PAUL HIGGS PLAYS LONG, PURE TONES ON HIS TRUMPET RECORDING

PAUL HIGGS

Paul Higgs, renowned as one of the UK’s leading trumpet players and composers, is especially known for his versatility which is fully displayed on his new recording, Pavane, featuring all original compositions.  Performing on trumpet and piano, Higgs incorporates the smooth sounds of gentle jazz, the depth and melodic richness of neo-classical, the grandeur of a film score, and the mellow, soothing ambience of new age music.

Higgs served for many years as the Musical Director for the National Theatre of Great Britain and contributed to shows by the Royal Shakespeare Company.  He has performed onstage with Peggy Lee, Cleo Laine, Rosemary Clooney, Buddy Greco, Nancy Wilson, Al Martino, Lulu, Tony Hatch, John Williams, Brook Benton, Vic Damone, Johnny Dankworth, Norman Wisdom, Bob Monkhouse, Alan Price, Frankie Vaughan, Shorty Rogers and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.  Higgs also has contributed to dozens of recordings (CDs, film soundtracks and television scores) as a musician, composer, producer and arranger.

More information about Higgs is available at his website (paulhiggs.com).  His Pavane CD  and digital download tracks from that recording are available at online sales sites such as CDbaby, Amazon, iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and many others.

What initially strikes the listener about the Pavane album are the pure trumpet tones, fluid style and emotionalism inherent in every note, but slowly the music unfolds to also reveal exquisite melodies, challenging arrangements, and strong instrumental interplay between the musicians.  Higgs is joined on the album by several excellent musicians he has worked with previously -- cellist/violist Helen Yousaf, classical guitarist Andy Watson, acoustic bassist Jerome Davies, and drummers/percussionists Graham Cuttill and Russ Morgan.

The album opens with the most upbeat number, “Crystalline,” which Higgs calls “an homage to Bach with a rising elegiac quality and a feeling of yearning, reaching out toward your heart’s desire,” and featuring a rapid piano motif plus trumpet, guitar and cello solos.  Most of the album is slow-paced, dramatic and melodious, with a touch of melancholy here and a bit of wistfulness there.  For example, the next tune is “The Glow of Evening” reflecting Higgs’ love of “the English countryside towards the end of the day when the light is suffused with gold.  I’ve always liked music such as the much-loved ‘Gymnopedie’ by Satie that makes you slow down and contemplate or even meditate.”

“A Simple Truth” captures the romance of undying love; “Parisienne Affair” was influenced by Edith Piaf’s Paris “where lovers meet on the banks of the Seine and take their passion under the bridges into the mist and shadows”; and “Catalonia” which gains its inspiration from “the intensity of the Spanish soul with a background of shimmering heat that brings forth feelings of tension, mystery and seduction.” 

Higgs wrote the title tune, “Pavane,” because he had always liked the pavane form (originally 16th Century music for a slow, dignified, sedate dance), especially the classic pavanes by Gabriel Faure and Maurice Ravel from the late 1800s.  “I love the fluidity and romantic feeling in their work.  The impressionist approach gives them a special creative freedom which I feel a real affinity with.”  The tune “Clocks” was devised when Higgs was experimenting on the drums and came up with the sound of a clock by clicking on the rims.  “There is something magical, relaxing and inspiring about the ticking of a clock.  It also reminds me of the mechanical Bakelite metronome that used to sit on my piano when I was a young student.”

“Vale and Valley” is, once again, Higgs using “the beautiful English countryside” for inspiration.  The “last post” is traditionally a trumpet or bugle call used by the British armed forces at funerals and war memorials.  It inspired Higgs to write “Salvation” on this album “in remembrance of fallen soldiers.”  Higgs composed “Shadows and Desire” with visuals in mind.  “The idea I had was an off-beat club or lounge in the David Lynch vein where the lighting casts strong shadows and the clientele have dark desires and shady pasts.”  Higgs penned “Song of the Siren” specifically with Homer’s “Odyssey” in mind.  “I tried to evoke the feeling of a ship making a journey through ocean waves with sailors lured to their doom because they are powerless to resist a beautiful song they hear sung by bewitching sirens on a rocky island.”

