R&B/Jazz Multi-Instrumentalist Brian Culbertson Debuts New Album XII

On July 20, 2010, Brian Culbertson released the twelfth album of his multi-faceted career, simply titled XII, on GRP Records/Verve.

XII is the highest charting record of Culbertson’s long, successful career, debuting at #82 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, #9 on the R&B charts and #79 on the Current Chart. XII also sits squarely at the #1 spot on the Contemporary Jazz Chart, his fourth #1 record. In addition to his sales success, his single “Skies Wide Open” featuring Avant is #16 on both Adult R&B and Urban AC radio charts. His other single “That’s Life” was the #1 most added single in the Smooth Jazz format.

Culbertson commemorates his twelfth release with 12 new songs that continue to reflect his broad-ranging musicality and mastery of intimate moods. XII appeals to many different fan bases by covering a wide range of music genres. The titles swing from the rich love ballad "Skies Wide Open" (featuring R&B singing star Avant) to an an all-out Go-Go party jam titled "Feelin’ It" featuring the man who put Washington, D.C. Go-Go music on the map, Chuck Brown in addition to a comedic appearance by Sinbad). Think piece “I Don’t Know” exploes the meaning of it all with help from spoken word enchantress, Floetry’s Natalie Stewart. Others featured on the record are Ray Parker Jr., Kenny Lattimore, Brian McKnight, Faith Evans, and Earl Klugh. The rest of the songs are instrumentals showcasing Culbertson’s impressive talent as demonstrated, for example, in the rippin’ Moog solo he takes in the funky track “Stay Wit It.”

To keep up with Culbertson, visit  http://www.brianculbertson.com and www.youtube.com/brianculbertson

Vancouver Jazz Festival 2010 Gastown - Dal Richards + Opensouls

Dal Richards and his orchestra gave an unforgettable show last weekend  at the Vancouver Jazz Festival. This kind of music is timeless and should be listened to time and time again. "A Vancouver legend, Dal continues to swing - leading his orchestra of talented musicians in a blend of unique sounds that capture the best of the big band era, along with jazz, rock and pop standards from the 1930s to today" (http://www.dalrichards.com/). Enjoy a couple of videos I made with Dal Richards and his orchestra, and Bria Skonberg.

Opensouls, a band from New Zealand also performed last weekend and gave an impressive performance, the crowd and I had a great time! Opensouls is a 7, 8, 9, or 11 piece band (depending on which gig you attend) hailing from Auckland, NZ. Forming in 2002, opensouls have steadily risen to become a much loved band in Aotearoa and beyond.Watch a video of their performance at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, below.

Sonny Rollins Receives Miles Davis Award

Tenor sax player, Sonny Rollins won the Miles Davis Award last Sunday at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Previous recipients of this award include Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner and Mike Stern. It is meant to honour an international artist for the entire body of his or her work.

His nickname is the Saxophone Colossus and he has been performing for the past five decades! His original style is bebop, but he has also explored other genres such as calypso, funk, R&B and pop.

Sonny Rollins will be touring in various venues throughout Europe, Japan, and New York until November. Check out his touring dates here.

Check out Sonny's video library, including his Podcasts, peformance clips, interviews and special features about the Sonny Rollins Group on his website.

Here's one of the videos of this legendary saxophonist: