EURweb |
RAHSAAN PATTERSON WRAPS 'THE ULTIMATE GIFT': Neo-crooner’s first holiday album available now.
The discs that followed would garner critical acclaim and the singer/songwriter resonated on numerous motion picture soundtracks.
After a ten year record career, Patterson is releasing his first holiday album, titled “The Ultimate Gift.”
“I thought that would be an appropriate title because, for me as a musician and an artist, you get questions particularly around this time of year like, ‘What would your ultimate gift be?’ So I wanted to write a song that would capture what ultimately I feel would be the best gift that we could receive as the human race and that would be to heal the world and make it a better place for us and the animals,” he said. “And I think the time is appropriate as well, being that we have a new president and the hope has been restored for a lot of people.”
With such a profound explanation of the vibe of the disc, Patterson confirmed that he also had a lot of fun doing the album. He told EUR’s Lee Bailey that while he enjoys the holiday of Christmas in its celebration of the birth of Jesus – he was performing in his Pentecostal church choir by the age of 6, he has melded his spiritual and secular attitudes and it shows on the new project.
“I wanted to showcase that everyone doesn’t celebrate the holiday in the same regard as the Christians do, but I still wanted to present the overall message of what I think Christmas is and that’s love and sharing, and that sort of thing,” he said. “One of the producers that I worked with is a B’hai. Dizzy Gillespi was a B’hai. Not to say that they don’t believe in Christianity, but they don’t celebrate Christmas. I collaborated with this [producer] and at the end of the day any manifestation of God, the message is ultimately love. It made it easy for us to work together and produce music that induced the feeling of love and the spirit of love. We all, as human beings, regardless of what religion we follow, love is the one thing that keeps us connected and that we all need to live.”
Patterson, who spoke to Bailey at a recent promotional gathering in Dallas, coordinated by Sheila Eldridge's Miles Ahead Communications, said that everyone can enjoy the Christmas vibe through his album, regardless of religious, cultural, or geographic differences. The artist even resisted doing Christmas standards, with the exception of “Little Drummer Boy” and Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime.”
Check out 'Holiday' from Rahsaan Patterson's The Ultimate Gift:
“I wanted my album to stand out. I wanted it to be unique. I enjoy Christmas as well as most people, but I’m not always the kind of person who likes to put on the songs and hear the same song done by 20 different people. There are staples, beautiful songs, but I wanted to take an approach that could be a bit more relatable to people; to the generation that I come from,” he said.
Patterson continued that growing up in New York, by the age of six, he’d already realized that there was no Santa Clause. He said that he wanted to take a more “realistic approach” to Christmas for his generation and those to follow.
“I was hoping to do that as a songwriter; to write new songs with an updated approach to Christmas. Not everybody is dreaming of a White Christmas.”
Patterson wrote, recorded and produced the album in just two months, shortly after his record label president suggested the project.
“[He] asked me how I would feel about doing a Christmas album. I had always wanted to do one, but I didn’t think it would be so soon,” Patterson said. “The only issue was the amount of time I had to record it. I started recording it this year and it had to be in to the retailers by a certain time before Christmas came.”
So, Patterson got in the Christmas spirit quite early – April. He wrapped up “The Ultimate Gift” in spring and said that the time frame made it easier for him to get in the true spirit.
“I enjoyed it because it made it a lot easier to get to the root of what Christmas means. The message of Christ was simply love.”
“The Ultimate Gift” is available now, as Patterson gears up to record his next album. Check out www.rahsaan.com for the latest info.
Click for the latest Obama - Political headlines
Share and Bookmark |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
.jpg)