While Pavane is Higgs’ first album where he composed all of the material, he has recorded dozens of other albums -- as a bandleader, as a duo (Higgs & Cuttill, Hiller & Higgs), and as a session musician, producer, arranger or composer.  In addition, Higgs has composed and  arranged for numerous films including “Are You Ready for Love” (which won an Angel Award for Best Score) and the classic silent-era “Metropolis” (he assisted in producing a new musical score).  Higgs also created music for a dozen British television shows.  He has worked with conceptual artist Mel Brimfield on several pieces including a commission for the 2012 Olympics (now part of the Government Art Collection currently traveling throughout Europe) titled “4’ 33’’ (Prepared Pianola for Roger Bannister)” in which Higgs composed the music (Bannister was the British runner who was the first to break the four-minute mile, but came in fourth in the 1952 Olympics).  Higgs says the music “pays homage to Bach, Stockhausen, Nancarrow, John Cage and boogie-woogie.”

Music has always been an integral part of Paul Higgs’ life.  A child prodigy, he played piano melodies before he could talk, became enamored with and learned to play a four-valve plastic trumpet at age five, entered music school when he was six, joined the school’s brass band at eight, taught himself to play classical guitar at nine, began piano lessons at 11, formed his own professional “function band” at 12 while also playing in several big bands, and that same year scored a 17-part big band arrangement of the theme of the TV show “Hawaii 5-0” that was used by those groups for the next 15 years.  At 14 Paul joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in which he played a major part until he was 25, serving as their composer and arranger, and playing trumpet, piano, guitar and bass.

At 22 he played his first West End theatre show with Lulu, and this led to Higgs being asked to work with the prestigious National Theatre where he eventually became the Musical Director for more than two-dozen productions.  At the same time he also was occasionally hired by the Royal Shakespeare Company.  During this productive time Higgs worked with the cream of actors and directors in the British theatre world including Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Trevor Nunn, Sir Richard Eyre, Sir Nicholas Hytner, Zoe Wanamaker CBE and Michael Sheen OBE.  This top-level theatre life was extremely hectic and required great ingenuity and resourcefulness.  On one occasion, the day before the opening night of a 17th Century play, the composer asked Paul if he played the accordion.  When he replied “no,” the composer said, “Wrong answer!”  By the following day Paul had obtained an accordion, practiced the part and leapt on stage to play it perfectly while dressed in knickerbockers, tights and a “tricorne” hat.

The combination of theatre work, backing big-name acts on-stage, working actively on recording sessions, and contributing to film and television music has tested Higgs’ musical abilities time and again.  But he has developed a stellar reputation for being able to handle virtually any type of project with sensitivity and understanding, and to each challenge he brings his energy, enthusiasm and encyclopedic knowledge of different genres and periods of music.

“When I first decided to do this new recording,” explains Higgs, “I thought I might include some well-known classical works.  But I was doodling around on the piano and a chord sequence emerged that was similar to the classic pavanes I had been playing.  Once I composed that piece I was inspired to continue writing material.  The music on the album is unashamedly melodic and reflective, and each piece explores and builds that mood.  I didn’t want to break the spell with any faster or more energetic tracks.  I wanted to capture a special feeling and continue it throughout the album.”

LAURA MCMILLAN TITLES 3RD CD "STORYBOOK LOVE" AND EXPLORES THAT THEME

Laura McMillan

Storybook Love

Laura McMillan believes in love, happiness and fairytale-like happy endings, so she named her third album of solo piano music Storybook Love.  “It’s a dream we all have, male and female.  For those who have love, count your blessings and savor each moment.  For everyone else, keep hoping, keep looking, keep the dream alive.  Whether you are in love right now or in the middle of the search, I hope this music can serve as a backdrop of joy and excitement.”

In addition, when McMillan’s previous album, Linger Longer, was released, it felt to her like a fairytale come true.  The album went Top 5 on the international Zone Music Reporter Top 100 airplay chart.  She received album reviews, airplay and notoriety around the world.  She was named “Artist of the Year” and the CD was named “Album of the Year” in the annual awards competition voted on by radio listeners and held by One World Music, the top radio channel of new age music based in the United Kingdom.  Her music became so popular on the channel that they offered the pianist her own radio show, “Simply Piano,” where she plays piano music by herself and others.

