On 17th of May will be released a the long awaited dvd/cd "Live In Concert" featuring Bill Champlin, Joseph Williams and Peter Friestedt. The dvd captures the best of these incredibles musicians on stage, performing songs from Peter's two "L.A. project" cds, Bill & Joe's songs from their solo careers. Bill, Joe and Peter will also release a new cd of brand new material later this year. Stay tuned!

Setlist of the dvd: Goin Home, Take It Uptown
, Hard Habit To Break
, Where To Touch You
, When You Look In My Eyes, After The Love Is Gone, Turn Your Love Around
, Look Away, This Fall
, Satisfaction
.

Native SON is John RobinSON, Michael ThompSON, Bobby WatSON, and Mo Pleasure . RobisSON has become the most recorded drummer in history. ThompSON received the “Distinguished Alumni” award from The Berklee College of Music commemorating his guitar contributions to the music industry. WatSON has earned a reputation over the past decade as one of the finest bass players in todays music landscape. Pleasure, renowned multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, has also backed some of the most accomplished talents in Jazz and R&B including George Duke, Natalie Cole, Dianne Reeves, Jonathan Butler, and Michael McDonald. Together, Native SON has formed one of the most stellar, creative, and high energy bands on the planet!

Lars-Erik Dahle may not be a familiar name to most people, but to TV viewers in Scandinavia, the sound of his Fender Bass is. Having served as house band on more than 150 TV shows, including Norwegian hit shows Allsang på Grensen and Torsdag Kveld Fra Nydalen, the past few years have seen Hans Orkester, of which he's a founding member, becoming one of Norway's most trusted TV and backing bands.

His other main gig is in Norwegian funk sensation Ole Børud's band. They've played together for 11 years, and Lars-Erik's deep bass grooves are an integral part of Børud's live performance, as well as his two most recent records, the critically acclaimed "Shakin' The Ground" and "Keep Movin'".

It's no surprise, then, that Dahle's debut album features appearances from Ole Børud himself and members of Hans Orkester. What is surprising, though, is that there's not a single bass note on the entire album. "I wanted to make a statement," he says. "My singing and songwriting is not something I get to showcase in my daily life as a session bass player, so for my debut album, I wanted to put the focus squarely on those two things." In fact, Lars-Erik's first entry into the Norwegian music industry was as a studio backup singer for Norwegian artists such as Return, Hanne Krogh and Åge Aleksandersen. "I also sang on demos for songwriters, all while writing my own songs on the side," he explains, "but before I could get my own material out there in any meaningful fashion, I started getting bass gigs, and suddenly I was making my living as a bass player, which I didn't mind at all."

"Step Into The Water", as the title suggests, sees Dahle stepping out into uncharted territory. Based on an eight-hour recording session with childhood friend and Ole Børud bandmate Frode Mangen, the album sounds honest and stripped-down. "There's no place to hide when there's just you and a grand piano," he muses. "The songs have to be good, and the singing has to match. It's a scary thing, but Frode's amazing piano performances carried me through."

Of course, it doesn't hurt having great players like James Taylor's organist Larry Goldings and Swedish jazz singer Viktoria Tolstoy contribute to the sound, and getting Michael Ruff on board as a pianist for one track was a major get. "I've always loved 'Seeing For The Very First Time', and after getting to tour with Michael for a brief spell last summer, I wanted to have that song on my album with his piano playing. Luckily, Michael said yes," Dahle explains.

Three of the songs on the albums are originals, and the covers that make up the rest of the set were carefully selected from Dahle's favorite songs and songwriters. The result is a deeply personal album that's easy to listen to, but hard to put down. It's the perfect soundtrack to a rainy late night or a lazy morning in bed.

"Step Into The Water" is available now at www.larserikdahle.com

 

Who knew? Back in the day music insiders referred to Peppy Castro, as the Prince of MacDougal Street. Barely through his teens, Castro was easily a vital psycho-delectic key to the entire NYC / Scene as one of the founding fathers of the legendary Blues Magoos rock group. I was Bit rabid by music and in the NYC hot-bed us kids needed local pop paladins to emulate and honorate. And with Peppy's first hit record “We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet” we had our heroes with The Blues Magoos. Peppy was point for me on that agenda by virtue of talent, persona and an easily experienced musical pledge to please us fans with his dedication to our beat-cause.

