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Less ‘From Russia With Love’ and more ‘From Russia With Groove’ multi instrumentalist Valeriy Stepanov is all set to take the smooth jazz world by storm with his Skytown Records debut release, ‘New Beginnings’.
This YouTube sensation who, to date, can boast almost three million Internet views, enjoys such an online profile that musicians around the world are clamoring to both cover and rework his music. Indeed Stepanov has been identified as having the ability to traverse the entire spectrum of jazz, from his smooth jazz sensibilities, that are very much the province of ‘New Beginnings’, through to his own brand of fusion that can accurately be described as Chick Corea meets Jeff Lorber.
‘Retro Forward, the 2014 album from smooth jazz superstar Eric Darius, demonstrated him to be very much his own man and his latest single release, the feisty ‘Breakin Thru’ does much the same.
Most recently he was featured on Adam Hawley's chart busting ‘35th Street’ and having shared the stage with the likes of Prince, Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, Carlos Santana, Babyface and George Benson Darius is now set to forge new paths, bridges generational gaps and make music with infinite possibilities.
Nice track.
With a sultry swagger that an entire generation of classic soul fans never tire of ‘Won’t You Be My Lady’ by Indiana based producer, songwriter and vocalist Ty Causey is going for adds April 17. Taken from Ty’s latest CD ‘Tyangles’ which sits comfortably in that warm space between R & B, soul, and smooth jazz, it is a track that will resonate with those lovers of the genre that have been disenfranchised by the gradual upswing of Hip Hop, Neo Soul and Rap yet who yearn for the return of a smoother, more pure sound of soul.
In fact, having exploded onto the music scene in the late 1990’s as vocalist with smooth jazz superstar Najee, Ty Causey’s credentials are impeccable. He co-wrote and performed on Najee’s 1998 project ‘Morning Tenderness’ and has shared the stage with contemporary jazz notables such as Joe Sample, Norman Brown and Pieces Of A Dream.
As a solo artist Causey made his recording debut in 2004 with ‘N-Tysing’ that featured both Najee and bass player Nelson Braxton of Braxton Brothers fame. It established him as a serious player on the soul music scenes of Japan, Germany and, most notably, the United Kingdom where his regular appearances on the soul charts top thirty earned him the nickname of ‘Mr. Consistent’.
Since that time Causey has been building a significant discography and in 2015, as recognition for his work on the album ‘Cause & Effect’, he was nominated by soultracks.com in the category of male vocalist of the year.
As the utterly dynamic Philippe Saisse Trio continues to build momentum towards its next full-length album release, the latest single, ‘Blue Rondo’ , is now winging its way to radio.
This free wheeling high energy cut is enhanced by the addition of brass in a way that Saisse himself describes as ‘trio plus one’ and possesses the kind of vibe that is a product of inventive retro keyboard melodies plus the nonstop grooves of acoustic bass player David Fink, drummer Scooter Warner and percussionist Gumbi Ortiz.
Nice track.
If anyone was in any doubt that the decidedly Benson-esque Norman Brown is one of the finest contemporary jazz guitarists around today then look no further than his highly anticipated new recording ‘Let It Go’. It is Brown’s tenth solo outing and one for which he has surrounded himself with some of the brightest stars in the smooth jazz galaxy.
The album opens in exactly the way that fans of the genre would expect a Norman Brown project to start, with the hauntingly smooth ‘Lessons Of The Spirit’. Not only that, the way producer (and keyboard player) Tracy Carter expertly segues this cool cut with the similarly inclined ‘It Keeps Coming Back’ is nothing short of a masterstroke.
Producer and keyboard player Bobbi "Funkee Boy" Tammaro, really hit the spot with his last CD ‘Soul Purpose’. It delivered the excellent radio single ‘Let It Flow’ (featuring Warren Hill) and the splendid ‘Déjà Vu’ that included a cool contribution on guitar from Nick Colionne.
Now, ahead of the release of his fourth album ‘Life Sign’, Funkee Boy is back with the single ‘Triumph’. It finds him in an insanely catchy collaboration with sax-man Michael Lington and might well be one of the top tracks of 2017.
It is worth noting that this is not simply a new recording, it is his comeback, as he emerges, victorious, after a gruesome battle with cancer. Consequently it is a celebration of life and he will be donating a percentage of both the sales and royalties from the record to Give Kids The World and to Saint Judes Children's Hospital.