Eric Wyatt has been receiving notoriety lately for bringing his unique brand of music into new places. Eric was recently interview by the Malay Mail, a Malaysian magazine, after recently playing a show at Malaysia’s experimental theatre. He also recently preformed in Singapore. “I love to play Malaysia because it lets me reach new audiences I couldn’t in New York” commented Wyatt, he also seems to want to continue playing there in the future. “After a standing ovation I had realized Malaysia has impacted my music already”
Malaysia isn’t the only place Wyatt has introduced his music to, as he recently played another show in Melbourne, Australia. He played his hit Jolly Charlie at the Bird’s Basement Club.
O’s Notes: Tenor saxophonist Eric Wyatt leads the charge with an excellent band that sizzles and pops throughout the session. We enjoyed their cover of “Fragile” featuring vocalist Samara Joy, the funky “Fur Live”, “Contemplation” and Watts’ rousing drum solo on “Of Things To Come ime”, a duet with Wyatt. We also enjoyed “One For Hakim” featuring the entire band, a strong showing for trumpeter Theo Croker, Wyatt and the fierce rhythm section: Donald Vega (p), Eric Wheeler (b) and Jeff Watts (d).
On A Song of Hope, his second album for Whaling City Sound, saxophonist Eric Wyatt offers more than hope; he offers assurance that contemporary jazz is alive and well in and around his home base of Brooklyn, NY. Wyatt, the godson of another rather well-known saxophonist, Sonny Rollins, performs in groups of various sizes, from quartet to octet, with vocals by Samara Joy on two numbers, “Fragile” and Wyatt’s “Say Her Name.” The almost-constants are pianist Donald Vega, bassist Eric Wheeler and drummer Jeff Watts, who are on board for eight numbers but step aside for a pair of Wyatt-Watts duets and are replaced by bassist Mike Boone and his talented fourteen-year-old son, drummer Mekhi Boone, on John Coltrane‘s “Central Park West” and McCoy Tyner‘s “Contemplation.”
Watch Jeff “Tain” Watts and Delbert Felix meet after over 25 years!
Whaling City Sound, whalingcitysound.com Chris Lowery (tr.), Theo Croker (tr., flic.), Clifton Anderson (trne), EricWyatt (sop., ten., voc), Donald Vega (p.), Eric Wheeler, Mike Boone (cb.), Jeff Tain Watts, Mekhi Boone (batt., voc.), Kahlil Qwame Bell (perc.), Samara Joy (voc.).
New York, ottobre 2020.
This record is the bomb. We announced it last October on the occasion of an article who took stock of the situation of jazz musicians in New York during the full-blown period of the pandemic. In reality, its publication was scheduled for last May / June, while it came out in September. But it was worth the wait. Here we discover – and with pleasure – a greater versatility of the Brooklyn tenorist, with an attention to that spirituality which is now overwhelmingly current and present in certain tributes that he has decided to dedicate to some of the prominent personalities of modern music (Coltrane’s “Central Park West,” McCoy Tyner’s “Contemplation,” Sting’s “Fragile). But there is not only this: the Latin-tinged “Sunset Park Bonita”, the funkish gait of “Fur Live” (a composition by the young and emerging trumpeter Chris Lowery), the bop of “Blues For RH” (dedicated to Roy Hargrove), the metropolitan emotionality of the title-track, ultimately the whole album is pervaded by a contagious energy that accounts for an in-depth and visceral knowledge of the jazz language. With a phrasing poised between Rollins and Coltrane, EricWyatt has always loved to surround himself with solid (Jeff Watts, Clifton Anderson, Donal Vega) and new ones (Theo Croker, Chris Lowery, 15-year-old Mekhi Boone on drums) brilliant personalities of American jazz. Once again he hit the mark.
Gaeta
Publicity: Jazz Tokyo (Japanese), Musica Jazz Magazine (Italian), Jazz Journal, 91.5 KIOS, The Art Music Lounge, Arkiv Jazz exclusive interview, Jazz News, Music Web International, All About Jazz, Socrates Sculpture Park Performance, New York City Jazz Record, KL International Jazz, ALL MUSIC, JazzTimes, Audiophile Audition, OpenSkyJazz.com, DownBeat, Malay Mail E-Paper, Malay Mail, Amazon Business, O’s Place Issue 25.4
Music industry consultant and publicist Ginny Shea has garnered international exposure for her clients through radio and video promotion, print media, and her vast industry network.
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Music industry consultant and publicist Ginny Shea has garnered international exposure for her clients through radio and video promotion, print media, and her vast industry network.
