The Stanley Clarke Band
Encyclopedia
The Stanley Clarke Band is an album by jazz
bassist
Stanley Clarke
. It was released by Heads Up Record
in June 2010 and was produced by Clarke and Lenny White
. Band members include Ruslan Sirota
on keyboard, Ronald Bruner, Jr. on drums and Hiromi on piano. The album was awarded the 2011
Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album
and the track "No Mystery" was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
. The Guardian
gave the album three stars, calling it a "return to a funk repertoire reminiscent of Clarke's roots in Chick Corea electric bands", while Allmusic gave it a score of three-and-a-half stars.
is constant throughout the album with Clarke joined by drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr. and keyboardist Ruslan Sirota. Hiromi is billed as a featured artist playing piano on "No Mystery", "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report" and her composition "Labyrinth". Several additional musicians appear on most tracks.
Clarke, in discussing the band has said that "our common thread is improvisation". Keyboardist Ruslan Sirota is from Israel
, Clarke has compared him to Chick Corea
and George Duke
. Pianist Hiromi is from Japan
, Clarke has said that she "plays the piano like a tornado". Hiromi also played on Clarke's 2009 album Jazz in the Garden
. Clarke referred to drummer Ronald Bruner, from Compton, California
, as "one of the most important drummers out there". Bruner and Sirota had been playing with Clarke for five years or so before the album's release.
The additional musicians include two guitarists Charles Altura and Rob Bacon, bassist Armand Sabal-Lecco on "Fulani", keyboardist Felton Pilate
on "Here's Why Tears Dry", saxophonists Bob Sheppard
on "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report". Lorenzo Dunn
from Earth, Wind & Fire
plays the bass synthesizer on "Soldier". "Sonny Rollins" features Manhattan Transfer
vocalist Cheryl Bentyne and a full horn section
with Sheppard sharing saxophone duties with Doug Webb
, plus trumpeter John Papenbrook and trombonist Andrew Lippman. Natasha Agrama and Ilsey Juber provide vocals on "Soldier".
who played drums on Clarke's 2009 album Jazz in the Garden.
and Herbie Hancock
. It was called "Methenyesque
" by music critic John Fordham. The track "Fulani" was written by Armand Sabal-Lecco and is "Africa-inspired" and has a "has a crunching rock feel".
Talking about the track "Here's Why Tears Dry" Clarke said, "The tune came about when a family member was ending a long-time love affair. There were a lot of tears, so I came up with that song. The tears evaporate into thin air, and the pain eventually goes away." "I Wanna Play for You Too" was written by Felton Pilate
who plays keyboards on the track.
"Bass Folk Song No. 10" and the album's closing track, "Bass Folk Song No. 6" are both bass solo performances that Clarke wrote many years before they were recorded here. "No Mystery" is a reworking of the song written by Chick Corea
when he and Clarke were bandmates in Return to Forever
.
"How Is the Weather Up There?" was written by Clarke and Ronald Bruner, Jr., and deals with global warming
. The song was built around comments left by his fans in response to a post on Clarke's Facebook
page asking for thoughts on global warming.
"Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report" pays homage in its name and musical stylings to Larry Coryell
's The Eleventh House
, Miles Davis
, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Tony Williams Lifetime
, Return to Forever
, and Weather Report
, all jazz fusion pioneers.
"Labyrinth" was composed by Hiromi and contains elements from "My Favorite Things
" with a "funky touch". "Sonny Rollins" is a Caribbean flavored tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins
featuring Bob Sheppard
on tenor sax
and vocals by Cheryl Bentyne.
called the album a "return to a funk repertoire reminiscent of Clarke's roots in Chick Corea electric bands". He goes on to call it "more than just a box-ticking piece of jazz-funk commercialism" but laments "Clarke could probably play a lot of this kind of thing in his sleep". William R. Wood wrote in the Kalamazoo Gazette
that "Clarke’s complex bass work is invigorating as he blends jazz, rock and funk".
