Bob Baldwin’s 31st offering is a natural feeling. 'The beauty of our earth produces so many
great and prosperous things. In fact, people have actually lived off of the virtues of this
beautiful earth,' says the native New Yorker. Bob’s latest has layers of drums, percussion
and his own organic keyboard and piano elements of the 1970’s closes the deal. Tracks 1-6
feature his NY-based band of 30 years with Dave Anderson (bass), Tony Lewis (drums), and
Café Da Silva (percussion).
The album includes the previously-released but newly mixed 'Club Life', which features
over 10 solos on one track, with Tom Browne, Marion Meadows, Lori Williams, Ragan
Whiteside, Oli Silk, U-Nam, Nils, Brooke Alford, Walter Beasley, Rohn Lawrence, Barry
Danielian, Marcus Anderson, and Baldwin on production and track arrangement. It’s a
smooth jazz classic for the ages.
Other songs include the aforementioned flutist Whiteside, who has blazed the Top-five
Billboard charts four times since 2017. She appears on the first single 'Long Weekend (See
You on Tuesday). The aforementioned DC vocalist, Lori Williams, lays her warm sultry tones
on 'No Longer Lost,' a Stevie-type throwback track with a simple pop edge seen through
the jazz lens of Baldwin a la Quincy Jones.
The album closes with another organic moment, as he’s accompanied with his 10-year
Atlanta-based crew of J-Fly (drums) and Tres Gilbert (bass). They offer their funky
Southern tones to 'Fly Breeze' and 'In The Moment', with the latter being an extended remix
by Baldwin. 'I have a hard time trying to fade a good track, so we went with the flow and
extended it,' laughs Baldwin.
He dedicates the vibe of the project to two of his favorite contemporary pianists, George
Duke and Joe Sample, who both passed earlier this decade. He met both legends in his
musical travels, and even spoke with them both just weeks before their untimely death.'you
must know that us Pianists/Keyboardists have to stick together. Sample and Duke were
great artists and great elders of the genre. I learned a lot from the fruit they bear,' says
Baldwin.
