Something for Everyone New Christmas CDs
Nov / Dec 2022
TM
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Feature
30 Rebecca Jade – Interview A Rising Star
Concert 12 Hiroshima The Farewell Tour 18 Eric Darius
12 Jazz Notes 10 Grammy News
New Categories and more
Lifestyle 48 Carmen Lundy
Movie Directorial Debut
CD Release Party - “Unleashed”
26 The Manhattan Transfer Celebrating 50 Years
Festival 52 Vroom VIP Jazz
Movie Director Debut
Remembering 42 Ramsey Lewis Dies
A Musician for All Generations
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CD Releases
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SmoothJazz
Smooth Jazz Magazine 3751 Motor Ave. Suite #531 Los Angeles, CA 9 0034 info@smoothjazzmag.com
Nov / Dec 2022
Web: www.smoothjazzmag.com
Art Jackson - Publisher/CEO Dr. Ahava Talon - Editor in Chief Doris Gee - Research Manager Mann - Graphic Artist Manager
Contributing Writers Giget C. Johnson
Atlanta
E.L. Johnson
Los Angeles
Melissa Berry
Los Angeles
Contributing Photographers Ronald Parker
Durham
Ron Hancox
Hartford
E.L. Johnson
Los Angeles
Mann
Los Angeles
Rhonda Kilpatrick
San Diego
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written consent from the publisher. Copyright @ 2022 Smooth Jazz Magazine All Rights Reserved.
The week of November 05, 2022 Paradigm Shift Carol Albert feat. Paul Brown
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Good On You Will Donato
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Eddie’s Groove Gerald Albright
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Never Hurt Like You Mindi Abair
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Let’s Get Down Tonight Adam Hawley feat. Vincent Ingala
@smoothjazzmag
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In my career as a musician I only dreamed about having a Billboard #1 Hit that lived on my vision board as a magazine cutout. This week I saw that dream become a reality with “Paradigm Shift”. Not only is it #1 on Billboard but also #1 on every Smooth Jazz /AC Chart this week. I’m overwhelmed at the love and support from so many who have helped to make this happen because it takes a village. In the music business these are fleeting moments and I fully
Note GRAMMY® Celebrate Bonnie Raitt for receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award
achievement Award
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Just two days before the 23rd Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards®, 8-11:30 p.m. ET the Recording Academy® will reveal the 5-8:30 p.m. PT 65th Annual GRAMM Awards® nominees across all 91 Categories live from the GRAMMY Museum® and Latin GRAMMY Week® on Tues, Nov. 15 at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET. The event will stream live on live.GRAMMY.com and the Academy's Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok channels, and the full list of nominees will be published on GRAMMY. com The annual GRAMMY Awards celebrate artistic excellence that defined the year in music. As music's only peer-recognized accolade, the Academy's membership body of music creators representing all genres and creative disciplines participate in the GRAMMY Awards voting process that determines the nominees and winners on Music's Biggest Night®. Several landmark changes went into effect in June for the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards. The creation of five new Categories, including Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical; Best Alternative Music Performance; Best Americana Performance; Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games And Other Interactive Media; and Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. Additionally, a new Special Merit Award will be given out for Best Song For Social Change, which celebrates a song that addresses a timely social issue and promotes understanding, peace building and empathy. The 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards returns to LA' Crypto.com Arena on Sun, Feb. 5, 2023, on the CBS and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ . 10| SmoothJazz Magazine
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Concert Photos: Rhonda Kilpatrick
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Timothy Norris
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Concert
Courtesy of the Recording Academy™ /photo by Timothy Norris, Ge y Images© 2022.
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8 - Times GRAMMY© Awards winning vocal group celebrate their 50th Anniversary with the new studio album “Fifty”.
