Straight lines. They’re a man-made conceit – highways, railroads, the quickest distance between two points. But nature likes to meander, to take a slower course. And "No Straight Lines" is a path that suits musician and singer-songwriter Bill Gable. His new record is inspired by those destinations never quite reached.



“Every record is a journey”, Gable remarks. “I wanted to carry the listener with me. I often thought of these lines from a poem by Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa: ‘To be great, be whole; exclude/Nothing, exaggerate nothing that is you. Be whole in everything. Put all you are/into the smallest thing you do. The whole moon gleams in every pool./It rides so high’. Through attention to detail in the storytelling and production, in my own small way I tried to do that”.



Gable began writing "No Straight Lines" in 2004, a year after his 2nd disc, "This Perfect Day", was released. Much of it was composed in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal, in the hotel rooms where he lived, soaking in the countries, their culture and their music.



That travel resonates through the songs. The lyric of “I Threw Your Heart”, for example, burrows deep into the pained flamenco tradition, while on “I Was Born To Love You” Gable’s voice takes on the cracked patina of a flamenco singer, with cajon and footwork providing the rhythmic base.



“I read a lot of flamenco lyrics, a lot of Lorca, Pessoa and Sufi poets”. Gable recalls. “I let them seep in and this is how they came out. But in everything I tried to include influences from where the songs were composed”.



And that includes America, where the fragments of two songs came together to make “A Million Miles Away”, the easy warmth in Gable’s singing evoking 70's era Stevie Wonder. It’s a disc of shades and moods, pop music in the same way that Brazilian MPB is popular music - sophisticated and intelligent, with heart and depth. Its music dives into the soul, rather than gliding over the surface.



But that’s probably no surprise. Raised in the Midwest, Gable is a classically-trained pianist and cellist who played in symphony orchestras growing up before heading out to the West Coast with a literature degree in his pocket. He worked with jazz group the Yellowjackets on many albums, garnering 3 Grammy nominations, writing a number of compositions for them and other artists, ranging from Chicago to DeBarge.



In spite of that background on piano, the songs for "No Straight Lines" were all written on guitar. “It’s more intimate”, Gable says. “It gives a more personal song”.



And the tracks of "No Straight Lines" are studies in emotion and life. The characters in Gable’s songs are people on the trail of certainty, but rarely finding it. “I realized I’ll be on the very verge of beginning every second the rest of my life” he sings on the album’s title cut, a summation of the understanding that comes with age.



It’s a document of a journey that can never end, but he has some strong companions along the way. Along with Gable’s own voice, guitar, cello and Portuguese guitarra, Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny Group) and Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets, Bruce Hornsby) play bass, Larry Goldings (James Taylor, Norah Jones) contributes piano, and Greg Ellis (Beck, Mickey Hart) adds percussion, along with several other guests, and the Eclipse Quartet delicately grace “Road Of Pain” and “End Of The Day” with strings. Not to mention a special appearance by Motown legend Leon Ware ("I Want You") on background vocals.



Gable is a traveler with an open heart and open ears, and he pulls the listener along with him, conjuring up the sights and smells of Fes with the shadings of the oud or the ney flute, the crisp palmas of Granada, or the cumbus and clarinet of Istanbul.



Finding musicians to provide some of the more unusual instruments sometimes proved a challenge, even in cosmopolitan Los Angeles. “I knew I wanted flamenco footwork on some of the songs”, Gable says, “but there wasn’t anyone here who really knew it. Finally a friend called me up and said ‘There’s this guy called Manuel Gutierrez who’s just arrived from Spain. He’s the real deal’. The minute he pulled those little wingtip dance shoes out of that bowling bag I knew he was”.



For all the care in the details of the arrangements, Gable acknowledges that "No Straight Lines" is very lyric-driven, like all my albums.” They’re the picture and the music provides the frame. And powerful pictures they are, too, such as “like a snake, my heart has split its skin/somewhere far away it blew” (“Came So Close To Loving You”) or “the truth was never true enough/and you were never you enough” (“Sustenance”).



It might have taken 12 years for the words and music to finally surface, but the wait is worthwhile. It’s easy to understand why Steely Dan’s Walter Becker called Bill Gable “a great songwriter with a marvelous ability to incorporate exotic musical elements and seemingly disparate influences”. Not going in a straight line makes for a much richer journey.

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt at HEMIFRAN

Geyster, aka Gaël Benyamin, presents his new musical trilogy: “Knight Games“.

