THE JAZZ CHILL CORNER KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD - GOIN’ HOME

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1. KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD - GOIN’ HOME
2. BEN & ELLEN HARPER REFLECT ON CHILDHOOD HOME - COLLABORATIVE ALBUM DUE MAY 6 VIA PRESTIGE FOLKLORE
3. WAR SET TO RELEASE FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 20 YEARS - EVOLUTIONARY FT. TOWER OF POWER AND OTHERS
4. NATHAN EAST TO APPEAR ON THE TONIGHT SHOW; SINGLE "DAFT FUNK" REACHES #3 ON BILLBOARD SMOOTH JAZZ CHART
5. NEW RELEASES: CITRUS SUN - PEOPLE OF TOMORROW; KENNY GRAHAM - THE WORLD OF SAMMY LEE; NIELS VINCENTZ / CAMERON BROWN / BILLY HART / TOM HARRELL - IS THAT SO?

KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD - GOIN’ HOME Posted: 19 Mar 2014 11:52 AM PDT "This is a homecoming in more ways than one," Kenny Wayne Shepherd says of Goin' Home, The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band's May 20, 2014 debut on Concord Records. (International release dates may vary) "I felt like I was retracing my steps and reliving all the good times that I've had in my life because of this music.  And hopefully, that amount of happiness comes through on the album." In a 20-year recording career that began when he was just 16, Shepherd has established himself as an immensely popular recording artist, a consistently in-demand live act and an influential force in a worldwide resurgence of interest in the blues. Now, the five-time GRAMMY® nominee delivers one of his most personal projects to date with Goin' Home, his eighth album and his first to be recorded in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. Recorded in a mere 11 days, Goin' Home finds Shepherd revisiting a dozen of the vintage blues classics that first ignited his love of the blues and inspired him to play guitar. The artist's sharp interpretive skills and sublime guitar work shine on his renditions of tunes originally popularized by such blues icons as B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Magic Sam, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. Goin' Home—which continues in the spirit of Shepherd's widely acclaimed 2007 album/film project 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads—came together when Shepherd decided to take advantage of an 11-day gap in his touring schedule. "Everybody was originally gonna fly home and have a break," he recalls, "but I saw it as an opportunity to make some music. I had been looking for songs and preparing to make a record like this, so I asked the guys in the band for some more song suggestions and we rerouted the tour bus down to Louisiana." The process of choosing material for the project allowed Shepherd to relive some of his earliest musical epiphanies. "I dug through tons and tons of songs and artists' catalogues, trying to find songs that I thought would be right for this record," he explains. "That brought back all these distinct memories of sitting in the living room in front of the record player and cassette deck as a kid and learning how to play this material." The fact that the album was recorded in Shreveport, where Shepherd had come of age musically but had never actually recorded, raised the project's emotional intensity. "Being in Shreveport really brought me back, and being surrounded by my family and the music that I cut my teeth on brought up a lot of vivid memories." Although Shreveport didn't have a world class recording studio when Shepherd was growing up, the city is now home to Blade Studios, the celebrated facility run by respected drummer/producer Brady Blade, who's renowned for his work with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Dave Matthews. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of American Blues, Shepherd and his band—singer Noah Hunt, ex-Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton, former Firm bassist Tony Franklin and keyboardist Riley Osbourn—cut 22 songs, with no studio trickery and minimal overdubbing. "We did it the way records used to be recorded," Shepherd explains. "Everything, including the vocals, was basically cut live in the studio with everybody in the same room, with the instruments all bleeding together onto two-inch tape. I wanted to record these songs in the same spirit in which they were originally recorded, so the 11-day time frame was self-imposed. That put pressure on everybody to get it right the first time, and I had the utmost confidence in everyone's abilities and knowledge." Also lending a hand on the project are several talented friends who shared Shepherd's enthusiasm for Goin' Home's back-to-basics concept. Those include fellow guitar icons Joe Walsh, Warren Haynes, Keb' Mo' and Robert Randolph, longtime friend Ringo Starr, Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman Kim Wilson, the Rebirth Brass Band and co-producer Blade's father, Pastor Brady Blade Sr., who lends a bracing dose of preaching to Shepherd's version of Bo Diddley's "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover." "Everybody who performed on the record shared my passion, appreciation and respect for this music, but they're also all good friends of mine," Shepherd notes. "It was all pretty casual; I'd just run into people and ask if they wanted to be a part of it, and every one of them contributed something significant to the record. "I feel like I've matured a lot as a musician," Shepherd concludes. "My purpose for making music is the same as it ever was, but I've also learned a lot over the years. Less can be more. The great blues musicians who originally moved me didn't always have to burn up the neck of the guitar by playing a bunch of notes. They knew how to play the right note at the right time, in a way that just pierces you right to your heart. That was an important lesson, and it's my goal to move people in that same way that my role models moved me."

