Penny For Your Thoughts With … GERALD ALBRIGHT
PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS … WITH GERALD ALBRIGHT
Jazz pioneer Gerald Albright covers old and new standards on his latest CD. Presented by Electronic Urban Report.
Saxophonist Gerald Albright is a smooth jazz mentor that has helped create and shape the music genre for more than two decades, but the jazz star is now, actually, a new kid on the block.
Albright’s latest disc “Sax for Stax” hit stores just last month with 11 tracks inspired by the old and the new.
The disc features cover songs from the legendary Stax Records roster, including versions of “Knock on Wood” and “Respect Yourself” just to name a few. In addition to a nod to the past, the disc is also born of Albright’s mindset of being in a new environment.
The artist traded in the lights of Los Angeles for the crisp air of Denver and credits some of his musical motivation on the move.
“I think it was good for not only a life change, but the creativity of writing music and just being in an environment where you’re pretty close to nature and things are more laid back,” he told EUR’s Lee Bailey. “I think you allow your creativity to breathe a little more. The past couple of projects, I think, have reflected a little stronger connection to that creativity.”
That connection produced another merge of jazz and R&B that has made him famous and this time, he’s paying tribute to a label that made names such as Isaac Hayes and the Staples Singers.
“The initial idea came from Mark Wexel who is one of the executives at Peak Records, where I’m signed. It just so happened that Stax Records, in ‘07, celebrated 50th anniversary of being in business and bringing such great music,” he said.
Albright continued that Wexel approached him about doing a tribute to some of the Stax artists if he was comfortable with doing cover tunes. That was a no-brainer for the smooth jazz man.
“I’m a big fan of a lot of the artist on the Stax label, so we ended up with some Isaac Hayes, the Staples Singers, the Dramatics, Eddie Floyd and just a lot of the flagship artists that were on the label over the years and we turned it into…
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