Thom Jurek of Allmusic wrote that the album "feels more like a band record than anything [Clarke has] done in decades". He praises Clarke's choice in bandmates, calling them "prodigies in their own right" but does not praise the whole album. He called "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu's Report" a "a clumsy, failed attempt at summing up the music's history to date" and that "Bass Folk Song No. 6" does not "work [as] well" as some of the other tracks but "these are minor complaints on an otherwise fine recording". Jeff Winbush of All About Jazz
commented that there "are no radical departures" on this album and it sounds as if Clarke is "taking a victory lap here, revisiting past triumphs" but that he "still pull[s] sounds out of his assortment of electric, acoustic and Alembic basses like nobody else, and [is] still slapping, plucking and thumbing his way through contemporary, fusion jazz, rock, funk and whatever else he puts his mind to".
for Best Contemporary Jazz Album and the track "No Mystery" was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Clarke accepted his Grammy with his bandmates Ronald Bruner, Jr. and Ruslan Sirota and his wife, Sofi, at the Staples Center
during a pre-telecast ceremony. Clarke was on tour in Australia with Return to Forever when he learned of his nominations.
The other nominees for Best Contemporary Jazz Album were Never Can Say Goodbye
by Joey DeFrancesco
, Now Is the Time
by Jeff Lorber Fusion
, To the One
by John McLaughlin
, and Backatown
by Trombone Shorty
. The Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded to Jeff Beck
for his rendition of "Nessun dorma
".
unless noted
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
. It was released by Heads Up Record
Heads Up International
Heads Up International is an independent jazz and contemporary instrumental label located in Cleveland, Ohio.Founded in 1990 by Dave Love, Heads Up International has gained international recognition for its contribution to the world of contemporary instrumental music...
in June 2010 and was produced by Clarke and Lenny White
Lenny White
Leonard White III, better known as Lenny White is an American jazz fusion drummer, who is best known for playing in Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:...
. Band members include Ruslan Sirota
Ruslan Sirota
Ruslan Sirota is a Grammy Award winning pianist, keyboardist, composer and producer.-Biography:Ruslan was born in Uman, Ukraine to a Jewish family on November 4, 1980. His father, Yefim, who was an active local guitarist, had introduced him to music at an early age...
on keyboard, Ronald Bruner, Jr. on drums and Hiromi on piano. The album was awarded the 2011
53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality contemporary jazz performances...
and the track "No Mystery" was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded between 1969 and 2011.*In 1969 it was awarded as Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental*From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance...
. The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
gave the album three stars, calling it a "return to a funk repertoire reminiscent of Clarke's roots in Chick Corea electric bands", while Allmusic gave it a score of three-and-a-half stars.
The band
A core trioJazz trio
The term "piano trio" in jazz usually refers to a group comprising a pianist, a double bass player and a drummer. The pianist is usually considered the leader of these trios, and trios are usually named after their pianist...
is constant throughout the album with Clarke joined by drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr. and keyboardist Ruslan Sirota. Hiromi is billed as a featured artist playing piano on "No Mystery", "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report" and her composition "Labyrinth". Several additional musicians appear on most tracks.
Clarke, in discussing the band has said that "our common thread is improvisation". Keyboardist Ruslan Sirota is from Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Clarke has compared him to Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
and George Duke
George Duke
George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
. Pianist Hiromi is from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Clarke has said that she "plays the piano like a tornado". Hiromi also played on Clarke's 2009 album Jazz in the Garden
Jazz in the Garden
Jazz in the Garden is the debut release from the Stanley Clarke Trio, featuring pianist Hiromi and drummer Lenny White. It was released in 2009 on CD and vinyl...
. Clarke referred to drummer Ronald Bruner, from Compton, California
Compton, California
Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city of Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city to incorporate. The city is considered part of the South side by residents of Los...
, as "one of the most important drummers out there". Bruner and Sirota had been playing with Clarke for five years or so before the album's release.
