Toronto R&B artist and songwriter Savannah Ré shares the official music video for her latest single, “Where You Are” today after an exclusive premiere with Complex. Filmed in her parents’ homeland of Jamaica with an all-Black female crew led by L.A.-based director Brilliant Garcia, the video brings the longing desire of Ré’s lyrics to life among the country’s luscious beauty and vibrant culture.
On the experience of filming the video, Savannah Ré shares, “A friend of mine had put me onto a director named Brilliant Garcia and I absolutely loved her work. We pitched the song to her and she immediately came up with an amazing treatment. Having a Black woman direct a visual for me was like nothing I’ve experienced before. The energy of having a whole crew of Black women, including hair and makeup artists and wardrobe stylists, was incredible. It was just a beautiful experience.”
“Where You Are” is the first single from Savannah Ré’s eagerly anticipated debut EP Opia that is due out this Fall via Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. Written by Savannah Ré and Marcus Semaj (dvsn, Snoh Aalegra) and produced by Grammy Award winning producers Boi-1da (Drake, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar) and Allen Ritter (Cardi B, Kanye West, Rihanna, Travis Scott), “Where You Are” has already racked up over 225K streams and has earned her immediate critical acclaim from outlets such as OnesToWatch who call Ré “one of R&B’s brightest new voices” and Complex who, in addition to today’s premiere, also included the song in their 10 Best Canadian Songs of the Month list.
“Where You are” follows Ré’s recent releases “DVP” and 2019’s “Best Is Yet To Come” which was selected as one of the 100 Best Songs of the Year by Apple Music.
As a highly skilled songwriter, Savannah Ré has developed an acumen for an arrestingly honest style of self-reflection that’s the mark of music’s elite. With a trained eye for capturing small details, she crafts songs that forfeit polished stories for authentic ones. It’s this carefully refined formula for songwriting that has brought her under the mentorship of Grammy Award-winning producer Boi-1da and has made her the go-to collaborator for R&B’s upper echelon where she’s written with artists like Babyface, Normani, Daniel Caesar, and Wondagurl. In addition to opening for artists like TLC and Jessie Reyez on her “Being Human On Tour” 30-date North American tour, Savannah Ré has also attended esteemed writing camps such as Amazon’s all-woman creative camp for Wondagurl’s debut album and the Keep Cool/RCA writing camp.
During a moment where all eyes are on R&B coming from Toronto, Savannah Ré is doing more than just joining a talented group of artists rewriting the rules of the genre – she’s leading the pack in her own right. Her goal is validation: to advocate for the value of authentic, collectively-held stories which ultimately become the ingredients of reclamation and resilience.
John Coltrane’s Giant Steps – the influential jazz saxophonist’s first album with Atlantic Records – continues to astound and inspire listeners 60 years after its release. Consistently lauded in music histories, Giant Steps was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001 and went gold in 2018. To celebrate this seminal album’s six-decade anniversary, Rhino has remastered Giant Steps and all 28 of its surviving sessions outtakes for two new collections.
GIANT STEPS: 60th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION will be available on September 18 as a 180-gram double-LP set and as a double-CD set. Both versions include the newly remastered version of the original album plus eight alternate takes. The recordings come packaged in a replica of the original sleeve and labels used for the album’s first stereo pressing, and the packages, each with a booklet, include photos, never-before-seen images of Atlantic Records ephemera, original liner notes, and new liner notes written by Grammy-winning music historian, Ashley Kahn. As a special bonus, fans who order the 2-LP set from Rhino.com will receive a limited edition 7-inch vinyl single disc featuring alternate takes of “Giant Steps” and “Naima.”
The other anniversary release is GIANT STEPS: 60th ANNIVERSARY SUPER DELUXE EDITION, which will be available to download and stream on September 18. The 35-track collection includes the original album, eight alternate takes, and 20 additional outtakes, all of which are newly remastered. Until now, many of the outtakes were only available on the 1995 set: The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings.
