Michelle Willis - Just One Voice (April 8, 2022 GROUNDUP MUSIC)

MICHELLE WILLIS TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM ‘JUST ONE VOICE’

FEATURING

DAVID CROSBY, MICHAEL MCDONALD, BECCA STEVENS AND MORE

RELEASED APRIL 8 VIA GROUNDUP MUSIC

Singer, songwriter and keyboard player Michelle Willis’ is to release her second album, Just One Voice on April 8 2022 via GroundUP Music. In celebration of the upcoming release the,  first single “Green Grey” has been shared on YouTube HERE. The album, produced with Fab Dupont (Andre 3000, Gregory Porter) features guest performances by David Crosby, Michael McDonald, Grégoire Maret, Becca Stevens and Taylor Ashton. 

Just One Voice was written during the intensity of non-stop travel, penned from the cramped seats of buses, planes and countless green rooms. One night, out on the open road, Willis played the title track for Crosby, her mentor and bandmate, who urged, “No one else sounds like this. This is you. You have to make this record.” Shortly thereafter she was able to secure a prestigious grant from the Canada Council for the Arts which set the recording process in motion.

“This song is meant to be playful, fun and flirtatious, in the (sort of?) innocent first moments of attraction,” Willis says of ‘Green Grey.’ “I spent a few years following the trope of being a young, fun escape to other people’s sadness. That got old, and thankfully so did I. I originally heard this as a combo of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Something To Talk About’ but with the energy of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Cecilia.’”

Of the rest of the tracklisting on Just One Voice, Willis notes, “I originally thought these songs were going to be about ‘being strong alone’ and all this ‘ra ra I can do it by myself’-ness, but in the end, looking at the lyrics I realized they were about the process of getting there, how there’s all sorts of ugly feelings to sort through once we're on our own that I needed to look at. I do feel stronger and wider for acknowledging them now, but hoo boy, can they be uncomfortable to look at.”

New Single: Green Grey

Available now worldwide

Michelle Willis is a Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player based in Brooklyn. A Toronto native, she moved to New York in 2016 with few prospects save for a monthly residency at Rockwood Music Hall. Within months she was touring in two bands led by David Crosby (David Crosby & Sky Trails and David Crosby & Lighthouse), another by pop/jazz composer Becca Stevens, and opening for jazz/funk collective Snarky Puppy across the globe. Willis has cemented her place as an in-demand keyboard player and singer, touring and recording with a diverse array of artists such as the aforementioned Crosby and Stevens as well as the Zac Brown Band, Iggy Pop, Laura Mvula and Michael McDonald. Just Once Voice follows her debut record, 2016’s See Us Through.

Just One Voice

1. 10ths 03:47

2. Liberty 04:42

3. Just One Voice 04:37

4. Green Grey 03:00

5. Trigger (feat. Taylor Ashton) 04:02

6. Janet 03:24

7. How Come (feat. Michael McDonald) 04:28

8. Think Well 03:33

9. 'Til the Weight Lifts (feat. Grégoire Maret) 04:13

10. On & On 04:23

11. Black Night (feat. Becca Stevens) 05:09

PRE-ORDER

Release Show

New York, come celebrate! One week before the worldwide digital release, Michelle and her band perform JUST ONE VOICE live at Joe's Pub with special guests TBA. A very special night indeed. Buy Tickets Here. Band listed below. It's HAPPENING!

Michelle Willis: keys, vox

Louis Cato: drums/percussion/vocal

David Cutler: bass

Christian Almiron: keys

Julia Easterlin: bg vox

Snarky Puppy Announces Summer '18 Tour

The Puppies are hitting the road in a big way this Summer! 

Catch 'em where you can!

TICKETS

Roosevelt Collier - Exit 16 (GroundUP Music 2018)

GroundUp was founded by Snarky Puppy’s Michael League, who produced the seven-track Exit 16 and is a member of Bokanté alongside Collier. League contributed bass, while JT Thomas provided the drum parts and Bobby Sparks played organ during the three days spent holding sessions for the album.

