Smooth jazz saxophonist Mindi Abair has officially wrapped up recording sessions for a new CD, Mindi Abair in Hi Fi Stereo, and it will released the last week of May by Concord Records.
Abair co-produced it with Rex Rideout, a familiar face in smooth jazz. “He’s an amazing producer,” she says. “We had everyone together in a room and just played and had a blast. I really feel that the spirit of these sessions shines through. Everyone left a little of their heart and soul on these recordings, and I can feel the energy of all of us as I listen back now.”
Guests include vocalist Lalah Hathaway, a longtime friend who attended college with Abair, vocalist Ryan Collins, and David Ryan Harris, the latter who frequently performs with John Mayer. Harris wrote the song “Be Beautiful,” which is the Feedback Track this weekend on the Smooth Jazz Top 20.
Abair, who made her major-label debut in 2003 with It Just Happens That Way, following that with Come As You Are, Life Less Ordinary and Stars. Her hit singles include “Lucy’s,” “Flirt,” “Salt and Lime,” “Save the Last Dance,” “Make a Wish,” “True Blue,” “Bloom,” “Out of the Blue” and “Smile.”
Mindi Abair in Hi Fi Stereo track listing
1. Any Way You Wanna
2. All Star
3. L’Esprit Nouveau
4. Get Right (featuring Ryan Collins)
5. Be Beautiful (featuring David Ryan Harris)
6. Down For The Count
7. Girls’ Night Out
8. Let The Whole World Know (Sing Your Song)
9. It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World (featuring Lalah Hathaway)
10. Take Me Home
11. The Alley
Today (March 10), vocalist Robin Thicke is celebrating his 33rd birthday. He was born to Gloria Loring, who had a worldwide hit single more than 20 years ago with “Friends and Lovers,” and actor Alan Thicke, best known for his starring role in the Growing Pains sitcom.
Before embarking on his solo career, Thicke, who is married to married to actress Paula Patton – the couple is expecting their first baby in May – wrote songs for a number of popular artists, and in 2005 won a Grammy for his collaboration with Usher on the CD Confessions.
In 2006, Thicke released his breakthrough album The Evolution of Robin Thicke, which featured the smooth jazz singles “Lost Without U” and “Can U Believe.” He followed that with the CDs Something Else and the current Sex Therapy.
Thicke is currently touring with Alicia Keys and will be performing tonight in Toronto.
Robin Thicke tour schedule
03/10/10 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
03/13/10 Mashantucket, CT MGM Grand At Foxwoods
03/14/10 Mashantucket, CT MGM Grand At Foxwoods
03/16/10 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre
03/17/10 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Arena
03/19/10 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
03/20/10 Miami Gardens, FL Sun Life Stadium
03/22/10 Boston, MA Agganis Arena at Boston University
03/23/10 Boston, MA House Of Blues Boston
03/24/10 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
03/25/10 Washington, DC Verizon Center
03/26/10 Charlotte, NC Fillmore Charlotte
03/31/10 New Orleans, LA House Of Blues
04/02/10 Memphis, TN Cannon Center
04/03/10 Houston, TX Toyota Center
04/06/10 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
04/09/10 Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay Events Center
04/10/10 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena
Smooth jazz keyboardist Brian Culbertson, who says Tower of Power is one of his main musical influences, will be sharing the bill with the legendary group for between 15 and 20 dates in August and September. Culbertson made the announcement on Tuesday (March 9) during a live video chat on his website.
Tour dates are expected to be announced soon. Tower of Power, this year celebrating its 42nd anniversary, has a long history with smooth jazz stars. Saxophonists Richard Elliot and Euge Groove both toured as members of the band before breaking out with their solo careers. Solo artist and trumpeter Greg Adams was also with the group, which now counts smooth jazz keyboardist Roger Smith as a member.
Culbertson, who has a Smooth Jazz Top 20 hit with “Go” and who will release a new CD this summer, is joining good company. The long list of artists who have co-headlined or opened for the band includes saxophonist David Sanborn in 2007.
Tower of Power, known for its brassy horn section, has had numerous hit singles over the years, including “You’re Still a Young Man,” “So Very Hard to Go” and “What Is Hip?”
During the past few years, Culbertson had high-profile dates opening for superstar Barry Manilow.
Some of today’s biggest recording artists and producers, including John Legend, Robin Thicke and Jennifer Hudson, will celebrate the music of multi-Grammy winning producer, composer and arranger Quincy Jones. They are recording contemporary versions of popular recordings from Jones’ catalog for a new CD from Interscope Records titled Q: Soul Bossa Nostra. The CD is scheduled to be released in May or June.
