December 23, 2010

Ray Charles | Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters (Concord)

By Brian Soergel

Imagine being John Burk, the producer who sifted through hundreds of unreleased masters from the legendary Ray Charles in search of a few that would make a cohesive album. Burk’s labor of love is realized with the 10-song Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters. It’s no surprise that Burk – EVP for Concord – helmed this release. It’s the third posthumous release of Charles’ music for Concord, following Ray Sings Basie Swing and the Grammy Award-wining Genius Loves Company, the latter Charles’ final studio CD and a certified multi-platinum instant classic that hit No. 1 on Billboard’s pop chart. Burk co-produced that CD with Phil Ramone. To continue, Please click “MORE”!

Frank McComb | A New Beginning
By Brent Faulkner


Music artist Frank McComb cannot be clearly pigeonholed into a single
genre; instead, he is best described as an ‘urban’ artist, which is an
‘open-ended categorization.’ McComb, both a versatile vocalist and a
keyboardist, blends the best of smooth jazz, R&B/soul, and gospel
music. The structure of his music tends to possess the harmonic scheme
of smooth jazz, the sensualness of R&B, and the grit and unfurled
emotion and passion of gospel music. On his new effort, A New
Beginning, Frank McComb delivers one ‘knockout punch’ after another, at
times rivaling none other than the master of crossover, Stevie Wonder. A
New Beginning contains no misses, even when there are better cuts than
others, making for quite an enthralling, ‘better than expected’ listen.
Jazz and soul lovers alike will ‘dig’ A New Beginning.
To continue, Please click “MORE”!