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Showcase CD
Patchwork - Daniel Domenge:
From
Montpellier located in the wine-producing southern regions of
France and just a short distance from the Mediterranean coast
comes guitarist Daniel Domenge. With a style influenced by the
likes of Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino and inspired by others
such as George Benson and Chuck Loeb, Domenge has played professionally
for some 20 years or so. Having performed with a variety of bands
while recording and arranging for national and local radio, it
was about three years ago that Domenge decided to record a smooth
project, which has just recently been completed. It's been said,
you can't rush a good thing and the wisdom in this saying is now
particularly evident with Domenge and his cd, entitled Patchwork.
Although in truth the title is well chosen, it may also be a bit
misleading as, even though the project is comprised of a variety
of seemingly incongruous parts, Domenge knits the pieces together
with the skill of a seasoned artisan!
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the album, Domenge wanted to combine retro sounds like the Rhodes
piano, the Hammond keys, and wa-wa guitar with some current styles.
Additionally, he very nicely melds the Euro-vibe with many of the
finer elements of the smooth scene - so suffice it to say the result
is a highly impressive debut! |
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Photo of Daniel Domenge
by Bourric
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Like a fine wine that's aged to perfection, this is a vintage collection
for the connoisseur. As such, it's with pleasure that we now pause
to present Daniel Domenge and Patchwork as the focus for our spotlight
feature! We've chosen a trio of sensory delights - beginning with
the title track and its intricate pastiche of styles and textures.
The reminiscence of Last Summer gently eases us into the second
half of the show, while the nonchalant hipness of the track Cool
closes the show with semi-chilled poise. As the sounds softly swirl,
you'll not only savour the heady Patchwork flavour, you may perhaps
also better appreciate the many subtleties that listening to great
music entails!
CD: Patchwork (2008)
Label: Independent Release
Sites: 
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| Fresh Trax: Part One |
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Mesmerized - Brian O'Neal:
With
influences that range from Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny to Prince Stevie
Wonder, Detroit native Brianl O'Neal discovered a passion for music at
the age of six. He learned the sax, bass, and trombone, but aspired to
be a professional drummer until he was asked to fill in for his high school
band on piano. He became hooked on the keys and it was his grandmother,
who bought him his first set of ivories. For the most part, he was self-taught
but later he received a full music scholarship to Alcorn State; he went
on to compose jingles and film scores while for a time in the 80s, he
toured with an Atlanta-based jazz band called Take Notes. More recently,
he's mentored aspiring artists, such as Kem while sharing the stage with
many great musicians. Additionally, O'Neal has recorded a pair of projects
with yet another that is scheduled to be issued later this year. As we
play a bit of catch-up, we now go to O'Neal's most recent release, his
2007 sophomore cd that he named Daisy in honor of his late grandmother.
From that effort, we have O'Neal and a terrific selection aptly entitled
Mesmerized!
CD: Daisy (2007)
Label: BCO Media
Sites:
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Golden Cup - The Terry Disley Experience:
Hailing
from London England, Terry Disley has performed with the London Metropolitan
Orchestra, and on several occasions, he's played that city's prestigious
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. He's been commissioned by Paul McCartney & Mick
Jagger, and for a period of five years he served as Dave Stewart of The
Eurythmics' music director. In the smooth jazz arena, Disley is best known
for his lengthy association with Acoustic Alchemy, having toured and recorded
with the group for six years. Based in San Francisco since 1997, Terry
has quickly developed into one of the Bay areas hottest jazz commodities
thru countless live appearances and a string of impeccably recorded releases.
His latest is titled West Coast Jazz Impressions and according to Terry,
he really wouldn't categorize the effort as smooth jazz. Nonetheless,
with all respect due Mr. Disley the project is truly an ultra-polished
and a highly jazzy affair and as such a welcome addition to so-called
smooth jazz show such as ours! From that effort, we have the swinging
and extremely tasteful Golden Cup!