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Feature By: Giget C. Johnson
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Feature
You’re gonna want to take a listen to Rebecca Jade’s “A Shade of Jade”! Like the title, the cover art gives us “A Shade of Jade”. The hair is all hers just like every single song on the album. She wrote every lyric to every song (“Bottle Up Magic”was a collaboration but wasn’t supposed to be on the record. She got permission to steal it for her own project.”) and yet we only get “A Shade of Jade”, for there is so much more greatness to come from her. She wrote the lyrics. Carnell Harrell co-produced and put the music behind the lyrics. The result is a gift of empowerment to the broken hearted. This CD reveals the deep hurt of a breakup. A reminder to move on. On the heels of a recent divorce, it caused me to realize that I am much further along in my healing journey than I was giving myself credit for. I learned long ago that the easiest way to move on is to travel light. Don’t invest your whole being into a relationship. Save some of you for yourself. Some Time. Some Space. Some Energy. But take the risk, for love is worth the risk, however calculated that risk must be. Make some magic and bottle it up for later when you need it! Nov/Dec Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 31
Feature
Photos By: Rhonda Kilpatrick
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Feature Rebecca Jade has perfect tone throughout the album. Her words drip like honey on the perfectly adorned music. Some of the songs have been in her lyric book for years and finally have come to light. “At the end of the day, I feel people can relate to something related to love, to loss, to fighting for yourself and sticking through a tough time.”
Photos By: Ronald Parker
After 20 years as a professional artist, with 15 years of doing it for a living, and 10 years of original projects, Rebecca Jade gifts us with “A Shade of Jade”; the name was penned while she was in college. After years of working with others whose ideas helped to shape her and contributed to her growth, the name “A Shade of Jade” was placed in its proper place on her very own project. A sucker for love songs, Jade forced herself not to write all love songs, which you’ll see in “Thankful” which gives a different spin on love. “Sometimes people don’t have a way of saying things. Music gives a voice to people who can’t find the words. The melody and the music support the concept and the song is exactly what I’ve been trying to say.” This particular Shade of Jade is a soft version of pining for love. A plea for love to stay. A grateful heart for love when things are going well; thankful for the opportunity to have loved even when love is lost. But also serves an acknowledgment that it’s time to move on from love if it is not working. Rebecca Jade draws her motivation for lyrics from the experiences of others or from anywhere she can get it, a walk, a drive, a picture, the sky. Nov/Dec Let the music take you… SmoothJazz Magazine | 33
Feature
If you are in love, have ever loved, have ever been loved by another, ever lost love whether in finality in death of your loved one or just through what turns out to be a temporary relationship ending, “A Shade of Jade” will speak to you. Somehow love has a way of making a fool out of even the best of us. As Main Ingredient’s song goes “Everybody plays the fool, sometimes.” Whether you’re a sucker for love or just a sucker for love songs, you’ll find yourself with “A Shade of Jade” on replay and before long you’ll know each word, like me. It’s a sing-along. SHOW ME A song serving as a plea to allow one to show their love for you and if you’re not the one for them to show them how to let go. PLEASE COME HOME A fight. He left. She ran after him. This is the song that revealed to me how much further along I was in my healing. Perhaps in the way that I love. Perhap in the lessons that I have learned from loving, losing and yet continuing to try again. I only want to be in love with those who will love me in return. No one expects perfection but you gotta have something to work for and someone willing to work with. I recently saw a quote that read “I want ease. Not easy. There’s a difference.” We should not look for the one who hurt us to heal us. These are lessons in love. 34| SmoothJazz Magazine
