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November 14, 2004 Edition #339 |
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Highlights!
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| So that gives you just some idea of what lies
in store. One thing is certain, you won't want to miss any of this show! Listen on Demand 
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| In the course of things, this led to a record deal & the release of First View, Oliver's solo debut in 1999. As an "undiscovered" artist trying to gain radio airplay Oliver presented a stripped down version of his music on that release. Nevertheless, the effort was well received and gained Oliver exposure in the USA on a national level resulting in Oliver's selection as Debut Artist of The Year by the Smooth Jazz News. | |||
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| Nevertheless, it's Oliver himself who is the star of the show. His guitar work is innovative, vibrant, & inspired. But that's not all as Steve also scats & adds assorted vocalese to the tracks. Steve is "always hearing sounds" so that this seems like a totally natural thing for him to do. As Steve puts it, ".. it's really a lot more fun singing wordless vocals ... (you can add) whatever the song evokes". Some percussion here, a bit of bass there or perhaps some "high voice" sounds if that's what the song brings forth. It's this latter aspect of his musicianship that has become an Oliver hallmark and sets him apart as a true original and a one-of-a-kind performer. | |||
CD: 3D Label: Koch Records Site:http://www.steveolivermusic.com/ |
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| Fresh Trax: Part One | |
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I'm
Here - Vernon D. Fails: In
spite of a rather late start in music, Vernon D. Fails has enjoyed a
highly successful 20-year career as a top songwriter, keyboardist, arranger,
and producer. He received private piano lessons starting at 13 and in
time went on to complete a rigorous four-year program with a major in
music education. In the early years of his professional life, Fails
played in churches, clubs, and bars. Meanwhile, he was also employed
as a teacher. In 1984, that all changed when Vernon was asked to play
keyboards and arrange two songs for Anita Baker's Rapture release. That
landmark album went on to sell five million copies and its success paved
the way for Fails. In this regard his resume is extensive and includes
work with familiar names such as Oleta Adams, Randy Crawford, Aretha
Franklin, Gladys Knight, Eric Clapton, Joe Sample, David Sanborn, and
Stevie Wonder among many many others. This nicely set the stage for
Fails and Hear The Vision his debut project. From that effort we've
selected I'm Here. This is piece soothing and melodic & features Fails
on both piano & vibes! |
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Love
Come Down - Shades of Soul: Jeff
Lorber's name has long been synonymous with contemporary jazz. However,
it's only now that a little known project has finally been released.
In 1994, Lorber had joined guitarist Marlon McClain and bassist Nathaniel
Phillips to form Shades of Soul. However, the complete story actually
began quite a few years before that in the 70s in Portland Oregon. McClain
and Phillips had been founding members of a group called Pleasure and
Lorber had been featured on synthesizer on that band's 1979 release.
In the next few years Lorber's own career took off, as he fronted The
Jeff Lorber Fusion which became one of the most popular jazz acts of
the period. In any event, throughout the 80s and the 90s, the paths
of the three crossed on several occasions as both McClain and Phillips
guested on a few of Lorber's albums. It was 1994, when the trio reconnected
and recorded a few of their sessions. Perhaps most notable of these
from a historical perspective were a couple of tracks laid down by the
late Art Porter Jr. (Lorber and Phillips had guested on Porter's Under
Cover cd earlier that year and invited Porter to take part on their
project, since "It seemed like a natural fit ...".) |
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| Fresh Trax: Part Two | ||
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Dance
With My Father - Rick Braun:
In the world of Rhythm & Blues, Luther Vandross ranks as one of the
most respected and most successful artists of the '80s. Early in his
career Vandross was acknowledged as a top session vocalist. In 1975,
he earned his first big break when he was asked to sing on David Bowie's
Young Americans release. Safe to say that Bowie was highly impressed,
and in fact he invited Vandross to tour as his opening act. This led
to a variety of projects in the latter half of the 70s including a pair
of albums under the name Luther. In 1981, Vandross was signed to Epic
Records and with the release of his debut on that label he not only
achieved chart-topping success but he also sold two million cds in the
process. Luther did some production for Aretha Franklin and others,
while his own career soared. His records all sold in the millions and
spawned several major hits. However, it wasn't until the release of
The Best of Luther Vandross ... The Best of Love in 1989 that Luther
scored a Top Ten pop hit with Here and Now, an accomplishment that had
eluded him to that point in his career. |
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Let's
Waste Some Time - Marc Jordan with Molly Johnson:
Following a brief stint as a film student at Brock University in St.
Catharines ON, Jordan began in the early 70s to pursue a career in music.
His father had been a singer and voice teacher and so it seemed that
Marc came by the entire creative process quite naturally. After a bit
of travel & a few varied experiences, Jordan returned to Toronto. In
1978 he released Mannequin, his solo debut. He had one more release
in Canada before relocating to Los Angeles in about 1980. For a time
Marc more or less disappeared from public view. He stopped playing live
& devoted most of his time to working in the studio while learning various
production techniques. He recorded a handful of projects during his
time in LA, but chose to move back to Canada in the mid-90s or so. |
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Southwest
Shuffle - Stacey Knights: Although
clarinet had been Stacey's first choice to play in the school band,
when her dad brought home a sax she took that up instead. It turned
out that she enjoyed practicing on the instrument, and it wasn't too
long before she was at the head of her class. Shortly thereafter, Knights
joined a summer band camp where she also took up flute. Unlike the sax,
the flute was a quieter instrument that Stacey could play at any time
of the day or night and as such, it well suited the part of her practice
routine from midnight until 3am. By the time she was sixteen, Knights
knew music was going to be her life. On a scholarship, she attended
the State University in St. Cloud, MN for three years before transferring
to North Texas State. However, meeting tuition & living expenses proved
to be a struggle so that three years later, Knights moved to the Tampa
Bay area of Florida where her family had relocated. She played with
several different bands, but it quickly became clear that if she was
to develop her style and sound Stacey would have to set out on her own.
In this regard, her act as a solo performer has flourished. Through
the Window was her debut a few years back and proved to be a fine first
effort which provided Knights with exposure on the national level in
the USA. |
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| Special Mention: Rare Requests - Volume 4 | |||
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Based
on the continuing success of the Rare Requests series, 215 Records has
just issued their latest installment. As with the previous cds, the
philosophy behind this album is quite straight forward. The release
is packed with hard to find, top songs compiled from the requests of
Smooth Jazz radio listeners. Among others, Volume 4 includes two superb
guitar-based selections; Ocean Way by Torcuato Mariano and Brian Tarquin's
Darlin' Darlin' Baby. Both have long been Cafe Jazz favourites. The
former begins the final set in hour 2 while the latter completes it.
There are eleven pieces in all, but this compilation is well worth investigating
on the strength of these two tracks alone! |
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| After Hours ~ Exclusive to our Web Site: | |||||
| Lots of music with very little talk, what a novel idea! This time around I had to split the AH segment into two parts as the entire piece came in at just over 90 minutes. There are a total of 20 tracks, many of which have never before been played on our show. Delving a bit more deeply into some recent releases yielded a few gems from James Vargas, Novocento, The Benoit/Freeman Project 2, Ron Fattorusso, Vlad, & Swing out Sister. Of course there's much more including current favourites from Rafe Gomez, Garry Goin, Craig Chaquico & Soul Ballet. I've also included the latest release from Jazzy Devils and their Burning Bridges cd and then we're also introducing the music of Sharon Musgrave & Joel Virgel. As well, there are four great tracks from Bob Baldwin who is featured on T&N. We begin with guitarist Michael Dowdle and a very cool track called Into the AM! | |||||
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