This journey takes us into a subtle blend of melancholy, well-being, and sensuality. As a nightly knight, Geyster entrances the listener with fleshly sensations: crescendos, aerial lifts, intense moments. 29 tracks spread out over 3 records, surfing between rock, folk, jazz and funky westcoast genres.

Influences are sharp and numerous. Here and there we hear the ghosts of artists such as Supertramp, Led Zeppelin, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, or even Christopher Cross. Melodies and production unfold an overall 1970s feel, a time when today’s flaws tended to be a quality. This reminiscent « flutter » tone going on throughout the 3 records is a good example.

Geyster expresses here his wide and paradoxal personality and takes us on a rich, magical and unexpected ride, reflecting the image of an artist who keeps doubting and exploring within himself.

Volume I includes a duet with the legendary brazilian soul singer Ed Motta. Geyster started his career in 1999 together with the singer Pernilla Grönlund. In 2004 they released their first album entitled “I Love 1984“ co-produced with Joachim Garraud which included the hit single “Bye Bye Superman“. But Geyster kept reinventing himself for each album, 9 in total, from the classic frenctouch pop-electro style of his early recordings to the classic rock sound of his previous album “Down on Broadway“ in 2013.

His creativity pushes him to even design his own records artwork, direct his music videos, and conceptualize his own live shows. A singer- songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer who embodies the spirit of the “westcoast“ sound through a pop-jazz-rock music filled with sensations and aerial harmonies mostly heard back in the 1970’s. Geyster shows his whole dimension when playing live on stage with his musicians... Stay tuned for some live shows coming up in your area...

LEGENDARY FORMER BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS LEAD SINGER’S LATEST ALBUM INCLUDES DISTINCTIVE RENDITIONS OF CLASSICS BY RAY CHARLES, OTIS REDDING, SAM & DAVE, AND SAM COOKE

The latest album by legendary vocalist David Clayton-Thomas delivers splendidly on its succinct title. Soul Ballads, now available in the U.S. on Airline Records after its initial release in Canada (where the singer resides), consists of 10 seminal soul ballads, every one of them expertly interpreted by Clayton-Thomas. If you didn’t know better, you might think these timeless anthems were created specifically for David to wrap his warm, expressive pipes around.

“The keyboard player for Blood, Sweat & Tears for many years during the ‘80s was Lou Pomanti. And he’d been bugging me for the longest time to do an album of all those great songs that we used to do together back in the old bar days, when we played five shows a night on what they called the Yonge Street strip here in Toronto,” says David, who was in the midst of completing his autobiography and about to receive his star on Canada’s Walk of Fame when he decided to make this album. “I didn’t have much new original material. But I called Lou up and I said, ‘Lou, I think the time has come. Let’s do it!’”

In addition to playing piano throughout, Pomanti produced the set in Toronto. “We didn’t go looking for obscure songs that nobody had ever done before. We went looking for those great iconic tunes,” Clayton-Thomas continues. “We decided to do them with a full orchestra: 15 strings, eight horns, rhythm, percussion, the whole bit. And of course, utilizing modern recording studios.” 

Assembling the set list was a labor of love. “They’re just basically songs I’ve always wanted to sing,” David says. “A very challenging album too, because if you’re going to go and put vocal performances up against Otis Redding and Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, you’d better be on your game, you know? Pretty tough competition. But we just set out to basically pay tribute to all those artists and those great songs.”

The set opens with David’s distinctive rendition of Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Midnight Train To Georgia.” We stuck very close to a lot of the arrangements, but I didn’t want to just clone the arrangements and make it like a cover album,” he says. “We wanted to bring our own thing to it. So since I don’t have the Pips, and I’m a huge Gladys Knight fan--I think she’s one of the greatest singers ever--we decided to do the background parts with the horn section instead.” 

Few 1960s soul anthems pack a more powerful punch than Sam Cooke’s hopeful “A Change Is Gonna Come,” its message resonating strongly with David. “I idolize Sam Cooke, and I had sung ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ a thousand times in the old days,” he says. “So it just fell right back into place very, very easily.” Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions’ similarly inspirational “People Get Ready” receives a welcome revival on the set as well.

David underscores his love for Otis Redding by revisiting two of his Stax/Volt classics: the tender “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (which Otis wrote with Chicago soul great Jerry Butler) and Redding’s contemplative posthumous smash, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay.” “Otis Redding was one of my idols, along with Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland and Ray Charles,” he says. Roly Platt’s harmonica winds plaintively through Clayton-Thomas’ remake of “Dock Of The Bay.” “That’s because I can’t whistle!” David laughs.  