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Feature MY REASON (featuring Dave Koz) “The Rico Song” – My Reason pays homage to Rico, Rebecca Jade’s husband of 17 years. It is a reflection of the early years of their relationship. Dave Koz adds to the sweetness of this song. Closing your eyes while listening takes you on a ride curated as only Dave is capable of. [It’s not Rebecca Jade’s first go ‘round with Dave Koz as she is looking forward to hitting the road for Dave Koz & Friends Christmas tour for the second year in person, with the first time being a livestream due to the Covid pandemic. Catch them on tour this holiday season.] There is beauty in the hope of love. Perhaps heartbreak does not jade us after all. My Reason is the culmination of Rebecca Jade’s desire to write a song about new love. It’s her time at bat for a song that people will play at their wedding for many years to come, like Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”. She knocked it out of the park, cleared the bases and got a homerun on My Reason. WHAT’S IT GONNA BE. A song of empowerment. Courage through music. To move on. From anything that may be holding you back. She is giving Mary J Blige a run for her money on a heartbreak anthem with this one. “Sometimes it’s hard to recognize your power when all the world seems to be bringing you down. Nov/Dec
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Feature Don’t let no one take away your place in the sun. Don’t let no one win your race. You’ve only just begun. You can fight or you can hide. Run away or take it in stride. What’s it gonna be? You might lose or your might win. As long as you stand strong ‘til the very end. What’s it gonna be? See it through. Do it for you.” DRIFT AWAY The power of love to drown us. When we’re in love, we see things differently. It’s all good until it’s not. “Our love is powerful like the waves of the sea. Swelling and crashing down so effortlessly. With you I want to drift away. . . . Nothing and no one can pull me from the abyss and thirst of your love. I’d rather drown than stop fighting for us. “ This is the sweetest love song. Only certain people can love us in such a way that it is intoxicating. Pulling us in so effortlessly. Drowning us. Causing us to escape reality. Or is that just what love makes us do . . . want to drift away? THANKFUL “Look at me my heart is broken. Tired from dragging all this pain around. . . A broken heart is part of life. How do I go on from here? Be thankful for the chance to love. The good. The bad. The ups and downs. 36| SmoothJazz Magazine Let the music take you… Nov/Dec
Feature Take the time to see the beauty of it all. Hellos and goodbyes. Life is made of pulls and pushes like the tides. And though you’ll never leave my mind, I’m moving on from here. And although my heart hurts. And I wish that things were different. I know this is my path. My journey is my own to have.” Encouragement to move on. BEAUTIFUL LIES “You love me. You can’t live without me. There’s no one else in the world for you. I’m special. I’m all that you want and forever and ever your love will be true. You’ll be by my side to the end of time. How I wish you were telling the truth.” All lines that I’ve heard before. Amazing that the lyrics sound so familiar. Perhaps they pass out booklets with the lines that work. “You tell the most beautiful lies.”Jade calls a spade a spade in this song. A silver-tongued devil. Wasted time. Listening to sweet things fall off the lips of a liar. Honesty in a relationship is paramount to a strong foundation. Honesty allows others to make decisions for themselves whether to move forward or to move on. It’s so much better to be truthful than it is for one to tell lies that you have no intention of following through with. It leaves a relationship in shambles when untruths are revealed. Time reveals all. Jade likens the song to a jewelry box with the ballerina on top, dancing and twirling around. It looks so real and evokes such sweet emotions yet it’s fake, like the lies told by one this song. This sounds like a song to be sang in a musical on Broadway. She ends it so beautifully. Nov/Dec
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Feature BOTTLE UP MAGIC “Like a Saturday night on a Monday, carefree you, me. Like a cherry on top of a sundae, your love is so sweet. Can’t help but tell I’m under your spell. It’s captivating. Enchant me with the way you breathe in, breathe out my name. I’ve never heard it said that way before. It’s like a potion. Let’s drink it. I’m toasting to you. If I could bottle up magic, I would save some up for you. Just in case you start to panic when the weight of life gets to you. Let’s bottle up this magic. A little thing that we call love. We won’t hesitate. Let’s elevate and make the stars look up.” This song reminds me of a love of yesteryear. With a superhero of love. He comes through with his superpowers and makes everything alright. He swoops in when others cause pain. I’m reminded by him that “my love is like no other. There is no limit to mine.”And there is no limit to his. Sometimes when relationships end, there are only good memories to cherish. My great aunt reminds me often to make “good remembrances” for it is all that we’ll have later in life to cherish. When we create magic with another, we should save some for later when we need it. We should all bottle up magic – a little thing that we call love. OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON Lyrically a dreamer’s wish for love. “Here we go again doing the same old things, day to day like a broken record. We used to dream like that of queens and kings. Now we don’t even know what we’re after. Maybe if we can get away, we can live our dreams of yes38| SmoothJazz Magazine
