The second single from Tori Kelly’s upcoming project, “Never Alone”.LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 24: Tori Kelly (2nd R) and The Hamiltones perform during the 33rd annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards at the Orleans Arena on March 24, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Tori Kelly; The Hamiltones
In March when Tori Kelly performed “Help Us to Love” at the Stellar Awards, I honestly didn’t think much of it. In fact, I thought it as an anthem for the times and lauded Kirk Franklin as one of the most brilliant writers of my lifetime. I asked The Hamiltones about the collaboration and it all seemed to be a singular occurrence.
The other day I saw Kirk and Tori Kelly again and before I could even think about it, I saw track listings…! The level of excitement that hit my life was off the charts! We’re talking about Tori Kelly, the voice behind one of the best covers of “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” that was featured on a cartoon! She is a bonafide singer! And if you watch any television at all, you know that she can play-too!
LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 24: Tori Kelly performs during the 33rd annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards at the Orleans Arena on March 24, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Tori Kelly
So, what can you expect of her forthcoming project featuring…gospel music? Besides cameos by the writer and producer dancing in all the videos-Mr. Franklin, there’s a duet with Jonathan McReynolds and a feature by Lecrae you definitely want to keep your eyes and ears out for! Definitely more ‘grown up gospel‘ we’ve been craving here at SMG!
oh, & there’s an album 🙂 pre-order tonight @ midnight + get the first track ‘never alone’ pic.twitter.com/Bs5E4R8tWR
Earlier this year, Snoop Dogg owned the airwaves and chats with his Bible of Love compilation. I will argue that Tori Kelly’s album (due out September 14th) is just as exciting. Crossover isn’t what it used to be, now secular artists are returning to their church roots and TK’s album is sure to be a worthy journey, home!
Photo credit: Mark Seliger (PRNewsfoto/Verve Label Group)
Tony Bennett and Diana Krall celebrate their shared love of the music of George and Ira Gershwin on their new collaborative album, LOVE IS HERE TO STAY, set for a September 14th release on Verve Records/Columbia Records. Tony Bennett, who celebrates his 92nd birthday today, has been friends with Diana Krall for over 20 years. The two toured together in 2000 and recorded duets for two of Bennett’s albums (“Duets” and “Playin’ With My Friends”), but this marks their first full album project together. LOVE IS HERE TO STAY is out just in time for the 120th Anniversary of George Gershwin’s birthday which takes place on September 26th. Both multi-Grammy winning and platinum-selling artists, Bennett is the only artist at the ages of 85 and 88, respectively, to have an album debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and Krall is the only jazz artist to have eight albums debut at #1 on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. Danny Bennett, President and CEO of Verve Label Group commented, “When Tony Bennett and Diana Krall sing the music of the Gershwins, it’s truly the consummate artistic pairing of singers and songwriting. It’s one of those recordings that when you listen to it, you recognize instantly that it had to happen – it was just a matter of getting these two extraordinary performers into a studio and putting the Gershwin songbook in front of them.”
“No one expected me to compose music. I just did. What I have done is what was in me; the combination of New York, where I was born, and the rising, exhilarating rhythm of it, with centuries of hereditary feeling back of me.” – George Gershwin, 1926
LOVE IS HERE TO STAY was recorded with the Grammy award winning Bill Charlap Trio and the stunning result is a subtle, sophisticated and beautifully rendered love letter to The Gershwins’ music and their status as one of the premiere songwriters of the American popular standard. It is a masterclass in vocal delivery and phrasing and the command that Bennett and Krall display of the material in both their duets and solo tracks makes it appear effortless, belying the honed skill of the vocalists. The duet tracks include “Love Is Here to Stay”, “S’Wonderful,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” and “Fascinating Rhythm,” among them. “Fascinating Rhythm” was Tony Bennett’s first physical recording, made under his then stage name, Joe Bari, which he revisits as a duet with Krall for this project. Two of the duet tracks were never recorded by either artist prior in their career: “My One and Only,” and “I’ve Got A Crush on You.”
Tony Bennett’s album, “Tony Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best Is Yet To Come” won a Grammy award this past February and Diana Krall recently won two Juno awards for her last recording, “Turn Up the Quiet,” including the prestigious Producer of The Year award. This Fall, the two will appear on several national television shows performing songs from LOVE IS HERE TO STAY including The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, and Live With Kelly and Ryan.
