career ever since !!
Site: Allon Sams Artist Page: Allon Sams
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