Giant Steps was recorded in 1959 at Atlantic Studios in New York City. The album features Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Paul Chambers on double bass, Tommy Flanagan on piano, and Art Taylor on drums on all songs except for “Naima,” which features Jimmy Cobb on drums and Wynton Kelly on piano. It’s extraordinary to note that Coltrane began principal recording sessions for Giant Steps less than two weeks after finishing his work with Miles Davis on Kind of Blue, which became the best-selling jazz album in history.
Considered a landmark in modern jazz improvisation, Giant Steps earned a rare honor in 2004 when the album was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry. It is well known for Coltrane’s exploration into third-related chord movements, which are now known as ‘Coltrane changes.’ Several compositions on the album have become jazz standards, including the ballad “Naima” (named for his wife) and the title track.
In the new liner notes that accompany the vinyl and CD sets, Kahn details the album’s origins and eloquently writes about its lasting impact, while interweaving quotes and commentary from Coltrane’s peers, critics, and family. “And yet…Giant Steps is Exhibit A of how Coltrane’s obsession with the inner mechanics of music could not—and did not—impede his lyrical priority as a soloist, nor his compositional knack for inventing memorable, deeply entrancing melodies, says Kahn. “It never trips over its own intricacies, never loses sight that it is indeed music. The title track connects with an altogether hip, finger-snapping affect. “Cousin Mary” is a marvel of blues simplicity and smoky, late-night vibe; “Mr. P. C.” a burner fired by a toe-curling, R&B feel. “Naima” stands as one of Coltrane’s most wistful romantic statements, and “Syeeda’s Song Flute” one of his most playful. “Countdown” is a dizzying slalom down a mountainside, while “Spiral” thrills with a more relaxed energy, a gear-shifting exercise.”
“‘People like to talk about Giant Steps as a test for young horn players and how he’s breaking new ground with some of the pieces,’ says Ravi Coltrane, son of John, who was born in 1965 and grew up in Southern California and is one of many reed players who have spent countless hours with the music. “‘But it’s the accessibility that stands out for me. The accessibility, despite how challenging some of the material is. It’s still all very listenable and very joyful. John’s music is a joy to study and to play. It’s a joy to listen to.’”
Kahn concludes, “It remains one of the most talked-about albums of the modern era, a set of music all should have and absorb. It is music that has lived up to the grandiosity of its title: the first, yet not final, of John Coltrane’s fully realized statements, a point along a comet-like path of creative genius, an indelible marker on the timeline of popular music. It is a jazz classic recognized far beyond jazz circles. What more could a true artist hope to achieve?”
GIANT STEPS: 60th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION
LP and CD Track Listing:
Side One / CD 1
“Giant Steps”
“Cousin Mary”
“Countdown”
“Spiral”
Side Two / CD 1
“Syeeda’s Song Flute”
“Naima”
“Mr. P.C.”
Side Three / CD 2
“Giant Steps” (Alternate, Take 1, Incomplete)
“Naima” (Alternate Take)
“Like Sonny” (Alternate Take)
“Countdown” (Alternate Take)
Side Four / CD 2
“Syeeda’s Song Flute” (Alternate Take)
“Cousin Mary” (Alternate Take)
“Giant Steps” (Alternate Version Two False Start)
“Giant Steps” (Alternate Take)
GIANT STEPS: 60th ANNIVERSARY SUPER DELUXE EDITION
Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie Itreceived several accolades, including a People’s Choice Award, an MTV Latin America Video Music Award, and an MTV Video Music Award. “Hips Don’t Lie” reached the number one spot on charts in at least 55 countries, including the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Shakira’s first and only to date number one single in the country. It also broke the record for the most radio plays in a single week and the fastest selling digital download song in the United States.
Culturally, Astoria Bowl is an anachronism, a vestige of the sport’s mid-century heyday era. Financially, it’s a small business housed in an enormous building, in a rapidly gentrifying city. Sociologically, it’s a hub of in-person community at a moment when that vital element of life has largely moved online. But, most importantly, it’s an oasis in the truest sense of the word, a place of pure recreation and levity in a city where life tends to be serious and weighty.