LOVE IS HERE TO STAY was produced by Grammy Award winner Dae Bennett and Bill Charlap with Danny Bennett as Executive Producer. It will be released on CD, vinyl, digital and streaming platforms. The Bill Charlap Trio features Bill Charlap on piano, Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washingtonon drums.
Preview, download or stream Fascinating Rhythm by Tony Bennett
LOVE IS HERE TO STAY: TRACK LISTING
1. ‘S Wonderful
2. My One And Only
3. But Not For Me (Diana Krall solo)
4. Nice Work If You Can Get It
5. Love Is Here To Stay
6. I Got Rhythm
7. Somebody Loves Me
8. Do It Again
9. I’ve Got A Crush On You
10. Fascinating Rhythm
11. They Can’t Take That Away From Me
12. Who Cares? (Tony Bennett solo)
About Tony Bennett: No one in popular American music has recorded for so long and at such a high level of excellence than Tony Bennett. In the last ten years alone he has sold ten million records. The essence of his longevity and high artistic achievement was imbued in him in his loving childhood home in the Astoria section of Queens where he was born on August 3, 1926. As a teenager Tony sang while waiting on tables and then enlisted in the Army during World War II and while in Europe he performed with military bands. Bennett’s big break came in 1949 when comedian Bob Hope noticed him working with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village in New York City. Tony Bennett is one of a handful of artists to have new albums charting in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and now in the first two decades of the 21st century. He has introduced a multitude of songs into the Great American Songbook that have since become standards for popular music. With millions of records sold world-wide and platinum and gold albums to his credit, Bennett has received nineteen Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Tony Bennett is also an Emmy Award Winner, a Kennedy Center Honoree NEA Jazz Master and the first interpretive singer to receive The Gershwin Prize from the Library of Congress. An accomplished painter, three of his works are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute and he has authored four books.
About Diana Krall: Diana Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. To date, her albums have garnered five Grammy® Awards, ten Juno® Awards and have also earned nine gold, three platinum and seven multi-platinum albums. Krall’s unique artistry transcends any single musical style and has made her one of the most recognizable artists of our time. As The New York Times recently noted Krall possesses, “A voice at once cool and sultry, wielded with a rhythmic sophistication.” Born in Nanaimo, British Columbia which is outside of Vancouver, Krall grew up in the western part of Canada and began studying the piano when she was four years old. Krall was still a teenager when she was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 1994, she signed with GRP Records and recorded Only Trust Your Heart, which marked the beginning of her association with Tommy LiPuma, a collaboration that would continue until LiPuma’s untimely passing in 2017. Krall’s success continued with her subsequent releases All for You, and Love Scenes but her watershed moment came in 1999 with the release of When I Look in Your Eyes, her first release for the historic Verve record label. The recording spent an unprecedented 52 weeks in the #1 position on Billboard‘s Jazz chart, won two Grammy Awards and went platinum in the U.S. and Canada. Krall’s next album, The Look of Love, continued her international success and became a top ten seller on Billboard’s Top 200 Album charts. Since then she has released a string of recordings that have created an impressive body of work, including recordings featured in several film soundtracks. Krall has expanded upon her role as a performer to include songwriting, producing and arranging and has brought her talents to collaborate with many other artists including Paul McCartney, Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett. She tours extensively around the globe to sold out audiences, appearing at premiere jazz festivals and concert halls throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
About The Gershwins: The Gershwin Brothers, George (1898-1937) and his older brother, Ira (1896-1983), are often considered the greatest of the songwriting teams to make a permanent and indelible contribution to the art form known as “The Great and American Songbook” – and to world musical culture in general. The brothers were the children of Russian Jewish immigrants, both born in Brooklyn (and except for the occasional job in Hollywood, were lifelong New Yorkers) in 1898 and 1896, respectively. George was originally a piano prodigy and Ira showed an early gift for poetry, rhymes, and wordplay. Writing mostly for Broadway shows and Hollywood musicals (and for top stars like Fred Astaire and Ethel Merman) the two brothers created dozens and dozens of the most beloved songs ever written, like “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” “Embraceable You,” “The Man I Love,” and “But Not For Me.” The apogee of their working relationship was Porgy and Bess, the 1935 masterpiece that is virtually unchallenged as the greatest of all American operas (which features such iconic songs as “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and “Summertime). George wrote several important songs before he began working with Ira, and consequently, Ira kept on writing for decades after his younger brother’s tragically early death from a brain tumor at age 38, but the classic songs that they wrote together, from 1924 to 1937, are beloved by the world entire. For more information please visit: www.gershwin.com
About Verve Records Verve Records, founded in 1956, holds the world’s most respected jazz catalogue and features seminal recordings from legendary artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Stan Getz and Billie Holidayamong others. Verve also served as the original home of pioneering acts The Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa. The revitalized Verve Records falls under the Verve Label Group, which is home to historic imprints including Verve Forecast (Richie Havens, Laura Nyro, Captain Beefheart), Impulse! (John Coltrane, Charles Mingus), Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, and more.