“It’s just another example that dreams can come true,” McMillan says.  “It led me to thinking about the dream we all have of finding true love and living happily ever after.  So I had the concept of Storybook Love from the beginning and wrote all the compositions based on that theme.”

The title tune from the album, “Storybook Love,” is accompanied by a theatrical video that can be viewed at her website (LauraMcMillanPiano.com) or youtube/lauramcmillanpiano.  The video, directed by Chris Clephane and produced by Mark W. Costa, was shot on location in Seattle, Washington.  It features McMillan playing a Steinway Hamburg nine-foot concert grand piano at Hotel 1000 and appearing at a variety of prominent landmarks in the city including Pike Place Market, King Street Station, Kerry Park, Pioneer Square and the Fountain Steps.

The music on McMillan’s albums (Storybook Love, Linger Longer and Without Words) can be purchased in the CD format or as digital downloads at various online sales outlets such as CDbaby, Amazon, iTunes and other sites. 

McMillan, who has been playing classical music all her life, blends both traditional classical piano elements and a strong appreciation of Broadway music with modern new age and neo-classical motifs to create her own sound.  She often employs tempo changes within a composition which builds excitement and makes the listener wonder what direction she will head next.  At times McMillan balances heavy chording with delicate runs, keeping both hands active, developing a variety of moods and passionate feelings with the music.

“The idea of ‘Storybook Love’ is timeless,” she explains.  “Everyone has their own idea about it, their own definition or scenario.  A young girl might dream about a knight in shining armor riding up on a white stallion and sweeping her off her feet.  A woman usually retains the essence of that dream, but maybe now she is wishing more for a man who knows how to dress well and drives a white Ferrari.  The ending is the same.  Finding a true love to share your life with.”

The album begins with “The Way It Goes” (“The basic story structure is always the same because they always end up in each other’s arms”).  The next two tunes -- “For Our Children” and “Playground Memories” -- are a tribute to childhood where dreams of true love begin.  “Hard To Say Goodbye” is a life-lesson we all learn, according to McMillan, who says, “The sub-text of this music might be ‘I will miss you until we meet again’.”

McMillan explains that “Enchanted” is meant to capture “a magical special place or moment when everything comes together and there is the potential for dreams to come true.  The lovers have butterflies in their stomach from the excitement and a sparkling in their eyes.  The piece ‘Porch Swing’ is about contentedly sitting together outside the house on a summer evening and maybe stealing a kiss or two.”

But love has “Transitions,” and this composition “maps out the roller-coaster ride that can be exciting and fast at the beginning, but may slow down in the middle because all relationships change.”  The tune “Promise of Spring” alludes to “how we look forward to Spring as a time of freshness, rebirth, rejuvenation, a chance to start over, but also the perfect time for a wedding.”  “What Might Have Been” captures the feelings of disappointment and regret when a love affair does not work out, “but sometimes it is simply a temporary setback.”  “The Chase” is “the entire process of searching for, finding and winning over the person you were meant to love.”

McMillan says every color of roses has a different meaning.  “I chose ‘Lavender Roses’ because I love that color and it is the symbol for enchantment.  Traditionally it also is used to express the feelings of love at first sight.  That leads to the music of ‘Happy Ending,’ what we all strive for.  ‘Getting There’ is when the two lovers race toward each other to finally be together forever.  I end the album with ‘Storybook Love’ which represents the deepest and most powerful kind of love that is no longer childlike but is true and forever.”

McMillan’s greatest musical influence has always been Frederic Chopin, and she practiced his piano pieces for endless hours when she was growing up.  Her studies also led her to deeply appreciate Mozart and Beethoven.  Her mother often took her to both symphony orchestra concerts and Broadway musicals.  At age ten, Laura was captivated by new age pioneer George Winston’s Autumn album and particularly the tune “Colors/Dance” which “I listened to over and over until I learned to play it.”  When Laura was a teenager she saw piano virtuoso Van Cliburn in concert “which motivated me and made me realize the piano was an instrument you could work at your entire lifetime.”

