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November 4th, 2007 Edition #459 Previously 
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This Week at CafeJazz.ca! On today's edition, Les Sabler steps into our showcase spotlight; we've chosen a trio of favorites from Sweet Drive and those are featured at selected points thruout the show. Then you'll want to stay with us in hour 2 for the Back Trax segment as we dust off favourites from back in the day! This installment includes tracks by Bobby Lyle and Chuck Mangione. We'll be hearing from Denny Jiosa and from Bill MacPherson and Nee Sackey recording as Native Vibe; while Dean Krippaehne, Erik Hall and pH7 round out the feature. Then later that same hour, there's a dazzling array of current favourites - including Danny Lerman, Dave Sereny, Nate Harasim, and Will Donato while sprinkled here and there are a variety of gems including Acoustic Alchemy, Tom Grant, Roberto Perera and Jay Soto! |
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Showcase CD Sweet Drive - Les Sabler: The weather isn't the only thing that's hot in Tampa these days - a case in point being Sweet Drive the latest release from Les Sabler. Although he hails from Montreal in "La Belle Provence" of Quebec Canada, Sabler has been a full-time Florida resident since 1978. Canada's loss was the Sunshine State's gain as the Jazz major from Concordia University further solidified his credentials by enrolling in graduate studies at the University of Miami Jazz Department. Notwithstanding the fact, that for a time music wasn't Sabler's full time gig; it has always been his full time passion. In 1989, he was commissioned to compose and produce a soundtrack for the documentary Lost Treasures of the Titanic for Canadian TV. Thruout, Sabler has maintained an active performance schedule thereby honing his chops to razor sharpness while, in the 90s, a pair of releases gained substantial airplay in the US. |
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| However, the year 2003 saw Sabler shift gears and gain considerable momentum with Bridge the Gap, his third album that was co-produced by fellow Tampanian Allon Sams. Once again, the project faired well in the US, but it was back in his native land that Bridge the Gap left an indelible impression as the most played album by a Canadian for the year! The project has continued to enjoy residual effects ever since, garnering Sabler a pair of nominations at the 2005 inaugural edition of the Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards while maintaining a position as one of the most played cds on the strength of not one, but several sterling selections! This all leads back to our opening point and Sabler's Sweet Drive cd. On Sweet Drive, "There were no compromises," Sabler explains, as he remained committed to taking his music to the next level! | ||
Therefore, it's with great pleasure that we thrust Les Sabler and his sweet release into our showcase spotlight - we have a trio of tracks that I know you're gonna love, beginning with Club Street, the first single to radio that's poised for some major chart action. Sweet Drive, the title track, starts the spins in hour 2 with the pedal to the metal Twenty-Two taking us home in overdrive. Meanwhile there's a bit more of Les that we've reserved as a bonus for the After Hours portion of the show in the funky bluesy vibe of Food Chain. Guaranteed to be one of the finer projects in 2007, you'll want to hitch a ride on this one, as the drive is sweet indeed! CD: Sweet Drive Label: The Music Force Media Group Site: Les Sabler |
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| Back Trax: Part One | |
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Sweet Butterfly - Chuck Mangione: Chuck Mangione, has been a passionate performer for over five decades. With a career that stretches back to the mid 60s, Mangione first attracted attention playing with his brother Gap in a mainstream quintet called The Jazz Brothers while he attended the Eastman School of Music. After recording a solo album and playing with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Mangione returned to Eastman as director of the school's Jazz Ensemble. Subsequently he signed a deal with A&M Records, and delivered two highly successful releases in the same year. Chase The Clouds Away was used as background music for telecasts of the '76 Olympic Games while Bellavia, named to honor his mother, won Mangione his first Grammy award. Mangione reached new heights with the 1977 mega-hit Feels So Good, acknowledged by some as the #1 smooth jazz hit of all time. The Children of Sanchez double-album earned Mangione a second Grammy while in 1980, Mangione's "Give It All You Got" was heard around the world as the theme of the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. The rest of the 80s were filled personal appearances & a variety of projects so that in the midst of this activity Mangione's 1988 Eyes of the Veiled Temptress release remained somewhat overlooked even though it contains some of his finest work. From that effort, we have the exquisite Sweet Butterfly featuring Chris Vadala on flute! CD: Eyes of the Veiled Temptress (1988) Label: CBS Records Site: Chuck Mangione |
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Bamboo Spirits - Native Vibe: Guitarist Bill Macpherson first struck upon the concept for Native Vibe in 1987, while attending SDSU although it was several years before the idea came to full fruition. Born in LA but raised in the Congo by medical missionary parents, Macpherson was weaned on a variety of styles of African music. After graduating from Berklee in Boston with honours, Macpherson enrolled in a Master's program in Jazz Performance at San Diego State where he formed a band and began composing, incorporating many flavours of the world music, he had grown up with. After three solo projects, Macpherson and Nee Sackey, his long-time musical partner, selected the name Native Vibe. For his part, Sackey was born in NYC, the son of Ghana's ambassador to the US. Back in Ghana, Sackey was composing and performing music at 11 and although he started as an electrical engineering major, he too attended Berklee. The two finally connected thru a mutual friend when playing in San Diego and began playing together. While pursuing solo careers, they decided to join forces as Native Vibe releasing their Medicinal Purposes debut in 1996. They issued several more cds with the '99 Spirits release as the second of these. From that effort, we've selected the lead track entitled Bamboo Spirits exhibiting a typically seductive Native Vibe blend of influences! CD: Spirits (1999) Label: Domo Records |