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Feature terday. Meet me on the other side of the moon. Let’s go far away. Take my hand baby. Meet me on the other side of the moon, where our love can play. Take me away.” Who would you like to meet on the other side of the moon? Their face shows up when listening to this song. Close your eyes and you’ll be able to see them. INSANE “Even though you’ve been gone, you never left. Even though time has moved on you take my breath away. In my mind you’re by my side but my world is not the same. No. No. You got me going insane.” Multiple genres of music wrapped in one song. That tone of her voice though!!!!!! It’s what really going insane. “A Shade of Jade” reveals that Rebecca Jade is like a kaleidoscope. She has so much talent running through her being that we’ve only begun to see what she is capable of. I hope she bottled up some of this magic to sprinkle on her future endeavors.
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Remembering
1935-2022
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Remembering Although Ramsey Lewis left us on By: Melissa Berry
September 12th at age 87, his legacy remains. As an American jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years, Mr. Lewis created a history that includes 80 albums, five gold records, three Grammy Awards, and his current radio show, "Legends of Jazz." "Legends of Jazz" highlights the history of the jazz artists that originated The Great American Songbook, and it will continue to broadcast on WDCB Jazz on 90.9 FM Chicago. Therefore, there is definitely no R.I.P for Ramsey Lewis's music. Mr. Lewis united generations with his music's generous versatility. Because of the broad appeal to every demographic with musical genres covering jazz, soul, pop, classical, and his embrace of rock n' roll, this crossover allowed and maintained that generational connection through the universal language of music. Nonetheless, it seems nothing is quite so memorable as 1965's "The 'In' Crowd." Later that year, The Ramsey Lewis Trio would release two other singles, covers of the McCoys' "Hang on Sloopy" and the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night." And Lewis' career trajectory was reset.
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Remembering Every generation seems to have a special memory of their relationship with Mr. Lewis and The Ramsey Lewis Trio. But rather than the remembrances of someone who actually saw Mr. Lewis at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach in 1965 and heard "The 'In' Crowd" live, flash forward 40 years to a more contemporary view of Mr. Lewis from a Gen Y jazz enthusiast. Knowing just such a person, I asked for an early remembrance from Brian Shewfelt (Bard '11), who I'd known since he was a young teenager. His response wasn't limited to "The 'In' Crowd." It was far beyond that and a much more thoughtful and eloquent recollection: "Ramsey Lewis, one of the high priests of mid-century cool, was one of the first jazz musicians to train his ear on contemporary pop without condescension. I first became aware of him when watching Martin Scorsese's "Casino." There is a lengthy scene involving a high-stakes Japanese gambler over which Ramsey's runaway interpretation of Dobie Gray's "The in Crowd" plays. And it's perfect: the bounce, the fizz, the insouciance, the light confidence in the touch and timbre of it all.
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Remembering That opened up his whole catalog for me. But every single performance possesses such style and sophistication, and ease. His work is a monument to a vanished world of small nightclubs that used to cover large and medium-sized American cities, in which intimate encounters with world-class musicians was possible amidst a crowd of dissolute adults, all chasing some romantic and slightly dangerous dream.” At the end of this lyrical remembrance of Mr. Lewis, my young friend surprised me with his closing statement," I'd have to say the "Wade in the Water" is my favorite." Not the iconic "The 'In' Crowd, " "Hang On Sloopy," or the cover of "Hard Day's Night?" And that is the most significant tribute to Ramsey Lewis' legacy; every demographic and generation continues to be touched by Ramsey Lewis with an unexpected personal memory of their favorite. I'm still at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach with The Ramsey Lewis Trio in the summer of '65.