Last month marked 22 years since Hello Nasty dropped and Beastie Boys went intergalactic. This era of the band was one of five captured in this poster series by Geoff McFetridge, made entirely on iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. Learn about his connection with Ad-Rock, Mike D, MCA, and Spike Jonze – and what Beastie Boys mean to him, visual art, and music culture.
The official video for The Rolling Stones’ new track Scarlet is released today, August 6, featuring Emmy-nominated actor Paul Mescal, who starred in critically acclaimed television series ‘Normal People’. The official ‘Scarlet’ video is out now, watch it here.
A love letter to ‘Scarlet’, the video was directed by directing duo ‘Us’ and filmed with a socially distanced shoot at London’s iconic Claridge’s hotel.
Scarlet, the previously unheard Stones track featuring Jimmy Page and Rick Grech, was released on July 22 and will be included on the box set and deluxe CD and vinyl editions of the forthcoming multi-format release of 1973 classic “Goats Head Soup”, alongside two previously unreleased tracks All The Rage and Criss Cross, plus many more rarities, outtakes and alternative mixes. “Goats Head Soup”, restored to its full glory and more, will be released by Universal Music in multi-format and deluxe editions on September 4. Pre-order Goats Head Soup here.
On August 11 at 3pmET, I’ll be part of the Indie Week panel “Effective PR and Publicity” and it’s online and FREE! Here’s the link to join: https://www.indieweek.com/
elbow fans will be able to own the band’s first three studio albums on vinyl when they are reissued on 25th September. The heavyweight vinyl pressings cover debut, “Asleep in the Back”, follow up “Cast of Thousands” and third album, “Leaders of the Free World.” In addition, the band’s B sides collection ‘Dead in the Boot’ and 2014’s “The Take Off and Landing of Everything” will be repressed and restocked to stores meaning that the entire elbow album catalogue will now be available on vinyl.
“Asleep in the Back” was the album that introduced elbow to the world. Produced by Ben Hillier (Blur, Doves, Depeche Mode) and containing the singles; “Newborn,” “Any Day Now,” “Red” and “Powder Blue,” it established the band with the UK public and led to Mercury Award and Brit Award nominations. The album closes with perennial fan favourite “Scattered Black and Whites,” recently revisited by the band in lockdown for their elbowrooms sessions.
“Cast of Thousands,” recorded at legendary Liverpool’s legendary Parr Street Studios, with Ben Hiller again at the helm, introduced cover stars Elle and Bo to the world, their life size statues causing traffic jams when sited next to the motorway during festival dates to promote the album. Taking its title from the vocal contributions of the Glastonbury crowd to “Grace Under Pressure,” recorded in a landmark performance on The Other Stage in 2002, the album artwork features the names of all those who contacted the band to say, “yes, I was there and singing.” An early indicator of elbow’s power to produce inclusive, uplifting moments, “Cast of Thousands” also features “Fugitive Motel”; another track featured during the recent elbowrooms recordings.
“Leaders of the Free World” was the first album to be recorded at elbow’s current home, Blueprint Studios, Manchester, and was co-produced by the band and Tom Rothrock, (Beck, Foo Fighters) and mixed at LA’s legendary Sunset Sound Studios. Accompanied by full length film from collaborators Soup Collective on its release, the album contains several tracks that grace elbow sets to this day including “Great Expectations,” and “Station Approach.”
All three albums were awarded 9/10 by the NME, marking the beginnings of a record run of consecutive 9/10 album reviews in the title that persisted through “The Seldom Seen Kid” and “build a rocket boys!” and all have surpassed gold status in the UK with “The Seldom Seen Kid” achieving quadruple platinum status.
“Asleep in the Back,” “Cast of Thousands” and “Leaders of the Free World” vinyl editions will be available from 25th September on Polydor Records.