“This record is a record about me,” said Collier in a statement. “It’s telling a story of who I am, where I’m from, and where I’m going … My mission is touch and heal people through music. That’s always been my mission, whether it’s in the church or in a club. I think people feel better about themselves after I play. That’s powerful, my man! I’ve been blessed to have that going for me. That’s my gift.”

Last year, Collier teamed with The Infamsous Stringdusters’ dobro player Andy Hall for the collaborative studio album of covers and originals, Let The Steel Play. Premiered by Live For Live Music, watch a video for the Exit 16 title track below:

Roosevelt Collier: Pedal Steel Guitar

Michael League: Bass Guitar

Jason “JT” Thomas: Drums

Bobby Sparks: Keys

1 Sun up Sun Down 5:27

2 Happy Feet 6:03

3 Make It Alright 6:53

4 Exit 16 6:06

5 That Could've Been Bad 8:06

6 Supernatural Encounters 4:28

7 Spike 8:37

8 Shuffle (Bonus Track) 7:23

9 Tailor Made (Bonus Track) 4:36

10 Spike (Full Length) [Bonus Track] 12:01

Alina Engibaryan - We Are (GroundUP Music 2018)

“A lot of songs on my album are about love, empowerment and how people treat each other,” says Alina Engibaryan. “It’s all about some kind of relationship.”

On We Are, the follow-up to the jazz/singer-songwriter’s 2016 critically-acclaimed debut Driving Down the Road, the Russian-born Engibaryan chose to concentrate on making original music — and creating something far more personal.

It marks a huge step forward for the artist, the granddaughter of jazz drumming great Nikolay Goncharov and a budding singer since the age of two. “I kind of changed everything for this record,” she says. “The band is different and the music is stylistically different from the first album. I only had one original song on that record. This time, all except one song is mine.”

Helping Engibaryan find her way: Michael League, the label head of GroundUP Music and co-founder of the Grammy-winning collective Snarky Puppy, who arranged and produced We Are. League discovered the singer while touring the Netherlands, when Engibaryan was studying jazz vocals at the Prince Claus Conservatory.

“A bunch of students and I were talking to Michael after the show, sharing our musical visions and views on life, and he told me to send him what I was working on,” says Engibaryan. “I never thought we’d end up working together; I’ve always been a huge fan of his work.” The two eventually performed at a music festival together and, soon after the singer moved to New York, started working on a new record for GroundUP.

The new label served her well: Along with League, Engibaryan worked closely with Snarky Puppy’s Mike “Maz” Maher, who helped write the lyrics on We Are. “Maz and I would talk about the vibe of song and the state of mind I was in when I was writing it, and then exchange ideas,” says the singer. “Talking with him honestly about my life, he would get the message of what I was saying and be really sensitive about it.”

Inspired by the likes of music legends Kurt Elling, Stevie Wonder and Gregory Porter, as well as mentors such as J.D. Walter (a co-writer on the album track “Love Song”) and Al Jarreau (who oversaw the 2015 Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition that Engibaryan won), We Are is a beautifully diverse mix of traditional and contemporary jazz, and one that deftly touches on empowerment (“Little Girl”) and worldly trepidation (“Doesn’t Seem So Real”).

“Alina is really quite special,” says Jarreau. “She is kind of like one in a million. There aren't many people who want to sing jazz, who have this special feeling for the tradition, where jazz singers have been and what they borrowed from horn players. Not every jazz singer has that. What did Louis Armstrong borrow from his horn when he began to sing? Not every singer understands that, she gets that! When she sings, you can hear her heart. That is very special.”

Even the album’s one cover, the jazz standard “I’ll Be Around,” had a personal meaning for the singer. Says Engibaryan: “It just spoke to me. It’s an old tune that’s very melodic, but with a sad message. I thought it was beautiful and worked well with the other music.”

The all-star band on We Are working with Engibaryan (who sang and played keyboards) includes League, Taylor Eigsti, Maria Im, Zach Brock, Nathan Schram, Sam Quiggins, Larnell Lewis, Chris McQueen and Chris Potter.

Going forward, Engibaryan will be a part of this winter’s GroundUP Music Festival in Florida, and continue to perform on her own in New York and throughout Europe. Later this year, she’ll head out on tour with Russian trumpeter Alex Sipiagin.

As far as her own music, Engibaryan simply hopes to spark a connection with the listener.

“I feel like when people hear this, they’ll understand the vibe I was going for,” she says. “It’s not a ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ album. I think people will relate to the music in their own way. It’s just a very honest record.”

1 We Are

2 I’ll Be Around

3 Pulse of the Day

4 Doesn’t Seem So Real

5 Love Song

6 Little Girl

7 There Is A Place

8 The New You

9 Lullaby

10 My Imagination (Bonus Track)

Sirintip - Tribus (GroundUP Music 2018)

Stretching across three continents and cultures (Thailand, Sweden and America), Sirintip’s remarkable debut album Tribus — produced by three-time Grammy winner Michael League of Snarky Puppy — is a gathering of different moments from the last four years of the singer/composer life. It’s an exciting, eclectic work that touches on pop, R&B, electronic and jazz, while creating a sound uniquely its own.

Tribus means “three” in Latin, a number that serves as the overriding theme on the album — three continents, three languages and the three relationships we all share (to the world, to other people and to ourselves).

Born in Thailand, Sirintip moved with her mother to Sweden at the age of 11. A student of classical piano, violin and double bass, her study of jazz would eventually take her from the Royal College of Music to (years later) the prestigious Manhattan School of Music.

This musical appreciation and study would pay off years later, when Michael League discovered the singer working at a jazz club in Stockholm. Recognizing an adventurous and like-minded musical spirit, the Snarky Puppy bandleader told Sirintip to send some music and “give him a call” if she ever moved to New York.

Sirintip did end up helping Snarky Puppy’s Bill Laurance on his album Swift. She also moved to New York to pursue her Master’s Degree. While going to school, performing and competing in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, she also began work on Tribus, with League in the producer’s chair.

“Sirintip uses everything she has to her advantage — clout in both the pop and jazz worlds, tri- lingual vocal ability, and the soaring ethereal elegance of her Scandinavian upbringing and the percussive sharpness of her Thai roots,” says League. “Her desire to explore, though, shines through it all.”

Tribus is an album of empowerment and hope. It also embraces the singer’s jazz heritage while sounding decidedly modern — you could easily put these songs on a playlist between Thundercat, Kimbra and Little Dragon. “The idea behind the album is to bridge the gap between pop and jazz by combining singable melodies with grooves, jazz harmonies and electronics,” says Sirintip. “The music might sound simple when you listen to it at first, but if you dig deeper, you´ll find the hidden depth and complexity.”

Outside of her album, Sirintip’s talent and musical background have led to some fascinating collaborations: She opened up for Wayne Shorter at the Polar Music Prize, in conjunction with his talk at Polar Talks in Stockholm. She also worked with Benny Andersson from ABBA during a fundraiser held at the Guggenheim. As well, she’s also been selected twice to perform and compose a musical interpretations of Nobel Prize nominations at the Nobel Museum in Sweden. If you do catch her live, Sirintip will be working with a quintet, while also using a guitar pedal board to create different vocal effects. It presents another unique arrangement to her music. “I incorporate electronics so I can be one of the instruments,” she says. “People are programmed to listen to the human voice first, so it can sometimes be hard to lead the ear to other instruments. By manipulating my sound with my electronics, I can create a sound landscape behind a solo … without creating unnecessary attention.” As well, you’ll witness more of her jazz influence — Tribus purposely had no solos, but the live arrangements have room to breathe.

