For Immediate Release:

RIPA RECORDS TO RELEASE EAST BAY SOUL 2.0 ALBUM BY GRAMMY
           AND EMMY NOMINATED TRUMPETER ARRANGER GREG ADAMS
ON FEBUARY 28TH, 2012

EAST BAY SOUL 2.0-COMPELELTY PRODUCED, ARRANGED AND CO-WRITTEN
BY GREG ADAMS

ADAMS HAS WORKED WITH ELTON JOHN, SANTANA, PHISH, CELINE DION
LUTHER VANDROSS, AND THE ROLLING STONES TO NAME A VERY FEW

A COLLECTION OF 10 DYNAMIC SONGS SOULFULLY
BACKED BY HIS BAND EAST BAY SOUL

 

January 16, 2012- Los Angeles, CA- Ripa Records will release East Bay Soul 2.0 from trumpeter, songwriter Greg Adams on February 28, 2012.  Adams signature sound is clearly stamped through out the album’s 10 tracks, an equal mix of instrumental and vocal songs – a blend of Funk Jazz, R&B and Soul.

With a nod to the music Adams loves, and inked in his own style creates music that is relevant and fresh. Greg takes you on an incredible ride that is groove driven, weaving his horn melodies with soul drenched vocals into a collection of songs that are all at once dynamic and dreamy, cinematic and oh so to fall in love with.

Greg’s musical journey has spanned nearly four decades. Adams is a founding member of Tower Of Power, legendary for the horn arrangements that made the TOP horn section a sought out entity all its own. Greg has been a driving force to define artistry that transcends musical genres, still seeking out a course not yet traveled, is at his best when set to explore a new artistic destination.

In what defines who he is, Adams owns the natural talent to produce the beauty of harmony and expression of emotion through his arrangements. They give this collection of songs their essence.  With no set direction of where the music would go, Greg says, “I was surprised to see how many ballads I ended up with, but I’m really happy I did. I was also happy to have all the songs ready before the first down beat, so it really gave me the freedom to flesh everything out and let the songs breathe.”

This very special recording boasts the full strength of the rhythm and horn sections, performing in layers of percussive up-tempo instrumentals to lush romantic ballads sung by Darryl Walker.  Walker possesses a true classic voice- an effortless delivery with complete commitment to the emotion of the song.

There is a sense of adventure in the material written recently, beginning with the opening track “The Getaway”  “I saw and heard something urgent about the opening notes of this song. That urgency keeps moving in and out of the entire track.”

The powerful Brassalicious, which Adams calls a “Horn Attack”, is fueled by the chorus on this song, the genesis for the track. First the unison of the horns, then later to the full big band instrumentation. Adding, “ I had a lot of fun on this one.”

The dreamy melody of “To Catch A Thief” features Greg’s velvety Flugelhorn, inspired by the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same title.  He says, “ In writing the song it conjured up the role played by, Cary Grant “The Cat”

The classic groove anthem “What’s Goin’ On”, immortalized by Marvin Gaye, is the disc’s only cover song.  Darryl’s vocals are pure liquid gold and the track just breathes wide open with a pastel groove all its own.

“Once And For All” the classically lush ballad delivered with passion by Walker with its vast string section is the palette that paints the richness of the song.

The poignant “I’m Coming Home” speaks of the soldier coming home to the family he left behind.  Adams says of this song  “It literally dropped in my lap!  I received an email from a fan with an untitled demo. Interestingly enough, I had only one open spot left in the line up for songs. I would have never seen this coming. After listening to just 60 seconds of the song, I knew it had to be on the CD.”

Fueling Adams’ passion for his masterful new CD is the way it came to be and the sensational campaign to make it a reality… it was 100% funded by fans. “This project is a labor of love for so many reasons and a real treat to give back to the fans of my music and East Bay Soul. I really wanted to bring a variety of emotion to the project, songs that challenged me, moved me, hoping that it will do the same for the listener. Come along with us and join East Bay Soul 2.0!”

