Showcase CD
Crescent Shores - Les Sabler:
It's
been said, that revisiting the past can help bridge to the future
and that may well be what Les Sabler did in creating Crescent
Shores, his sixth and latest release. The ground work for the
project was laid in a few sessions recorded in 1991 at Richard
Elliot's Tampa studio. It was shortly after releasing his first
album, that Sabler and his band started recording material for
a follow up . Living in Florida's Sarasota area, Sabler would
frequent Crescent Beach on Siesta Key, a stimulating setting from
which Sabler drew inspiration for his compositions! Nonetheless,
some challenges in the world of business caused the shelving of
the record until Sabler rediscovered the original tapes gathering
dust. That, together with finding a fresh voice on acoustic guitar,
spurred Sabler to action causing him to return to the studio to
complete what he'd started nineteen years before. A few of the
original performances were retained but the majority of the material
was re-done, while Les also added a new track or two. |
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the project proved a re-union effort as Sabler teamed again with
keyboardist & producer Allon Sams - the two had collaborated brilliantly
on 2003's Bridge the Gap, a cd that lingered near the top of our
list of favourites for no less than a couple of years. Subsequently,
Les scored big with Sweet Drive - our absolute #1 most played cd
in all of 2008. So with all this as background to the present, it's
with keen anticipation that Les Sabler now re-enters the Café Jazz
limelight with this current release! |
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Les Sabler
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First up is Turn of the Century. When Sabler titled the track, little
could he have imagined that the finished product would connect performances
by drummer David "Frankie" Toler, bassist Bruce Waibel, and percussionist
Joe Lala recorded in the 90s, with those of Sabler and Sams done
in 2010. Some of Tampa's finest in Mic Smith on flugelhorn, Gene
Cannon on flute, and Ruben Drake on bass, join in to create some
exquisite moments on Lonely Girl, Sabler's great read on a Mark-Almond
tune recorded back in 1973, and that's the track opening hour 2.
Then in the end, it's Sabler's stirring beach serenade and the title
track. A cd that effectively spans the decades, Crescent Shores
is a project with which Les Sabler fondly reminisces on an earlier
phase of his career while boldly ushering in a new & dynamic chapter!
CD: Crescent Shores (2010)
Label: Big Deal Records
Links: 
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| Fresh Trax: Part One |
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Ocean View - Phillip Brooks:
Detroit
native Phillip Brooks demonstrated much promise early in his career and
by his teens he was recording and performing live. After working for a
time in gospel music, Brooks toured with Mary J Blige and the R&B group
Silk. In 2003, he became the Music Director for Wayman Tisdale and after
gigging the country with the bassman, Brooks discovered the genre that
well-suited his own expressiveness and creativity. He debuted in 2008
and the new release called Ocean View is now his 3rd overall and a collection
that Brooks offers in memory of his late friend. The project features
some of the Motor City's finest and from it we have the groovalicified
title track!
CD: Ocean View (2010)
Label: Mojoy Records
Links:
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La Jolla
- Patrick Yandall:
In
the early 80s, the native of Bay City Michigan relocated to San Diego,
where he became entrenched on the LA-SD session scene. Launching his solo
career back in '94, Yandall has issued a series of well-received cds all
while demonstrating many flashes of brilliance along the way and in recent
years, his output has become nothing short of prolific. With richly layered
grooves and textures of jazz and blues, the recently issued The Window
is now his 12th. From that effort we have a breezy tune that suitably
shares its name with the trendy seaside resort community within the northern
limits of America's Finest City. "La Jolla, with its laid-back Caribbean
flavor, steel pans, and acoustic touch from Yandall makes you want to
don your beach hat and shades and just settle back to bask in that warming
island sun and soak in all that richness. Hey, you've got it all: Music,
beach, life. Pretty glorious ..." (courtesy of Ronald Jackson & The
Smooth Jazz Ride)
CD: The Window (2010)
Label: Innervision Records
Links:
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| Fresh Trax: Part Two |
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Never Without You - Brian Simpson:
Dave
Koz's musical director continues creating albums that rate a solid 10
on the Café Jazz wow factor! South Beach is now cd #4 in the Simpson catalogue
and it likely represents Brian's most accomplished effort to date. It
was back in 2007 that Simpson simply floored us with Above the Clouds,
a project that surged to the #3 spot on our in house list of most played
album in the year. Now following a well-deserved ASJA nomination as keyboardist
of the year, comes a project with the full potential to be a chart-buster!
Simpson shares "While working on South Beach in my studio I often stepped
back to a corner of the room and closed my eyes, as if listening for the
first time, to see if the music compelled an emotion. I truly hope the
listener can feel the love and care that all of the musicians contributed
to the recording." One of the most expressive and heart-felt tracks on
the disc is a gorgeous ballad called Never Without You and it features
Brian on piano together with Peter White on guitar and Steve Alaniz on
sax. Suffice it to say, the players don't play the notes, they caress
them. Gentle, reflective, and caring - this one will definitely tug at
your heart strings!
CD: South Beach (2010)
Label: Shanachie Records
Links:
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Open Dream - Spring Island:
A band
that comes to us from Hungary in the heart of central Europe, Spring Island
is a 6-man combo led by keyboardist Akos George. A versatile & gifted
musician well-versed in a variety forms, George graduated from the Bartók
Béla Institute of Music and in the time since, he's played with many of
the most prominent jazzers on the Hungarian scene. Co-founder & guitarist
Balazs Galgoczi is an alumnus of the Liszt Ferenc Music College, and so
it goes with each of the members having established impressive credentials.
With exciting harmonies and improvisational themes, the band name is really
quite reflective of their style, implying the freshness of spring together
with an island flavor. Get Movin' is their debut and from it we had the
plush sounds of Open Dream. The tune features Gyula Csepregi, one of the
nation's leading sax players as well as Dave Samuels formerly of Spyro
Gyra fame who guests on vibes on the track. So in Hungarian, how do you
say, "It's a cool & groovy scene!"?
CD: Get Movin' (2010)
Label: Magneoton
Links:
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Dance
with Me - Nils:
He recorded
the most played track for the past decade in Pacific Coast Highway - it's
Nils and he's back with a new one called What the Funk? With several #1
hits to his credit plus a nomination as best guitarist for the year at
the upcoming ASJA, Nils is now set to expand on an already impressive
set of accolades with this, his fourth album on the Baja label and his
5th overall. The title of this latest project clues you in right off -
this effort is rife with soulful riffs and full of danceable grooves.
From an effort upon which he broadens his horizons, Nils gives us an upbeat
mover aptly entitled Dance with Me!
CD: What The Funk? (2010)
Label: Baja Records
Links:
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| After Hours ~ Exclusive to our
Site and Select Affiliates : |
| …another in our ongoing connections series - on this occasion the
operative concept was to include selections having the word rain, or some
variation of a rain theme, as part of the title. We're calling the segment
Raindrops, in deference to a track by Doc Powell and that's the tune that
opens the show!
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