When Laura was three-years-old she surprised her mother by climbing up on the piano bench and finding the rights notes to tunes from a Mitch Miller Christmas album the child had been listening to.  Laura, who grew up near Portland, Oregon, began formal lessons at age seven.  When McMillan was 15, she opened her own piano studio, Perhaps Piano, and began teaching students herself.  She was invited to attend the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana where she studied for four years with a leading authority on Beethoven, Dr. Kenneth Drake.  At Portland State University she continued her studies and graduated with professional degrees in piano performance, musical composition and pedagogy.  After graduation she developed a reputation as one of the Portland-area’s top piano teachers.  Eventually she began composing her own music, performing concerts and became a successful recording artist.

Regarding her latest album, McMillan says, “Each track on the album Storybook Love is meant to spotlight one of the many moments of love -- dreaming about it, looking for it, finding it and living happily ever after.  There is nothing more euphoric than the sensation of ‘storybook love’.”

THE MUSIC OF JACK GATES MESMERIZES WHETHER SOLO GUITAR OR WITH A BAND

JACK GATES

VOYAGE OF THE TROUBADOUR

In days gone by a musician leaves San Francisco Bay on a sailing ship that travels south around Cape Horn and along the coast of South America -- Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela -- and through the West Indies to Cuba.  At every stop along the way he performs for local audiences and imparts his musical knowledge, but also picks up regional music ideas that become incorporated into his sound.  This is the metaphorical concept behind guitarist Jack Gates’ latest solo album, Voyage of the Troubadour.

Gates has always loved a wide variety of different types of music, but has especially studied Latin sounds from Brazilian to Afro-Cuban over the past 20 years.  On this CD (his fourth solo album), Gates takes his music through the realms of sparse acoustic new age-style guitar improvisation to the sounds of an upbeat rhythmic Latin-jazz band with stops in-between on tunes featuring just guitar and vocals (by his wife, singer Sharyl Gates), an electric-guitar-led ensemble, and various combinations of acoustic and electric guitars mixed with singing, bass and drums, often with Latin-music stylings.

“The traveling troubadour concept,” explains Gates, “was how music moved from place to place for hundreds of years.  Generally the music was made with just a couple of stringed-instruments and maybe some percussion.  On this album I wanted to capture that sort of sparseness with just a few instruments and occasional voice, and have the music subtly reflect different styles, motifs and rhythms that I have discovered and enjoyed playing during my career.”

Jack wrote all the music and Sharyl all the lyrics and vocalizations, except for the one cover tune, “So Danco Samba,” composed by legendary Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim (“Danco” is pronounced in Portuguese as “Don-so”).  Sharyl, who appears on seven of the 12 tunes, mostly performs wordless vocals, but also occasionally sings in English and Brazilian-style Portuguese.  They are joined on six selections by drummer Phil Thompson (Carlos Santana, Pete Escovedo, Roger Glenn, Marcos Silva, Viva Brasil) and bassist Dean Muench (Liza Silva, The Rio Thing, Misturado, and Operations Director of the Berkeley Jazz School).

More information on Jack Gates is available at his website (jackgatesmusic.com).  His CDs and digital download tracks from those recordings are available at online sales sites such as CDbaby, Amazon, iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and many others.

Gates’ previous albums are the solo guitar recording Boulevard (including original material as well as compositions by Jobim, Egberto Gismonti, Baden Powell, Cole Porter, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Lennon/McCartney), Earth Messenger (all original material with world-music inflections performed with a bassist and drummer as well as a few special guests), and another ensemble collection, New Geography (featuring Michael Manring, Mark Lemaire, Phil Thompson and other guests on material ranging from solo guitar to styles from India to contemporary jazz).  Gates also recorded a duo album with sitarist and North-Indian flutist Tim White, Morning Song Evening Song.