The Track Listing For East Bay Soul 2.0

1. “The Getaway”
2. “The Love Of My Life”
3. “To Catch A Thief”
4. “Back To Oakland”
5. “Brassalicious”
6. “Once And For All”
7. “What’s Goin’ On”
8. “The Devil You Know”
9. “Carry On”
10. “I’m Comin’ Home”

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For more information and booking Greg Adams and East Bay Soul
Please contact Andrea Adams at ALM Management Group
Phone: 818.609.9528
Email: andrea@almmanagement.com

As background of all those of you that know me, know that I’m a huge fan of Tower Of Power.  Over the past 20 years, a large number of fans have connected, due to the internet.  I have had the pleasure of meeting, and becoming friends with many of these fans, one of which is George Grund.

Born and raised in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, George graduated from College with a degree in music theory.  After college he served in the Army for five years, returned home raised a family and worked for the US Postal Service (retiring after 26 years).  During this time he continued to play both keyboards and saxophone in bands around his area.  Performing with The Coasters, Drifters, Ben E. King, Kevin Eubanks, Stanley Turrentine, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra.  George also is on the album “Simone On Simone” (2007) by Simone, daughter of Nina Simone; also several releases by East Coast blues artist Sterling Koch.  George and family eventually relocated to the Phoenix Arizona area in 2009, where George continues to perform with bands in that area.

So why am I writing about George? Well he recently submitted a song to Greg Adams for East Bay Soul’s next CD, entitled “East Bay Soul 2.0”.  After listening to the song, Greg liked it so much he decided to use it on this project.  “East Bay Soul 2.0” will be released this February, with a CD release party Spaghettini restaurant in Seal Beach, CA. February 17/18 here’s a link to the show: http://www.spaghettini.com/calendarNext.php

I called George the other day to get some info about the song:

Q.  What is the name of the song you submitted, and what kind of sound is it?

A.  The song is titled I’m Coming Home, and it was written as a Soul Ballad.

Q.  When was the song written?

A.  I wrote the song about five years ago, as an instrumental.

Q.  How did you get the song submitted?

A.  Originally I saw the album promotion on Kick starter.  I decided to contribute some money to the cause, and started following the blog Greg created, which charted the progress of the new CD.  Some time in the process, Greg blogged about actually sitting down and writing songs for the CD.  At that time I sent and email to Greg telling him about the song, and if he would be interested in hearing a demo I had created for I’m Coming Home.  Greg responded back saying that he didn’t normally accept songs in the way, but would listen to the song if I sent it to him.

Q.  So what happened next?

A.  On November 1^st at 1:30 PM I emailed an MP3 of the song to Greg.  Within 30 minutes (to my surprise) Greg called and said he loved the song, and would like to add it to the new CD, since he had one spot on left.  Over the next few days Greg and I decided how to treat the song, we decided to change the tempo a bit and add lyrics to the song.  As a bit or background, after hearing Darryl Walker sing on the first East Bay Soul CD, I thought that the song should have lyrics added to it, which Greg did.

Q.  Have you had a chance to hear the song yet?

A.  I think it was December 8^th I flew to LA to hear the horn tracks being recorded.  Since then I have heard the rhythm tracks as well.  Now I’m waiting to hear the final mix.  I also plan to be at the record release party in February.  Who knows maybe I’m Coming Home will be one of the songs East Bay Soul plays live at the party.

Q.  So what are your future plans?

A.  I will continue playing in local bands here in the Phoenix area, do arrangements as well.  But I have been a bit inspired by this whole thing, so I plan on writing some more original material.

I just wanted to share this with all of you.  Turns out good things do happen to hard working guys that are dedicated to their craft; it just may take some time.

For more on East Bay Soul go to www.eastbaysoul.com

We just got news from Jerry Lopez leader of Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns.  Here’s what Jerry writes: “For years we have had amazing friends join us on stage as “Guest Artists” and the magic happens just that once, for the fortunate few that are in the small intimate audience. Now we are going to start bringing the “Healing” to the world via downloadable HD quality shows. We started with Ole Borud, then recorded a night with Bill Champlin and family, and now have other incredible guests on the roster”.

Below is a video teaser of what’s coming up:

The full video will be available on February 02nd of this year.  We will keep you posted, on where to see the taped shows once we hear more.

For more on Santa Fe check out their band page at Horn Driven Radio (link in red).