Chris Gillespie - Live At The Carlyle

Styles: Vocal, Piano Jazz, Cabaret
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:21
Size: 157,8 MB
Art: Front

( 4:40)  1. How About You
( 8:08)  2. But Beautiful
( 4:32)  3. How Deep Is The Ocean
( 5:50)  4. Alone Together
( 5:38)  5. In the Still Of The Night
( 4:37)  6. They Can't Take That Away From Me
( 5:44)  7. What's New
(13:09)  8. Take Five
( 6:04)  9. Don't Explain
( 8:12) 10. Here's To Life
( 1:42) 11. Thank You & Credits

Chris Gillespie epitomizes grace, style and sophistication in keeping with the tradition of the Carlyle Hotel. He has performed in Austria, France, Germany, Australia, Colombia and the Philippines. As a composer and performer, he has entertained Sir Paul McCartney, Bette Midler, Mary Wilson, Billy Joel, Steve Tyrell, Paul Shaffer, Luis Miguel, and heads of state: Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, Petar Stoyanov, President of Bulgaria, and Bill Clinton. Before Mr. Gillespie earned the coveted position of playing 5 nights a week in the prestigious Bemelmans Bar in 2001 either with his trio (Keith Loftis, saxophone, and Dmitri Kolesnik, bass) or on his own he performed in other respected venues such as Windows on the World and The Rainbow Room. Standing out from the crowd, Chris draws from his influences of Bach and Gershwin, combining jazz and classical music as though they were intended to be played together, with audiences erupting in cheers when they hear the transition from one to the other, especially in his take on Paul Desmond's "Take 5”. Chris’s discography consists of “You’ve Arranged the Stars For Me”, a commissioned recording of originals, a compilation from the Great American Song Book titled "L-O-V-E”, and an album produced by Joyce Johnson, “Live At The Carlyle”. His latest recording, “Portraits Of Porter”, is an all-Cole Porter tribute with Bucky Pizzarelli and Martin Pizzarelli on which one can truly experience the broad palette of Gillespie's interpretations. He is also featured on Frank Tate’s album, which is a collection of songs performed by various artists who personally knew the legendary Bobby Short. Mr. Gillespie’s next release will be “The Early Show” (title of the album to be determined), an album replicating the Bemelmans Bar experience when he entertains on his own. Mr. Gillespie has performed at Avery Fisher Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts with Marvin Hamlisch and the Cafe Carlyle. His appearances on FOX5, NBC, FoxBusiness News, NPR (National Public Radio) in an interview with Faith Middleton brought exposure of his work to a larger audience. http://www.chrisny.com/

Live At The Carlyle

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Chris Gillespie - Portraits Of Porter

Styles: Piano, Vocal, Big Band

Year: 2013

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 49:36

Size: 114,4 MB

Art: Front

(3:13)  1. All of You (feat. Tim Ouimette)

(4:28)  2. Begin the Beguine

(3:11)  3. I Concentrate On You

(3:21)  4. Easy to Love

(4:13) 5. Every Time We Say Goodbye (feat. Bucky Pizzarelli)

(2:52)  6. I Love Paris

(3:27)  7. Kate the Great (feat. Tim Ouimette)

(3:07)  8. You'd Be so Nice to Come Home To

(3:24)  9. So in Love (Vocal)

(4:33) 10. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Piano Solo)

(3:21) 11. I've Got You Under My Skin (feat. Bucky Pizzarelli)

(4:41) 12. Love for Sale

(2:12) 13. So in Love (Piano Solo)

(3:28) 14. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Vocal)

The idea for recording a compilation of Cole Porter tunes had been with me for some time. It goes without saying that I love the craft of this prolific songwriter. While performing at the historic Bemelmans Bar, at the Carlyle Hotel, with its murals by Ludwig Bemelmans, the idea began to take on shape when Jacqueline Matisse, wife of Henry Matisse’s grandson, told me, “You play as if you were filling a canvas.” This, undoubtedly, was the catalyst that inspired me to title this CD Portraits of Porter.

I was further encouraged to embark on this project by another guest at the hotel who gave me a rare book, entitled Cole. This exquisite book, edited by Robert Kimball and with an essay about Porter by Brendan Gill, contains photos, anecdotes, and the lyrics of nearly 200 songs. A particular piece of memorabilia in the book caught my eye: a piece of paper on which Porter had written additional lyric for his song “All of You” from Silk Stockings. To my knowledge no one had ever used them, and so I decided to use the “abandoned” lyric and collaborated with Tim Ouimette in an arrangement for big band. Over the course of my career, I have become aware that my musical interpretations, while affected by many influences ranging from the condition of the piano to the attention of my audience to my mood while performing almost always emerge as imaginary paintings, so that the listener is also “able to see” the music.

Most Porter songs (with the exception of “Kate the Great”) have been recorded countless times and heard equally as often. My challenge was to allow myself to be free from constraints that might have influenced other artists’ presentations. My renditions are inspired by two dynamic aspects of a song: the lyric attached to the melody and the melody attached to the lyric.

For instance my collage of Porter’s question “What Is This Thing Called Love?” and using Johann Sebastian Bach’s “A Musical Offering” as the answer, inspired me to find the commonality of these two melodies simply because their titles complement each other. Porter’s “So In Love” with its overwhelmingly passionate lyric (… “so taunt me and hurt me, deceive me dessert me, I’m yours till I die…”) moved me to dip into the musical palettes of Frederick Chopin and Sergei Rachmaninov. This produces many different tonal shades, as a first time listener to the album proposed, “every track is so different even your voice sounds different.” With that I feel I have achieved my goal of adding my own colors to Porter’s work. So I invite you to use your imagination to color your own canvas inspired by this album.

Thank You: Bucky and Martin Pizzarelli, Patricia Gillespie, The Carlyle Hotel, Gregory Dinella, Aleda Wright, Jaqueline Matisse, Darwin Best, Jim Czak, Tim Ouimette, Marcus Parsley, Twyla McFarlane, Fr. Charles Murr, Every musician who participated in this project, All of the patrons at the Carlyle Hotel and My Audience around the world who inspired and helped me to make this CD. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/chrisgillespie2

Portraits Of Porter

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