Jones is producing the CD, which will compile songs selected by the artists themselves. Those other artists include BeBe Winans, Usher, Ludacris, Akon, Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, Wyclef Jean, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Three 6 Mafia and Jermaine Dupri, among others.
Highlights include Legend with “Tomorrow”; Hudson with “You Put A Move On My Heart”; Ludacris and Naturally 7 on the title track “Soul Bossa Nostra,” a hip-hop revamp of Jones’ 1962 single “Soul Bossa Nova,” which was re-born as the Austin Powers theme song; and Thicke, Usher, LL Cool J, Trey Songz, Tyrese, and Tevin Campbell with the late Barry White’s original vocals on “Secret Garden.” In addition, vocalist Jamie Foxx will redo the Grammy Award-winning classic “Give Me The Night,” originally recorded in 1980 by Jones, Rod Temperton and George Benson, and Thicke and T-Pain will remake Michael Jackson, James Ingram and Jones’ Grammy nominated “P.Y.T.”
A 27-time Grammy Award winner and the all-time most nominated Grammy artist with a total of 79 nominations, Jones’ career has spanned six decades and encompassed the roles of composer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, record producer, record executive, film and television producer, magazine founder, multi-media entrepreneur and humanitarian.
Today (March 9), veteran vocalist Jeffrey Osborne is 62. Osborne was born in 1948 in Providence, R.I., as the youngest of 12 children. He now lives in Southern California with his wife Sheri.
Osborne began his professional singing career in 1969 with the popular funk and soul group Love Men Ltd. The band later changed its name to LTD. Osborne released his first solo album in 1982 and has had such top hits as “On the Wings of Love,” “Stay With Me Tonight” and “You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song).” Just recently, the ABC reality series The Bachelor used “On the Wings of Love” as the theme to its latest show featuring pilot Jake Pavelka. Osborne showed up on the set to perform the song after Pavelka chose Vienna Girardi.
Over the past few years, Osborne has been a constant figure in the smooth jazz concert scene, and also performed on CDs by Euge Groove, Everette Harp, Najee, Peter White, the Rippingtons and George Duke.
In 2005, Osborne released the solo CD From the Soul, produced by Paul Brown. Last year, he released the CD Greatest Hits Live.
Want to learn more about smooth jazz keyboardist Brian Culbertson’s upcoming CD? What it’s like to be on tour? You can today (March 9), as Culbertson will be hosting a live video chat online at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. It will take place from his recording studio in Los Angeles.
To ask questions or to just follow along, go to Culbertson’s homepage at brianculbertson.com.
The chat is part of Culbertson’s unprecedented offer for fans to watch and listen as he records his 10th regular CD (he’s also recorded a Christmas CD and last year’s live CD/DVD Live From the Inside). Culbertson is now taking fans through the step-by-step process of making his new CD via a video blog. He calls it a rare, intimate look at his music-making process.
You can watch his progress through his YouTube channel, which you can subscribe you. He’s already posted numerous videos, complete with commentary. In addition to learning about the creative process, fans will also discover a little about Culbertson’s personality, through such glimpses at an espresso-making demonstration and a tour through his studio.
Smooth jazz saxophonist Michael Lington has been invited by international best-selling pop star Michael Bolton to be his special guest on his upcoming world tour. Lington will perform his No. 1 radio hit, “You and I,” during the show. He’ll also be featured on several of Bolton’s hits, including “Soul Provider.”
Bolton obviously appreciates smooth jazz saxophonists. Jessy J has frequently performed in his band and is featured all this month in a PBS special titled Michael Bolton Live at The Royal Albert Hall.
In 2006, Mindi Abair opened for Bolton on several tour dates.
Michael Lington tour dates (with Michael Bolton)
March 9th Lancaster, PA
March 11 Bergen, NJ
March 13 Atlantic City, NJ
March 15 Easton, PA
March 17 Peekskill, NY
March 21 Quebec City, QU
March 22 Nashville, TN
March 24 Ottawa, ON
March 26 Schenectady, NY
March 28 Long Island, NY
March 30 Torrington, CT
April 1 Rama, ONT
April 3 Regina, SK
April 5 Winnipeg, MB
April 7 Saskatoon, SK
April 8 Edmonton, AB
April 10 Pentiction, BC
April 12 Idaho Falls, ID
April 14 Ivins, UT
April 16 Wendover, NV
Ron Banks, a vocalist known for his falsetto and as a founding member of the R&B group the Dramatics, died Thursday (March 4) at his Detroit home of a reported heart attack. He was 58.
