Ahead of the release of his new album ‘The Next Step’ comes the intensely rhythmic ‘Vallejo’ from sax-man Shawn Raiford. There’s no place like home and as if to prove it Raiford has teamed with Grammy winning producer Derek ‘DOA’ Allen to create this musical homage to the city Raiford calls home.
As Raiford himself explains, “the only place that felt like home, the only place I felt like I belonged was in Vallejo”. Indeed he was raised by his grandmother in this Bay Area city (just thirty miles north of San Francisco) and is the place he talks about wherever he goes.
What has turned out to be a yearlong build up to ‘The Next Step’ began last January when Raiford released the sensual single ‘Forever’. Momentum built in May when his version of the four-time Grammy-winning hit, ‘Leave The Door Open’ hit the airwaves but at every show he has played this year, during every interview he has given Raiford has talked about ‘Vallejo’.
Here it is.