About Columbia Records One of the most respected and successful record labels in the world, Columbia Records is home to established superstars and exciting new talent. Columbia Records is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment.
Jabari Johnson spends most Sunday mornings helping to usher in worship at The Potter’s House, one of the largest and most influential churches in the country. In 2015, after years of playing and writing music, Johnson released an independent single that caused heads to turn and began cultivating his path as an artist to watch. A few years and a few independent singles later, Johnson releases his debut album, Day of Redemption, on eOne Nashville’s Light Records.
Day of Redemption is a tightly focused worship journey that unleashes Johnson’s captivatingly versatile musical style. Steeped in tradition with inflections of contemporary praise, and worship, Jabari Johnson’s Day of Redemption is destined to be a stand out album of 2018.
Gina Miller, VP/GM eOne Nashville, says: “Jabari Johnson is a force. There is such an exhilarating presence of the spirit that flows through his gifts. His enthusiasm and power leads you directly to God. His inflection and musical choices, whether singing or playing, whisper words that communicate exactly what all of our heart’s need. To genuinely know that redemption is available to us all. Today can be our day too.”
With songs that are fresh and familiar at the same time, Day of Redemption features standout tracks that include “Jesus”, Johnson’s rendition of the classic hymn “The Solid Rock”; the spare, folksy “Things Change” and the buoyant “Your Love Never Fails”. The title track is an up-tempo gem taking listeners back “to the day they first believed.”
Parton to appear on TODAY, Fox & Friends, The View, The Chew, Access Hollywood, E!, Entertainment Tonight, Huckabee, Voice of America, SiriusXM, People NOW, The 700 Club AND MORE.
Country music icon Dolly Parton will be EVERYWHERE, including all over television, radio and digital platforms as she celebrates the worldwide release of her first-ever children’s album, I Believe In You, AVAILABLE HERE. Dolly’s media blitz includes appearances on TODAY, Fox & Friends, The View, The Chew, Sprout TV, Access Hollywood, E!, Entertainment Tonight, Huckabee, Voice of America, SiriusXM People NOW, The 700 Club AND MANY MORE.
Reviewers are already raving about I Believe In You:
“Dolly Parton may be singing children’s songs on I Believe In You, but the album’s topics and depth speak to listeners of all ages.” –Mike Ragona, Huffington Post
“Weaving powerful life lessons with catchy, sing-along music, led by one of the finest vocalists of any genre, Dolly pours her love of children into each of the 14 tracks on I Believe in You. It’s a must-have not only for children, but for parents, grandparents, teachers, and anyone who works with the younger generation.” –Gayle Thompson,The Boot
The album will feature 14 new songs, all written and performed by Dolly with the spirit and heart of children in mind. Proceeds from the album will benefit Imagination Library, which was established in 1995 to honor Parton’s father, who never had the chance to learn to read or write.