The additional musicians include two guitarists Charles Altura and Rob Bacon, bassist Armand Sabal-Lecco on "Fulani", keyboardist Felton Pilate
Felton Pilate
Felton C. Pilate II is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer known as a member of the 1970s and 1980s funk/R&B band Con Funk Shun, and as a collaborator with rapper MC Hammer...
on "Here's Why Tears Dry", saxophonists Bob Sheppard
Bob Sheppard (musician)
Bob Sheppard is an American jazz saxophone player.Sheppard has been a studio musician on a wide range of studio, film and television projects, and has also recorded his own albums...
on "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report". Lorenzo Dunn
Larry Dunn
Larry Dunn is a keyboardist, musical director and one of the founding members of the music group Earth, Wind, & Fire. Dunn, along with other members of Earth, Wind & Fire were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.-Career:...
from Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
plays the bass synthesizer on "Soldier". "Sonny Rollins" features Manhattan Transfer
The Manhattan Transfer
The Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal music group. There have been two manifestations of the group, with Tim Hauser being the only person to be part of both...
vocalist Cheryl Bentyne and a full horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
with Sheppard sharing saxophone duties with Doug Webb
Doug Webb
Doug Webb is an American musician.Doug was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1960 and moved to California at the age of 3. He is a graduate of Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California and received his Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He began playing...
, plus trumpeter John Papenbrook and trombonist Andrew Lippman. Natasha Agrama and Ilsey Juber provide vocals on "Soldier".
Music
In describing the album, Clarke said, "Technically, it's a Stanley Clarke record, but it's very much a band-oriented record at the same time". Comparing the album to a ship, he said, "I'd be the one steering the ship and keeping everybody on course. But all hands were definitely on deck, and everyone played an important role in getting us to our destination". Clarke has said that this will be his last electric album for awhile. Clarke co-produced the album with Lenny WhiteLenny White
Leonard White III, better known as Lenny White is an American jazz fusion drummer, who is best known for playing in Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:...
who played drums on Clarke's 2009 album Jazz in the Garden.
Tracks
"Soldier", Ruslan Sirota's compositional contribution to the album, includes a piano solo with elements borrowed from McCoy TynerMcCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
and Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
. It was called "Methenyesque
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
" by music critic John Fordham. The track "Fulani" was written by Armand Sabal-Lecco and is "Africa-inspired" and has a "has a crunching rock feel".
Talking about the track "Here's Why Tears Dry" Clarke said, "The tune came about when a family member was ending a long-time love affair. There were a lot of tears, so I came up with that song. The tears evaporate into thin air, and the pain eventually goes away." "I Wanna Play for You Too" was written by Felton Pilate
Felton Pilate
Felton C. Pilate II is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer known as a member of the 1970s and 1980s funk/R&B band Con Funk Shun, and as a collaborator with rapper MC Hammer...
who plays keyboards on the track.
"Bass Folk Song No. 10" and the album's closing track, "Bass Folk Song No. 6" are both bass solo performances that Clarke wrote many years before they were recorded here. "No Mystery" is a reworking of the song written by Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
when he and Clarke were bandmates in Return to Forever
Return to Forever
Return to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band has cycled through a number of different members, with the only consistent band mate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke...
.
"How Is the Weather Up There?" was written by Clarke and Ronald Bruner, Jr., and deals with global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
. The song was built around comments left by his fans in response to a post on Clarke's Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page asking for thoughts on global warming.
"Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report" pays homage in its name and musical stylings to Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell is an American jazz fusion guitarist.-Biography:Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. He graduated from Richland High School, in Richland, Washington, where he played in local bands The Jailers, The Rumblers, The Royals, and The Flames. He also played with The Checkers from nearby...
's The Eleventh House
The Eleventh House
The Eleventh House was an important jazz fusion group of the 1970s led by guitarist Larry Coryell. The band was formed in 1973 and disbanded in 1976...
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Tony Williams Lifetime
The Tony Williams Lifetime
The Tony Williams Lifetime was a jazz-rock fusion group led by jazz drummer Tony Williams.-Original line-up:The Tony Williams Lifetime was founded in 1969 as a power trio with John McLaughlin on electric guitar, and Larry Young on organ. The band was possibly named for Williams' debut album as a...
, Return to Forever
Return to Forever
Return to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band has cycled through a number of different members, with the only consistent band mate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke...
, and Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
, all jazz fusion pioneers.
"Labyrinth" was composed by Hiromi and contains elements from "My Favorite Things
My Favorite Things (song)
"My Favorite Things" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music.-The Sound of Music version:The song was first introduced by Mary Martin in the original Broadway production, and sung by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film.In the musical, the lyrics to the song are a...