And…he continued over the years to come through with a sound pulse shocking in range, be it the pop culture side with a principal role in the Broadway show “Hair” (and his personal musical theater efforts a la “Zen Boogie”) on through and to the mainstay rock and role sounds of Barnaby Bye, Balance and Wiggy Bits all the while beefing his songwriting strengths with great artists such as Kiss, Diana Ross and Cher and many others recording his songs.

This latest from Pep comes with 12 new songs AND there’s no need for further annotation or exclamation from me because those songs are presented with 12 additional tracks featuring musical snips from the new songs, all completely introduced and described personally by … Peppy. You get track details, players involved, inspiration for the lyrics (some highly personal sentiments here for sure) AND the music, background anecdotes and basically Peppy being the artist and person that deservedly got himself dubbed as that Prince of MacDougal back in the day.

To my ears no one has ever gone here before. I’ve lived with the songs and the added sound-notes for a few wonderful weeks as I write this and my best stab at the concept would be “I tunes” as one of pop music’s most fan-sensitive songsters finds a new way to reach out to his audience. If anyone was ever going to take this step of confidence and confluence you almost know it would have to be Peppy Castro.

James J. Spina, Spinaddict

Robbie is a highly sought-after Los Angeles based session vocalist and recording artist whose voice can be heard on numerous films, television shows, hit records and national jingles. Robbie has recorded and performed with an inimitable group of artists such as: Diana Ross, Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion, Natalie Cole, Clint Black, Sheena Easton, Rick Springfield, Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Michael McDonald, Jackson Browne and Greg Rolie (Journey, Santana.)

A native of Michigan, Robbie’s passion for music led him to Los Angeles in the early 80’s, where his reputation steadily grew. Ranging from Rock & Roll, Country, Soul and R&B to Pop, Jazz and classic Big Band, Robbie has earned the reputation of a vocal chameleon.

Robbie recorded a few years back "Lose Control", a collection of edgy, groovy Pop Rock songs that showcase his gritty, soulful side and features tunes by Grammy nominated producer Marco Marinangeli and an array of talented songwriters such as Oscar nominated Michael Becker (Peter Frampton, Maxi Preist), Chaka Blackmon (Christina Aguilera, CeCe Winans, Will Smith) and Matt Bissonette (Rick Springfield, David Lee Roth). Robbie joined Roger Waters to tour around the world singing on "The Wall Tour".

Now it's time for him to make you discover his jazz/big band side through his latest release "Steppin Out".

John Fogerty is one of the most respected songwriters in the history of Rock and Roll. On his new album "Wrote A Song For Everyone," Fogerty produces a masterpiece, drawing from his classic songbook of hits and collaborating with some of the biggest superstars in popular music. Alongside these stellar collaborations, Fogerty has also penned two brand new original songs for the album. 14 songs, 16 special guests including Foo Fighters, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Dawes, Alan Jackson, Bob Seger, Brad Paisley and a few others, one songwriter, and one amazing album.

After many years playing in clubs, the french band Bagfed released their first EP "Throw It Away". Sébastien Dubail (vocals, guitar), Stéphane Dubail (Keys), Régis Humbert (Drums) Michael Higelin (Saxophone) and Rodolphe Hartig (bass) have recorded 6 songs of their catalog inspired by progressive rock, jazz-rock and funk genres, somewhere between Muse, Incubus and Toto.

The best way to discover these talented musicians is visiting their youtube channel HERE!

Rune used to live in London as a child and started to be interested by music at a very young age. Her first recording was for a BBC radio program as a member of a choir. She was 10.

Back in Japan, she started writing english lyrics for Japanese artsits and singing on a few compilation records. 10 years ago, she met Genji Arai, her producer and they released two cds "Souls" & "Falling Rain" under the name Renaja. Then came the official release of "That Lady" signed on Vivid Sound records (Japan).

Last february, Rune met Bruce Gaitsch in Tokyo during a Peter Cetera concert. At the same period of time, Janey Clewer (Bruce's wife) released her new cd for Vivid Sound and invited Rune to open for her release party in Tokyo. Bruce joined them on stage to play on "La Isla Bonita" which features on the new album "Made Of Love". "Made Of Love" also includes a Janey song "Ooh, Ooh".

If you like smooth jazz/westcoast with a bit of Bossa Nova and great vocals, it's time to discover Renaja's "Made Of Love".