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Showcase CD
Pillow Talk - Pieces of a Dream:
Founding members James Lloyd and Curtis Harmon began playing together
as teens in The Classic Touch. They later adopted Pieces of a
Dream as their band name, based on a Stanley Turrentine tune that
was part of their repertoire. One day, Grover Washington Jr spotted
them while they were practicing one of Grover's tracks. Washington
enjoyed their playing. He joined them on Mister Magic, one of
his own signature selections, and shortly after announced he wanted
Pieces of a Dream as the first act for his new production company.
In the course of events, Washington became their mentor producing
their first three albums.
The recordings not only helped establish the Lloyd and Harmon
as bona fide artists, but also helped define the emerging sound
of smooth jazz. A few years ago, the pair were singed to the Heads
Up record label. The move provided a fresh direction for their
sound and breathed new life into their music; the result being
what is now 4 albums that contain some of their finest work to
date.
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Photo:Liner No Assembly Required
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Suffice
it to say, their new one entitled Pillow Talk is no exception and
it's indeed with pleasure that we place Pieces of a Dream and Pillow
Talk in our spotlight. As usual we have a three tasty selections
representing what we feel are some of the album's finest moments
and plan on sharing those with you, I think you're gonna love'em
all. So to begin, we're featuring a Curtis Harmon written track
titled Sincere featuring the sax of Greg Riley; that's followed
by Teresa at the top of hour 2 and our fave from the disc; while
House Arrest the closer literally brings down the house!!
CD: Pillow Talk
Label: Heads Up
Site: Pieces
of a Dream ;
Pieces/Heads Up
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| Back Trax: Part One |
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Preview
of Coming Attractions - Paul Jackson Jr. :
The
Los Angeles guitarist attended the University of Southern California.
He majored in music and following graduation, he became established as
a first call session player. Over the years, Jackson's played with everyone
from The Temptations and Luther Vandross to Ramsey Lewis and The Pointer
Sisters. In the late 80s, he also launched a solo career and although
these releases have been a bit sporadic, he's steadily developed as a
front man, all this culminating in 2003's superb Still Small Voice which
was one of the finer projects for the year. One of the efforts upon which
Jackson showed a major leap in direction was his third album, 1993's A
River In the Desert. From that excellent project, we have Preview of Coming
Attractions highlighted by a cast of top-flight musicians and includes
Gerald Albright, Bobby Lyle, Jeff Lorber, and Harvey Mason!!
CD: A River in the Desert (1993)
Label: Atlantic Jazz
Site: Paul
Jackson Jr.
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Sham
Time - Ronnie Laws:
A
native of Houston Texas, Ronnie Laws is the younger brother of renowned
jazz flautist Hubert Laws and was the third of four sibling musicians.
Ronnie was self-taught, picking up the alto sax at eleven. For a time
he entertained aspirations of a career in baseball. However, a serious
eye injury dashed his dreams, after which, the sax became his passion.
Laws moved to LA in 1970 working with legendary talents such as The
Jazz Crusaders and Hugh Masekela. He enjoyed a two-year stint with Earth
Wind and Fire, before venturing on a solo career. Pressure Sensitive,
his 1975 debut, provided one of the most popular sax driven hits of
the era and became the longest selling album in the history of Blue
Note records. Over the next 20 years or so Laws continued to record
a variety of projects, primarily in the R&B vein; with the exception
of his Tribute to the Legendary Eddie Harris, recorded in 1997 and an
album grounded in straight ahead jazz. Many fans consider this one of
Laws' finest overall efforts and from that release we have the fantastic
Sham Time!!
CD: Tribute to the Legendary Eddie Harris (1997)
Label: Blue Note
Site: Laws/Soul
Walking
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After Hours ~ Exclusive to our Web Site : |
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On this edition, Alex Bugnon steps into the spotlight on T&N. We've
taken a track from each of the Bugnon's solo releases, making a total
of nine selections in all and that follows the opening set and will
be coming up in about 20 minutes. To take us thru, we have a nice set
of tracks that are new to the show. This time out we're introducing
Jack Prybylski and Gumbi Ortiz, meanwhile there's more from Ultrablue,
Chris Standring, Nestor Torres and Nick Colionne as we explore their
recent releases. David Benoit and Dan Siegel have new releases forthcoming
and we have the advances from those. Included in our total of 11-brand-new-and-never-before-been-played-on-our-show
tracks we have music from Phil Perry, and Bobby Lyle, so please stay
with us for those as they're coming up just a bit later in the show.
Right now, though we have the new one from Peter White. From his new
one called Playin Favourites due to be released in a few weeks, here's
What Does It Take, launching the great grooves of AH !!
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Then & Now Spotlight Artist: Alex Bugnon
Love Season
Orpheus Records
1988
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Head Over Heels
Orpheus Records
1990
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107° In The Shade
Orpheus/Epic
1991
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This Time Around
Epic/Orpheus
1993
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Tales From
The Bright Side
RCA
1995
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... as Promised
Narada Jazz
2000
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Soul Purpose
Narada Jazz
2001
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Southern Living
Narada Jazz
2003
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Free
Narada Jazz 2005
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Alex Bugnon: Born
& raised in Montreux Switzerland, Alex Bugnon began in music by
learning a classical style of playing. Nonetheless, his father was
a jazz guitarist and his uncle was the trumpet-great Donald Byrd
and so the young Bugnon soon developed a love for jazz in its many
varied forms. He became hooked on funk and moreover he was influenced
by some of the pop artists of the day in the likes of Carlos Santana,
Herbie Hancock, & EW&F. Every July as a youth, Bugnon would hang
out at the world famous Jazz Festival in his home town. This proved
one of the greatest guiding forces in Bugnon's musical formation
as he experienced the power of music in a live setting!!
Photo: Promo Shot |
For two years, Alex studied at the Paris Conservatory of
Music and then he relocated to the U.S. where he attended
the Berklee School of Music. He spent time playing not only
jazz but gospel and enjoyed gigging on the southern circuit.
Upon graduation he moved to New York where for a year he drove
cabs and taught French at the Berlitz School. Eventually he
found work as a session player backing R&B artists such as
Patti Austin & James Ingram. Through Freddie Jackson he made
a contact at Orpheus Records where in 1989, and by now somewhat
of a veteran performer, Bugnon finally released his debut
album. The project immediately established Alex as one of
the core artists in the SJ genre, a position, which he further
cemented with several subsequent and well-received releases.
So with the issue of Free, now album #9 in Bugnon's impressive
catalogue, we figured the time fitting for an Alex Bugnon
Then & Now Spotlight feature and that's exactly what we have
with one piece from each and every one of his releases to
date.
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In order the selections are Yearning for Your Love and Missing You
from Bugnon's first two releases; Heart of New York and Dasheen represent
a pair of projects released on Sony's Epic Records while Harlem on
my Mind is from Tales From The Bright Side issued on RCA in 1995 and
that completes the first set. Then for part 2, it's the Narada years
which include As Promised, Walking in Rhythm, Lonely Nights, & Sierra
Leone from the above indicated albums respectively completing a 9-track
tribute devoted to the music of Alex Bugnon!!
Site: Bugnon/Narada
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