That enduring allegiance to Brother Ray’s catalog is immediately apparent on lavishly arranged treatments of Charles’ versions of “Ruby” and “You Don’t Know Me.” David does a splendid job on Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ lush “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” (the original featured Teddy Pendergrass, another timeless soul voice), and really brings the heat on an intense rendition of Sam & Dave’s uplifting Stax classic “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby,” complete with a punchy horn section. 

Transforming Bobby Hebb’s catchy “Sunny” into an after-hours torch number works like a charm. “The song I’m really intrigued with on the album that I like the most and has been getting the most airplay up here in Canada is ‘Sunny,’” he reports. “And that’s a song we did totally different. We did it as a slow ballad, as opposed to the up-tempo version that I had heard.”

Throughout Soul Ballads, Clayton-Thomas’ longtime love affair with each song shines through bright and bold. “I’m a fan of every single artist on that album,” he says. “That’s why I chose the songs. And those are all artists that basically informed my style when I was growing up. One week I’d sound like Ray Charles, the next week I’d try to sound like Sam Cooke!”

Here Clayton-Thomas sounds like no one but himself—the same mighty vocalist whose unforgettable front work on Blood, Sweat & Tears’ “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “And When I Die,” and his self-penned “Spinning Wheel” made the expansive group a full-fledged 1969 juggernaut. 

Soul Ballads and David Clayton-Thomas: what a perfect combination!

Thanks to Anne Leighton

LEGENDARY FORMER BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS LEAD SINGER’S LATEST ALBUM INCLUDES DISTINCTIVE RENDITIONS OF CLASSICS BY RAY CHARLES, OTIS REDDING, SAM & DAVE, AND SAM COOKE

The latest album by legendary vocalist David Clayton-Thomas delivers splendidly on its succinct title. Soul Ballads, now available in the U.S. on Airline Records after its initial release in Canada (where the singer resides), consists of 10 seminal soul ballads, every one of them expertly interpreted by Clayton-Thomas. If you didn’t know better, you might think these timeless anthems were created specifically for David to wrap his warm, expressive pipes around.

“The keyboard player for Blood, Sweat & Tears for many years during the ‘80s was Lou Pomanti. And he’d been bugging me for the longest time to do an album of all those great songs that we used to do together back in the old bar days, when we played five shows a night on what they called the Yonge Street strip here in Toronto,” says David, who was in the midst of completing his autobiography and about to receive his star on Canada’s Walk of Fame when he decided to make this album. “I didn’t have much new original material. But I called Lou up and I said, ‘Lou, I think the time has come. Let’s do it!’”

In addition to playing piano throughout, Pomanti produced the set in Toronto. “We didn’t go looking for obscure songs that nobody had ever done before. We went looking for those great iconic tunes,” Clayton-Thomas continues. “We decided to do them with a full orchestra: 15 strings, eight horns, rhythm, percussion, the whole bit. And of course, utilizing modern recording studios.” 

Assembling the set list was a labor of love. “They’re just basically songs I’ve always wanted to sing,” David says. “A very challenging album too, because if you’re going to go and put vocal performances up against Otis Redding and Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, you’d better be on your game, you know? Pretty tough competition. But we just set out to basically pay tribute to all those artists and those great songs.”

The set opens with David’s distinctive rendition of Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Midnight Train To Georgia.” We stuck very close to a lot of the arrangements, but I didn’t want to just clone the arrangements and make it like a cover album,” he says. “We wanted to bring our own thing to it. So since I don’t have the Pips, and I’m a huge Gladys Knight fan--I think she’s one of the greatest singers ever--we decided to do the background parts with the horn section instead.” 

Few 1960s soul anthems pack a more powerful punch than Sam Cooke’s hopeful “A Change Is Gonna Come,” its message resonating strongly with David. “I idolize Sam Cooke, and I had sung ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ a thousand times in the old days,” he says. “So it just fell right back into place very, very easily.” Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions’ similarly inspirational “People Get Ready” receives a welcome revival on the set as well.

David underscores his love for Otis Redding by revisiting two of his Stax/Volt classics: the tender “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (which Otis wrote with Chicago soul great Jerry Butler) and Redding’s contemplative posthumous smash, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay.” “Otis Redding was one of my idols, along with Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland and Ray Charles,” he says. Roly Platt’s harmonica winds plaintively through Clayton-Thomas’ remake of “Dock Of The Bay.” “That’s because I can’t whistle!” David laughs.  

That enduring allegiance to Brother Ray’s catalog is immediately apparent on lavishly arranged treatments of Charles’ versions of “Ruby” and “You Don’t Know Me.” David does a splendid job on Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ lush “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” (the original featured Teddy Pendergrass, another timeless soul voice), and really brings the heat on an intense rendition of Sam & Dave’s uplifting Stax classic “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby,” complete with a punchy horn section. 