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New CD Releases 2022
Lisa Hilton “Paradise Cove” 12.02.22 BUY
Emmet Cohen “Uptown in Orbit” 10.28.22 BUY
Carmen Lundy “Fade to Blackt” 10.30.22 BUY
Alex Acuña “Gifts” 092322 “09.23.22 BUY
Lake Street Dive “Fun Machine/The Sequel” 09.09.22 BUY
Matt Willard “Soul Assassin” 07.25.22 BUY
Dr. John Things Happen That Way” 09.23.22 BUY
Connie Han “Secrets Of Inanna 09.23.22 BUY
Nils “Cool Shades” 07.16.22 BUY
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Lifestyle film directorial debut After an enduring pandemic, the 42-year-old Festival returns to Hollywood Bowl with a new name, Host and a serious line up for the 2-day festival. Saturday begins with the introduction of their new Host Arsenio Hall!
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Lifestyle By: E.L. Johnson Carmen Lundy, in her film directorial debut, shares an intimate view of her family and community as it recounts the origin, rise, and continued brilliance of the Apostolic Singers. Ms. Lundy maintains celebrity for her Grammy-nominated jazz performance, theater, television and now Ms. Lundy extends that excellence to film. Ms Lundy’s elegance balanced with her humble “down home” roots sets the tone for this film. Ms. Lundy artfully used vintage personal family video to create a sense of “home” as if one were spending an afternoon in the Lundy family home where love abounds against the backdrop of song and music. This collective of voices sprung from the closeness of family and devotion to the church. Collaborative effort prompted the group’s planning and orchestration obviating the need for an actual director. In place of backstage drama so often associate with singing groups, mutual respect and love ruled this group which reflected in the music. This angelic sound prompted notice from neighboring
churches and organizations requiring the Apostolic Singers to travel during the dark era of segregation. Rather than resentment, the challenge of segregation prompted greater closeness and musical inspiration as they had maintain close quarters and pack their own food for the road trips. These singers refused to lament the dire limitations but instead their battle cry became, “pass the chicken.”
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Lifestyle
Similar to segregation, the limitations of the COVID pandemic prompted closeness as Ms. Lundy used this time to reconnect with her family. Again, instead of lamenting, Ms. Lundy used the dire circumstances to create art, a documentary honoring the achievement of her loved ones. Not having a background in film existed as a minor detail as the “can do” Ms. Lundy simply learned film editing seemingly overnight because her desire to make a film required it. Ms. Lundy appears to be that person who would, with only a shrug, scale Mount Everest simply because she needed to get to the other side.
son to tell this very heart-felt tale. Each contributor exists as a hero in my mind deserving of an article of their very own. I could write a dozen articles about Ms. Lundy's accomplishment. However, I would be remiss if I failed to share the time I spent speaking with “Aunt Emma,” core member and pianist of the group, who celebrated her 81st birthday at the tail-end of the weekend. Aunt Emma seemingly represents the qualities the group exhibited: sweetness and purity, a throwback to another simpler time.
Upon leaving the theater, music continued to play not from the theater’s The film highlights the accomplishoverhead speaker but emanating from ments of the group through the pres- the heart strings tugging in my entation of personal stories. As each heart. Find this film wherever it is raised voice contributed to the beaavailable as your afternoon spent in tific orchestration of sound, so did the the Lundy family home will be time personal stories seemingly sing in uni- well spent. “Pass the chicken.” 50 SmoothJazz Magazine
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CD Reviews Concert Festival By: Ronald Parker
Adam Hawley Carol Riddick Julian Vaughn Lin Rountree
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Oli Silk
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CD Reviews Concert Festival
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Festival
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