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GERALD ALBRIGHT 'STAX' UP: New disc jazzes up old classics.
Albright’s latest disc “Sax for Stax” hit stores just last month with 11 tracks inspired by the old and the new.
The disc features cover songs from the legendary Stax Records roster, including versions of “Knock on Wood” and “Respect Yourself” just to name a few.
In addition to a nod to the past, the disc is also born of Albright’s mindset of being in a new environment.
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Gerald Albright
The artist traded in the lights of Los Angeles for the crisp air of Denver and credits some of his musical motivation on the move.
“I think it was good for not only a life change, but the creativity of writing music and just being in an environment where you’re pretty close to nature and things are more laid back,” he told EUR’s Lee Bailey. “I think you allow your creativity to breathe a little more. The past couple of projects, I think, have reflected a little stronger connection to that creativity.”
That connection produced another merge of jazz and R&B that has made him famous and this time, he’s paying tribute to a label that made names such as Isaac Hayes and the Staples Singers.
“The initial idea came from Mark Wexel who is one of the executives at Peak Records, where I’m signed. It just so happened that Stax Records, in ’07, celebrated 50th anniversary of being in business and bringing such great music,” he said.
Albright continued that Wexel approached him about doing a tribute to some of the Stax artists if he was comfortable with doing cover tunes. That was a no-brainer for the smooth jazz man.
“I’m a big fan of a lot of the artist on the Stax label, so we ended up with some Isaac Hayes, the Staples Singers, the Dramatics, Eddie Floyd and just a lot of the flagship artists that were on the label over the years and we turned it into something fresh and part of the new millennium,” he said. “I’m very excited about this project.”
On “Sax for Stax,” Albright plays alto, tenor, and baritone sax on all tracks, and also puts in work on flutes, percussion programming, and bass guitar on some selections. The disc features eight Stax classics and three original songs, but Albright admits it was rather difficult to whittle down the Stax options.
“It was quite a challenge,” he said. “I went through two full box sets of the Stax catalog; we’re talking different time periods and about 15 CDs per box set. There was a lot of great stuff and some stuff that was conducive to my playing the saxophone with the melody and other stuff it didn’t really fit. We did get the choice down to 30 to 35 and then at that point, I took a break and then came back and narrowed it down to about 15 songs.”
Along with co-producer Rex Rideout, Albright started picking and choosing which songs would make the cut.
“We started recording in late September. We went to the studio and recorded it live,” he described. “We wanted to get as much spontaneity. We used synthesizers within the mix, but I wanted the base of the song to be live musicians.”
The result? A stack of good tunes. After all, the disc isn’t just reworked classics. Albright explained that the project was both an art and science that brought a new take on some timeless hits. And his work on the tunes along with the voices such as singers Philip Bailey and Ledisi lacing the tracks is an exceptional combination.
“It’s a feel thing,” he said of recruiting featured vocalists for some of the songs. “We listen to the song and we say, ‘The strength of this song is for it to be an instrumental,’ or we’ll say, ‘The strength of this song is to have a little bit of vocals in the hook, or we may have a song that’s just haunting for a lead vocalist. In the case of ‘Respect Yourself’, we sat back and listened to it and it was just calling for Ledesi’s voice. It just had that void that needed to be filled.”
Albright said that bringing in Bailey was about the same process. His arrangement of the Dramatics' smash hit song “What You See Is What You Get” was simply calling for the Earth Wind and Fire front man.
“When we were thinking about how we were going to bring as much originality of the song and still put our spin on it, we decided we wanted a falsetto in there to bring it home. Of course Philip Bailey has one of the best falsettos in the business, so I reached out to him. It was the perfect timbre of vocals for that particular tune and we were excited about having him on there,” Albright said.
Albright said he is extremely pleased with the project and those that collaborated including his daughter Selina, who, incidentally, is highly endorsed by her dad. Surprise surprise.
For more on Gerald Albright, check out his website at www.geraldalbright.com or his MySpace page: www.myspace.com/theofficialgeraldalbright to HEAR cuts from "Sax For Stax."
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