Transforming Bobby Hebb’s catchy “Sunny” into an after-hours torch number works like a charm. “The song I’m really intrigued with on the album that I like the most and has been getting the most airplay up here in Canada is ‘Sunny,’” he reports. “And that’s a song we did totally different. We did it as a slow ballad, as opposed to the up-tempo version that I had heard.”

Throughout Soul Ballads, Clayton-Thomas’ longtime love affair with each song shines through bright and bold. “I’m a fan of every single artist on that album,” he says. “That’s why I chose the songs. And those are all artists that basically informed my style when I was growing up. One week I’d sound like Ray Charles, the next week I’d try to sound like Sam Cooke!”

Here Clayton-Thomas sounds like no one but himself—the same mighty vocalist whose unforgettable front work on Blood, Sweat & Tears’ “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “And When I Die,” and his self-penned “Spinning Wheel” made the expansive group a full-fledged 1969 juggernaut. 

Soul Ballads and David Clayton-Thomas: what a perfect combination!

David Hungate is the original bass player in Toto. He has a legendary amount of studio session credits that include Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Shania Twain, Boz Scaggs, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, Chet Atkins, Vince Gill, Joe Cocker among countless others.

David made a triumphant return to Toto last year after an over 3 decade hiatus. He also contributed to the long awaited Toto studio release Toto XIV. Hungate was kind enough to lend Reggie Boylesome of his time to talk about his return to Toto and many other subjects.  

Check it out: http://www.stevelukather.com

Legendary John Wetton, best known for his work with Asia, UK and King Crimson, is releasing two new albums this month: The Studio Recordings Anthology 2CD Set and New York Minute - John Wetton & The Les Paul Trio, on Primary Purpose via Cherry Red Records.

As a singer, bassist and songwriter, John Wetton initially rose to fame as the lead singer of King Crimson and thereafter Wetton formed UK with Eddie Jobson and later he was the lead vocalist of the supergroup Asia, his biggest commercial success.

The band’s self-titled debut album was the biggest selling album in the world in 1982. Wetton also has a successful solo career releasing a large number of studio and live albums and these are showcased on the 2CD ‘The Studio Recordings Anthology’ meanwhile a unique live album with The Les Paul Trio includes a number of songs Wetton has never sung elsewhere.

The Studio Recordings Anthology 2CD Set The Studio Anthology collects together the best of John Wetton's six solo studio albums within a 2-CD set with extensive new liner notes.

For more information: http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=4974

New York Minute - John Wetton & The Les Paul Trio New York Minute sees John Wetton playing a selection of the songs that inspired him, many of which are not available on any other release. This new live album also includes unique renditions of his solo hit BATTLE LINES and the ASIA mega hit HEAT OF THE MOMENT.

Brian Ashley Jones is a soulful singer, acclaimed guitarist, and versatile touring songwriter whose guitar-driven Blues, and Country Rock tunes have found their way into film, television and radio and have been recorded by other performing artists. Originally from the Greenville/Spartanburg area of South Carolina and a longtime resident of East Nashville, TN, Brian performs internationally at festivals, concert series, clubs, music education programs and music conferences. 



Jones’ 3rd CD of original songs entitled Out Of The City is slated for a Spring 2015 release and features collaborations with Jonell Mosser, Suzi Ragsdale, Ike Stubblefield, Kevin McKendree, and more!



Brian’s 2007 release, Courier, made the Top 40 of the Roots Music Report, broke the Top 100 of the Americana Music Association’s album chart, and has received widespread commercial, college, public, and international radio play. The swampy instrumental “Pull ‘em Up” has been featured in the widely acclaimed PBS television series “Road Trip Nation” and “Free To Miss You” has been featured in the British ITV2 network television show “Amanda Holden’s Fantasy Lives”.



Jones’ guitar chops and relentless touring earned him a nomination for Best American Roots Guitar Player in the Alternate Root’s 2011 Reader’s Choice Awards. Brian has accompanied a diverse batch of artists on stage and in the recording studio including Grammy Award winning songwriter Jon Vezner, Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame inductee Jerry Foster, Eric Heatherly, Caroline Aiken, Thom Shepherd, Sara Hickman, Donna Hopkins, David Gans, Corinne West, Doug Jones, Donovan Roberts, Jeff Black, Diane Durrett, Ralph Roddenbery, Deep Blue Sun, Celeste Krenz, Wyatt Easterling, and Spuyten Duyvil.

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt at HEMIFRAN