" with a "funky touch". "Sonny Rollins" is a Caribbean flavored tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
featuring Bob Sheppard
Bob Sheppard (musician)
Bob Sheppard is an American jazz saxophone player.Sheppard has been a studio musician on a wide range of studio, film and television projects, and has also recorded his own albums...
on tenor sax
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
and vocals by Cheryl Bentyne.
Reception
John Fordham of The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
called the album a "return to a funk repertoire reminiscent of Clarke's roots in Chick Corea electric bands". He goes on to call it "more than just a box-ticking piece of jazz-funk commercialism" but laments "Clarke could probably play a lot of this kind of thing in his sleep". William R. Wood wrote in the Kalamazoo Gazette
Kalamazoo Gazette
The Kalamazoo Gazette is the daily newspaper in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. The Gazette is owned by Booth Newspapers which is owned by Advance Publications....
that "Clarke’s complex bass work is invigorating as he blends jazz, rock and funk".
Thom Jurek of Allmusic wrote that the album "feels more like a band record than anything [Clarke has] done in decades". He praises Clarke's choice in bandmates, calling them "prodigies in their own right" but does not praise the whole album. He called "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu's Report" a "a clumsy, failed attempt at summing up the music's history to date" and that "Bass Folk Song No. 6" does not "work [as] well" as some of the other tracks but "these are minor complaints on an otherwise fine recording". Jeff Winbush of All About Jazz
All About Jazz
All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...
commented that there "are no radical departures" on this album and it sounds as if Clarke is "taking a victory lap here, revisiting past triumphs" but that he "still pull[s] sounds out of his assortment of electric, acoustic and Alembic basses like nobody else, and [is] still slapping, plucking and thumbing his way through contemporary, fusion jazz, rock, funk and whatever else he puts his mind to".
Awards
The album won the 2011 Grammy Award53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
for Best Contemporary Jazz Album and the track "No Mystery" was nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Clarke accepted his Grammy with his bandmates Ronald Bruner, Jr. and Ruslan Sirota and his wife, Sofi, at the Staples Center
Staples Center
Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. Opening on October 17, 1999, it is one of the major sporting facilities in the Greater Los Angeles...
during a pre-telecast ceremony. Clarke was on tour in Australia with Return to Forever when he learned of his nominations.
The other nominees for Best Contemporary Jazz Album were Never Can Say Goodbye
Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson
Jeff Simon wrote a mixed review for the The Buffalo News. He lamented that Jackson's "music isn’t nearly as adaptable to chitlin circuit Hammond B-3 wails and screams and staccato stabs as you might assume" and the songs "are just a little too pretty for this kind of organ funk"...
by Joey DeFrancesco
Joey DeFrancesco
Joey DeFrancesco is an American jazz organist, trumpeter, and vocalist. Down Beat's Critics and Readers Poll selected him as the top jazz organist every year since 2003.DeFrancesco was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania...
, Now Is the Time
Now Is the Time (Jeff Lorber Fusion album)
Now Is the Time is a jazz album released by Jeff Lorber Fusion. The album was released in 2010 on Heads Up Records and was produced by Jeff Lorber, Bobby Colomby, and Jimmy Haslip. It was nominated for the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album....
by Jeff Lorber Fusion
Jeff Lorber
Jeff Lorber is an American Grammy Award-nominated keyboardist, composer, and record producer.After leading his own group, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, he went on to pioneer the smooth jazz genre....
, To the One
To the One
To the One is an album released by British jazz guitarist John McLaughlin. It is his first album with his band, the 4th Dimension. The album was released in 2010 on Abstract Logix Records and was produced by McLaughlin...
by John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
, and Backatown
Backatown
Backatown is an album released by jazz musician Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews. The album was released in 2010 on Verve Forecast Records and was produced by Galactic's Ben Ellman...
by Trombone Shorty
Troy Andrews
Troy Andrews , also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty is a trombone and trumpet player from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He has worked in jazz, funk and rap music. Andrews is the younger brother of trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews as well as the grandson of singer and...
. The Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded to Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
for his rendition of "Nessun dorma
Nessun dorma
Nessun dorma is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot, and is one of the best-known tenor arias in all opera. It is sung by Calaf, il principe ignoto , who falls in love at first sight with the beautiful but cold Princess Turandot...
