Having spent 30 successful years in the car business before his 2020 breakthrough as an R&B/pop influenced Smooth Jazz vocal artist, Gil Johnson finds a perfect way to fuse his past and present lives on his latest single “405” - a whimsically romantic, infectiously grooving sonic adventure produced by Dove and Stellar Award nominee AyRon Lewis and featuring a trademark blazing sax solo by Darren Rahn. Riffing on the reality that the only time Los Angeles has no traffic, is in the middle of the night, Gil sings lovingly about a 2AM top-down ride home with his beloved while listening to his lifelong friend Earl Klugh!
In 2021, Tevin Campbell’s 1993 hit “Can We Talk” became a social media sensation thanks to a TikTok challenge inviting singers to strut their stuff by singing the iconic chorus. On the third lead single from his upcoming debut album COVER 2 COVER Vol 1 (after Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and SWV’s “Weak”), saxophonist Eric Knight – a veteran sideman for The Rolling Stones, Prince, J. Lo and others – finds a deeper melodic and harmonic freshness in the Babyface co-penned hit. Starting with a sizzling horn textured hook, the multi-talented performer eases into a slow-burning, laid-back, percussion tinged flow caressed by lush atmospheres. He infuses the track with a unique blend of edgy and silky melodic horn passion that takes the track on its most resonant emotional journey yet.
At first, the phrase “high energy chill” seems a slight contradiction in terms – but it all makes perfect melodic and breezy rhythmic sense as expressed in the crafty, hip, easy funk-minded hands of veteran Norwegian keyboardist, composer and producer Frank Hestess, who is releasing his splashy, eclectic debut EP SIGNING IN under the moniker Franko Spero. The onetime guitarist and bassist refashioned himself as computer-based music creator, leading to many fresh creative possibilities. In only four tracks, he takes us through many moods, from punchy, atmospheric, George Dukesque soul/fusion and hard driving pop/jazz to sweetly seductive romantic balladry for all kinds of weather. Bravo Franko!
