LOS ANGELES (Hermes Press/ Sea Bright Records) - BURT CONRAD ALL STARS has just released its debut album, A Soulful Journey, featuring some R&B and jazz hits and sexy Latin inspired Conrad originals. The Burt Conrad
All Stars is a talent packed ensemble of cats headed by Grammy award winning Burt Conrad, often known in the music industry as Burt Szerlip. The
All Stars in A Soulful
Journey include the legendary drummer Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie (Aretha Franklin), Jeff Levine on keys (Joe Cocker), rising star Pete Cummings on bass, percussionist
Nelson Rodriguez and a guest appearance by EJ 'The Professor' Sharpe.
At the heart of A Soulful
Journey is a celebration of one of America's greatest innovations: the rhythm and blues tradition. The
All Stars bring serious chops as they scat and scan their way around these genres to bring these sounds up to date. And where the journey takes you is that certain place in the world somewhere between popular music and old fashioned R&B, where Latin influences mingle with the most technologically advanced engineering to not only revitalize but reinterpret such classics as B.B King's Gambler's Blues to Chester Burnett's Killing Floor.
A Soulful Journey, however, is a Burt Conrad original, filled with spirited and nuanced songs that define a ravishingly modern attitude and tempo. Kryptomeria, a Conrad original, features an explosion of decidedly modern sounds that could only have been produced by a musician and engineer who built his reputation on the precision of his ears. The song sizzles with a fast paced, lighthearted rhythm that evokes the image of how the Blues Brothers might move if they circulated through today's spontaneous urban world. Another Conrad original, Lost Essence, is a highly danceable song, full of daring, with exquisite percussion by Rodriguez perfect for a Latin soiree graced with the fresh salt breeze of the Northeast. It's a song to get lost in, a tonic for the soul. Gambler's Blues, with Professor Sharpe's soulful, potent vocals takes the listener back to the smoky jazz clubs of Harlem and Conrad's precise and polished guitar licks bring that vibe smoking into the present.
A Soulful
Journey continues with a new interpretation of Coltrane's classic score of existential tragicomedy: Impressions. Conrad and his
All Stars play with verve and polish through this piece-reigniting with cool and sleek sounds the universal experience of life unbarred-a surprise around every corner-the enigma and delight at the heart of every soulful journey. Conrad includes two original ballads on the album, a love song entitled Can't Get You Out of My Mind which betrays his musical roots working with
Paul Simon and So Hard to Say Goodbye a loving tribute to his father, whose death was the original inspiration for A Soulful Journey. So Hard to Say Goodbye includes haunting vocals by
Sheila Carpenter, Sherry McGhee and Kimberly Green. Killing Floor is a classic Chester Burnett score that young audiences will discover for the first time. Bluesy and soulful, the song embodies the lone urban cowboy as he scrapes his ego off the floor.
Modern urban men will appreciate the contemporary twist on such lyrics as 'I shoulda quit you long time ago baby/ long time ago/ went onto Mexico.' The outstandingly fierce bass work by Cummings makes this blues standard blister with raw energy. And Let Me Love you boasts another song of fresh, polished engineering and rhythm, continuing the saga of love's madness with gutsy and soulful drum action and vocals by The Professor. It's an infectious song bound to get anyone listening itching to get on the dance floor and shake off some of that white heat.
A Soulful
Journey contains some surefire hits on its debut album, offering up to its listeners the fruits of Conrad's and the
All Stars distinguished careers. The album is also destined to find a whole new wave of listeners with its polished and soul-filled takes on some of America's most cherished tunes. Burt Conrad
All Stars has already been performing around the country since its debut as a band in 2002 and has found a passionate audience among young generations. They were nominated for Best Band by the
National Association for Advancement of Campus Activities.
Conrad was invited to perform at Reebok's Human Rights Festival at Lincoln Center in the spring of 2003.
A Soulful
Journey offers something for everyone, and stitches together exciting new sounds that reflect and animate how we live now.
For more information, please visit the website: www.burtconradallstars.com