BEN & ELLEN HARPER REFLECT ON CHILDHOOD HOME - COLLABORATIVE ALBUM DUE MAY 6 VIA PRESTIGE FOLKLORE Posted: 19 Mar 2014 11:49 AM PDT Ben Harper and his mother Ellen have collaborated to create Childhood Home (Prestige Folklore), an absorbing, deeply personal collection of original songs set for release on May 6, 2014.  Landing the week before Mother's Day, the ten songs on Childhood Home, six written by Ben and four written by Ellen, explore the intricacies of family life with honesty and generous intimacy. The album's source can be directly traced to the pair's highly unusual, musical heritage.  In 1958, Ben Harper's maternal grandparents established The Folk Music Center and Museum in Claremont, California.  It was there, amid guitars, banjos, tablas, ukuleles and all manner of instruments from around the world, that a distinctively musical family took shape.  Ellen Harper, a talented multi-instrumentalist in her own right, encouraged her family to use the store (which she still operates) as a musical laboratory. The center was a magnet for up-and-comers such as Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Taj Mahal, who became extended family members, providing master classes in creativity and philosophy, all of which the young Ben Harper soaked up like a sponge. "I was a single mom, so he would come to the music store pretty much everyday after school, and help out while I was working. I think he just absorbed a lot of it," Ellen told a local paper. "It was in his environment, everywhere, because I used to play in bands, and he used to hang out with us all the time."  "Without that upbringing, I don't think I'd be doing what I do," Ben told the LA Times upon his grandfather's passing in 2004.  The tender, artfully crafted story sketches on Childhood Home are laced with an undercurrent of love, wistfulness and, sometimes, pain. "A house is a home even when there's ghosts / Even when you gotta run from the ones who love you most," Ben sings on the album opener "A House Is A Home."   On "Memories of Gold," truthfulness cuts through sweet nostalgia: "In the winter she wants to be dancer / In springtime she wants to be a scribe /In summer she wants to be a painter / Come autumn the mother of a child." Likewise, the sacrifice and despair of domestic life is devotedly delivered on Ellen Harper's "Altar of Love": "He always works late, determines his own fate / He's found his true match; he's found his soul mate / Sorry he says, sorry he feels / Can't help himself, he fell head over heels / And now she's another wife and a mother / Sacrificed on the alter of love." Ben Harper produced Childhood Home "like early Elvis," he told Rolling Stone, after he and Charlie Musselwhite won the "Best Blues Album" GRAMMY Award for last year's critically acclaimed Get Up! (Stax/Concord). "Not one thing is plugged in. It's all acoustic. I think they're going to call it 'Americana,' but it's soul, California, folk rock, American." Addressing a hometown audience, Ben recently affirmed: "I've always figured home is where you run from, and then run to." Ben and Ellen Harper find the circle unbroken on Childhood Home. Childhood Home Tracklist: 1. A House Is a Home 2. City of Dreams 3. Born to Love You 4. Heavyhearted World 5. Farmer's Daughter 6. Memories of Gold 7. Altar of Love 8. Break Your Heat 9. Learn It All Again Tomorrow 10. How Could We Not Believe http://www.benharper.com https://twitter.com/benharper http://www.facebook.com/benharper

