Jonathan Fritzén – Piano Tales
I have been following Swedish smooth jazz artist Jonathan Fritzen since his first album ‘Love Birds’ came out in 2008. Now his seventh album has been released, of which the single ‘Keys To Paradise’ reached the top of the Billboard Smooth Jazz charts.
All tracks on this new album are his own compositions, but Jonathan also did the recording, mixing and production himself. The title of each track refers to the piano, and that comes from the aforementioned single.
Jonathan has also released a second single, ‘Hammers of Love’, which has entered the top ten on the Billboard Smooth Jazz charts.
East of West: Two artists living at opposite sides of the continent came together to achieve one common goal, compose and perform their music. Steve Jeffrey, bassist, and John Cardoso, drummer, are the writers and producers of “Crossing Borders,” an inspiring compilation of contemporary jazz music. Steve and John originally joined forces in central California as band mates in the late 1980’s playing with local rock bands. Although both veered off toward separate career paths, they never lost contact with one another, thus forming a perpetual music bond. Steve moved to Boston to pursue a degree at Berklee College of Music, while John relocated to Los Angeles and graduated from the Grove School of Music and worked as a freelance drummer.
Jeanette Harris grew up in a musical family. Her love for the music was awaken by her church organist father. Influenced by the music of Grover Washington Jr. she switched from piano to saxophone as her favorite instrument. After her graduation in Berklee she released her first album Here and There on the J&M Record label.
Chicago-based artist, and Los Angeles native, Marqueal Jordan is the rare musician who is blessed with the gift of being equally proficient as an instrumentalist and a vocalist. His distinctive saxophone tone and style, combined with his soulful vocals, places him in the tradition of legendary dual talents, George Benson, Donny Hathaway and Ronnie Laws.
Jason Peterson Delaire, a member of the Peterson family of Minneapolis, is known as a prolific saxophonist, keyboardist and singer. He toured with such artists as Oleta Adams, Prince, Alexander O’Neal, Richard Marx, Solo, Donny Osmond, and Cherrelle and recorded with Michael Bolton, Alexander O’Neal, Prince, Donny Osmond, as well as Bobby Brown, Ben Sidran and Flyte Time Productions.
Dutch jazz guitarist Lou Guldemond plays currently with his own band and the band Licks And Brains. His debut album That’s It! was released in 2012. His new album In Time was released in May, 2022.
Sam Levine is known for his tender and heartfelt renditions of contemporary hits. Sam has been featured in live performances with such superstars as Whitney Houston and Al Jarreau, has recorded with Michael McDonald, The Neville Brothers, and Amy Grant, and has contributed musically to such motion picture soundtracks as Honeymoon in Vegas and Sweet Dreams.
Futtsu City, Chiba, Japan born saxophonist WaKaNa succeeded with her first solo project Saxcess Story (2018). The album was produced by keyboardist Greg Manning, who also performs on six of the eight tracks. Her newest album is A Sunny Day (2022).
Ricardo Martinez has been in the music business for 30+ years, working in every imaginable situation. From touring the world with pop sensation Chayanne to playing Jazz gigs at local clubs, from writing songs to playing banjo at the opera and everything in between. This also includes recording sessions from jingles to big-budget projects with different artists, playing in diverse showcases all over the country, performing at the most famous venues in the world, arranging music for different bands, producing demos and tracking final basses at his home studio, as well as commercial studios. Ricardo has 9 Grammy participation credits (7 nominations and 2 wins) and is the first-call bassist for many national and international artists.
American singer Angela O’Neill is always swinging and founded the octet Outrageous8 in 2015. That band consists of top studio musicians, who really know what swing is.
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