Banks was a member of the group with William Howard, Larry Demps, Willie Ford and Elbert Wilkins. In 1971, the Dramatics, on the Stax/Volt record label, scored a No. 9 pop hit “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get.” The next year, they had a No. 1 hit with “In the Rain.”
Banks was a Detroit native born May 10, 1951. He is survived by his wife Sandy and six children. Banks is the fourth Dramatics member to pass away following the deaths of Wilkins (1992), Howard (2000) and James Mack Brown (2008).
Saxophonist Kim Waters has a new title in addition to that of smooth jazz star. Waters is now co-owner and vice president of a new Cognac brand of alcohol called Celebrity Jazz Cognac. The liquor is imported from France and distributed by Republic Distribution Company.
This award-winning cognac is available in almost 30 states. It was officially introduced at a Wal-mart store in Shreveport, Louisiana, where Waters made an appearance.
It was Eugene Mosley, a native of Shreveport and a smooth jazz fan, who helped bring the Cognac to the area. Mosley created the Celebrity Jazz brand in 2002, and Waters is the company’s vice president of entertainment. Celebrity Jazz began as a wine company. Over time the range of Celebrity Jazz products expanded to include a variety of cognacs, dressings, sauces, and rubs.
Today (March 7), smooth jazz artist and keyboardist Oli Silk is celebrating his 31st birthday. In 2007, the Trippin N Rhythm record label released Silk’s debut album, So Many Ways, which featured the hit single “Easy Does It.”
Silk was born March 7, 1979, in West London, England, and began playing the keyboards at age 11. In the late 1990s, he teamed up with college friend Danny Sugar and they released two albums under the name Sugar and Silk.
In 2004, Silk made his debut at the Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival. In 2006, he was named Debut Artist of the Year by Smooth Jazz News magazine.
Silk’s latest CD, The Limit’s the Sky, offers the hit single “Chill Or Be Chilled.”
Oli Silk tour schedule
3/28/2010 Reading, PA Berks Jazz Festival
4/16-18/2010 Panama City Beach, FL Seabreeze Jazz Festival
6/23-26/2010 London, ENG Pizza Express Jazz Club
Smooth jazz saxophonist Mindi Abair has officially wrapped up recording sessions for a new CD, Mindi Abair in Hi Fi Stereo, and it will released the last week of May by Concord Records.
Today (March 10), vocalist Robin Thicke is celebrating his 33rd birthday. He was born to Gloria Loring, who had a worldwide hit single more than 20 years ago with “Friends and Lovers,” and actor Alan Thicke, best known for his starring role in the Growing Pains sitcom.
Smooth jazz keyboardist Brian Culbertson, who says Tower of Power is one of his main musical influences, will be sharing the bill with the legendary group for between 15 and 20 dates in August and September. Culbertson made the announcement on Tuesday (March 9) during a live video chat on his website.
Some of today’s biggest recording artists and producers, including John Legend, Robin Thicke and Jennifer Hudson, will celebrate the music of multi-Grammy winning producer, composer and arranger Quincy Jones. They are recording contemporary versions of popular recordings from Jones’ catalog for a new CD from Interscope Records titled Q: Soul Bossa Nostra. The CD is scheduled to be released in May or June.
Today (March 9), veteran vocalist Jeffrey Osborne is 62. Osborne was born in 1948 in Providence, R.I., as the youngest of 12 children. He now lives in Southern California with his wife Sheri.
Want to learn more about smooth jazz keyboardist Brian Culbertson’s upcoming CD? What it’s like to be on tour? You can today (March 9), as Culbertson will be hosting a live video chat online at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. It will take place from his recording studio in Los Angeles.
Smooth jazz saxophonist Michael Lington has been invited by international best-selling pop star Michael Bolton to be his special guest on his upcoming world tour. Lington will perform his No. 1 radio hit, “You and I,” during the show. He’ll also be featured on several of Bolton’s hits, including “Soul Provider.”
Ron Banks, a vocalist known for his falsetto and as a founding member of the R&B group the Dramatics, died Thursday (March 4) at his Detroit home of a reported heart attack. He was 58.
Saxophonist Kim Waters has a new title in addition to that of smooth jazz star. Waters is now co-owner and vice president of a new Cognac brand of alcohol called Celebrity Jazz Cognac. The liquor is imported from France and distributed by Republic Distribution Company.
Today (March 7), smooth jazz artist and keyboardist Oli Silk is celebrating his 31st birthday. In 2007, the Trippin N Rhythm record label released Silk’s debut album, So Many Ways, which featured the hit single “Easy Does It.”