In addition, Gates is a longtime live performer, producer, arranger, session musician, composer and guitar teacher.  He has produced albums and sessions for Larry Stefl, Bill Meyer, Marc Silber and Deborah Henson-Conant.  Gates also arranged and played guitar on an album for singer Helene Attia that also featured musicians such as Norton Buffalo, Roger Glenn and Celso Alberti.  Gates has performed on recordings by Silvia Nakkach and Kit Walker (with Paul McCandless), Joanne Shenandoah, Steve Deutsch (with Omar Sosa), Chris Saunders, Juanita Newland, Rafael Manriquez and Quique Cruz, Fernando Sanjines and Samba do Coracao, Faranak, Bob Giles and many others.  Gates has performed live with Frank Biner (Tower of Power), Tyler Eng (Greg Kihn), Chris Solberg (Santana, Eddie Money), Claudia Gomez, Jeff Narell, Klezmania, Chalo Eduardo, Monica Pasqual, Marcos Silva and others.

Jack grew up in Northern California in the Berkeley-Kensington-El Cerrito area.  When he was young his parents introduced him to classical music and a little later on to folk-singers (Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs).  Soon he was listening to the guitarists Andres Segovia and John Fahey.  Gates took some folk guitar and flamenco lessons as a youngster, but jazz guitar lessons when he was 16 opened new doors of understanding and he started appreciating George Benson, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass.  After becoming enthralled with the playing of Jimi Hendrix, Gates put together a rock’n’roll band, Underock, at age 18 to play at local dances and eventually nightclubs.  While a music major at Cal State Hayward, Gates began playing classical guitar.  He studied with the renowned David Tanenbaum and also audited a master class taught by Julian Bream at the San Francisco Conservatory.  Gates had the opportunity to go to the John Cabot School in Italy for six months and study art history (while there he also played music with his friend Tim White).  After returning home, the association with White led to Gates studying North Indian classical music under famed musician Ali Akbar Khan and learning to play the sarod.

After switching his focus back to guitar, Gates broadened his musical studies even further.  First he immersed himself in Sixties jazz (John Coltrane, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner), then R&B and finally Latin music.  “Getting deep into Brazilian music was a revelation,” says Gates, who began exploring the music of Jobim, Baden Powell and Milton Nascimento.  “This was important for my guitar playing because it showed me how to stretch and simultaneously incorporate many elements into my music.  South and Central America have always been a fertile place for music where so many styles have come together including jazz, blues, indigenous music and elements from Portugal, Spain and Africa.”

Gates states, “I have many musical influences and you can hear a variety of them on the Voyage of the Troubadour album.  It mirrors my listening habits and my experiences as a musician.  I listen to all types of music regularly, sort of like the eclectic programming we used to hear on the Seventies underground-FM radio stations.  That’s why I like to integrate bits and pieces of any type of music that has inspired me through the years.”

The album begins with a solo acoustic guitar improvisation, “Denouement” (“I was leaning toward textures rather than structure”), and toward the end of the CD is another solo acoustic number, “The Walking Stick” (“I incorporated Peruvian, Venezuelan, Cuban and Brazilian idea”).  “Moon Goddess,” which is acoustic guitar with Sharyl singing wordless vocals, “has some inspiration from Villa-Lobos and is loosely based on the indigenous music from the Amazon region.”  “Animal Spirits” similarly features acoustic guitar and voice.  “The Bright Flower” adds electric guitar to the acoustic and the vocals (“a fairly complex piece with a lot of different sections including a sped-up ending typical in sambas”).  On Jobim’s “So Danco Samba” bass and drums are heard for the first time on the CD.  “Hypnosis” is a band instrumental with Gates over-dubbing two electric guitar parts (“I used different speakers and different microphones to differentiate the guitars”).  Another instrumental piece by the group is “The Voyage.”  The full band, with Sharyl singing both in English and wordless vocals, is heard on “The Troubadour” and “The Drum Song” (“The rhythm is a centuries-old West African dance beat”).

“I wanted this album to have a pure sound without any of the elaborate electronic processing so common in music today,” explains Gates.  “I also did very little editing.  I like a real performance, not a bunch of perfect little pieces edited together.

“Primarily on Voyage of the Troubadour I did not want every piece on the album to sound alike.  I feel variety holds a listener’s interest the best.  I like to experiment and explore different musical territories, so I am hopeful the listener will enjoy taking this journey with me.”