TODAY Monday, Oct. 16 Click here for local listings
FOX & Friends Monday, Oct 16 Click here for local listings
The View Monday, Oct. 16 Click here for local listings
The Chew Tuesday, Oct. 17 Click here for local listings
Huckabee Saturday, Oct. 14 Click here for local listings
Voice of America Friday, Oct. 13 Click here for local listings
Access Hollywood Saturday Oct. 14 SundayOct. 15 Click here for local listings
Entertainment Tonight Friday, Oct. 13 Click here for local listings
People Now Live Stream Oct. 13 Click here to watch
The 700 Club Monday, Oct. 16 Wednesday, Oct. 18 Thursday, Oct. 19 Click here for local listings
I Believe In YouTrack Listing:
I Believe in You
Coat of Many Colors (new recording)
Together Forever
I Am a Rainbow
I’m Here
A Friend Like You
Imagination
You Can Do It
Responsibility
You Gotta Be
Makin’ Fun Ain’t Funny
Chemo Hero
Brave Little Soldier
Bonus track spoken audio: Coat of Many Colors (book read by Dolly Parton)
ABOUT DOLLY PARTON: Dolly Parton is the most honored female country performer of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards, she has had 25 songs reach #1 on the Billboard Country charts, a record for a female artist. She has 41 career top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and she has 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. All-inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections, paid digital downloads and compilation usage during her Hall of Fame career have reportedly topped a staggering 100 million records – which includes sales of her 2016 chart-topping disc Pure & Simple, her first number one album on the Billboard Country Album charts in twenty-five years. She has garnered eight Grammy Awards – including a 2017 win with Pentatonix in the Country Duo/Group Performance category for their collaboration on her iconic 1973 hit “Jolene” – 10 Country Music Association Awards, five Academy of Country Music Awards, three American Music Awards and is one of only five female artists to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award. In 1999 Parton was inducted as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. She has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and became a member of the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. Broadcast Music Inc. honored Parton with their Icon Award in 2003, and in 2004 the U.S. Library of Congress presented her with their Living Legend Award for her contribution to the cultural heritage of the United States. This was followed in 2005 with the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor given by the U.S. government for excellence in the arts. The honors keep coming. The 2016 made for television movie, Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love is nominated in the “Television Movie” category for the 69th Annual Emmy Awards. The film also won in the TV and Cable category at the 68th Annual Christopher Awards, which also includes the Movieguide Epiphany Prize for Television. The film served as the follow-up to her highly rated 2015 film Coat Of Many Colors, also broadcast on NBC, which won the Academy of Country Music’s Tex Ritter Award. In 2017, Dolly will release “I Believe In You,” a collection of children’s songs on Dolly Records through her partnership with Sony Music Nashville.
ABOUT DOLLY PARTON’S IMAGINATION LIBRARY: Founded in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting organization that has, to date, mailed more than 100 million books to children in Australia, Belize, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States. Each month, the program currently mails more than one million specially selected, high-quality, age-appropriate books to registered children from birth until they start Kindergarten in participating communities. Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading in children, preparing them for school and inspiring them to dream. Recent studies suggest participation in the Imagination Library is positively and significantly associated with higher measures of early language and math development. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
NEW ALBUM “EXCITEMENT OF PRAISE” SLATED FOR FALL 2017 RELEASE
In a society where some believe choir music has lost its touch, the Tennessee Fourth Music Department proves there is still power behind the choir pews! Coined as the “TN 4th Mass Choir”, all one has to do is take a listen and be swept into the power of God flowing through the vessels of His people. For over three decades, the choir has provided music to the body of Christ and beyond. Hailing from the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) headquarters of Memphis, TN the jurisdictional choir is a compilation of churches within the Tennessee Fourth Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the COGIC denomination. In 2003, the choir released their debut album When I Get There, penning the late presiding COGIC leader, Bishop G. E. Patterson as the executive producer.
Under the Jurisdictional leadership of Bishop Jerry L. Maynard, the choir is making a long overdue return, breathing a fresh sound and new wind into their sophomore release, Excitement of Praise. Recorded in Memphis, TN, the project is truly a labor of love for Bishop Maynard’s label, Jelama Records.
“God’s Been So Good” is a tune channeling the Gospel grooves of yesteryear with today’s modern instrumentation. The memorable refrain alongside the band’s signature bounce provides the listener with an opportunity to reminisce upon the goodness of The Lord. Blaring horns and organ riffs underpin the question prompted by the choir which simply states, “Do you have the time to talk about Jesus?” This song is for anyone who has ever experienced the excitement that comes from God consistently delivering on His promises – which is everyone!
Slated to release in the Fall of 2017, the album features Derrick ‘The Maestro’ Jackson on keys, powerhouse, soloists, Carla, Tolbert, Taylor and Kathy Taylor, and laces in the smooth vocals of Shae Norman. Bridging the contemporary praise and worship rhythms of today’s music with songs such as The Report and Great God with the traditional anointing of old-time church found in the tune Thank You Jesus, it serves as a solid reminder of God’s grace, goodness, and love for all those who take a listen.