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| Back Trax: Part Two | |
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Exotic
Love - Bobby Lyle : Working locally in the Twin City Areas where he grew up, Bobby Lyle made the leap to the national stage with Young-Holt Unlimited, while in the early 70s, he was set to be part of a new jazz-rock project with Jimi Hendrix before the famed guitarist's untimely passing. Returning to Minneapolis, Lyle recorded a released only in Japan debut in 1974; two years later, he relocated to LA gaining spots with Sly and The Family Stone and with saxman Ronnie Laws while 1977 saw the release of his North American debut. Thruout the 80s, Lyle enjoyed high profile gigs with George Benson and as music director for Bette Midler, Al Jarreau, and Anita Baker. In the late 80s, Lyle landed a record deal with Atlantic records, which led to his most prolific period - six albums in 9 years. Following the success of 1990's The Journey, the #1 jazz album for the year, Lyle continued thru with his patented blend of elegant funk delivering Love Stories in 1994 as amazingly his fifth release in just 6 years. From that effort, we've selected Exotic Love, a bass-driven ballad featuring the saxwork of Everette Harp and the tantalizing keyboard magic of the versatile Mr. Lyle himself! CD: Rhythm Stories (1994) Label: Atlantic Jazz |
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Walk in the Park - Denny Jiosa : Huntington, Indiana native, Denny Jiosa began on guitar at the age of seven, later adding trumpet, French horn, and bass to his repertoire. In the mid 80s, Jiosa moved to Los Angeles to attend GIT and further honed his chops by studying privately with Frank Gambale. Relocating to Nashville following his graduation, Jiosa did a variety of sessions prior to accepting a management position at a recording studio - in this capacity, his biggest success has been garnering three Grammy nominations for his work with gospel vocalist Yolanda Adams. In the meantime, Jiosa launched his own solo career in 1995 with a top ten album while his Inner Voices follow up, featuring the hit Lights of the City, went all the way to #5. From that effort, we've selected the equally compelling A Walk in the Park! Addendum: Denny is set to release a new project; it will be cd #6 and his first in several years. Look for " Dreams Like This" scheduled for January, 2008. CD: Inner Voices (1996) Label: Blue Orchid Site: Denny Jiosa |
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Chomp
- Dean Krippaehne & Erik Hall: Currently splitting his time between Nashville, LA, and his native Seattle, Dean Krippaehne arrived on the music scene back in the mid 80s, and has been building an international following as a jazz singer and songwriter ever since. The internet explosion in the 90s provided Krippaehne with a tremendous opportunity to get his music to the masses in spite of not having a record label. An avid believer in the old MP3.com website, Krippaehne shares, he may not have become famous but he did enjoy over a million downloads of his jazz related works. Billed as "low-fi hip jazz" Krippaehne released the critically acclaimed pH7 project in 1997 in collaboration with Erik Hall. Backed a slew of Seattle's coolest jazz cats, among them Darren Motamedy on sax, Jay Thomas on flute, and John Raymond on guitar, we have a taste of acid jazz at its finest in the form of Chomp from pH7! CD: pH7 (1997) Label: MP3.com Site: Dean Krippaehne |
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| After Hours ~ Exclusive to our Site and Select Affiliates : | ||||||||
| This week on the After Hours portion of the show; Jeff Kashiwa is featured on Then & Now. We've gone to each of Jeff's solo releases for a six pack of tracks and that's about 15 to 20 minutes into the hour. Otherwise, something that's become a tradition as new music rules - we have seven fresh & tasty selections to round out the hour. Today's line-up includes Soul Ballet and more from Rick Braun & Richard Elliot. New to the show is the music of Audio Caviar, while as an added bonus we have another selection from Les Sabler and the showcase cd and that will cap the hour. Otherwise, there's music from Blake Aaron, Gordon James and Darren Rahn! | ||||||||
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Then & Now Spotlight
Artist: Jeff Kashiwa
Jeff Kashiwa: Seattle-born Jeff Kashiwa started in music on the clarinet when he was 10 and switched to the sax a couple of years later. Although initially influenced by early smooth jazzers such as Chuck Mangione and Spyro Gyra, Kashiwa developed an interest in a more straight-ahead style during a stint at Berklee in Boston. After earning a spot in Disney's All American College Band, Kashiwa transferred to Cal State in Long Beach and while working towards a degree in music, he toured with a ska-reggae band known as the Untouchables. It was thru bassist Steve Bailey that Kashiwa met Russ Freeman leader of the Rippingtons. At the time, Bailey was playing with The Ripps and although Kashiwa was working at a grocery store by day, he hired Bailey for one of his nighttime gigs. After auditioning for Freeman, Kashiwa was hired to fill the sax chair that had recently been vacated by Brandon Fields.
Performing nearly 100 shows annually - with his band Coastal Access or with Steve Cole & Kim Waters as The Sax Pack, Kashiwa has supplemented those dates by appearing with Acoustic Alchemy and others. In 2006 and continuing thru to the summer of '07, Kashiwa reunited with The Rippingtons as part of the band's 20th Anniversary Tour. In there somewhere, he also managed to record Play, his fourth album on Native Language and sixth overall. So with that said, we had all the musical ammunition needed for a scintillating two-set Then & Now segment featuring Mr. Kashiwa and one selection from each of those discs. To that end, this feature includes Mardi Gras, August Moon, and Hyde Park followed by A Quiet Goodbye, Ecstasy, and Forever - in all, a non-stop six-track hi-light reel from one of the most magnetic players in the genre! Site: Jeff Kashiwa ; Native Language |
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