1 In My Garden

2 Shut It Up

3 Wolves

4 Emperor Of The Sun

5 Ashes Of Gold

6 Oceans

7 Nothing In The Room

8 Pretend

9 You Know It

10 In The Line (Bonus Track)

Sirintip

FORQ - Thrēq (GroundUP Music 2017)

Forq is an instrumental quartet with an aggressive sound and a penchant for sonic exploration. This all-star band based in New York has just completed their third album - Thrēq - due for release on August 4, 2017. Originally founded by keyboardist Henry Hey (David Bowie, Empire of the Sun, Jeff "Tain" Watts) and bassist Michael League (Grammy-winning founder of Snarky Puppy), Forq is joined by guitarist Chris McQueen (Snarky Puppy, Foe Destroyer, Bokanté) and drummer Jason ‘JT’ Thomas (Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor, Marcus Miller, D’Angelo). Their group sound draws from various musical paths of it’s members, whether it’s Jason’s swampy grooves and shuffles, Chris’ singular sonic approach to guitar, Henry’s zeal for unique keyboard sounds and twisted ear candy, or Michael’s driving world-influenced grooves. The band pushes further down the sonic rabbit hole with the stunning new material on Thrēq.

Taizo

Cowabunghole

Tea Time

Blue Diamonds

Stannic

Melt

Fenix

Henry Hey keyboard

Chris McQueen guitar

Kevin Scott bass

Jason "JT" Thomas drums

THE FEBRUARY TOUR

Bill Laurance - Live At Union Chapel (GroundUP Music 2016)

[ Grammy Award-Winner Bill Laurance releases Live at Union Chapel! ]

Album/DVD showcases sold out show with fellow Snarky Puppy members Michael League and Robert “Sput” Searight

Two-time Grammy-winner and founding member of Snarky Puppy Bill Laurance fulfilled a lifelong fantasy with his sold out show at the Union Chapel. He will share it with the world with the release of the album and DVD Live At Union Chapel on November 11th on Ground UP Music/Verve Label Group.

The album and DVD captures the high-energy performance from Laurance (keyboards) backed by his fellow Snarky Puppy band mates Michael League (bass) and Robert “Sput” Searight (drums), as well as Katie Christie (French Horn), Felix Higginbottom (percussion), and The West Side trio – Annie Tangberg (Cello), Isabella Petersen (Viola) and Vera Van Der Bie (Violin).

“Performing live is completely different to recording in the studio,” says Laurance. “Having toured this music extensively I got to the point where I really wanted to capture the unique energy and spontaneity of the live concert experience and include the dynamic between the band and the audience in the moment. The music is free from overdubs and post-production and it takes on a freshness in the live rendition.”

The show opens with “The Rush,” highlighted by an intricate, driving rhythm from Searight and passionate playing from Laurance. “Swift” sounds massive, with the West Side Trio injecting ominous strings into the arrangement and Laurance nimbly moving between piano, Fender Rhodes and synth to craft a hypnotic groove. Inspired by a trip to the city during a tour with Snarky Puppy, “December in New York” is a moody composition that nevertheless captures the constant hum and movement of NYC, even in winter. “Red Sand” is a highlight, with the musicians locked into a captivating rhythmic pulse and League weaving in a tasteful solo.

The audience also lent a hand to the inspired performances captured on Live at Union Chapel. “It was amazing to have such a receptive crowd,” says Laurance. “It really lifted and inspired us to deliver one of the most memorable performances of the tour.”

Laurance has traveled across the globe and through a myriad of award-winning musical projects. A world-renowned multi-instrumentalist, producer and vocalist dubbed a “jazz maestro” by The Guardian, Laurance is probably best known as a founding member of Snarky Puppy, the Grammy-winning collective based out of Brooklyn, with whom he has won two Grammy-awards to date. In 2015, Laurance won the Breakthrough award at the Jazz FM Awards, and has been nominated this year as a MOBO Best Jazz Act.

01. The Rush

02. Never-Ending City

03. The Good Things

04. December in New York

05. Red Sand

06. The Real One

07. Swift

08. Gold Coast

09. Denmark Hill

10. Swag Times

11. Fjords

12. Ready Wednesday

13. The Isles (Bonus Track)

Bill Laurance Website