".
Track listing
All tracks written by Stanley ClarkeStanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
unless noted
- "Soldier" (Ruslan SirotaRuslan SirotaRuslan Sirota is a Grammy Award winning pianist, keyboardist, composer and producer.-Biography:Ruslan was born in Uman, Ukraine to a Jewish family on November 4, 1980. His father, Yefim, who was an active local guitarist, had introduced him to music at an early age...
) 7:07 - "Fulani" (Armand Sabal-Lecco) 6:29
- "Here's Why Tears Dry" 4:52
- "I Wanna Play for You Too" (Felton C. Pilate IIFelton PilateFelton C. Pilate II is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer known as a member of the 1970s and 1980s funk/R&B band Con Funk Shun, and as a collaborator with rapper MC Hammer...
) 4:13 - "Bass Folk Song No. 10" 3:40
- "No Mystery" (Chick CoreaChick CoreaArmando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
) 7:09 - "How Is the Weather Up There?" (Ronald Bruner, Jr., Clarke) 5:54
- "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu’s Report" 6:32
- "Labyrinth" (Hiromi) 5:56
- "Sonny Rollins" 8:49
- "Bass Folk Song No. 6 (Mo Anam Cara)" 2:41
Credits
- Stanley ClarkeStanley ClarkeStanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
– acoustic bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, electric bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Ronald Bruner, Jr. – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Ruslan SirotaRuslan SirotaRuslan Sirota is a Grammy Award winning pianist, keyboardist, composer and producer.-Biography:Ruslan was born in Uman, Ukraine to a Jewish family on November 4, 1980. His father, Yefim, who was an active local guitarist, had introduced him to music at an early age...
– pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboardsElectronic keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
Additional musicians
- Rob Bacon – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Charles Altura – guitar
- Bob SheppardBob Sheppard (musician)Bob Sheppard is an American jazz saxophone player.Sheppard has been a studio musician on a wide range of studio, film and television projects, and has also recorded his own albums...
– saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846... - Natasha Agrama – vocals, art direction
- Cheryl Bentyne – vocals
- Chris Clarke – drum programmingProgramming (music)Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...
- Lorenzo DunnLarry DunnLarry Dunn is a keyboardist, musical director and one of the founding members of the music group Earth, Wind, & Fire. Dunn, along with other members of Earth, Wind & Fire were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.-Career:...
– bass synthesizer - John Papenbrook – trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- Ilsey Juber – vocals
- Andrew Lippman – tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Felton C. Pilate IIFelton PilateFelton C. Pilate II is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer known as a member of the 1970s and 1980s funk/R&B band Con Funk Shun, and as a collaborator with rapper MC Hammer...
– keyboards - Armand Sabal-Lecco – bass
- Doug WebbDoug WebbDoug Webb is an American musician.Doug was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1960 and moved to California at the age of 3. He is a graduate of Edison High School in Huntington Beach, California and received his Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He began playing...
– saxophone
Production
- Lenny WhiteLenny WhiteLeonard White III, better known as Lenny White is an American jazz fusion drummer, who is best known for playing in Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:...
– producer - Gerry "The Gov" BrownGerry BrownGerry “The Gov.” Brown is a recording engineer and producer based in Los Angeles credited on over 47 Platinum and Gold Records. He has received over 15 Grammy bids, including five nominations for Alicia Keys’ “Songs In A Minor,” a Song of the Year Award for Erykah Badu’s “Love of My Life,” two...
– engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, producer - Dennis MacKay – engineer
- Eddy Schreyer – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Jonathan Hakakian – engineer, electronic production, assistant engineer, drum programming
- Simon Kumar – assistant engineer
- Natalie Singer – product managerProduct ManagerA product manager investigates, selects, and develops products for an organization, performing the activities of product management.A product manager considers numerous factors such as intended demographic, the products offered by the competition, and how well the product fits with the company's...
- Christian Soza – production coordination
- Steve Parke – package designAlbum coverAn album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
- Mike Lanfear – band photo
Chart performance
| Year | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Billboard Jazz Albums Billboard charts The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine... |
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