WAR SET TO RELEASE FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 20 YEARS - EVOLUTIONARY FT. TOWER OF POWER AND OTHERS Posted: 19 Mar 2014 06:20 AM PDT On May 13, the legendary and groundbreaking group, WAR, will release their first new studio album in 20 years, titled Evolutionary, on Far Out Records/UMe. Available on 2CD and digitally, the package includes the new Evolutionary album and WAR's digitally remastered, multi-Platinum Greatest Hits collection, originally released in 1976 and never before released digitally or on CD. Featuring special guest collaborations with Cheech & Chong, Tower of Power, Joe Walsh, Malik Yusef, and the USC Marching Band, Evolutionary showcases WAR's multi-ethnic lineup and genre-defying style, combining jazz, rock, funk, soul, R&B and Latin. The band also announced U.S. tour dates starting March 20, including co-headlining performances with Cheech & Chong at The Joint at Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on May 16 and at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre on May 24 (see confirmed dates below). Produced by Jerry Goldstein and Lonnie Jordan, the new set touches on WAR's L.A. roots, while also updating the band's classic sound for a new generation of fans. Evolutionary was recorded at Total Access Studios in Redondo Beach, California by WAR founding member/vocalist Lonnie Jordan, percussionist Marcos Reyes, guitarist Stuart Ziff, bassist Francisco "Pancho" Tomaselli, drummer Sal Rodriguez, saxophonist/flautist David Urquidi, and harmonica player Stanley Behrens. Evolutionary includes the autobiographical first single, "That L.A. Sunshine," featuring Cheech & Chong, who memorably used WAR's "Low Rider" in their movie debut, Up in Smoke. Cheech & Chong and WAR are co-headlining the ongoing "Up In Smoke Tour." The album also includes "Mamacita," which revisits the band's Latin heritage and the Hollywood streets that inspired them -- accompanied by special guest Joe Walsh on guitar and the Tower of Power horns. "Inspiration," a song set to a Lonnie Jordan-penned poem, celebrates the band's unique relationship with its fervent fan base. Additionally, five-time GRAMMY® winner and member of Kanye West's G.O.O.D. posse, Malik Yusef brings his hip-hop pedigree to the smooth R&B ballad, "Outer Space," the "Low Rider" sample of "Bounce," and the gospel choir on "Everything." Yusef also contributes the rap to Motown writers Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong's "War" (a hit for Edwin Starr), which also features the famed USC Trojan Marching Band. WAR is the quintessential Los Angeles street band, first discovered by producer/writer Jerry Goldstein in a North Hollywood club. Eric Burdon and WAR burst onto the charts with the classic worldwide hit "Spill The Wine." Burdon and WAR toured extensively across the United States and Europe, until Burdon departed the band during the tour. The tour continued and the band returned to Los Angeles to record their first album as WAR. The rest is history. WAR has achieved 31 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum RIAA sales honors, 11 Top 10 pop hits, and 15 Top 10 R&B hits, including "Low Rider," "Spill The Wine," "Why Can't We Be Friends," "The Cisco Kid," "The World is a Ghetto," "Gypsy Man," and "Summer." Over the years, WAR's songs have been sampled by a broad range of artists, including the Beastie Boys, George Clinton, The Geto Boys, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Janet Jackson, Method Man, Redman, Smash Mouth, Tupac Shakur, Barry White, ZZ Top, Portishead, Korn, and many more. Songs from the group's legendary catalog have been featured on the soundtracks for several hit movies, including Lethal Weapon, Boogie Nights, and Gone in 60 Seconds, popular TV shows "Beverly Hills 90210," "My Name Is Earl," and "The Simpsons," and best-selling video games "Grand Theft Auto IV" and "Skate 2." WAR: Evolutionary / Greatest Hits [2CD; digital] CD 1: Evolutionary 1.     