CD: West Coast Jazz Impressions (2009)
Label: Disleyworld Music
Sites:
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| Fresh Trax: Part Two |
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Back To The Road - Torcuato Mariano:
After
gaining recognition as a pop composer in his adopted homeland of Brazil,
Torcuato Mariano spent several years as a sought after sessionist - he
then went on to perform and record with greats such as Sergio Mendes and
Leo Gandelman, as well as touring with Djavan and Ivan Lins. It was in
the early 90's that Mariano first moved to establishing a solo career.
Both his '94 debut and its follow up yielded top hits with his '95 sophomore
effort, reaching the year-end top 30 in the USA. In spite of these successes,
Mariano opted to become head of A&R for a major label in Brazil. After
a hiatus of several years, he returned to recording in 2004. Now well
into this latest phase of his career, Torcuato has just issued So Far
from Home, his NuGroove debut and fifth overall. Early word on the street
has it (and we agree) this may well be his most solid effort to date!
And, as a bit of a teaser, we're starting with Back To The Road - a great
track and a real attention grabber!
CD: So Far From Home (2009)
Label: nuGroove Records
Sites: 
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I'm Waiting For You - Jackiem Joyner:
A native
of Norfolk Virginia, Jackiem Joyner's early exposure to music came thru
singing in the church choir and playing drums behind gospel songs. After
his family relocated to Buffalo during his middle school years, Joyner
took up the sax and on three occasions, he won local competitions in the
NAACP's youth achievement program. Moving back to Virginia following high
school, Joyner joined Marcus Johnson and ended up playing with the keyboardist
for about three years from 2001 to 2004.
During this time, Joyner began to branch out performing with other artists
such as Jaared and Bobby Lyle. He co-headlined a 30-city tour with Ronnie
Laws, Angela Bofill, and Jean Carne, after which he took a full year off
to focus on creating an album. A self-produced effort was issued in about
2005 and using that as springboard, Joyner broke onto the scene in 2007
with his label debut. Now a couple of years later, Joyner returns with
his follow-up and an effort which has already seen him catapult to the
lofty positions on the charts with its lead single. From the soon to be
issued Lil' Man Soul we have the anticipation of I'm Waiting For You!
CD: Lil' Man Soul (2009)
Label: Artistry/Mack Avenue
Sites:
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Babaloop - Joe Ercole:
After
recording a pair of projects, which included a techno effort and his smooth
jazz debut, Ercole went on to gain some measure of fame as a founding
member of the hip & funky band known as Bona Fide, voted best new smooth
jazz group at the 2001 Oasis Award. Having immersed himself in the music
of the Middle East for the past several years, Ercole now fuses many contrasting
elements into his latest 'oeuvre' and one that may well toss the contemporary
scene onto its head! With themes ranging from refined, cinematic, and
smooth to techno, Arabic, and full out funk-fests, Ercole entitled this
artistic 'mélange' Exposed! Exhibiting musicianship & playing of the highest
calibre thruout, Ercole explores various aspects of a multi-faceted style
while running a gamut of tempos and textures from delicate to insistent.
Now 'exposed' as the major jazz talent that he is, we present a fun-session
called Babaloop! Stay tuned, there'll be more from Mr. Ercole in the weeks
ahead!
CD: Exposed (2009)
Label: Joe Ercole Music
Sites:
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| After Hours ~ Exclusive to our
Site and Select Affiliates : |
| ...it's chapter 2 in a two-part series wherein each of
our spin selections contains the word morning in its title. So stay tuned
for tunes such as Early Morning, The Morning After, and Good Morning To
You - as part of a 13 track salute to the AM hours on a special edition
we're calling Morning Glorious. Opening things are Mark Barrios and Dave
McMurray; they're followed by Tom Grant with the namesake piece for the
segment, and then Toronto's Fred Engler. Set #2 has Grady Nichols and
continues with The Jazzy Devils, Joe Ercole, flautist Sherry Winston,
and Chris Geith. While wrapping it up are Germany's Blue Nights, the band
Hiroshima, keyboardist Dan Siegel and finally trumpeter Greg Adams!
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