That L.A. Sunshine  2.   Mamacita  3.   It's Our Right / Funky Tonk  4.   Just Like Us  5.   Inspiration  6.   Scream Stream  7.   This Funky Music  8.   Outer Space  9.   War / War After War (A Soldier's Story)  10.   Bounce  11.   Everything  12.   It's My Life     CD 2: Greatest Hits (remastered) 1.   All Day Music  2.   Slippin' Into Darkness  3.   The World Is A Ghetto  4.   The Cisco Kid  5.   Gypsy Man  6.   Me And Baby Brother  7.   Southern Part Of Texas  8.   Why Can't We Be Friends?  9.   Low Rider  10.   Summer       WAR: U.S. Tour Dates March 20 / Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI March 21 / Mystic Lake Casino, Prior Lake, MN March 22 / 1stBank Center, Broomfield, CO March 29 / Peoria Civic Center Arena. Peoria, IL  April 5 / American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, TX April 6 / Majestic Theatre, San Antonio, TX April 17 /  Enmore Theater, Sydney, AUS  April 18 / Hamer Hall, Melbourne, AUS  April 19-21 / Byron Bay Blues Festival, Byron Bay, AUS  April 27 / Stockton Asparagus Festival, Stockton, CA  May 2 / Chandler Pass, Phoenix, AZ  May 16 / Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - The Joint, Las Vegas, NV May 17 / Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Lemoore, CA  May 24 / Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA May 29 / San Bernardino County Fair, Victorville, CA  June 12 / San Mateo County Fair, San Mateo, CA  June 13 / Merced County Fair Outdoor Theatre, Merced, CA  June 21 / Genessee Theatre, Waukegan, IL  June 28 / Wonderland of the Americas Outdoor, San Antonio, TX  July 5 / Nugget Rose Ballroom, Reno NV July 18 / TBA, Boise, ID July 19 / Marrymore, Seattle, WA July 26 / Lock 3 Live, Akron, OH  August 2 / Tags, Big Falls, NY August 7 / Northwest Ohio Rib-Off, Maumee, OH  August 17 / Bohemian Nights at NewWestFest, Ft. Collins, CO  August 28 / Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort , Jackson, CA August 29 / Monterey County Fair, Monterey, CA  September 5 / LA County Fair, Los Angeles, CA  October 19-20 / Capitol Jazz Cruise, Ft. Lauderdale, FL  October 24 / Casino Baltimore, Baltimore, MD  October 31 / Twin River Casino, Lincoln, RI November 21 / Magic City Casino, Miami, FL  www.WAR.com

NATHAN EAST TO APPEAR ON THE TONIGHT SHOW; SINGLE "DAFT FUNK" REACHES #3 ON BILLBOARD SMOOTH JAZZ CHART Posted: 19 Mar 2014 06:07 AM PDT Nathan East, America's preeminent bassist, is readying his eponymous solo debut and will be sharing music from the album on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Tavis Smiley. The album features appearances by many of Nathan's friends and past collaborators including Sara Bareilles, Eric Clapton, Michael McDonald, and Stevie Wonder.  The album epitomizes Nathan's time as a go-to player in the funk, soul and jazz world. 'Nathan East' is available March 25 on Yamaha Entertainment Group. "Daft Funk," Nathan's ode to the Grammy-winning album he helped record with Daft Punk, is the album's first single and has reached #3 on the Billboard smooth jazz charts. The song features legendary session guitarist Ray Parker Jr., and uses a talk box to channel the French funk auteurs. Bass Musician Magazine called the song a "groove-heavy Daft Punk-meets-Michael Jackson 'Off the Wall' original." The album already has more than 4,500 pre-orders and release week will see Nathan performing several times on the late night circuit. Nathan sits in with The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (March 26), in addition to an interview and performance on Tavis Smiley (airing the week of March 24). President of Yamaha Entertainment Group Chris Gero, who co-produced the album with Nathan and co-wrote the song "Madiba" said: "It's been a privilege to work with Nathan on this album. We at Yamaha Entertainment Group are all honored to be able to work with Nathan on this labor of love, the release of his debut solo album." Advance reviews of the album have praised "an absolutely unparalleled performance of Van Morrison's 'Moondance'" (Music Connection), and Bass Player's Chris Jisi concluded, "This album is packed with blinding brilliance!" Following the release, Nathan East will kick off a national Guitar Center tour, offering bass clinics and meet and greet opportunities in select cities. Nathan East Guitar Center Tour Tues., April 1: Rockville, MD Wed., April 2: Towson, MD Thurs., April 17: Seattle, WA Tues., May 6: San Diego, CA Thurs., May 8: San Marcos, CA Tues., May 13: Charlotte, NC Thurs., May 15: Dallas, TX ~ Yamaha Entertainment Group

NEW RELEASES: CITRUS SUN - PEOPLE OF TOMORROW; KENNY GRAHAM - THE WORLD OF SAMMY LEE; NIELS VINCENTZ / CAMERON BROWN / BILLY HART / TOM HARRELL - IS THAT SO? Posted: 19 Mar 2014 05:59 AM PDT CITRUS SUN - PEOPLE OF TOMORROW A really sweet set from this Incognito side project – a group who are even jazzier than usual work from Bluey and crew! The album's mostly instrumental – save for some great guest vocals from Valerie Etienne – and the focus is on longer solos on keyboards, guitar, and trumpet – all spun out over the kind of classic grooves you'd expect from Incognito! Think of the record as a jazz fusion project from the late 70s, with some R&B undercurrents – just the kind of set that only a rare few like Bluey could do so well. Valerie sings on a great cover of Terry Callier's "What Color Is Love", and the album also features an instrumental take on "What's Going On", plus the tracks "Yesterday Detroit", "Cooking With Walter", "Tonight We Dance", "Mais Uma Vez", and "People Of Tomorrow". ~ Dusty Groove KENNY GRAHAM - THE WORLD OF SAMMY LEE A wonderful jazz soundtrack from the legendary Kenny Graham – the important postwar Brit bandleader who was known for his seminal Afro-Cubists group – heard here in a much different context! Kenny's still got all that great sense of tone and color he brought to some of his more powerful music – but he uses it here with a sensitivity that's really breathtaking – careful use of woodwind passages, percussion, and other light instrumentation – all used to illustrate the seamier underbelly of London in the early 60s! The tapes were thought lost for years, but have been marvelously reclaimed by the folks at Trunk Records – and although there's no historical record of the musicians on the date, we're guessing that they're the same top-shelf jazzmen who graced Kenny's other groups. Titles include "Patsy Asleep In The Flat", "Salt Beef", "Dash To Bellman's", "Four O'Clock Hop", "Thoughts At Home", "Peepshow Bins", and "Soho At Dawn". ~ Dusty Groove NIELS VINCENTZ / CAMERON BROWN / BILLY HART / TOM HARRELL - IS THAT SO? A wonderful follow-up to the previous trio album that tenorist Niels Vincentz cut with bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Billy Hart – and a record that also adds in the wonderful voice of Tom Harrell on trumpet! The quartet have this cool, compressed vibe that's right up there with Harrell's best work under his own name – that impeccable trumpet style really shaping the top end of the tunes, and balanced by some of the deeper, more soulful lines coming from Vincentz's trumpet – as Brown does some amazing work on the bottom end, with these round, warm tones that leave us breathless throughout. Hart's drum work is more than able to shift and match all the right patterns needed throughout – and titles include "Baby Suite", "Modal Dancer", "Haiku", "Cecile", and "Raison D'Etre". ~ Dusty Groove